Genesis 38:24 – 30
About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.” 26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again. 27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.
In the middle of Joseph’s story, between when he was sold into slavery until he became a leader second only to Pharaoh in power, is the story we read today! It seems like it’s out of nowhere, and makes you think, “Why in the world is this here?” Remember, we serve the God who connects-the-dots! God took this one, seemingly hurtful (to Tamar) and sinful Judah event, and turned it into something beautiful and eternity-changing.
This one “out of place” event in one obscure “out of place” chapter amazingly shows up again in Matthew 1:1-3:
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah...
2Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron…
God’s omnipotence is witnessed in His unique ability to redeem those seemingly broken and useless and turning them back into something eternally valuable and useful. Tamar would never know that God redeemed her “dot” into the lineage of the Messiah!
No matter who you are and what you’ve done, God sees you and will redeem your story for His glory – just give it to Him!