Deuteronomy 8: Thanksgiving Day

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 08 October 2023 and 09 October 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the 2023 version, to view the earlier version click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/10/deuteronomy-83-20-and-psalm-100.html

  

Deuteronomy 8 reminds us of an important truth that, Verse 3, because He loves us, God hungers us blessing us to rely on Him but, 8:10-11, as we enter times of abundance we must give thanks to the Lord because, 8:19-20, forgetting the Lord will result in our destruction.

 

    The book of Deuteronomy here records the time after the Hebrews had fled Egypt and before they reached Canaan. They had only what they could carry and – as they were nomadic – obviously, no farms to grow food, no permanent water source or anything like that. They were hundreds, thousands or even more people without a permanent home wandering around the desert.

 

    As the Hebrews followed God around the desert like this, He provided for them. Even their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell during this time. God provided for them when they had nothing. God provided for them. Deuteronomy 8:15,16:

 

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

 

    Even though one generation of Israelites was faithless upon leaving Egypt their actions did not nullify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3,4) who provided this desert experience as a means to their salvation. The next generation, who was born in the desert, learned to rely on God in their time of real need and God provided for them in the desert. God, through Moses and then Joshua, reminded the people not to forget this: in the desert God and God alone provided for them, preparing them to receive the Promised Land.

 

    But alas, as God warned them, these times of relying on God passed when the people acquired stability, income, relative ease and apparent self-sufficiency. They didn't think they needed Him once they settled in their promised land so they left Him and then they didn't have Him. And so when life's hard hand dealt them their blows they turned to look for God's protection but they had turned their backs, walked away and left Him behind. God didn't leave them. They left Him. They exchanged the safety of God's love for the death of wealth and the myth of self-sufficiency.

 

    In our country too: Canada was arguably founded on the Word of God: notably Psalm 72:8: that is from where our old name came – when I was growing up this country was called the Dominion of Canada; Canada Day used to be called Dominion Day. We used to have the Lord's Prayer in Parliament and Gideon Bibles in the schools. Now we don't seem to think we need or want Him anymore.

 

    This is sad but there is some good news. There is still time to return to our Lord. As long as we exist as a nation there is still the opportunity for our nation to return to acknowledging God. Now I am not pretending that Canadians of the ‘olden days’ were better than today. We made mistakes then, like we do now. We are making improvements and we are making some serious errors. We are just people after all. The key is whether we try to serve the Lord or not. He loves us and wants us on His team, as part of His family. Maybe our country as a whole never will be. We, as Christians, however, should do our best to help build God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven, to help bring people into the family of God’s love and support. We can do this by continuing to serve God by taking care of our neighbour as well as reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer with God and, of course, also sharing about the blessings of doing all these things with others so they can experience it as well. God loves us and as such He wants us all to be part of His Dominion. As long as we exist it is not too late: we can all and each still return to the Lord.

 

    We know that Israel's Messiah did eventually come, even after all the unfaithfulness. Jesus is their and our Messiah. Jesus was born, died, and rose from the grave. And we know that Jesus will come back too and he will reign forever not only as King of the Jews but also as King of the whole world (cf. TSA doc. 6). When he does, will he find that we are walking with him or that we have walked away from Him and His Kingdom?

 

    There is a children’s book, Thanksgiving Day in Canada – it is a favourite book of mine. I have quoted it quite often for many years when speaking about Thanksgiving in Canada – my children all know the book very well too. As I have shared from the pulpit here on a previous Thanksgivings, the other year I found out something very interesting. You know that Susan, the kids and I lived and worked in Toronto prior to being posted here. We were the Officers responsible for The Salvation Army`s Warehouse Mission as well as 614 in downtown Toronto. One year during our time there, with Thanksgiving coming up, I happened to be speaking with our worship leader, Krys Lewicki, about the book and it turns out that he wrote that book (it was promoted by CBC as part of Canada`s 125 anniversary). Krys also wrote a Thanksgiving song that is in that book that we sang earlier and will probably sing again before we leave. About Thanksgiving, from the book:

 

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week. Another reason for Canadian Thanksgiving arriving earlier than its American counterpart is that Canada is geographically further north than the United States, causing the Canadian harvest season to arrive earlier than the American harvest season. And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks to the Lord for the harvest season than the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October.

 

    In this day and age of the Holy being replaced by the secular in so much of our society, it is a good encouragement to each of us as individuals and as the Lord’s children here to remember that even our Parliament once declared Thanksgiving as "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

 

     Please this weekend let us remember not only to be thankful but to be thankful to God; and with all else that we are indeed thankful for let us not neglect our gratitude for the harvest that the farmers have reaped this year and all those who the Lord will and does provide for through that.

 

    This weekend and this day let us remember to offer thanksgiving to Almighty God for all else and for the bountiful harvest with which we have been blessed.

 

Let us pray.

 

 

www.sheepspeak.com

www.facebook.com/salvogesis

Deuteronomy 8 & Psalm 100: Thanksgiving Day

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 09 October 2022 and 08 October 2023, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the original 2022 version; to view the 2023 version, click here:

 https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2023/10/deuteronomy-8-thanksgiving-day.html

  

Deuteronomy 8 reminds us of an important truth that, Verse 3, because He loves us, God hungers us blessing us to rely on Him but, 8:10-11, as we enter times of abundance we must give thanks to the Lord because, 8:19-20, forgetting the Lord will result in our destruction.

 

The book of Deuteronomy here records the time after the Hebrews had fled Egypt and before they reached Canaan. They had only what they could carry and – as they were nomadic – obviously, no farms to grow food, no permanent water source or anything like that. They were hundreds, thousands or even more people without a permanent home wandering around the desert.

