Re: Beautiful Harlot Brings Down Republican Senator Pete Domenici. -
02-21-2013, 08:48 PM
I see many parallels in my earlier sermon:
A Children’s Christmas Message of Forgiveness From Landover
Was not Christ’s Message, “Accept Me, have you sins washed away and be with Me in Heaven.”? So it is with some pleasure that I take as my Text, Genesis:38.
The Great and Godly Patriarch, Judah, leaves his family for the Canaanites and becomes friends with Hirah, an Adullamite. (Wherever Hirah is mentioned there is trouble in store for Judah.) While with Hirah at Adullam, Judah saw a Canaanite woman, “Shua’s daughter”. Judah she looked like a woman who’d produce many fine sons so, when he “saw” her, he “took her” and “went in to her.” (That’s the way you got married in those days and will be again once Theocracy reigns in the US, but I digress.)
Three sons were born: Er, Onan, and Shelah. For the first son, Er, Tamar was acquired for a wife. Er, however, was so evil that God took his life. As God’s Law is to marry your brother’s widow, Onan was then instructed by Judah to marry Tamar and raise up seed to his brother.
Rather than “going in unto Tamar, Onan “spilled his seed on the ground” (verse 9) and God took the life of this man for masturbating.
Once Onan was dead, Judah became very reluctant to give his youngest (and last) son to Tamar, as he’s not having much luck with her as a daughter-in-law, so he tells her to go and live with her father. Finally Tamar was convinced that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to her.
Judah’s Fornication
(38:12-19)
Judah’s wife dies and he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite decide to visit the sheep-shearers at Timnah. So watch out for trouble because Hirah is a Jonah.
Someone mentions this to Tamar, so she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, so as to look like a temple prostitute and sat in the gateway of Enaim, on the road to Timnah.
When Judah saw her, mistook her for a prostitute, and being a regular client at the temple, he turned he said, “Here now, let me come in to you”. (I’ll explain this for the children: This means he wanted to push his tallywhacker up her cooter or anywhere else she’d let him.)
And she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”
He said, therefore, “I will send you a kid from the flock.”
She sees there’s no sheep about, so she says, “Will you give a pledge until you send it?”
And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”
And she said, “Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.”
So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she now gets a bun in the oven (although she hoped for this, she didn’t know immediately.) Then she got up off her back, walked towards her father’s house, took of her prostitute kit and put her widow’s clothes back on (Genesis 38:12-19).
Judah carried on to catch up Hirah, who, we assume hadn’t stayed around to watch. (The Lord does not approve of Dogging)
Judah’s Folly
(Gen:38:20-26)
When Judah told Hirah to deliver the kid, and get his stuff back, Hirah went but did not find her. He asked around saying, “Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”
But they said, “Sorry friend, there has been no temple prostitute here.”
So he returned to Judah, and said, “I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’”
Then Judah, who wasn’t particularly bothered about his stuff, said, “Let her keep them, lest we become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this kid, but you did not find her.”
Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry*.” (*She’s been piffling men for money and is now pregnant.)
Obviously, Judah is filled with outrage at this shame and says, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” What could be worse than a woman who’s a prostitute? Disgusting, as Judah rightfully thought.
As the locals were dragging her to Judah to be burned, she mentioned, “I am with child by the man to whom these things belong. Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?”
Anyway, Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again (Genesis 38:20-26).
What a lovely story, for Christmas! It’s like Jesus’ birth but you get 2 babies! But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s move on…
It turns out that she’s doubly blessed. The firstborn was named Perez. As later genealogies will prove, he was to carry on the messianic line until the time of David, and ultimately, to Jesus (cf. Ruth 4:12; Matthew 1:3).
And thus we see that forgiveness was pre-eminent in the arrival of Christ on Earth. So, when you think of Christmas, think of forgiveness and of this Lesson from God.
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