Genesis 36-38, Matthew 10:21-42 • Key Verse: Genesis 38:26a

The character of Judah was such that he could say about his daughter-in-law, “She is more righteous than I.” How painful it must have felt to acknowledge that fact, especially considering Judah said that when he realized she was the “prostitute” he was trying to pay!

Consider his character as recorded in these chapters. First, it was his idea to sell Joseph. He proposed the “profitable alternative to fratricide,” as John MacArthur puts it.

Second, it was his shameful neglect that prompted Tamar to disguise herself as a prostitute. Two of Judah’s sons had died while married to Tamar. He postponed the marriage to the third, a marriage expected under the practice of Leverite marriage.

Third, while going to where they were shearing sheep, he slept with who he thought was a prostitute. Later he learned that she was his daughter-in-law.

Besides a lack of integrity, he was a hypocrite, as seen in Genesis 38:24-26. He said that Tamar should be burned to death for her prostitution—until she confronted him with proof that he was the man who had slept with her, Sin and hypocrisy bring shame.

Better to live a righteous life of integrity like Joseph than one of sin and hypocrisy like Judah.

Check your integrity today. Ask God to help you have a pure heart before Him, one that shows in clean hands before others.

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in