By Joy Victor Osazuwa
Today I want us to look at a very interesting story in the Bible.
Genesis chapter 38 tells us of a man named Judah.
He had a wife and they had 3 sons.
Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, a key patriarch who rose to prominence among his brothers and founded the influential Tribe of Judah.
The names of his sons were:
Er, Onan and Shelah.
In verse 6, The Bible says that Judah got a wife for his first son Er, her name was Tamar. 7. Er was wicked in the sight of God, so God killed him.
The Bible is silent on the details of Er’s wickedness. We don’t know if he was wicked towards his wife, but what we do know is that he was wicked, and God killed him.
So Judah told his second son Onan to sleep with Er’s wife so that he could raise children for his brother Er. (That was the culture in those days).
Onan saw an opportunity to have his brother’s wife, and jumped on the offer.
The Bible says that when Onan would sleep with Tamar, he would ejaculate on the floor. (This was the first man to do withdrawal method). He wanted to enjoy the woman but didn’t want to raise children by her for his brother.
That was wickedness.
Why would you love pleasure and hate responsibility?
God was angry with Onan for that and killed him too.
Onan was a picture of what a lot of people are today.
They love the sex, but they don’t want commitment.
They want pleasure, but they don’t want pregnancy.
They are there for the fun.
Immediately it’s time for responsibility, they shy away.
No wonder many have perished.
Pleasure without responsibility cuts off ones life.
Be careful what you plan to do because it’s Valentine’s Day.
God is watching.
Onan thought he was being smart.
He didn’t want to raise children for his late brother, but he didn’t see anything wrong with sleeping with his brother’s widow.
So when he died, Judah was afraid.
He felt that his son’s wife was possessed.
(He must have been an African🤣).
People tend to accuse the woman whenever her husband dies.
So Judah thought that Tamar was a bad woman, or that she had a hand in the mysterious death of his two sons.
Remember he had three sons, now two were dead, and he didn’t want to risk it again.
So he told Tamar that his last son was too young to marry her,
He told her to go back to her father’s house and wait until he is old enough to get married.
Then he would send for her.
The truth is that he didn’t want to give his last and only remaining son to “an evil woman”.
He also didn’t want Tamar to marry another man.
So he told her to live as a widow until Shelah grows up.
There are many men like Judah, they know that they don’t want you, yet they don’t want to see you with another man.
But you see God?
He has a sense of humor.
He allowed Judah to have a taste of what he was putting Tamar through.
After some time, Judah’s wife died, and Judah couldn’t stay without sleeping with a woman.
After the funeral and all, he resumed his business.
He went to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep.
Words got to Tamar that her father in-law was on his way to Timnah on a business trip.
So Tamar who had gotten to know that the man had no intention of letting her marry his last born Shelah, came up with a plan.
In those days, prostitutes didn’t expose themselves. It was a shameful trade, so those who indulged in it were always covered.
So when Tamar heard that Judah was coming to town, she disguised herself as a prostitute, covered her face completely and sat by the entrance of the city, where she knew that Judah was passing.
Let’s look at verses 15-17.
“When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter- in- law, he went over to her and and said ” Come now, let me sleep with you “.
“And what will you give me to sleep with me”. She asked.
“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock ” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge before you send it?” She asked.
This is what happens when men begin to negotiate with sin.
He wasn’t going there to sleep with a prostitute, but when he saw one, or so he thought, he wanted to have sex with her. Then he realized that he didn’t even have money to pay for her services.
But instead of him to respect himself and go on his business, he was asking for sex on credit.
He promised to send her a goat when he got home.
But Tamar was too wise for that. So she asked for a collateral.
The truth is….
No matter how smart you think you are, sex outside the confines of marriage comes with a high price tag.
And you’ll pay it, whether you like it or not.
There is nothing like free sex, sex will take from you.
In verse 18, the great exchange happened.
She requested for his seal and it’s cord, and the staff in his hand.
Remember, Judah was a prince. He was royalty.
