| Date | Version | Reading Plan |
|---|---|---|
| February 7, 2025 | ESV (2016) | OT/NT Plan 2025 – 2027 |
Genesis 38
Observation
The chapter begins with a major break of the narrative to focus on Judah, Jacob’s fourth son. A number of distasteful relational interactions play out and the events are somewhat difficult to track. Judah first takes the daughter of a Canaanite woman to be his wife who births three sons by him. This is an outline of the events and people involved:
- Judah (fourth son of Jacob) – took a Canaanite woman to be his wife, had three sons by her, slept with Tamar when he thought her to be a prostitute and had two sons by her
- Shua (Canaanite and mother of Judah’s wife)
- Canaanite woman’s daughter (Judah’s wife) – birthed three sons to Judah, died sometime after her first two sons had died
- Er (firstborn of Judah) – given Tamar to be his wife, died because he was wicked in the sight of the LORD
- Onan (Judah’s second son) – given Er’s wife, Tamar, but he wasted his seed with her; the LORD put him to death for his wickedness
- Shelah (Judah’s third son) – was held back by Judsah from taking Tamar to be his wife
- Tamar (former wife of Er and Onan) – widowed twice, slept with Judah (father-in-law) and gave birth to two sons
- Perez (first son of Judah/Tamar) – the line of King David of Jesus
- Zerah (second son of Judah/Tamar)
Application
With everything that happens in this chapter, the most profound takeaway is that this is the lineage of the Messiah. Jesus would come through the line of Judah by way of Tamar. What’s more, Tamar is one of only three women listed in Matthew’s genealogy (Matt. 1:3). It should fill us with awe and wonder that, messy as all of this was, God Almighty was able to bring from it something amazing.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you that you work through our brokenness. We persist in sin and yet how wonderful You are to work through us in order to bring about your perfect plan of redemption.
Mark 10
Observation
Mark 10:11-12 – If a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
Mark 10:29-30 – The hundredfold that comes by sacrificing one’s life for Jesus will be received in this time, with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.
Mark 10:32 – Mentions both amazement and fear among the people following Jesus as they were going up to Jerusalem.
Mark 10:37 – James and John wanted to be seated close to Jesus and in His glory.
Among the events captured and depicted by Mark in this chapter, it was Mark 10:11-12 and Jesus’ teaching of divorcing a spouse that struck a chord in particular. The ESVEC provides some additional clarity by saying, “If a person divorces a spouse on insufficient grounds and the divorced person marries someone else, he or she ‘commits adultery against’ the first spouse (Mark 10:11–12; Luke 16:18). Only in cases of sexual unfaithfulness in a given marriage is the marriage actually broken or annulled (Matt. 5:32; 19:9).”
I continue to struggle with passages like this as someone who has gone through divorce. Given that it was not on the grounds of adultery, I wrestle with whether I fought hard enough to save the marriage. In this particular passage, I wonder if the one who “divorces his wife” and “divorces her husband” is a specific reference to the one who pursues divorce or if it is a general reference to both spouses engaged in divorce proceedings.
Application
Much like the application from Genesis 38, we should rejoice that our great God works in the sin and brokenness of relational conflict. Thanks be to God for His grace and the great love He demonstrated on the cross in the sacrifice of His Son. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Is. 53:5)
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for love that covers a multitude of sins. How awesome are you, Father, that you sent your only Son to be my worthy sacrifice and that by His blood I have been washed clean.