One Of The Most Unusual Stories

February 17, 2010 — Craig T. Owens

There is one of the most unusual stories inserted in Genesis 38. I say “inserted” because it almost seems out of place. In chapter 37, Joseph’s brothers have just sold him into slavery and convinced their Dad that a wild animal killed him. In chapter 39, we pick up Joseph’s story again as he arrives in Egypt.

Genesis 38 has a story that doesn’t fit in Joseph’s story. It’s sort of a giant parenthesis. Not only that, it’s a story of mistake after error after mess up after bad judgment after more mistakes.

Judah, an older brother of Joseph, came up with the idea of selling him instead of killing him. Perhaps being around his co-conspirators was too difficult for him, so Judah left town.

  • Mistake #1: not dealing with his guilt and sin, but running away from it.

Judah married a Canaanite woman.

  • Mistake #2: inter-marrying with a non-God-fearing culture.

Judah gave his son Er in marriage to Tamar.

  • Mistake #3: allowing his son to inter-marry with the Canaanites too.

Er sinned. The Bible doesn’t say what it was, but it was so offensive that God put him to death.

  • Mistake #4: sin against God.

Onan (Judah’s second son) sinned. He had a familial responsibility to his brother and sister-in-law’s family line, but he snubbed them both.

  • Mistake #5: more sin against God.
  • Mistake #6: disregard for family.

Judah promised Shelah (his third son) to Tamar. But he procrastinated in following through on that because he thought Tamar was a black widow.

  • Mistake #7: deception.

Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and waited along the road for Judah.

  • Mistake #8: more deception.

Judah slept with his daughter-in-law Tamar (yuck!), thinking she was a prostitute.

  • Mistake #9: fornication.
  • Mistake #10: incest.

Tamar became pregnant, and Judah wanted to have her publically punished for her infidelity.

  • Mistake #11: hypocrisy.

That’s a whole lot of sin and error and lapses in judgment and mistakes for just one family. What a mess this family had become! So, why in the world is this story inserted here? Because Tamar had twins: Perez and Zerah. In listing the royal, kingly genealogy of Jesus, Matthew writes…

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

Perez is listed in the genealogy of Jesus. God took all of those mistakes and made something great come from it!

It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you’ve made. It doesn’t matter how many times you think you’ve blown it. It doesn’t matter how many lapses in judgment you’ve had. God still has a plan for you. He wants to do something great through you. Will you let Him?

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Soap Opera Drift

May 18, 2009 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Disclaimer: My aggregate soap opera viewing time for my entire life is about 52 minutes, but I still think I know what I’m talking about <grin!>.

Soap operas are usually pretty predictable. If you’ve watched them for even a short time it’s not hard to figure out who’s who and what’s what. In fact, the plot lines are typically so predictable that you can stop watching a particular soap opera for months—or even years—and when you tune in again it will only take a day or so to once again know who’s who and what’s what.

One of the main reasons for this is the simplicity of the plot lines. There are three types of characters: good guys, bad guys, and wishy-washy guys that are swayed by the good guys or bad guys.

We applaud when the good guys win and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. We groan when the good guys get unfairly treated and the bad guys seem to get away with their badness. If we could give advice to the soap opera characters it would be pretty straightforward: “If you’re a good guy, we’ll cheer for you!”

But here’s the problem: it’s becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between the good guys and bad guys. It seems like more of them fall into the wishy-washy category. Over time, the characters have become mostly good but can be swayed to take revenge or cut corners. Or they’re mostly bad but still have a soft place in their heart to help the little orphan child.

There are very few really good guys left.

There’s a drift from good to mostly good. But mostly good is only one step away from mostly bad. And only one more step from mostly bad to just-plain-bad.

I’ve been reading through the soap opera history of the kings of Israel and Judah. Like our modern soap operas there are three types of kings: (a) the good kings did what was right in God’s eyes; (b) the bad kings did what was evil in the God’s eyes; and (c) the wishy-washy kings usually did what was right but had a “however” attached to their reign.

Unfortunately, most of the good kings tended to drift from good to mostly good, and eventually to mostly bad. The drift continued each generation toward mostly bad until God was hard-pressed to find any king who wasn’t bad. How sad: God’s blessing was right there for any good king to claim, but they kept drifting away!

Drifting happens so easily, which is why we have to be so diligent.

     You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by GOD. You’re blessed when you follow His directions, doing your best to find Him. That’s right—you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road He set. You, GOD, prescribed the right way to live; now You expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course You set; then I’d never have any regrets in comparing my life with Your counsel. I thank You for speaking straight from Your heart; I learn the pattern of Your righteous ways. (Psalm 119:1-7, The Message paraphrase)

Just like those soap opera characters or soap opera kings, we can get some pretty straightforward advice from the Bible: “If you stay on course, walk straight along the road God set for you, He will bless your life.”

Don’t drift.

Don’t settle for mostly good.

Don’t assume you’re doing right in God’s eyes; KNOW that you’re doing right in God’s eyes by following His Word.

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No Cowardly Lions, Please

December 18, 2008 — Craig T. Owens

cowardly-lion2

When Jacob was blessing his sons (Genesis 49) he called Judah a lion’s cub. From that time on the men of Judah were known as skilled and fearsome warriors. Years later The Lion of Judah, Jesus, would come from this noble tribe.

But during the time when the judges ruled Israel, Judah and all of Israel “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Judges 13:1), and “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

As a result, the mighty lions of Judah became the cowardly lions.

Samson is a well-known judge. He is known for his single-handed exploits against Israel’s enemies. As a result of his victories against them, the Philistines moved into Judah’s territory arrayed for battle.

In response, the mighty lions of Judah muster a force of 3000 warriors. This should look good to the warriors of Judah, since the Philistines came to the battlefield with just 1000 warriors—after all, 3-to-1 seems like good odds.

But instead, the cowardly lions of Judah decided to take all 3000 warriors to confront just one man: Samson. They went to him in the cave where he was staying, not to ask him to join them in battle against the Philistines, but to ask him to surrender to the Philistines.

Samson agreed.

But when the Philistines approached Samson “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson” (Judges 15:14). He picked up a donkey’s jawbone and killed all 1000 Philistines. And when they saw God’s power at work in Samson, the mighty lions of Judah jumped into the fray all around Samson!

Uh, actually, no, they didn’t.

The cowardly lions of Judah were nowhere to be found. When Samson had finished with the Philistines, there was not even one lion of Judah around to give him a drink!

They all ran away.

It’s amazing to see what the Spirit of God does for someone. God’s presence in Samson gave him victory when the odds were 1000-to-1 against him. The lack of God’s presence in the lions of Judah made them cowardly lions even when they had a 3-to-1 advantage and had Samson on their side.

“When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. … For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and He will give you victory!” (Deuteronomy 20:1, 4)

Don’t try to go to battle on your own. Even if you think you’re a mighty lion, you will end up like the Cowardly Lion if God doesn’t go with you.

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