The Tribe of Judah (Advent 16, 2022)

In Stephen’s speech before the Sanhedrin recorded in Acts 7, all twelve sons are called patriarchs.  He reminds the Sanhedrin that Abraham was called out of Mesopotamia (outside the Promised Land), and they all ended up in Egypt (also outside the Promised Land) where generations later—four hundred years to be exact—they would come out after having been enslaved and mistreated.  But they would come out.

“But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’  Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.” (Acts 7:7-8)

Of the twelve, only Judah ends up in the line of Christ and only as a function of Tamar, the widowed daughter-in-law who would display greater righteousness than he.  Matthew’s genealogy record states it simply: Matthew 1:2 “Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram.”

Questions for further thought:

Tamar pretended to be a prostitute and became pregnant by Judah, her father-in-law, after he neglected his third son in the Scriptural “levirate marriage” to carry on the family line.  God killed off both of Judah’s first two sons because they were wicked.  The sordid story is in Genesis 38.  How was God preserving the line of the patriarchs in spite of Judah?

All 3 older sons of Judah were from a Canaanite woman.  But so, likely, were the twins born to Tamar whose faith places her name in Matthew’s genealogy.  What is the balance between preserving the remnant pure by faith and being a light to the nations?

In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons and regarding Judah, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.” (Genesis 49:10).  The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah.

Prayer:

Father God, Your ways no one can fathom. We stand amazed at the way that You take even the sinful actions of people including Your chosen people and yet You weave them together. You work all things towards the good of those who love You and are called according to Your purpose. We stand amazed, Lord, at Your wisdom, at Your plan, and ask Lord that You would open our eyes to see Your actions in our midst. We praise You and thank You for being an all-wise and all-knowing God to whom we give all glory. Amen. 

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Advent began Sunday, November 27, 2022 and continues to Saturday, December 24th as we explore the remnant spoken of in Scripture and awaken as the end draws near.

 By signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page you can receive these daily “Awaken, Remnant” devotionals. Or they will be reposted on SeminaryGal’s Facebook page as well.

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Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
• 2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
• God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
• Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.