I've chosen a different theme for my Christmas study this year.
Maybe it has to do with what I'm teaching in my classes this semester: Genesis and Luke. I keep seeing these women who went unseen by men, except to satisfy their lust or fill their bloodline, yet were always seen by the LORD.
I know that there are only 4 women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus: Tamar, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary, but there were so many more included in their stories. I want to explore each of these this season.
Today I begin with the first: Tamar.
Tamar follows 3 other women in Genesis, with one who doesn't even connect with the Abrahamic covenant, yet still has a part in its story (Hagar).
To understand Tamar's story, I think it's necessary to look at 3 who came before her: Sarai (spelling is intentional here), Hagar, and Leah.
We begin with Sarai...a barren woman who is stripped from her culture, language, family, and religion. Used by her husband for his protection from Pharaoh, the Scripture tells us she was taken as Pharaoh's wife. Sold by Abram (again, intentional spelling here) she is used for sex, then later as God's covenant partner, Abraham, she is given again to another king.
Shamed.
Hagar...stripped from her homeland (like her mistress) and given to Sarai's husband for sex, she is then despised because she was able to do the very thing intended. She runs to the wilderness and learns that she will have a son who will never be treated as Abram's son.
A bastard's mother.
Leah...unwanted, she must lay next to a man who is in love with her sister in order to fulfill his lust and his bloodline.
Unloved.
Tamar...given to two evil men by their father, Judah withholds his promise of giving her to his third son for fear that he might lose him as well. She dresses as a harlot and allows his entrance into her womb, and the firstborn from the first-named woman in Jesus' story enters.
A forced-to-be harlot.
Three women whose story includes such powerful words:
Barren
Sex slave
Despised and beaten
Pregnant with a bastard child
Unwanted
Unloved
Yet, in God's story each were given new words that justify:
Seen and heard by the God Who Sees
Vindicated (Abimelech vindicates Sarah in Genesis 20:16)
Taken note of by the LORD (Genesis 21:1) as a promise fulfilled
Laughter
Womb opened
Water from an already there well
(After trying to fix the problem 3 times prior), praise to the One who delivers
Called righteous
Child-bearers of an unconditional covenant that promised a relationship with the living God
Because in every story, God is there...seeing us, hearing us, and waiting to fulfill His promise.
He is present in the waiting.
He vindicates, takes note, brings the joy, waters the soul, opens the womb, and moves into our story.
Judah was the father of Perez by Tamar (Matthew 1:3).
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