Do These Genes Fit?

Passage: Genesis 38

Genesis 38 tells the confusing and borderline offensive story of Judah and Tamar. If you’ve read the story, you’ll know that Tamar is the daughter-in-law of Judah, son of Israel, patriarch of one of the Twelve Tribes. Tamar’s husband dies. According to the law of the land her brother-in-law is obligated to impregnate her with a child that will be the legal heir of the dead husband. Tamar’s brother-in-law refuses to do so, and receives God’s judgment for his disobedience. So Judah takes Tamar into his home to provide for her needs. Tamar, realizing that she won’t have any kids, takes matters into her own hands, and tricks her father-in-law into getting her pregnant. She gives birth to twin boys, Perez and Zerah.

And why, we ask, is this R-rated story in the Bible?

Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy that traces Jesus Christ’s ancestry all the way back to Abraham. Who should show up as the fifth name on the list? Perez. And in case the reader might mistakenly think this is some other Perez, Matthew notes that this is the Perez born to Judah and Tamar. What are we to make of this? Well, if you read through Jesus’ entire genealogy, you’ll see a number of other notable names:

• Boaz, whose mother was Rahab – the prostitute and lone survivor of Jericho.
• Obed, whose mother was Ruth – the woman of Moab.
• Solomon, whose mother was Bathsheba, the adulteress.

Each of these entries in Jesus’ genealogy deserves a closer look, but the overall picture tells the same story. No person has purer genes than any other. And God uses imperfect people and imperfect situations to bring about his perfect plan.

In Jesus’ genealogy we see that everyone – even the Bible’s heroes – have humble beginnings. We see that no human king or leader deserves to be worshiped. And we see that our God himself chose to take on humble flesh and sordid ancestry to become one with us in Jesus Christ.

In the story of Judah and Tamar we’re confronted with the reality that God is present and at work in our broken world and its messed-up inhabitants. Through the misguided actions of flawed people God still brings about his master plan to save the human race. This is the story the Bible tells over and over again.