Hate the Game, not the Player!
Hate the Game, Not the Player!
Genesis 38: 1-30
My brothers and sisters this morning’s text is neither safe nor sanitary. If we read this morning’s text through the lenses of our modern eyes than it would have all of the ingredients of a bad Jerry Springer’s show. It has sex, murder, masturbation, lies, prostitution, incest, and deception all rolled up into thirty, some would say very long, disturbing, and unpleasant verses. In fact, if I preach this text right you will probably go away feeling a bit uncomfortable. You see, like our own Christian religious history, our religious texts are also not always pleasant and delightful. But they are ours and this text is real, as real as our own sinful natures and as real as our God’s love. Our God is a God whose providential plan will burst forth despite human debauchery, disobedience, and deception.
Still, if we read this morning’s text with the eyes of the ancient hearers we would be less shocked over what we consider unsavory acts and more shocked over the fact that a lowly woman’s story is being heard and recorded. This is indeed unusual especially when we realize that Judah’s wife, the family’s matriarch, is never named in the scriptures. And we would be further shocked that in the end Tamar is a woman who triumphs, is justified, and becomes the impetus for the transformation of one of the most important leaders of the Hebrew Bible. My brothers and sisters don’t always expect for those who are destined to do God’s work to look or act like we expect them to. Or for that matter don’t expect that those who are engaged in fulfilling God’s plan are even always aware that they are doing God’s work. For nowhere in this text does it say Tamar is consciously working on behalf of God. But she is a woman who is seeking justice. And our God is a God who is on the side of justice. More accurately she is a widowed woman draped in black and according to the ancient levirate customs this means Judah, her father-in law, is obligated to ensure her welfare. In the eyes of this society Tamar is a weak and forlorn distressed creature with no sons to carry forth the bloodline and no daughters to care for her in old age. She is one of the least in the eyes of her contemporaries.
It is Judah’s patriarchal duty to either provide Tamar with a husband or provide for her from his own house. Verse one tells us that Judah has left his brothers and traveled down into the Canaanite city of Adullam believed to have been about 13 miles west of Bethlehem; and the proceeding chapter tells us this was after he and his brothers sold their baby brother Joseph into slavery and then with the blood of a slaughtered goat, deceived their father into believing Joseph was dead. We also know from the previous chapter that it was Judah’s idea to actually gain profit from their doomed brother’s fate. Further, we are told in chapter 34 that he and his brothers tricked and slaughtered a whole city of men, captured the wives and children of the city, and pillaged its homes over the rape of their only sister Dinah. These boys have blood on their hands. These boys are an unsavory lot; folks they are the original beastie boys. And Judah’s first-born son Er (Tamar’s husband) apparently inherited an overdose of he and his uncles’ bad boy genes because the text says that Er was so wicked that God killed him. Whew! Hold onto your seats if you have to. But stay with me. We have descended into the cellar of our religion now.
Verse 8 says after Er was killed Judah directed his second born son Onan fulfill the duty referred to as yibum. This was part of the conventional morality of the day, prescribed by God in Levirate law. The brother of the deceased was to play the role of kinsman redeemer. Onan was to take the childless widow Tamar into his home as his wife and raise up children in the name of his deceased brother in order to produce an heir. But Onan was not about to give up his chance to gain the family’s inheritance, so not to be crude from behind the pulpit, let’s just say he didn’t complete the act and the derivative of his name has caused many a teenager quilt. Understand however, that his crime was not his action but his disobedience to fulfill his levirate duty to Tamar. He too was killed and yes the text says by God.
Now Judah is beside himself. He is presented with the very real possibility that his bloodline will be cut off and so he relies on superstition rather than his faith to guide his next actions. Judah sends Tamar home to her father with a wink and an ambiguous promise that in time he will have his third and last remaining son, Shelah, marry her when he is old enough to produce children. You see Judah blamed Tamar rather than his son’s own actions for their death.
How many among us have heard, not Andover Newton students of course, but other folks, blame somebody or something else for their misery. Sometimes bad things happen because they just happen, but sometimes bad things happen because of what we are doing, not doing, or how we react.
So Tamar is left out in the cold. She is a scorned woman. No doubt her own father and other people in her daily reality treat her as if she was a praying mantis. She has been banished by her husband’s family, sent away in shame and humiliation, and relegated to the fringes of society. And she figures out that Judah has sentenced her to wear the veil of widowhood forever.