 

As the Hebrews followed God around the desert like this, He provided for them. Even their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell during this time. God provided for them; when they had nothing God provided for them. Deuteronomy 8:15,16:

 

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

 

Even though one generation of Israelites was faithless upon leaving Egypt their actions did not nullify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3,4) who provided this desert experience as a means to their salvation. The next generation, who was born in the desert, learned to rely on God in their time of real need and God provided for them in the desert. God, through Moses and then Joshua, reminded the people not to forget this: in the desert God and God alone provided for them, preparing them to receive the Promised Land.

 

But alas, as God warned them, these times of relying on God passed when the people acquired stability, income, relative ease and apparent self-sufficiency. They didn't think they needed Him once they settled in their promised land so they left Him and then they didn't have Him. And so when life's hard hand dealt them their blows they turned to look for God's protection but they had turned their backs, walked away and left Him behind. God didn't leave them. They left Him. They exchanged the safety of God's love for the death of wealth and the myth of self-sufficiency.

 

In our country too: Canada was founded on the Word of God: notably Psalm 72:8: that is from where our old name came – when I was growing up this country was called the Dominion of Canada; Canada Day used to be called Dominion Day. We used to have the Lord's Prayer in Parliament and Gideon Bibles in the schools. Now we don't seem to think we need or want Him anymore.

 

This is sad but there is some good news. There is still time to return to our Lord. As long as we exist as a nation there is still the opportunity for our nation to return to God. We, as Christians, should do our best to help build God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven. We can do this by continuing to serve God by taking care of our neighbour as well as reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer with God and, of course, also sharing about the blessings of doing all these things with others so they can experience it as well. God loves us and as such He wants us all to be part of His Dominion. As long as we exist it is not too late: we can all and each still return to the Lord.

 

We know that Israel's Messiah did eventually come, even after all the unfaithfulness. Jesus is their and our Messiah. Jesus was born, died, and rose from the grave. And we know that Jesus will come back too and he will reign forever not only as King of the Jews but also as King of the whole world (cf. TSA doc. 6).

 

When he does, will he find that we are walking with him or that we have walked away from him and his Kingdom?

 

There is a children`s book, Thanksgiving Day in Canada – it is a favourite book of mine. I have quoted it quite often for many years when speaking about Thanksgiving in Canada – my children all know the book very well too. As I have shared from the pulpit here on a previous Thanksgivings, the other year I found out something very interesting. You know that Susan, the kids and I lived and worked in Toronto prior to being posted here. We were the Officers responsible for The Salvation Army`s Warehouse Mission as well as 614 in downtown Toronto. One year during our time there, with Thanksgiving coming up, I happened to be speaking with our worship leader, Krys Lewicki, about the book and it turns out that he wrote that book (it was promoted by CBC as part of Canada`s 125 anniversary). Krys also wrote a Thanksgiving song that is in that book that we sang earlier and will probably sing again before we leave. About Thanksgiving, from the book:

 

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

 

For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

 

Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week. Another reason for Canadian Thanksgiving arriving earlier than its American counterpart is that Canada is geographically further north than the United States, causing the Canadian harvest season to arrive earlier than the American harvest season. And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks to the Lord for the harvest season than the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October.

 

In this day and age of the Holy being replaced by the secular in so much of our society, it is good to remember that Parliament itself has declared Thanksgiving as "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

 

Please this weekend let us remember not only to be thankful but to be thankful to God; and with all else that we are indeed thankful for let us not neglect our gratitude for the harvest that the farmers have reaped this year and all those who the Lord will and does provide for through that.

 

This weekend and this day let us remember to offer thanksgiving to Almighty God for all else and for the bountiful harvest with which we have been blessed.

 

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

 

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Thanksgiving: The Secret to Survival (Philippians 4:4-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:17)

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 12 October 2021 (Thanksgiving) by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

Today is Thanksgiving Sunday. Thanksgiving in Canada is to a “day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” [1] When we were on the prairies, this took on a whole new meaning to me. We came to know a little more what was meant by planting season and harvesting season and we could even tell you what kind of combine you were driving based on the colour of the vehicle. Thanksgiving for the harvest was a real part of life.

 

            Today, in the context of what is going on in the world and in the Army, I want to spend a little bit of time chatting about the power of a spirit of thanksgiving in our lives. It really is something that God can use to get us through even the darkest of times. This is what a spirit of thanksgiving looks like:

 

• Philippians 4:4-7: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
• Ephesians 5:19-20: Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Colossians 3:17: And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

For those of us who were here last week, I shared a lot of the anguish and personal struggles that I am still having relating to Covid-19, Vaccine Mandates, The Salvation Army, my responsibilities to God, the Army, and the people under my care.[3] There is more as well.

 

            The previous few weeks have been tough and I know that the past year and a bit has been tough on a lot of people. Orange shirt day the other week was very significant. We marked the truth of a very real tragedy.

 

            The pandemic is not seemingly getting any better. It is still here. People are getting sick. People are dying. People are being discriminated against. People are being persecuted. Community is being destroyed. People are being laid off.

 

There are people who may need to be laid off, put on leave or even fired here. Employees and volunteers are not around. I can’t even hire the people I need to hire now. In some cases people can’t afford to work. I know of one person who is not working because in order to be able to afford dental, he needs to be on social assistance. He is being removed from being able to contribute to the work force, to society as an employee. I know others who simply because they are unable to be vaccinated are being removed from community in that same very way.

 

The debt that our country has acquired during this plague is beyond what can be even understood in terms of trying to pay it back – and the basic needs we will have to go without in the future if that is ever going to happen is terrifying.

