Meditate

38. Judah and Tamar

Judah and Tamar

38

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and settled near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.²There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married her and went in to her.³She conceived and bore a son; and he named him Er.⁴Again she conceived and bore a son whom she named Onan.⁵Yet again she bore a son, and she named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore him.⁶Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar.⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother.”⁹But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother.¹⁰What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”—for he feared that he too would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹² In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died; when Judah’s time of mourning was over, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.¹³When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”¹⁴she put off her widow’s garments, put on a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She saw that Shelah was grown up, yet she had not been given to him in marriage.¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute, for she had covered her face.¹⁶He went over to her at the roadside, and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”¹⁷He answered, “I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Only if you give me a pledge, until you send it.”¹⁸He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.¹⁹Then she got up and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

²⁰ When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to recover the pledge from the woman, he could not find her.²¹He asked the townspeople, “Where is the temple prostitute who was at Enaim by the wayside?” But they said, “No prostitute has been here.”²²So he returned to Judah, and said, “I have not found her; moreover the townspeople said, ‘No prostitute has been here.’ ”²³Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, otherwise we will be laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the whore; moreover she is pregnant as a result of whoredom.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.”²⁵As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “It was the owner of these who made me pregnant.” And she said, “Take note, please, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”²⁶Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not lie with her again.

²⁷ When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.²⁸While she was in labor, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a crimson thread, saying, “This one came out first.”²⁹But just then he drew back his hand, and out came his brother; and she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore he was named Perez.³⁰Afterward his brother came out with the crimson thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.

9. God's Sovereign Choice

God’s Election of Israel

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I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit—²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.³For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh.⁴They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;⁵to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

50. Psalm 50

Psalm 50

The Acceptable Sacrifice

A Psalm of Asaph.

1

The mighty one, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

3

Our God comes and does not keep silence,

before him is a devouring fire,

and a mighty tempest all around him.

4

He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5

“Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6

The heavens declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge.Selah

7

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak,

O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8

Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9

I will not accept a bull from your house,

or goats from your folds.

10

For every wild animal of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11

I know all the birds of the air,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12

“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and all that is in it is mine.

13

Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

14

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and pay your vows to the Most High.

15

Call on me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

16

But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes,

or take my covenant on your lips?

17

For you hate discipline,

and you cast my words behind you.

18

You make friends with a thief when you see one,

and you keep company with adulterers.

19

“You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

20

You sit and speak against your kin;

you slander your own mother’s child.

21

These things you have done and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one just like yourself.

But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

22

“Mark this, then, you who forget God,

or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.

23

Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me;

to those who go the right way

I will show the salvation of God.”