Now if there is only one thing that you take away from this text, one misconception that must be cleared up, it is this. Tamar was not a prostitute! She takes off her widow’s veil and puts to use the only thing she owns that is hers to control. She resorts to use to her advantage the one thing that has caused her to be subjected to this humiliated state in the first place, the use of her body for the sole purpose of furthering her husband and father-in-laws progeny. Tamar uses the cultural norms of the day to her advantage in order to rescue her self from a state of perpetual misery. To do so she pretends to be a temple prostitute incognito knowing that Judah will stray away from God, away from his religious morals, and away from the laws of his tribe. She is like the parable of the dishonest manager that Jesus teaches his disciples about in the book of Luke chapter 16. Like the dishonest manager, Tamar a Canaanite woman is shrewder in dealing with the things of her generation than is Judah who is a child of the light. And she knows that in his superstitious state, in his state of mind outside of God, he will adopt the Canaanite harvest rites of fertility and lay with her. You can also bet she has heard the stories of deception these bad boys of the tribe of Jacob have honored and practiced. She uses her wits to turn her disadvantage into an advantage. She is shrewd but she is faithful with what little she has. Her actions are not ones we can condone. Deception is not an admirable virtue.
But understand this my brothers and sisters its not always a Jerry Springer moment. Can we squeeze some truth out of this text this morning? When you see the woman, man, or child on the street engaging in unsavory practices don’t assume to know what beats within their hearts. Don’t assume every child on the street peddling drugs is incorrigible; it might be his or her only way to buy food. Don’t assume every man or woman on the corner selling his or her body is an immoral tramp, it might be their only way to pay for health care. Don’t assume the woman on welfare is there because she is lazy, perhaps her husband has died and she can’t afford child- care. Come on Christians! We are in the cellar now! Don’t assume that those who live on the fringes of society and are acting outside of God’s commandments cannot be brought back inside and don’t assume that they are not favored by God as every bit as those who are living well.
Tamar is seeking justice!
The child on the street might be seeking justice; the man or woman on the corner might be seeking justice. The woman existing on welfare might be seeking justice. My brothers and sisters don’t always be too quick with your assumptions. As the young people say, hate the game not the player. Hate the injustice not the people. There is no justice when we are living in the richest nation on earth and a little boy or girl goes to bed at night hungry. There is no justice when we are the most powerful, medically, scientifically, technologically, and progressive country on the face of the earth and a man or woman can’t pay for his or her prescriptions. There is no justice when the widowed wife is left to fend for herself on her own with no help for her children while she works. Tamar is seeking justice. God uses her situation to open the eyes of Judah. And Judah understands through Tamar’s desperate act of deception that she has been treated wrongly.
Open your eyes my brothers and sisters in Christ to the injustice playing out all around you. The injustices that are being played out every day in the lives of the “least among you.” Like Tamar those who are being wronged will triumph one day because the victory has already been won for them too. Christ has won theirs and your victory. But take heed my brothers and sisters, I am hear to tell you this morning that we are responsible for those who live on the fringes. Jesus said, “What you do for the least of those you do also for me, and what you do not do for the least among you so you also do not do for me.” Injustice will not live always and those who do not repent their acts of injustice, those who turn their eyes away from the least among them in society will also not live forever. Hate the game my brothers and sisters not the player!
Tamar triumphs. She is restored to her rightful place in her family and in her society because Judah realizes his own unjust actions. He could have lied and said she stole the property she has of his that she shrewdly obtained as a retainer from their liaison. Once the act is exposed he could have sent Tamar on to her death as the law required of a woman who has committed adultery, or he could have banished her to the street corner. He could have averted his eyes to her plight. He could have dismissed her quietly.
Didn’t another soon- to- be- father down the line have to think about this too?
But instead he repented and he understood his moral obligation to Tamar, the Canaanite woman. He accepts his responsibility to Tamar, a member of the fringes of society and he brings her back inside. His honor is restored, his family is restored and as a result he is transformed and brought back into God’s favor. Tamar takes off her veil and according to Matthew chapter 1 verse 3 she and Judah and their descendants are given the honor of being named as the ancestors of Jesus. God’s plan bursts forth. There is a word from the Lord here this morning.
Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught my [brothers and sisters] in an inescapable network of mutuality, we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Judah took responsibility for his role in a fellow human being relegated to the fringes of society. The question of the morning is: Will you?
To God be the Glory!
Amen.
Works Cited:
King, Martin Luther Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Harper & Row Publishers, San Francisco, Ca, 1986.
