JUDAH’S TROUBLES – Genesis 38

What this episode covers

Jacob's household continues to be marked by covenant dysfunction and infidelity. Now in the second generation, his 4th son – Judah - through whom the genealogy of hope would continue, is caught up in a whirlwind of rebellion, debauchery, deception, trauma, sudden death, prostitution, and incest. Here again, Moses interrupts the narrative with a “parentheses” account that reminds us of the effects of the fall and the great demand of humanity for divine intervention and salvation. Once again the promises of God prove more powerful than the schemes of Satan as hope for a coming Messiah is preserved through an unlikely covenant son. This clarity in identifying sin as such with regularity throughout the Bible, serves a purpose for the soul of the reader. It reminds us that everyday life and our familiarity with the human experience easily dulls the perception and discernment of the wickedness of sin. We must be vigilant and remain alert to the evil that surrounds us, and but for the grace of God, inhabits us. Thusly we will remain alert to the great need of salvation for ourselves and our neighbors. Moses' record of Judah's family reminds us of times in redemptive history where there was no recognized Godly authority in the land and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. We are reminded of stories of depraved desperation where women like Lot's daughters sought to bear children by means of their drunken father, or the corruption of Solomon through pagan polygamy. Yet it is the darkness of this presumably irredeemable sinfulness against which the light of the glorious hope of the coming Messiah shines all the brighter.

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