 

Violence is really bad both in word and in deed in our world. Social media hate is choking so many people. And hearing from people who live in the US, I get the impression that the violence is so out-of-control down there that it is dangerous to even be outside in the evenings in many of their metropolitan areas.

 

The opioid crisis in BC and Port Alberni is beyond comprehension. I can go on. I won’t. We all know these are scary times. The question is, in these scary, difficult times, how can we get through it? How can we survive?

 

            In these scary times God, through Paul’s letters offers us some ways we can get through this. Paul talks about a spirit of thanksgiving and rejoicing. He offers us this council about how to get through tough times. He says, among other things:

 

• Rejoice always,  
• pray continually,
• Let your gentleness be evident to all
• give thanks in all circumstances.

 

REJOICE ALWAYS

The first secret to surviving difficult times is to rejoice always. If we can find something to rejoice in each day and if we can focus upon that rather than on all the things pulling us down, our spirit we be lifted up and we can get through it.

 

PRAY CONTINUALLY

Another vital key to survival is prayer. Prayer is extremely important. I can’t tell you the number of people I have had the chance to pray with in this last little while: people who are missing loved ones; people who have lost loved ones; people who are concerned about serious health issues - and then there are those who have come to me in much anguish and tears due to discrimination and persecution for their beliefs and -of course, as we are in a pandemic – there are those as well who are afraid for their lives. I thank all those who have been praying for me as well. With all the things that I have had on my heart and mind, I certainly need it. Prayer is vital to survival. As we pray together, we are joined to God with one another in a bond as strength. Let us not stop praying for one another together.

 

BE GENTLE

That brings us to another very important part of living with a spirit of thanksgiving that is key to surviving our struggles in community and even in the Church and that is to be gentle with one another. This can be difficult. By common consent, we are a divided people right now. Name your issue, people are polarized. People are upset. People are angry. People are afraid. Watch the different news channels, scroll through social media. Society is divided. The church is divided. Even clergy and Officers in our own Salvation Army are divided.

 

 I have prayed many times with my colleagues over the previous couple of weeks – more than ever before. Because of this, relating to one issue (Covid-19 and vaccine mandates) in particular, one Officer has recently arranged the opportunity for all of the Officers in BC to come together in a prayer zoom meeting this upcoming week. I hope we do. Prayer is so important – but there have already been some apparently snarky, seemingly self-righteous responses to even that invitation to prayer. This is tragedy. Officers, spiritual leaders we need to be gentle with one another; congregation members, we need to be gentle with one another; staff members, we need to be gentle with one another; family members, we need to be gentle with one another; friends and social media friends, we need to be gentle with one another if we hope to survive. We need to be gentle with one another. We need to be thankful for one another. We need to be thankful for what God is doing through each and everyone of us.

 

BE THANKFUL

The spirit of thankfulness. This spirit of Thanksgiving is so important to our very survival. When everything around us seems to be crashing down and everyone seems to be unkind and violent in thought, word, and deed; it is imperative that we find what is right and thank God for that!  If we only focus on all the trials and tribulations around us, we will be swallowed up by them. If we just look at the storms of life, we will miss the lifeboat. Mark my words, my friends, the chaos of our world is a turbulent as a storm at sea. You or I may even have been tossed overboard and maybe we are gasping for air trying to survive. If we just focus on the waves of all that is going wrong that is all we will see.

 

If we, however quickly, scan the horizon looking for the things God is sending us that can pull us through, we will be okay. Look around: see the miracles that are happening on a daily basis; see the people God is using for good in the world; notice how He is using you and others to help people; It is only when we look for and focus on the good things that God as provided for our salvation that we can grab a hold of them. This is what will create in us a thankful heart and a joyful spirit, this is what will make it so that we don’t need to be anxious in anything.

 

On this Thanksgiving Day in Canada, I would like to encourage us to look around for the things we can be thankful for, the ways that God is seeing us through the storm and thank Him for them. For if we can thank the Lord for what He is doing in those beside us while the whole world seems to be in chaos, if we can thank the Lord for the daily miracles that we see, if we can thank the Lord for each other and what the Lord is doing through each and every one of us than we might just get through this.

 

Let us pray

 [1] Quote from an act of the Canadian parliament 31 January 1957

BENEDICTION:

Philippians 4:4-7: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

www.sheepspeak.com

www.facebook.com/salvogesis

Deuteronomy 8:10: Thanks for Abundance!

Presented to River Street Cafe, 29 January 2018 by Michael Ramsay

Read Deuteronomy 8:3-20

Deuteronomy 8 reminds us of an important truth that, 8:3, because He loves us, God hungers us causing us to rely on Him but, 8:10-11, as we enter times of abundance we must give thanks to the Lord because, 8:19-20, forgetting the Lord will result in our destruction

As the Hebrews followed God around the desert, He provided for them. Even their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell during this time. God provided for them; when they had nothing God provided for them. Deuteronomy 8:15,16:

He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

Even though one generation of Israelites was faithless upon leaving Egypt that did not nullify the faithfulness of God (Romans 3:3,4) who provided this desert experience as a means to their salvation. God, through Moses, reminded the people not to forget this: in the desert God and God alone provided for them, preparing them to receive this Promised Land. 

Alas, as God warned them, these times of relying on God passed when the people acquired stability, income, relative ease and apparent self-sufficiency. They didn't think they needed Him once they settled in their promised land so they left Him and then they didn't have Him. And so when life's hard hand dealt them their blows they turned to look for God's protection but they had turned their backs, walked away and left Him behind. God didn't leave them. They left Him. They exchanged the safety of God's love for the death of wealth and the myth of self-sufficiency. 

