Gospel Outreach International

Have you ever felt that your past puts you beyond the reach of God? That the wrong turns, broken promises, or the way others have treated you might somehow disqualify you from belonging to his family? This Bible study takes us into one of the most surprising and honest chapters in the whole of Genesis, the story of a woman called Tamar. She was an outsider, she was wronged, she was judged harshly, and yet her name appears in the family line of Jesus himself. Come and explore how far God’s grace really reaches, and who exactly it is that he chooses to include.

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. Genesis 38:1

• Tamar was a Canaanite woman who married into the family of Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob.
• Her first husband Er was wicked and was struck down by God, leaving her a childless widow.
• By the custom of the time, her brother-in-law Onan was obligated to father a child with her to carry on his brother’s name, but he refused to fulfil this duty and also died.
• Judah promised his third son Shelah to Tamar when he came of age, but failed to keep that promise, sending her away and isolating her.
• Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute, and Judah unknowingly slept with her, leaving his signet ring and staff as a pledge of payment.
• When Tamar was found to be pregnant, Judah called for her to be burned, but she produced his ring and staff as proof that he was the father.
• Judah acknowledged his guilt and admitted that Tamar had acted more rightly than he had.
• Tamar gave birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, who became significant branches of the tribe of Judah.
• The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter one includes five women, all of whom would have been considered outsiders or morally questionable by the standards of the day. They are Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Mary.
• The passage in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14 warns against being unequally yoked with unbelievers, a principle with implications for marriage, friendship, and business partnerships.
• The original biblical manuscripts contained no chapter or verse divisions, which means some modern chapter breaks do not always fall in the most natural places in the narrative.
• The city of Adullam, mentioned in connection with Judah’s friend Hirah, later became the location of the cave of Adullam, a key refuge for David during his years of conflict with King Saul.
• Despite her difficult and unjust circumstances, Tamar ultimately became part of the lineage of Jesus Christ, a striking example of grace reaching the overlooked and mistreated.

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. Genesis 38:29

The story of Tamar is not a tidy one, and that is precisely the point. It is a story full of failure, broken promises, and people behaving far worse than they should. And yet running right through the middle of it is something that cannot be undone, the grace of God reaching into the mess and bringing a woman from the margins right into the family line of Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus means for every one of us. Not that we get it right, but that he came for those who do not. He said it himself: he came not for the righteous, but for sinners. That is the good news, and it is as true today as it was for Tamar.

Bible References

• Genesis 38:
• Matthew 1
• 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
• Romans 8:28
• John 3