Genesis 38:14

Judah promised Tamar that she could marry Shelah when he was grown up, since Shelah was still young. In the meantime he asked her to stay a widow in her father's house. But we shall see that Judah failed to keep his promise, just as the tribe of Judah has done again and again.

Tamar had the right to be the mother of Judah's heir. He withheld this rightful claim from her, and in effect blamed her for the death of his sons. He did not blame his own sons for any wrong. Judah's bias towards his own family blinded him to the truth… To make Shelah a husband before he was full grown would also have been contrary to the mind of God. Maturity is assumed in every area of life: physical, mental and emotional. Shelah was much younger than Tamar, and this was not a good recipe for a marriage.

Judah leaves his brothers to join the world of the Canaanite in all its ruined character. The actual words of Scripture, "went down from," show the path of departure he set out on. They warn the reader that sin will mark what follows. The results of Judah's wilful departure will be serious. He will have to learn that he cannot please himself without reaping a harvest of sorrow.

The practices of the Canaanite cult increased sexual temptation. Ritual fornication was part of their fertility magic. It seems that Tamar posed as a temple prostitute. Such was the world that Judah had married into!

She took matters into her own hands. She used deceit, posing as a prostitute to seduce Judah.

Her desire for children was a right one. We can admire how much she valued a place in the family where God's Name was known. We can admire too the righteous and trusting qualities she showed in her patient waiting as a widow. But we cannot excuse what she did to reach her goal. It showed a lack of confidence in God, and the sin itself was unnatural. Her deceit showed the natural scheming that is only too common among those whom God has brought into a place of privilege.

In all this history of Tamar's there is no redeeming feature. She comes before me in this picture as a sinner and nothing else. She was the wife of two men, one after the other, and divine judgment cut off each of them for his wickedness. Yet she herself dares to provoke that same judgment by a crime equal to theirs. But the wonder above all this is that this very sin brings her name into the Lord's genealogy.

Tamar's history shows the boundlessness of divine mercy. We see God's own wonderful way of connecting Christ with Judah, and so Tamar is listed in the genealogy recorded in Matthew's Gospel. She is the first of the four women mentioned there, each with her own special place by God's grace.

This is one of those remarkable cases where divine grace triumphs gloriously over man's sin. God, in His great grace, rises above the sin and folly of man to bring about His own purposes of love and mercy… Man could never have devised such a genealogy. It is entirely divine.