WOMAN ELEVEN

The Daughter of Shuah
The unnamed wife of Judah

I. She was the daughter of Shuah the Canaanite. (Gen 38:2a)
    We never are told her name.

II. She was the wife of Judah. (:2b)

III. She bare three children to Judah. (Gen 38:3-5; I Chron 2:3)
    A. Er. (Gen 38:3)
    B. Onan. (:4)
    C. Shelah. (:5)

IV. The death of her first two sons.  (:7-10)

V. The record of her death. (:12)

VI. Summary.
        Sometimes the woman stays in the background and fulfills her part without any recognition or
    fanfare.  That doesn’t necessarily mean it is right; it just means that, in today's vernacular, “it just
    be’s that way sometimes!”  (i.e., "That's just the way it is!")

WOMAN TWELVE

Tamar
The determined daughter-in-law

I. She was wife to Er and the daughter-in-law of Judah. (Gen 38:6)
    Tamar means “palm-tree.”

II. She was obedient to the customs of her nation and the Law of God.
    A. When her first husband, Er, was slain (by God) because of his wickedness,
        Tamar then was married to his brother Onan. (:7-8; cf Deut 25:5)
    B. When her dead husband’s brother, Onan, who was now her husband, was also disobedient
        to God and the customs of Israel, he too was slain and she was betrothed to the third brother,
        Shelah. (Gen 38:9-11)

III. She was deceived by her father-in-law Judah. (:11, 14)
           Years had passed and Shelah, the third and younger brother of the two who had been slain, and
        to whom Tamar was betrothed according to the Law of Israel, was now full-grown.  His father,
        Judah, had not given him to Tamar to raise up seed to his brother, Er, as promised at the death of
        the second brother/husband, Onan.

IV. She, in turn, deceived her father-in-law and purposely became pregnant by him.     A. The original deception.         She disguised herself as a harlot. (:13-15)     B. The manipulative deception. (:16-23) V. Tamar was to be burned for playing the whore and becoming pregnant. (:24) VI. The vindication of Tamar. (:25-26)

VII. Tamar gave birth to twin sons by Judah her father-in-law.
    A. Pharez usurped the place that belonged to his brother, Zerah, as the firstborn. (:27-29)
        Through this son, Tamar earns a place in the lineage of Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
    B. Zerah was the firstborn who was born second. (:30)

VIII. Summary.

    - The lesson to be learned from the life of Tamar is that many times the woman shows more faith in God and obedience to Him than the man does.  
    - Also we can learn that disobedience to God by one person, even someone as close as our own children, is absolutely no excuse for our also disobeying God. No matter what the reason: fear, protection of our remaining children, even trying to help God by protecting the family blood line is NO EXCUSE for disobeying God! There is NO good excuse for disobeying God.

    - Finally, we can see in this story the principle of greater law and lesser law; greater sin and lesser sin. Deliberate disobedience to God is a greater evil than incest or deception, or any other sin for that matter (except blasphemy of the Holy Ghost as is stated in the New Testament.)
          1. The acts of incest and/or deception of another human being are sins of the flesh.
            2. The act of disobedience to God is a spiritual sin and those sins rate highest on the “serious sins
               list.”   Remember, the very first sin committed on earth was not a simple consumption of a
               particular article of food; it was a deliberate disobedience of God’s command. And for that one
               act of deliberate disobedience the entire Creation was cursed

LESSONS ELEVEN & TWELVE TEST
This test is "open book," which means you may
use your study materials while taking this test.

If you fail this test then you must wait a minimum of one day before you can
retake it.  During that time you are required to go to the textbook and the
Bible, whichever is appropriate, and find the correct answers to every
question missed on the failed test. You may use the copy of the
failed test that was sent to you and refer to it for the correct
answers, which are included on it, to verify that you have
found the correct answers in your study materials.
Once you have found all of the correct answers
and waited the required one day, then you
may retake the test. 

You cannot proceed to the next Lesson until the day after you have
passed this Lesson Test and found all of the correct answers
in the textbook or the Bible, whichever is appropriate, to
all questions missed on this test even though
you received a passing score.