In our country too: Canada was founded on the Word of God (Psalm 72); we used to have the Lord's Prayer in Parliament and Gideon Bibles in the schools. Now we don't seem to think we need Him anymore.

This is sad but there is some good news. There is still time to return to our Lord. As long as we exist as a nation there is still the opportunity for our nation to return to God. We, as Christians, should do our best to help build God’s Kingdom here as it is in heaven. As long as we exist it is not too late: we can still return to the Lord.

We know that  Israel's Messiah did eventually come, even after all the unfaithfulness. Jesus is their and our Messiah. Jesus was born, died, and rose from the grave. And we know that Jesus will come back too and he will reign forever not only as King of the Jews but also as King of the whole world (cf. TSA doc. 6).

When he does, will he find that we are walking with him or that we have walked away from him and his Kingdom?

A Salvogesis original (February 01, 2018)

More daily Salvogesis blogs at

https://salvogesis.blogspot.ca/

Devotion 2.24/76: Psalm 100:4: Canadian Thanksgiving

Presented to Riverside Cafe 07 October 2016

Read Psalm 100

There is a children`s book, Thanksgiving Day in Canada - I hope to remember to bring it Sunday. I have quoted it quite often for many years when speaking about Thanksgiving in Canada – my children all know the book very well too. This year I found out something very interesting. You know that Susan and I are responsible for The Salvation Army`s Warehouse Mission now as well as 614 here. With Thanksgiving coming up I happened to be speaking with the worship leader, Krys Lewicki, there about the book and it turns out that he wrote that book (it was promoted by CBC as part of Canada`s 125 anniversary). Krys also wrote a Thanksgiving song that is in that book that we will hear on Sunday as he will be helping lead us in worship here. From the book:

The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are more closely connected to the traditions of Europe than of the United States. Long before Europeans settled in North America, festivals of thanks and celebrations of harvest took place in Europe in the month of October. The very first Thanksgiving celebration in North America took place in Canada when Martin Frobisher, an explorer from England, arrived in Newfoundland in 1578. He wanted to give thanks for his safe arrival to the New World. That means the first Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated 43 years before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

For a few hundred years, Thanksgiving was celebrated in either late October or early November, before it was declared a national holiday in 1879. It was then, that November 6th was set aside as the official Thanksgiving holiday. But then on January 31, 1957, Canadian Parliament announced that on the second Monday in October, Thanksgiving would be "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Thanksgiving was moved to the second Monday in October because after the World Wars, Remembrance Day (November 11th) and Thanksgiving kept falling in the same week. Another reason for Canadian Thanksgiving arriving earlier than its American counterpart is that Canada is geographically further north than the United States, causing the Canadian harvest season to arrive earlier than the American harvest season. And since Thanksgiving for Canadians is more about giving thanks to the Lord for the harvest season than the arrival of pilgrims, it makes sense to celebrate the holiday in October.

In this day and age of the Holy being replaced by the secular so much in our society, it is good to remember that Parliament itself has declared this upcoming Thanksgiving as "a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed."

Please this weekend let us remember not only to be thankful but to be thankful to God; and with all else that we are indeed thankful for let us not neglect our gratitude for the harvest that the farmers have reaped this year and all those who the Lord will and does provide for through that.

This weekend and this day let us remember to offer thanksgiving to almighty God for all else and for the bountiful harvest with which we have been blessed.

Genesis 38&49: Judah's Family

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 Oct. 2013
Presented to 614 & Warehouse in Toronto, 16 Oct. 2016

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries 04 October 2020

By Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the 2016 version. The original is available on-line here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/10/thanksgiving-at-judahs-house.html 

To view the Alberni Valley 2020 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2020/10/reading-genesis-38-on-mmiw-day.html

 

  

We just had Thanksgiving. This often a time for families to get together. In most homes in this country they had a Thanksgiving turkey. Now, everyone in my house is a vegetarian but even so I tell you I probably was blessed to have had as much turkey as anyone this past Thanksgiving. First we had turkey at the Argos dinner at Harbour Light then we had turkey at the great combined service between Warehouse and 614. This past week we had another great Turkey meal in the café. And on Thanksgiving Monday, Susan made me a Turkey to go along with the girls’ vegetarian dishes. It was great. Thanksgiving is often a time for families to gather together over turkey, so today we are going to look a family of turkeys or people who are seemingly acting like turkeys.

Today we are looking at Judah and Tamar. Does anyone know who are Judah and Tamar? First, who is Judah?Who was Judah’s father? (Jacob). God changed Jacob’s name; to what did He change his name? (Israel). All of the tribes of Israel are descended from and named after the sons of Israel. Judah is the ancestor of one whole tribe of Israel.

The tribe of Judah even becomes the dominant tribe of all the tribes of Israel and long after Israel ceases to exist as a country, the Kingdom of Judah remains. This is interesting. All of this happens with Judah becoming the dominant tribe because Judah in our text is the person to receive the blessing of the birthright.

Who in theory is supposed to receive a birthright; which child? Who is the heir? The oldest son, right? The interesting part here is that not only is Judah not the oldest son, Judah is not even the second oldest son. Now, not only is Judah not the even second oldest son but Judah is also not even the third oldest son. On Thanksgiving Day, if they had Thanksgiving Day then and there, Judah could have been very thankful for his birthright because Judah receives the birthright usually received for the oldest brother and he is the fourth oldest brother. He has three older brothers who had to be disqualified for him to receive the birthright and that blessing. Let’s look at that - how his older brothers disqualified themselves from the birthright and then let’s look a little more into who exactly is this person Judah.

