Genesis 38:20–23
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
The story of Judah and Tamar is one of those passages that makes modern, respectable Christians blush. It is a sordid affair, full of deceit, sexual sin, hypocrisy, and profound dysfunction. It is a story that a polished corporate church might be tempted to skip over in a sermon series, perhaps with a nervous cough. It feels like an interruption, a tawdry detour from the grand, sweeping narrative of Joseph down in Egypt. But the Holy Spirit does not stutter, and He does not include detours. This chapter is not a pothole on the road of redemptive history; it is the pavement itself. We must understand that the Bible is not a collection of moralistic fables about nice people doing nice things. It is a brutally honest record of God's unwavering faithfulness to a spectacularly unfaithful people. God does not need good people to accomplish His purposes; He makes people good.