Thru the Bible

Host: Do you wonder sometimes why certain chapters are in the Bible? If so, maybe Genesis 38 is on your list. With humor and candor, our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us that sometimes these passages can seem about as necessary as a fifth leg on a cow. Welcome to Through the Bible, I'm Steve Schwetz, your host.

And stay with us because really, all kidding aside, Dr. McGee explains that there are two very important reasons why Genesis 38 has been recorded in scripture. With that in mind, let's listen to this brief introduction.

Host: Many years ago, as a young minister, I made the statement that I would never read the 38th chapter of Genesis in public. I have followed that down through the years, but we will study the chapter. It's an assorted chapter, worst chapter in the Bible. And here is where somebody says, well, why is a chapter like this put in the Bible?

It's just like some modern literature. Well, there's a great difference in this and some modern literature. This is put in as a warning and it does not condone the sin. It condemns the sin. Modern literature and TV programs, they condone the new lifestyle. They actually recommend it. They approve it. But it is condemned here and this reveals how far man can sink into sin.

Host: Has Dr. McGee made you curious? It's going to be a great study. Before we get started though, let's read a letter from a fellow Bible bus passenger who saw God's warnings in his life and responded in faith and he writes.

Host: Hello, my name is Wa jib. I have three children. My wife and I run a small shop together. My mother is from Madura and my father is Javanese. In the past, I was a Muslim and my life was very messy. I had many bad habits and I often felt ashamed because I couldn't change them. I began thinking about God because of a friend. He had studied at a Bible school in Batu. At first, I didn't believe him and I didn't even like him. But I saw that he became a good and patient man. I wanted to be like him, but I couldn't change on my own. So I challenged God. I said, Jesus, if you are truly God, please give me a good job so my life can change.

Host: Two days later, a friend offered me a job. Little by little, I realized this was God answering my prayer. One Sunday, I followed a man carrying a thick Bible into a church. That's where I began to know God. The people welcomed me warmly, even after I told them I was a Muslim. They visited my home and I learned more about God. When my family found out, they rejected me. With a heavy heart, I left Madura and settled in Batu. Even now, my wife is still Muslim. I listen to the program after work. Through it, I've come to understand who God really is. I've learned that God is good and that he loves us, even though sin has damaged human life.

