Questions:
12.
intermarried with canaanites. Er and Onan, Judah’s sons, both put to death because of wickedness. Things later forbidden (prostitution) are treated as normal
13.
Continued to intermarry with Canaanites, not living as a separate people. They would have no longer been God’s people
14.
No, he too had a Levirate obligation to father children for his son through her. He started the path of unrighteousness
15.
a.
She desired to honor her husband by continuing his line. She was righteous
b.
Gentiles married into the family of Judah
16.
Blames her in 24, confesses in 26
17.
It is factual. She was grafted into the house of Israel through faith, struggle and righteousness
My Daily Journal:
In verse 26 not only does Judah confess his sin but he acknowledges Tamar’s righteousness. This means more than she did something right. The word used here is tsadaq. This is the same word used to describe Noah (Gen. 7:1), the Law (Deu. 4:8), David (1 Sa. 24:17), and even Yahweh (2 Ch. 12:6).
In this story it is easy to get lost in the graphic nature of what is going on. But there is a very interesting thought and application that we can apply from the then and there to the here and now. It is the idea of “unexpected righteousness.” If both Tamar and Judah were called in to court and each gave testimony, the court would surely side with Judah. He is a man, he is wealthy, he comes from a noble and strong family in the lineage of Abraham and Jacob. But we see here it is not the person in the position of authority (Judah, the patriarch and son of Israel) but someone quite unexpected (Tamar, a widow and a foreigner) who is found to be righteous. A label of righteousness is earned and preserved by being such, not given because of social status. (kudos to http://www.theropps.com/papers/Winter1997/Genesis38exegesis.htm)
How we need to remember this is our view of others in the church and in future believers. This was the main tripping stone of the leaders of the law with Jesus – how could this be the messiah? – this is not what we expected. We see in God’s economy that righteousness is from the inside out, not the outside in.
The Notes are Good 