NSRV:
Genesis 38 1-30
Luke 16
Matthew 25: 31-46
Matthew 1:3
Genesis 38: 1-30
My brothers and sisters this morning’s text is neither safe nor sanitary. If we read this morning’s text through the lenses of our modern eyes than it would have all of the ingredients of a bad Jerry Springer’s show. It has sex, murder, masturbation, lies, prostitution, incest, and deception all rolled up into thirty, some would say very long, disturbing, and unpleasant verses. In fact, if I preach this text right you will probably go away feeling a bit uncomfortable. You see, like our own Christian religious history, our religious texts are also not always pleasant and delightful. But they are ours and this text is real, as real as our own sinful natures and as real as our God’s love. Our God is a God whose providential plan will burst forth despite human debauchery, disobedience, and deception.
Still, if we read this morning’s text with the eyes of the ancient hearers we would be less shocked over what we consider unsavory acts and more shocked over the fact that a lowly woman’s story is being heard and recorded. This is indeed unusual especially when we realize that Judah’s wife, the family’s matriarch, is never named in the scriptures. And we would be further shocked that in the end Tamar is a woman who triumphs, is justified, and becomes the impetus for the transformation of one of the most important leaders of the Hebrew Bible. My brothers and sisters don’t always expect for those who are destined to do God’s work to look or act like we expect them to. Or for that matter don’t expect that those who are engaged in fulfilling God’s plan are even always aware that they are doing God’s work. For nowhere in this text does it say Tamar is consciously working on behalf of God. But she is a woman who is seeking justice. And our God is a God who is on the side of justice. More accurately she is a widowed woman draped in black and according to the ancient levirate customs this means Judah, her father-in law, is obligated to ensure her welfare. In the eyes of this society Tamar is a weak and forlorn distressed creature with no sons to carry forth the bloodline and no daughters to care for her in old age. She is one of the least in the eyes of her contemporaries.
It is Judah’s patriarchal duty to either provide Tamar with a husband or provide for her from his own house. Verse one tells us that Judah has left his brothers and traveled down into the Canaanite city of Adullam believed to have been about 13 miles west of Bethlehem; and the proceeding chapter tells us this was after he and his brothers sold their baby brother Joseph into slavery and then with the blood of a slaughtered goat, deceived their father into believing Joseph was dead. We also know from the previous chapter that it was Judah’s idea to actually gain profit from their doomed brother’s fate. Further, we are told in chapter 34 that he and his brothers tricked and slaughtered a whole city of men, captured the wives and children of the city, and pillaged its homes over the rape of their only sister Dinah. These boys have blood on their hands. These boys are an unsavory lot; folks they are the original beastie boys. And Judah’s first-born son Er (Tamar’s husband) apparently inherited an overdose of he and his uncles’ bad boy genes because the text says that Er was so wicked that God killed him. Whew! Hold onto your seats if you have to. But stay with me. We have descended into the cellar of our religion now.
Verse 8 says after Er was killed Judah directed his second born son Onan fulfill the duty referred to as yibum. This was part of the conventional morality of the day, prescribed by God in Levirate law. The brother of the deceased was to play the role of kinsman redeemer. Onan was to take the childless widow Tamar into his home as his wife and raise up children in the name of his deceased brother in order to produce an heir. But Onan was not about to give up his chance to gain the family’s inheritance, so not to be crude from behind the pulpit, let’s just say he didn’t complete the act and the derivative of his name has caused many a teenager quilt. Understand however, that his crime was not his action but his disobedience to fulfill his levirate duty to Tamar. He too was killed and yes the text says by God.
Now Judah is beside himself. He is presented with the very real possibility that his bloodline will be cut off and so he relies on superstition rather than his faith to guide his next actions. Judah sends Tamar home to her father with a wink and an ambiguous promise that in time he will have his third and last remaining son, Shelah, marry her when he is old enough to produce children. You see Judah blamed Tamar rather than his son’s own actions for their death.
How many among us have heard, not Andover Newton students of course, but other folks, blame somebody or something else for their misery. Sometimes bad things happen because they just happen, but sometimes bad things happen because of what we are doing, not doing, or how we react.
So Tamar is left out in the cold. She is a scorned woman. No doubt her own father and other people in her daily reality treat her as if she was a praying mantis. She has been banished by her husband’s family, sent away in shame and humiliation, and relegated to the fringes of society. And she figures out that Judah has sentenced her to wear the veil of widowhood forever.
