Genesis 38:12-26 - Homiletics

Judah's sin with Tamar.

I. COMMITTED .

1. Suddenly . It was occasioned by the sight of a supposed courtesan. Much evil enters by the eye (cf. 2 Samuel 11:2 ). Great need for the prayer of David ( Psalms 119:37 ).

2. Openly . Judah was in the company of Hirah, his friend, when he beheld Tamar sitting in the gate of Enajim, and, without attempting to hide it from his friend, went to seek her society. Shamelessness in sin betokens great depravity.

3. Willfully . Though in a manner surprised by the temptation, Judah was not inadvertently betrayed into commission of his sin with Tamar, but, on the contrary, went about it in a remarkably deliberate manner.

4. Inexcusably . There was no reason why Judah should not have sought a second wife to succeed Shuah's daughter, rather than consort with prostitutes.

II. DETECTED .

1. Quickly . No doubt Judah thought he had heard the last of his indiscretion on the way to Timnath; but lo I in three short months his guilt is discovered. Not every offender is so speedily arrested; but sooner or later detection is inevitable for all. "Be sure thy sin will find thee out."

2. Unexpectedly . Judah never imagined that his own signet, and chain, and staff would be produced as witnesses against him; and criminals never can be sure from what quarter testimony shall arise to condemn them.

3. Completely . There was no possibility of Judah's evading the charge of Tamar. By no sort of ingenuity could he repudiate the articles of dress with which probably his household were familiar.

4. Publicly . At the very moment when Tamar was produced for execution Judah was obliged to confess his guilt in presence of his assembled household; and in like manner will the wicked yet be openly convicted in the sight of an assembled world.

III. CONFESSED .

1. Candidly . Found out, Judah did not attempt either to deny or to palliate his guilt, but frankly acknowledged that Tamar's condition was due to him.

2. Promptly . Nor did he hesitate to own his guilt, but immediately confessed what he had done.

3. Penitently . This we may infer from the statement of the historian that the offence was not again repeated.

IV. FORGIVEN . It does not fall within the scope of the historian's design to indicate whether Judah obtained mercy; but this may be reasonably concluded from—

1. The promptness of his confession .

2. The sincerity of his penitence .

3. The reality of his faith

— as evinced by the fact that he was reckoned among the ancestors of our Lord.