Host: My prayer is that more Madurese people will come to know God and experience changed lives. I believe this program is a powerful way to bring hope and transformation. Well, that's quite a story. Thank God for his power to change lives when we're open to him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that when we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us so that we can have a relationship with you. Lord, we ask that many more will hear of him and turn to you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Host: Let's dive into Genesis 38 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we come to this 38th chapter today and very candidly, it reveals the sin of Judah. First of all, it leads me to say that the sons of Jacob were certainly not very much of a comfort to him. It looks as if all the sons were problem children and I think they were with the exception of Joseph and Benjamin, and of course, there was a great heartbreak connected with Joseph.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And this reveals to us that Jacob did spend too much time in Padanaram accumulating a fortune rather than teaching his children. And he was just a little bit different from Abraham. You'll remember that God said of Abraham, for I know him that he'll command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But old Jacob didn't do that, friends. He was so busy down there contending with Uncle Laban. He didn't have much time for those boys. That was highly tragic because each one of them seemed to have gotten involved in something that was very, very sinful. But why are we told about Judah here? Especially at this juncture. Well, there's a twofold reason. I suggested last time one of the reasons is that these names that are here, we'll look at them in a moment, they happen to be in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus that opens the Gospel of Matthew.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Very frankly, it reveals that he came down into the human family. It's a sinful line, but this is the way he came. And then there's another reason for this, especially at this time. Because beginning in the next chapter, we go down to the land of Egypt and Joseph goes ahead as he very clearly detected from the fortuitous concurrence of circumstances in his life that God had sent him down there to prepare the way for the coming down of the children of Israel.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Not so much for a then famine, but to get them out, actually, of the land of Canaan, from actually the abominable Canaanites, into the seclusion of the land of Goshen down in Egypt. You see that had Jacob and his family continued on in the land of Canaan, they would have dropped down to the level of the Canaanites. We find that these people here are an abomination and were an abomination and even when the children of Israel came into that land, why they had a great influence upon them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so God is getting his people down there and this chapter certainly reveals the necessity for it. Now, it's Judah. Judah is the kingly line as we'll see later on. But notice Judah, and it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren and turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. Now, this is in chapter 38, verse 1.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Notice this, and Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he took her and went in unto her. Now, this is the story of Judah. He went down to do business with a certain Adullamite, and when he got down there, he saw this Canaanitish woman. He had an affair with her and she conceived and bore a son. He called his name Er, and believe me, that's exactly what this man Judah had done. He had erred, he had certainly sinned. And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived and bore a son, called his name Shelah.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He was at Chezib when she bore him, and Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Tamar gets into the genealogy of Christ by the way. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord slew him. Now, look at this family, just loaded with sin. And Judah said unto Onan, go in unto thy brother's wife and marry her and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And so he didn't take her to wife by the way. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord, wherefore he slew him also. Now, this is certainly something that fits right into the present hour when there's such an emphasis on sex. Believe me, the sons of Jacob put an emphasis there also. Certainly Judah did, let's say that. We read then, then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, remain a widow in thy father's house tell Shelah, my son, be grown. For, he said, lest peradventure he die also as his brethren did, and Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now that was the custom in that day that when a man died, his brother was to marry her. And two of them, actually, they refused to do it. And they were smitten with death. Now, Judah tells her to go into her father's house and wait, he has another son that's coming along. And now we read verse 12, and in process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died. And Judah was comforted and went up into his sheep shears to Timnath, he and his friend, Hirah, the Adullamite.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, it was told Tamar saying, behold thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. Apparently, this deal that Judah had of going up to see this Adullamite by the name of Hirah was in connection with sheep, raising sheep because now they have a tremendous flock together and Judah goes up there to shear them. And Tamar, who had been waiting all this time, she came to the conclusion that Judah was not going to give Shelah as her husband.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And she put her widow's garments off from her, covered her with a veil, wrapped herself and sat in an open place, which is by the way, the Timnath, for she saw that Shelah was grown and she was not given unto him to wife. And this is of course, the third son of Judah. Now verse 15, when Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot because she had covered her face. You see she'd taken off her widow's garments and now she's dressed there sitting by the wayside, her face covered, which was the custom of the harlots in that day.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he turned unto her by the way and said, go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee. Now, you see, he's propositioning the woman. This is Judah. And he'd done the same thing with her mother, a Canaanite. It's a very black picture by the way. It's a very ugly story that we have here. And Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot. So she saw an opportunity of taking advantage of him and she did. And he said, I'll send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, wilt thou give me a pledge till thou send it?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He said, what pledge shall I give thee? And she said, thy signet, thy bracelets, thy staff that's in thine hand. He gave it her and came in unto her and she conceived by him. She arose and went away and laid by her veil from her and put on the garments of her widowhood. And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he found her not. He came into the town. He said, I'm looking for the harlot that's here. He asked the men of that place saying, where's the harlot that was openly by the wayside? They said there was no harlot in this place. They said, we don't have one here.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verse 22, and he returned to Judah and said, I cannot find her. And also the men of the place said that there was no harlot in this place. And Judah said, let her take it to her lest we be ashamed. Behold, I sent this kid and thou hast not found her. And it came to pass about three months after that it was told Judah saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot, and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, bring her forth and let her be burnt.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That's Judah. May I say to you, this is your double standard. God doesn't approve of these things, friend. It's here in his word, but that doesn't mean he approves of it. The very fact that it's here shows that he disapproves of it. This is not the way that he wanted his people to act, and they're acting just like the Canaanites, and he's going to have to get them down into the land of Egypt and segregate them there in the land of Goshen to get them away from this terrible influence that there was there.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This reveals the necessity for that, why this thing's almost unspeakable that Judah is doing here. The fact of the matter is, he can see the sin in somebody else. Can't see it in himself. You remember Nathan went in to tell David a story about a fellow had a little ewe lamb and the rich man with a lot of sheep took it away from him, killed the little ewe lamb. Believe me, David was just like Judah here. He could see sin in somebody else. David says, we're going to get that man and we're going to stone him to death because of that. He said, I like to know where the man is. Nathan said, you're the man.