This week I have the pleasure of joining Megan at HalfPintHouse and B at UpsideDownBee to continue discussion on Through His Eyes- God's Perspective on the Women in the Bible. My task? To look at Chapter 5- Tamar, A Righteous Woman. For those not reading the book and interested in the story of Tamar, go to Genesis 38.From the start, author Jerram Barr states that the account of Tamar in Genesis is one of the least discussed stories of the Bible. It is a difficult story without much commentary. Certainly stories about betrayal and prostitution aren't among those that are comfy with a sweet ending.
How did Tamar land in the situation of needing to prostitute herself to her father-in-law? The story starts earlier, when Judah, brother of Joseph, leaves his family and takes a Canaanite wife, ignoring God's instruction to marry an Israelite. I so appreciate Barr's comments on that situation, one that is common to many of us today as we know others, or have ourselves, chosen to be married to those that are not believers. "God is always far more kind to us than we deserve. His love and his faithfulness to his covenant with his people endure despite our weakness and sin..." (p.76)
I am ever thankful for that love and faithfulness!
As the story progresses we find that Tamar is not a widow just once, but twice, and has discovered that her father-in-law, Judah, "has no intention of fulfilling his covenant obligation to Tamar." (p. 78) Her future is dismal; she really has little hope or prospect of a future in her Canaanite culture. And so, Tamar decides to catch Judah in a trap. Disguising herself as a prostitute, she demands a pledge for payment. A few months later, Judah is caught, and confronted, and confesses of Tamar, "She is more righteous than I." (Gen 38:26)
Wow! A scheming prostitute described as righteous! How can that be? Barr asks "what is righteousness in this context?" (p. 82)
So do I.
Barr writes, "Tamar's righteousness is her commitment to honor her obligations to God, the covenant she has made before the Lord to her husband." (p. 82) This comment by Barr, particularly stands out to me:
At the heart of righteousness is the commitment to proving oneself true in relationships. Righteousness is not simply obedience to the letter of a body of laws. The text does not tell us that what Tamar did was a good thing or an honest thing, but it should be clear to us that God's Word, Holy Scripture, looks at the intention of her heart in seeking to fulfill her responsibilities to the covenant promises she had made. (p. 83)
Proving oneself true.
The intention of her heart.
Those statements challenge me.
And that is what strikes me as one of the wonders of Scripture, of recounting these stories of His people, long ago, but with circumstance and sin so very common to us today. Barr sums it up so well,
When we read the Bible, when we read the stories of the people whom God loves, the people whom he honors, the people to whom he fulfills his promises, the people for whom he keeps his covenant, the people for whom he does his acts of righteousness- when we read the stories of these people, we discover that the people God loves and honors are not absolutely pure people. They are sinners. They are broken people. They are weak people who sometimes disobey the commandments of God. They are people who come up with plans that it is impossible to commend wholly. But God loves his people despite their failures. (p. 83)
Even me.
Through the study questions, Barr has us look at other passages on righteousness (including Jeremiah 33:14-16 & Psalm 72:1-4), and in doing so, reminds believers that our righteousness is in Christ. We come to God, full of sin, unable to achieve righteousness- virtue or morality or decency, on our own, and yet, He is faithful. God was faithful to Tamar, and He is faithful to His people today. Regarding Tamar, Barr reminds us that "we are not asked by the Word of God to approve her deception, her disguise, her acting the part of prostitute; but we are asked by the Word of God to honor her faithfulness, her readiness to fulfill her obligations, her righteousness." (p. 84) And so, yes, even Tamar, an unlikely hero, remains an example of a righteous woman, even today.
(art credit: Tamar, Judah's Daughter-in-law by Marc Chagall, 1960.)
3 comments:
Kristy, great summary of this chapter on Tamar. I love this story and love that God used her as a great-great-great....great-grandmother of Jesus. He never uses perfect people, does He?
This quote by Barrs caught my attention, too:
"God is always far more kind to us than we deserve. His love and his faithfulness to his covenant with his people endure despite our weakness and sin..." (p.76)
I think I would add that often God is far more kind to us than we are to ourselves!
New to me was the idea that Tamar was "righteous"...that she was honoring her relationship made with her husband before God. I'd always thought of her actions as just being what she had to do to make sure she was taken care of in the culture of her day.
Hmm..Good food for thought... How "righteous" am I in my relationships? Will I be remembered as a righteous woman or simply one obedient to the letter of a body of laws?
Blessings - B.
Wow, that really was a great summary of that chapter. Well done! I finally read it last night, thus my silence before now.
That statement of Tamar's righteousness was also new to me. I could give a cursory retelling of the story, but I've never thought much about it before. I think I've never allowed myself to feel the shock that these stories really are and if you can't feel shock or surprise or even disappointment by them, you really can't engage them at all because they don't make sense to the way I currently understand and live with today's moral and ethical standards (even as shaky as those can be in our country).
I appreciated the thought on page 75 that "this story, like many other biblical stories, teaches us that God is faithful to his people and to his promises to them even when they appear to ignore his commands."
I also highlighted the same part on page 83 about action verses intention and how God looks on the heart. So glad for that piece right there.
Also on 83, "God loves his people despite their failures."
Good thing, huh? There are so many of them (people, failures).
Thanks for the summary! Now I need to get hopping and read the next two chapters!
Hey Kristy,
I came over to tell you I'm going to be delayed in getting up the next chapter. Nobody is feeling well and Craig needs us to come home today. This week turned sour in a hurry, so I don't have time to finish reading the chapter today like I thought. It will push the schedule back by one slot.
Sorry!
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