Monday, August 4, 2008

Tamar - Human Nature

Genesis 38:19-23 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again. Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?" "There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here," they said. So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.' " Then Judah said, "Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn't find her."

Why do we get told that Tamar took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again? I think it's to let us know that she is keeping her actions a secret. She immediately leaves and goes back to her house and her daily life without anyone the wiser.

Judah - in an attempt to "fulfill" his promise, he sends his friend to pay off his debt. Judah did not go himself - why is that? Was he trying not to see the girl again so he wouldn't have to be tempted? Was he feeling guilty and didn't want anyone to see him talking to her again? Was he afraid she was going to ask him for more than just a goat? Whatever the reason, he sends his friend who agrees to go. While he was there, he couldn't find her.
The friend is forced to go into the city and ask around for the prostitute that was hanging outside the city. The men tell him that there had not been a prostitute outside the city.

Here's my question, how did they know there had not been a prostitute there? My guess is that all the "business" that was taken care of was happening inside the city were the parties were occurring.
Judah is told by his friend that he couldn't find her and Judah says - "well, we did all we could". He didn't want the embarrassment of letting everyone know what he'd done.

I think that many of us act the same way. Instead of humbling ourselves and admitting that we've made a mistake, we try to scrape the surface and pretend that there is nothing more we can do. The truth is, God already knows exactly what we've done and when we try to act as though it's not a big deal - we're just fooling ourselves.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Why do we try to hide things from God?? Oh, it's human nature otherwise known as sin. It breaks my heart to think of all the times I have hurt God. I am so grateful that I serve a gracious and forgiving God. Without Him...I am NOTHING! Thanks for your words...I look forward to reading this daily!