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's interesting, we see sin in other people that we ourselves can't see within our own being. This man's guilty. In fact, a double charge is against him and this thing that he's done is unspeakable. It's his own daughter-in-law, and this is something that it's the custom there among the Canaanites. This is the way they lived. We think today this sex revolution that we're having and they talk about freedom of sex. Well, my friend, the heathen in the past all had the freedom of it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That's the reason they were heathen and that's the reason that they lived as low as they did and finally were judged and removed from the scene. The Canaanites are gone. They disappeared. God judged them. That ought to be a message to any person, but a great many don't seem to get it. Even Christians today. Many don't say, well, I wonder why this is in the Bible. It's in the Bible to warn you and me, friends. It's in the Bible to let us know that God did not approve of it and it'll explain why God is going to get them off down into the land of Egypt.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, when she's brought before her father-in-law, why notice what happens, verse 25. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law saying, by the man whose these are, am I with child? And she said, discern, I pray thee, whose are these? The signet and bracelets and staff. You know, when all of that was presented to old Judah, he was going to have her stoned. And she said, well, I'd like for you to know who the father of the child could be is. The one who owns this stuff I'm showing you. That's who it is.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Judah looked at it, and he had to admit it was his. Verse 26, and Judah acknowledged them and said, she hath been more righteous than I. Because that I gave her not to Shelah, my son, and he knew her again no more. This is something that was repulsive even to Judah. But this is the way the Canaanites acted. This is the way they lived. Don't you see that God's going to have to get his people out of that land and away from that?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And may I just pause this moment to make this application because these things happened under them, examples unto us. Now, I hear a great deal today that if you're going to witness to this generation, and if you can communicate to them, you've got to get down to their level. I disagree with that. God's never used that method to witness. God's always, under any circumstances, asked his people to live on a very high and lofty plain.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now I can well understand that somebody might have come along, one of these present-day theologians have come along and said to Noah, now listen, brother Noah, you're spending all your time working here on this boat. And you ought not to be doing that. We're having a big party over here in Babylon tonight. They've just got in a new shipment of marijuana, and we tonight are going to blow our mind. We are all going to pass around the grass, and we're just going to have a high old time. And we're going to take a trip. And you don't need to build a boat to take a trip. We're going to give you a trip. Come on over.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And Noah says, no, I'm not. Well, brother Noah, how do you expect to reach all the hippies of Babylon? How are you going to reach the Babylonian bee boppers unless you're willing to come down and communicate with them? Fact of the matter is, God never asked him to come down and communicate. God asked him to give his message. That's what we're asked to give today. And I'm firmly convinced that if God's people would stand firm, and especially these men today that are so afraid they'll lose the crowd, so afraid they'll not have an audience to speak to, and they do everything in the world to get a crowd to speak to. And some of them are having their problems.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But God never asked us to compromise. God asked us to give the word of God. I remember hearing years ago the story about Dr. Scofield over in North Carolina. He's invited over there to speak and it was a rainy night the first night he began, and there's a very small crowd there. And the pastor felt called upon to apologize to Dr. Scofield. He reached over and he said to him, I'm very sorry tonight. There's so few people here to hear a man like you. We just regret it very much. And Dr. Scofield, he said, well, my Lord only had 12 men to speak to, and since he only had 12 men and never complained, may I say who is C.I. Scofield that he should complain about a small crowd anywhere?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: My friend, that's a lesson that this generation hasn't learned. We think it's got to be big, and they've got to be a lot of people there, or God's not in it. Maybe God has just called us to witness in these days. But I have news for you. I believe that if the word of God's given out, it'll have its effect. It will certainly bring results. And Judah went down and he sure communicated to the Canaanites. He couldn't have got down more on their level than he did. And look what it did, it brought tragedy.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we're told, verse 27, that it came to pass, in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. It came to pass when she travailed and the one put out his hand, and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, this came out first. It came to pass as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, how hast thou broken forth? This breach is upon thee. Therefore, his name was called Perez. And afterward came out his brother that had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, here are these names that we've looked at. And I'd like for you now to go with me over to the first book of the New Testament. And let's read here the first chapter, second verse. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. And Jacob begat Judah and his brethren. And Judah begat Perez and Zerah of Tamar. And Perez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Aram and on down. Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab, and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And if you just follow it right on through, why you find out here, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who's called Christ. This is the line in which the Lord Jesus came by the way, and this is an evidence of the fact that God must now get his people down into the land of Egypt. All right? We'll return then to the story of Joseph because he's already down there. He didn't go down willingly, but he's down there. He was taken down and we saw it at the conclusion of chapter 37, the 36th verse, the Midianites sold him. That is Joseph into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's and captain of the guard.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now we're going to find out that Joseph is an altogether different kind of boy than Judah was. I always have felt that Joseph and Benjamin did a great deal of teaching and instruction and personal attention that the other ten boys never did get. These were the only two that Jacob seemed to be interested in. Now Joseph, because of the hatred and animosity of his brothers, he's been sold down into the land of Egypt in the house of Potiphar, and he happens to be a very important soldier. He's in the military. He had his office in the Pentagon of that day, and he's part of the brass. He's a prominent official by the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now let me read chapter 39, verse 1. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian bought him of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down thither. Verse 2, and the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now, that'll be as far as we can go today. But that leads me to call your attention to something here that's very important for us to know. First of all, we have no record of God appearing personally to Joseph. And yet, you see more evidence of the direction and leading of God in his life than any other person in the book of Genesis.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God appeared to the other three patriarchs, but not to this man. Why? Well, it's not necessary because the circumstances reveal the hand of God in his life and right here at the very beginning we see it. But yet, you see some terrible things happening to him and God'll be in all of that by the way, but we'll have to pick that story up next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Host: Joseph's story isn't over yet, and there's so much more ahead as our study of Genesis continues. We hope that you'll keep hopping aboard as the Bible bus rolls along. Until then, stay connected. You can send us a note through our app, you can email us at biblebus@tbb.org or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1.

Host: You can also call and leave a message anytime at 1-800-65 Bible. And when you're in touch, we'd also love to send you a free pack of Bible bus passes. Now, these small cards include a QR code that links directly to Dr. McGee's teaching, an easy way to invite someone else to start discovering God's word. So, let us know if you'd like them. And one more quick favor, when you call or write, please tell us how and where you listen to Through the Bible. Is it on a radio station or through our app, on Alexa or some other way? This little detail really helps us keep the Bible bus running in the right direction. I'm Steve Swetz, and I'll be right here saving a seat just for you.

Host: Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at Through the Bible.