Genesis 49 gives us a bit of an insight into what is going on in Judah’s family. This portion of scripture records Jacob blessing his sons before he dies. These are Israel’s famous last words to his sons. Genesis 49:1-4 tells us a little bit about Ruben, Judah’s oldest brother and why he doesn’t receive the blessing of the birthright:

49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;

listen to your father Israel.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my might, the first sign of my strength,

excelling in honour, excelling in power.

4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,

for you went up onto your father’s bed,

onto my couch and defiled it.

Jacob, says to his oldest son, who is the naturally expected heir to this birthright; Jacob says, Verse 4, “You will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” Do you know that story? (Israel’s is an interesting family.) Genesis 35:22 records that Reuben lay with Bilhah. Bilhah is his father’s concubine; Bilhah is not only his father’s concubine, Bilhah is his brothers’ mother. Reuben has sexual relations with his brothers’ - Dan and Naphtali - mom. For this his birthright understandably passes down to the second oldest son: Simeon. But Simeon and Levi (the 3^rd eldest) are just as much turkeys as their older brother; these next two sons also disqualify themselves from the blessing of the birthright. Gen 49:5-7:

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers—

their swords  are weapons of violence.

6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly,

for they have killed men in their anger

and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.

7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel!

I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

This ‘blessing’ upon Simeon and Levi - when their dad is on his deathbed – this blessing where their father declares, “let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly for they have killed men in anger” is rather sharp, to say the least! Do you know what this is about? Genesis 34 records that their sister by the same mom is raped. The man who rapes her, Shechem, repentant, comes afterwards with his dad and asks to have her hand in marriage. Israel agrees but his sons say that all the men of Shechem’s people must be circumcised for this to happen. They agreed and they all become circumcised. Then, while they were all at the height of their pain from being circumcised, Simeon and Levi – these two older brothers - sneak into their camp and kill all the men and take all the women and all their children and more as plunder. As a result of this, Simeon and Levi lose their claim to the birthright and their descendants - the whole tribe of Levi is not given any territory (other than Levite cities) and the whole tribe of Simeon is swallowed up in the tribe of Judah.

The rest of Chapter 49 speaks about the rest of Judah’s brothers. He has quite a large family, probably as many as gathered around Thanksgiving tables this past week across our country. Judah has 11 brothers and an unknown number of sisters and nephews and nieces.

One of Judah’s youngest brothers we know fairly well. Do we know who was Judah’s second youngest brother? His father’s favourite son? (Joseph). We remember the stories of Joseph from the Bible (Gen 37-50). How highly did Judah and the rest of Joseph’s brothers think of Joseph growing up? (Not very!) Remember Joseph has all these dreams about his brothers bowing down to him? (Gen 37:5-11) Remember that his dad flaunts his favouritism and even buys him that coat of many colours and remember how Joseph’s brothers respond to all of this (Gen 37:1-36). They take him and throw him into a well and then at Judah’s recommendation, they sell Joseph as a slave. It is Judah’s idea to sell his little brother into slavery (Gen 37:26-27). That act itself might make one wonder why Judah doesn’t lose his birthright like his older brothers. But he doesn’t

Judah later does redeem himself. Do we remember the end of the Joseph story? The years pass and Joseph is now the one with all the power; he rises to second in command of the regional superpower (Gen 41:37ff.). Joseph is a ruler of Egypt. Joseph then has one of his brothers – Simeon, who comes to him looking for food – put in prison for an indefinite period of time (Gen 42:24). The other brothers later return and Joseph frames one of them for a crime he didn’t commit and is about to throw him in jail, when Judah steps up (Gen 44:18ff.). His brothers can be thankful for Judah. Judah is the one who negotiates freedom for his brothers and Judah is the one God uses to tip Joseph’s hand into revealing his identity and forgiving and providing for his brothers and their families for generations to come. Judah shows here that he is the leader among his brothers. Judah shows that he is a solid choice to inherit the birthright. This brings us back to our story today.

Thanksgiving often sees family gathering from all over the country and here we have an interesting tale about Judah travelling and getting together with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Tamar isn’t probably an Israelite. Tamar is probably a Canaanite, like Rahab whom we met a couple of weeks ago.[1] We remember from the story of Noah that the Canaanites are cursed for generations for the sins of their father, Ham (Gen 9:25-29). Judah’s son then marries a cursed Canaanite woman – which is later prohibited - and then he dies before he has any children.[2]

Do we understand what is going on in this story with the brothers? In Israel in those days, territorial inheritance was very important and so was having a son to inherit that property. Because of this they had a rule that if a son died without an heir then his younger brother was supposed to have relations with his widow and then the child that results from that would be the heir for his brother. That way the older brother would have an heir and his descendants would not lose their claim to a part of Israel. Judah cooperates with this rule and Judah gives his second son to Tamar, the widow of his first son. Judah’s second son however stands to inherit all of his brother’s inheritance if he doesn’t produce an heir; so instead of impregnating Tamar, he uses ‘protection’ of sorts. He doesn’t complete the job. This makes God mad because Onan was not only hurting Er, his deceased brother, but he was also hurting Tamar, his brother’s widow, and he was hurting Judah, his father, and he was hurting his whole family’s inheritance.[3] God takes Onan’s life. So now Judah has lost his two oldest sons and his eldest son’s widow Tamar is still without an heir for the family.

