City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; and moreover she is with child by harlotry.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Mark, I pray you, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not lie with her again. 27 When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb. 28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a scarlet thread, saying, “This came out first.” 29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out; and she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Zerah.

Genesis 38:24-30

³ and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,

Matthew 1:3 (ESV)

Reflection

Hypocrisy is a nasty business. Jesus had strong words for the religious leaders with whom He was dealing because of their hypocrisy. See Matthew 23:25.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Here, Judah had been cavorting with a woman he thought was a prostitute but was actually his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Then when Judah was told Tamar had “played the harlot,” he ordered that she be brought out and burned. Fortunately, he relented before Tamar was executed.

Judah’s hypocrisy is a condition that runs deeper than mere patriarchal misogyny; it’s a congenital condition of fallen man (which includes women). We’ve all been guilty of it, at one time or another, to different degrees. Have you ever gestured angrily when someone refused to let you merge before them into a lane of traffic and then tried to cut in yourself before someone else? Of course, we console ourselves with reasons like, “I really need to get home,” or “He should have merged before trying to get ahead of me.” As it has been said, we judge others by their conduct but we judge ourselves by our motives, which, frankly, is just another example of hypocrisy.

Application

There is some good news here, though. It has been said that “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.” When people no longer get angry about hypocrisy, we will have crossed a line. As long as we recognize there is a standard, there is hope for us.

The other bit of good news is that we serve a merciful and redemptive God. Tamar gave birth to twins, and it was through one of those twins, Perez, that the lineage of Jesus would be traced (See Matthew 1:3). I can only imagine that the Lord in His sovereignty established Jesus’ lineage in this manner as a conspicuous reminder that God can use anyone to achieve His purposes. God is indeed redemptive.

Prayer

Lord, please show me any hypocrisy in my life so that I may repent and better represent Your character to others. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.