25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. ‘I am pregnant by the man who owns these,’ she said. And she added, ‘See if you recognise whose seal and cord and staff these are.’
26 Judah recognised them and said, ‘SHE IS MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not sleep with her again. Genesis 38
We saw yesterday that Tamar (means ‘palm tree, date or date palm’) had tricked Judah into sleeping with her and getting her pregnant. Judah had wanted to kill her for becoming pregnant outside marriage, but then he realised that he himself was the father of the children.
Matthew 1 gives us the genealogy of Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, the Messiah (The anointed One). Tamar is the first of five ladies mentioned in the human origin of Messiah.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Isaiah 55
Tamar is the first woman named in Matthew 1, there’s no cover up. God is a God who desires Truth!
6 BEHOLD, YOU DESIRE TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Psalm 51 (David’s heartfelt psalm of repentance after committing adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba)
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, WHOSE MOTHER WAS RAHAB, (possibly an innkeeper or prostitute).
Boaz the father of Obed, WHOSE MOTHER WAS RUTH, (Ruth was a woman of noble character, but a Moabitess)
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
Rahab is mentioned in the great chapter of Faith Heroes, Hebrews 11 and also by James 2:25 as being a righteous example by her actions.
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
King David, was the father of Solomon, but once again no cover up, ‘by Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba’.
The last woman mentioned by name in Matthew 1 is Mary, the virgin mother of the Lord.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to go ahead and take Mary for his wife. He became the human father of Jesus on earth.
The bottom line to all this is that God can deal with all the mess people cause in their lives, but He needs us to be truthful and not try to hide it when we’ve sinned. God is much more forgiving and willing to help than we know, but we have to admit and turn from our wrongs before He’ll help us. TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS.
Immanuel, Stay Strong, God is with us. Hallelujah