In that place and at that time there was probably not a more vulnerable person in society than a childless widow – especially since she was a foreigner. A widow without a child has no one to care for her and Judah, while Tamar is in this state, Judah sends his daughter-in-law away. He says that his youngest son is far too young for her and he sends Tamar away without providing the heir that he must provide. Judah puts himself before the command to provide an heir for his son and Judah puts himself before the command to look after the widow in his own household.

Judah sends her away. He doesn’t seem to concern himself with her again. His youngest child grows up and he never fulfils the obligation to give him to Tamar or to invite Tamar back into his clan where she belongs.

Tamar, who is being the good widow at this point, even though she has been sent away, she has still been faithfully living in seclusion while wearing her widow’s clothing. She then hears that her father-in-law is coming to town so she puts on some nice clothes and goes to meet him. Judah sees her and he mistakes her for a prostitute. Here is an opportunity that appears. Judah owes her a son and Judah thinks she’s a prostitute. Judah decides that he wants to use her services but he doesn’t have any money; so Tamar – thinking on her feet - asks for his signet and cord. A signet is like a signature - it is unique to the individual - so one can see how Tamar is taking advantage of this God-given opportunity.[4] Tamar does become pregnant. Some people find out about this and tell Judah that his daughter-in-law (who is supposed to be celibate) is pregnant. The law says that she should be put to death, especially as this happened, so rumour has it, as a result of prostitution. It is at this point that she lets Judah know that he is the father. Judah then admits his sin, what he has done to her and to his family. She gives birth to twins. Judah takes responsibility for his children, one of whom is the direct ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Judah even admits that Tamar is more righteous than is he. Tamar is not a prostitute; she merely conceives the child promised to her.[5]

So why is this story in the Bible? It is important. The fact that a child of this encounter is an ancestor of both King David and Jesus Christ, is mentioned more than once, by more than one author, writing at more than one distinct era in history (cf Ruth 4:18-23, Mt 1:3). Matthew, in the New Testament makes a point of mentioning that it is Judah’s son by Tamar who is in Jesus’ line and Matthew and Ruth even tell us which one of the twins he is: Perez. This story is very important in the history of Israel. This story is very important in the ancestry of King David and this story is very important in the ancestry Christ Jesus, so why is it important to us? And what does it mean to us today?

I think the key point here lies in who is Tamar: Tamar is a Canaanite. The Canaanites are the cursed descendants of Ham. She is cursed; she is a woman; she is a widow; she is a cursed, abused widow who has been even further marginalized and further taken advantage of by privileged Israelites and she, Tamar, is an ancestor of Christ. You couldn’t be much more on the margins of society than is Tamar and Tamar is the ancestor of Jesus.[6]

Jesus in his ministry is always helping the poor, the widow, and the immigrant. Tamar is just that and Tamar is Jesus’ ancestor. God used Tamar – and Judah - to save the whole world in that her actions led to Christ.[7] So as God can use Tamar, who was abused and marginalized to extremes that some of us can only imagine, so too can he use us and that is something for which we can all be thankful. No matter who we are in this life, if we are marginalized and sometimes think ourselves to be nothing, maybe like Tamar; or if we make serious mistakes and commit abusive egregious sins even like Judah; no matter who we are God loves us, He can change us, He can save us and God can use even you and I to point others to His Salvation both now and forever. Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] But cf. John H. Sailhamer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, PradisCD-ROM:Genesis/Exposition of Genesis/VI. The Account of Jacob (37:1-49:33)/D. Judah and Tamar (38:1-30), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. Thomas W, Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1988), 66-68.

[3] Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 199: The fact that a single Hebrew word suffices for the phrase perform the duty of a brother-in-law (rsv) would confirm that this was a standard practice, even if there were no record of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5ff. Each of the three Old Testament references to this regulation (cf. Ruth 4:5f.) shows that it could be most unwelcome, chiefly through the very fact that the donor himself set great store on family inheritance—but his own. The enormity of Onan’s sin is in its studied outrage against the family, against his brother’s widow and against his own body. The standard English versions fail to make clear that this was his persistent practice. When (9) should be translated ‘whenever’

[4] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 606.

[5] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.

[6] Cf. Dorothy Jean Weaver, “‘Wherever This Good News Is Proclaimed”: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew’, in Interpretation 64, no. 4, (October, 2010) 394-395

[7] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.

Thanksgiving at Judah’s House.

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 13 Oct. 2013
Presented to 614 & Warehouse in Toronto, 16 Oct. 2016

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries 04 October 2020

By Captain Michael Ramsay

This is the original version; to view the Toronto 2016 version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2016/10/genesis-38-judahs-family.html 

To view the Alberni Valley 2020 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2020/10/reading-genesis-38-on-mmiw-day.html

Thanksgiving is often a time for families to get together. In most homes in this part of the country there will be the Thanksgiving turkey. Not in mine, with a vegetarian family. It will be a double blessing tomorrow then that we will have a turkey dinner at the corps for all who can make it before Bible study. Thanksgiving is often a time for families to gather together, so today we are going to look a family of turkeys or people who are seemingly acting like turkeys.

We are continuing our look at the lineage of Jesus Christ. So far we have looked at Adam and Eve, Noah’s family, and Abraham and Sarah. Today we are looking at Judah and Tamar. Does anyone know who are Judah and Tamar? First, who is Judah?

Who is Judah’s father? Judah’s father was Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name; to what did He change his name? Israel. All of the tribes of Israel are descended from and named after the sons of Israel. Judah is therefore the father, the ancestor of a whole tribe of Israel.

The tribe of Judah even becomes the dominant tribe of all the tribes of Israel and long after Israel ceases to exist as a country, the Kingdom of Judah remains. This is interesting. All of this happens with Judah becoming the dominant tribe, as Judah the person is the one of Israel’s sons to receive the blessing of the birthright.