Now if there is only one thing that you take away from this text, one misconception that must be cleared up, it is this. Tamar was not a prostitute! She takes off her widow’s veil and puts to use the only thing she owns that is hers to control. She resorts to use to her advantage the one thing that has caused her to be subjected to this humiliated state in the first place, the use of her body for the sole purpose of furthering her husband and father-in-laws progeny. Tamar uses the cultural norms of the day to her advantage in order to rescue her self from a state of perpetual misery. To do so she pretends to be a temple prostitute incognito knowing that Judah will stray away from God, away from his religious morals, and away from the laws of his tribe. She is like the parable of the dishonest manager that Jesus teaches his disciples about in the book of Luke chapter 16. Like the dishonest manager, Tamar a Canaanite woman is shrewder in dealing with the things of her generation than is Judah who is a child of the light. And she knows that in his superstitious state, in his state of mind outside of God, he will adopt the Canaanite harvest rites of fertility and lay with her. You can also bet she has heard the stories of deception these bad boys of the tribe of Jacob have honored and practiced. She uses her wits to turn her disadvantage into an advantage. She is shrewd but she is faithful with what little she has. Her actions are not ones we can condone. Deception is not an admirable virtue.
But understand this my brothers and sisters its not always a Jerry Springer moment. Can we squeeze some truth out of this text this morning? When you see the woman, man, or child on the street engaging in unsavory practices don’t assume to know what beats within their hearts. Don’t assume every child on the street peddling drugs is incorrigible; it might be his or her only way to buy food. Don’t assume every man or woman on the corner selling his or her body is an immoral tramp, it might be their only way to pay for health care. Don’t assume the woman on welfare is there because she is lazy, perhaps her husband has died and she can’t afford child- care. Come on Christians! We are in the cellar now! Don’t assume that those who live on the fringes of society and are acting outside of God’s commandments cannot be brought back inside and don’t assume that they are not favored by God as every bit as those who are living well.
Tamar is seeking justice!
The child on the street might be seeking justice; the man or woman on the corner might be seeking justice. The woman existing on welfare might be seeking justice. My brothers and sisters don’t always be too quick with your assumptions. As the young people say, hate the game not the player. Hate the injustice not the people. There is no justice when we are living in the richest nation on earth and a little boy or girl goes to bed at night hungry. There is no justice when we are the most powerful, medically, scientifically, technologically, and progressive country on the face of the earth and a man or woman can’t pay for his or her prescriptions. There is no justice when the widowed wife is left to fend for herself on her own with no help for her children while she works. Tamar is seeking justice. God uses her situation to open the eyes of Judah. And Judah understands through Tamar’s desperate act of deception that she has been treated wrongly.
Open your eyes my brothers and sisters in Christ to the injustice playing out all around you. The injustices that are being played out every day in the lives of the “least among you.” Like Tamar those who are being wronged will triumph one day because the victory has already been won for them too. Christ has won theirs and your victory. But take heed my brothers and sisters, I am hear to tell you this morning that we are responsible for those who live on the fringes. Jesus said, “What you do for the least of those you do also for me, and what you do not do for the least among you so you also do not do for me.” Injustice will not live always and those who do not repent their acts of injustice, those who turn their eyes away from the least among them in society will also not live forever. Hate the game my brothers and sisters not the player!
Tamar triumphs. She is restored to her rightful place in her family and in her society because Judah realizes his own unjust actions. He could have lied and said she stole the property she has of his that she shrewdly obtained as a retainer from their liaison. Once the act is exposed he could have sent Tamar on to her death as the law required of a woman who has committed adultery, or he could have banished her to the street corner. He could have averted his eyes to her plight. He could have dismissed her quietly.
Didn’t another soon- to- be- father down the line have to think about this too?
But instead he repented and he understood his moral obligation to Tamar, the Canaanite woman. He accepts his responsibility to Tamar, a member of the fringes of society and he brings her back inside. His honor is restored, his family is restored and as a result he is transformed and brought back into God’s favor. Tamar takes off her veil and according to Matthew chapter 1 verse 3 she and Judah and their descendants are given the honor of being named as the ancestors of Jesus. God’s plan bursts forth. There is a word from the Lord here this morning.
Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught my [brothers and sisters] in an inescapable network of mutuality, we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Judah took responsibility for his role in a fellow human being relegated to the fringes of society. The question of the morning is: Will you?
To God be the Glory!
Amen.
Works Cited:
King, Martin Luther Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Harper & Row Publishers, San Francisco, Ca, 1986.
NSRV:
Genesis 38 1-30
Luke 16
Matthew 25: 31-46
Matthew 1:3