The Book of Genesis
Part 78
Chapter 38:1-30
In the review of Joseph’s entering Egypt, it seemed necessary to omit chapter 38 in order to follow the details of his trying experience. We must return to that passage which we then excluded for it is against its sordid picture that Joseph’s character is best seen.
The contrast between Judah and Joseph is vivid: the first is morally corrupt, the second morally correct; the first is sensual, the second spiritual. While grace may be seen acting on behalf of Judah and his descendants, grace is seen acting through Joseph in blessing to others.
Guilt
The guilt of Judah and of his sons is well proven. The evidence is presented with concise frankness, a frankness that produces shame in the mind of even the casual reader.
Occasionally one is asked why there are such chapters in the Bible; why God exposes great wickedness in minute detail. God is absolutely just, consequently, He does not cover sin. He deals with it openly so that men will not only recognize it, but will eschew it.
This entire record discloses the extremely low moral standards among the Canaanites, and it should be noticed that both Judah’s wife and daughter-in-law were Canaanites, in spite of the fact Tamar is a Hebrew name. Centuries later, for God is patient, because of the moral degradation and the transgression of this people, God expelled them from the land of Canaan.
The indignation of Judah at Tamar’s misbehaviour was very quickly dismissed when he discovered that he was an accomplice to her sin, and merited the very sentence that he had pronounced against her. The fact of her guilt was evident and so was his; she had carefully obtained pledges which readily identified him; he had left the proofs of his sin behind him. How like men in general! His iniquity was marked before him. “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; some men they follow after” (1 Tim. 5:24).
Government
When God placed Adam and Eve in Eden, He stated the terms of His government over them, and over the exercise of the freedom of their wills. “The Lord commanded man saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).
Ever since the fall of man this principle has been operative, “When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (Jas. 1:15).
What striking examples of this we have throughout the Bible: Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-2), The thousands of Israel who were slain at Baal-Peor (Num. 25:9), Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), and, of course, the two sons of Judah, Er and Onan; of each we read, “The Lord slew him.” Surely, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”