Who in theory is supposed to receive the birthright; which child? The oldest son, right? Just like with our own Monarch thus far into history. The interesting part here is that not only is Judah not the oldest son (as indeed even his father isn’t the oldest son), Judah is not even the second oldest son. Now, not only is Judah not the even second oldest son but Judah is also not even the third oldest son. On this Thanksgiving Day, Judah could be very thankful if he were still around because Judah receives the birthright usually received for the oldest brother and he is the fourth oldest brother. He has three older brothers who had to be disqualified for him to receive the birthright and that blessing. We’ll look at that in just a moment – how his older brothers disqualified themselves from the birthright and then we will look a little more into who exactly is this person of Judah of our pericope today. 

Let’s turn in our Bibles to Genesis 49. It will give us a bit of an insight into what is going on in Judah’s family. This portion of scripture records Israel/Jacob’s blessings of his sons before he dies. These are Israel’s famous last words to his children (the males anyway). Genesis 49:1-4 tells us a little bit about Ruben, Judah’s oldest brother and why he doesn’t receive the blessing of the birthright:

49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;

listen to your father Israel.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my might, the first sign of my strength,

excelling in honour, excelling in power.

4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,

for you went up onto your father’s bed,

onto my couch and defiled it.

Jacob, says to his oldest son, who is the naturally expected heir to this birthright; Jacob says, Verse 4, “You will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.” Do you remember that story? (Israel’s family is an interesting family. One that I’m sure in comparison will make you even more thankful for your own.) Genesis 35:22 records that Reuben lay with Bilhah. Bilhah is his father’s concubine; Bilhah is not only his father’s concubine, Bilhah is his brothers’ mother. Reuben has relations with his brothers’ - Dan and Naphtali - mom. (And you think your family is messed up?) For this his birthright understandably passes down to the second oldest son: Simeon. But Simeon and Levi are just as much of turkeys as their older brother; these next two sons also disqualify themselves from the blessing of the birthright. Genesis 49:5-7:

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers—

their swords  are weapons of violence.

6 Let me not enter their council,

let me not join their assembly,

for they have killed men in their anger

and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.

7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce,

and their fury, so cruel!

I will scatter them in Jacob

and disperse them in Israel.

This ‘blessing’ upon Simeon and Levi - when their dad is upon his deathbed – this blessing where their father declares, “let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly for they have killed men in anger” is rather sharp, to say the least! Do you know what this is about? Genesis 34 records that their sister by the same mom is raped. The man who rapes her, Shechem, repentant, comes then with his dad and asks to have her hand in marriage. Israel agrees but his sons say that all the men of Shechem’s people must be circumcised for this to happen. They agreed and they all become circumcised. Then while they were all at the height of their pain from being circumcised, Simeon and Levi – the two brothers in question here - sneak into their camp and kill all the men and take all their women and all their children and more as plunder. As a result of this, they lose their claim to the birthright and the descendants, the whole tribe, of Levi is not given any territory (other than Levite cities) and the descendants, the whole tribe, of Simeon is swallowed up in the tribe of Judah. If you want to read more about the blessings of Israel’s sons and tribes, you can read more of Genesis 49 later – it is really interesting – and it gives you bit of background as to Judah’s brothers and his life growing up, who would be around the table at big family gatherings, and why Judah receives the blessing of the birthright that is usually reserved for the eldest male child even though he is the fourth son.

Now the rest of Chapter 49 does speak about the rest of his brothers. He has quite a large family, probably as many as will be gathering around Thanksgiving tables today and tomorrow in our community. Judah has 11 brothers and an unknown number of sisters and combined nephews and nieces.

One of Judah’s youngest brothers we know fairly well. Do we know who was Israel’s second youngest son? Joseph. We remember the stories of Joseph from the Bible (Genesis 37-50). How well did Judah and the rest of Joseph’s brothers think of Joseph growing up? Not that well. Remember Joseph has all these dreams about his brothers bowing down to him? (Genesis 37:5-11) Remember that his dad shows Joseph certain favouritism and even buys him that coat of many colours and remember how Joseph’s brothers respond to all of this (Genesis 37:1-36). They take him and throw him into a well and then at Judah’s recommendation, they sell Joseph as a slave. It is Judah’s idea to sell his little brother into slavery (Genesis 37:26-27). That act itself might make one wonder why Judah didn’t also lose his birthright like his older brothers did. But he doesn’t

Judah later does redeem himself. We remember the end of the Joseph story. The years pass by and Joseph is now the one with all the power; he has risen to be second in command of the regional superpower (Genesis 41:37ff.). Joseph is a ruler of Egypt. Joseph then has one of his brothers – Simeon, who came to him looking for food – held in an Egyptian prison for an indefinite period of time (Genesis 42:24). The other brothers later return and Joseph is about to take prisoner another one of his brothers, after framing him for crime, when Judah steps up (Genesis 44:18ff.). His brothers can be thankful for Judah. Judah is the one who negotiates the freedom of his brothers and Judah is the one whom God uses to tip Joseph’s hand into revealing his identity and into forgiving and providing for his brothers and their families for generations to come. Judah shows that he is the leader among his brothers. Judah shows that he is a solid choice to inherit the birthright. This brings us to our story today. We read earlier from Genesis 38. Thanksgiving often sees family gathering from all over the country and here we have an interesting tale about Judah travelling and getting together with his daughter-in-law, Tamar.

Tamar isn’t probably an Israelite. Tamar is probably a Canaanite.[1] We remember from looking at the story of Noah the other week that the Canaanites are cursed for generations to come for the sins of their father, Ham (Genesis 9:25-29). Judah’s son then marries this cursed Canaanite woman – which is later prohibited, by the way - and then he dies before he has any children.[2]

Do we understand what is going on in the story that we read earlier today with the brothers? In Israel in those days, territorial inheritance was very important and so was having a son to inherit that property. Because of this they had a rule that if a son died without an heir then his younger brother was supposed to be with his widow and then the child that results from that would be the heir to his brother. That way the older brother would have an heir and his descendants would not lose their claim to a part of Israel. Judah cooperates with this rule and Judah gives his second son to Tamar, who is the widow of his first son. Judah’s second son however stands to inherit all of his brother’s inheritance if he doesn’t produce an heir for him; so instead of impregnating Tamar, he uses protection of sorts. He doesn’t complete the job anyway. This makes God mad because Onan was not only hurting Er, his deceased brother, but he was also hurting Tamar, his brother’s widow, and he was hurting Judah, his father, and he was hurting his whole family’s inheritance.[3] God takes Onan’s life. So now Judah has lost his two oldest sons and his eldest son’s widow Tamar is still without an heir for the family.

Now in that place and at that time there was probably not a more vulnerable person in society than a childless widow. A widow without a child has no one to care for her and Judah, while Tamar is in this state, Judah sends his daughter-in-law away. He says that his youngest son is too young for her and he sends Tamar away without providing for her the heir that is demanded. Judah puts himself before the commandment to provide an heir for his son and Judah puts himself before the commandment to look after the widow in his own household.

Judah sends her away. He doesn’t seem to concern himself with her again. His youngest child grows up and he never fulfils the opportunity to give him to Tamar and to invite Tamar back into his clan where she belongs.

Tamar, who is being the good widow at this point, even though she has been sent away by her in-laws, she has still been faithfully living in seclusion while wearing her widow’s clothing. She then hears that her father-in-law is coming to town so she puts on some nice clothes and goes to meet him. Judah sees her and mistakes her for a prostitute. Here is an opportunity that appears. Judah owes her a son and Judah thinks she’s a prostitute. Judah decides that he wants to use her services but he doesn’t have any money so Tamar – thinking on her feat here - asks for his signet and cord. A signet is like a signature in that it is unique to the individual so the reader at this point can see how Tamar is taking advantage of this God given opportunity.[4] Tamar does become pregnant. Some people find out about this and tell Judah that his daughter-in-law (who is supposed to be celibate) is pregnant. The law says that she should be put to death, especially as this happened, so the rumour has it, as a result of prostitution. It is at this point that she lets Judah know that he is the father. Judah then admits his sin, what he has done to her and to his family. She gives birth to twins. Judah takes responsibility for his children, one of whom is the direct ancestor of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Judah even admits that Tamar is more righteous than is he. Tamar is not a prostitute; she merely conceives the child promised to her.[5]

So why is this story in the Bible? It is important. The fact that a child of this encounter is an ancestor of both King David and Jesus Christ, is mentioned more than once, by more than one author, writing at more than one distinct era in history (See Ruth 4:18-23, Matthew 1:3). Matthew, in the New Testament makes a point of mentioning that it is Judah’s son by Tamar who is in Jesus’ line and the authors of Matthew and Ruth even tells us which one of the twins he is: Perez. This story is very important in the history of Israel. This story is very important in the ancestry of King David and this story is very important in the ancestry Christ Jesus, so why is it important to us? And what does it mean to us today?

I think the key point here lies in who is Tamar: Tamar is a Canaanite. The Canaanites are the cursed descendants of Ham. She is cursed; she is a woman; she is a widow; she is a cursed, abused widow who has been even further marginalized and taken advantage of by privileged Israelites and she is an ancestor of Christ. You couldn’t be much more on the margins of society than is Tamar and Tamar is the ancestor of Jesus.[6]

Jesus in his ministry is always helping the poor, the widow, and the immigrant. Tamar is just that and Tamar is Jesus’ ancestor. God used Tamar to save the whole world in that her actions led to Christ.[7] So as God can use Tamar, who was abused and marginalized to extremes that many of us can only imagine, so too can he use us and that is something for which we can all be thankful. No matter who we are in this life, if we are marginalized and appear to be nothing in our own eyes, maybe like Tamar; or if we make serious mistakes and sin like Judah; no matter who we are God loves us, and God can use even us to point others to His Salvation both now and forever. Let us pray

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] But cf. John H. Sailhamer, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Genesis/Exposition of Genesis/VI. The Account of Jacob (37:1-49:33)/D. Judah and Tamar (38:1-30), Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. Thomas W, Mann, The Book of the Torah: The Narrative Integrity of the Pentateuch, (Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1988), 66-68.

[3] Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1967 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 1), S. 199: The fact that a single Hebrew word suffices for the phrase perform the duty of a brother-in-law (rsv) would confirm that this was a standard practice, even if there were no record of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5ff. Each of the three Old Testament references to this regulation (cf. Ruth 4:5f.) shows that it could be most unwelcome, chiefly through the very fact that the donor himself set great store on family inheritance—but his own. The enormity of Onan’s sin is in its studied outrage against the family, against his brother’s widow and against his own body. The standard English versions fail to make clear that this was his persistent practice. When (9) should be translated ‘whenever’

[4] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 606.

[5] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.

[6] Cf. Dorothy Jean Weaver, “‘Wherever This Good News Is Proclaimed”: Women and God in the Gospel of Matthew’, in Interpretation 64, no. 4, (October, 2010) 394-395

[7] cC. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, (John Knox Press: Atlanta, Georgia, 1982), 311.