Every royalty had a seal and cord, and a staff.
These were symbols of authority and rulership.
They were what makes royalties.
No two royalties had the same seal.
A seal was a personal symbol of identity.
It is how you knew that someone was royalty.
But those were the very things that Tamar requested for.
And Judah gave them to her.
A man who is horny does not think properly.
As soon as Judah gave those things to her, he couldn’t function as a prince again.
He lost his staff of rulership.
He lost his authority
He lost his identity
He became like an ordinary man.
So we looked at a very interesting story in Genesis chapter 38.
We saw how Tamar was given in marriage to Judah’s first son Er, Er was wicked and God killed him.
Tamar was later given to Er’s brother, Onan, Onan was also wicked, he would have sex with Tamar, but would do withdrawal method because he didn’t want to raise children for his brother as the culture demanded.
After the death of Onan, Judah was afraid that there was something about Tamar that was killing his sons, so he sent her away to her father’s house, but told her to remain unmarried.
Time passed, Judah’s wife died, and Judah was going on a business trip, words got to Tamar that her father -in-law was coming to town.
Tamar disguised herself as a harlot, sat along the road that Judah was going to pass, Judah saw her, asked to sleep with her, and she demanded for a collateral.
Tamar requested that he gave her His seal and it’s cord, and the staff in his hand.
He gave those things to Tamar, slept with her, and went home.
When he got home, he sent the young goat he promised to give her through a friend.
When his friend brought the Young goat to the place he had described, there was no “harlot” there.
The men of the City said that no harlot stands there.
The friend took back the goat to him and told him that there was no harlot there.
Today I want us to look at what Judah Lost as a result of that “One Night Stand” with Tamar.
Remember we established the fact that Judah was a prince. He was royalty.
The fourth son of Jacob and Leah.
The man who built/formed the famous Tribe of Judah.
In those days, everyone who was royalty, a priest or king had a Seal and a Staff.
These were the very symbols of authority.
In Genesis chapter 41 verse 42,
Pharaoh took his signet Ring (Seal) and gave to Joseph after making him the prime minister of Egypt.
That was to symbolize the transfer of authority.
WHAT WAS IN THE SEAL?
The seal contained the royal authority which allowed Judah (or any ruler or royalty) to act with full power and authority.
The seal gave administrative power to Judah.
Without the seal, Judah could not function as a ruler in Israel or anywhere.
The Seal is what authenticates decrees.
In Esther chapter 8., King Xerxes reclaims his signet ring from the executed Haman and gives it to Mordecai, symbolizing the transfer of authority and trust.
Esther appoints Mordecai over Haman’s estate, and with the ring, he issues a new, irrevocable decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves.
The King told Esther to write a new decree and seal it with his ring.
A Ring is a prophetic symbol that seals decrees.
Unfortunately, a lot of royalties have lost their rings.
The Seal, The Cord, and The Staff Judah Lost to Tamar symbolized:
His Identity
His Authority
His Rulership.
In priesthood, to lose a seal is to lose the power that authenticates divine transactions.
Spiritual Implications:
Withdrawal of Favor: Prophetically, the breaking of a staff (as seen in Zechariah 11) symbolizes God withdrawing his protective covenant favour and the resulting disintegration of unity among the people.
Loss of Respect and Dignity: While spiritual gifts can sometimes be restored through repentance, the public “respect and dignity” associated with the office are often permanently damaged or lost once these symbols of trust are surrendered through sin.
As Christians, we are referred to as a Royal Priesthood.
So what the sin of immorality does to a Christian is that it takes away your voice as an authority in the realms of the spirit.
Demons no longer fear you when you pray.
You lose the right to legislate.
You can’t carry out spiritual transactions.
You can’t order demons out of any territory.
That is why I said that Judah became like an ordinary man after he lost those symbols of his office as a Prince.
Let’s see what happened in The New Testament.
In Luke chapter 15 verse 22:
When the prodigal son returned to his father, the father gave him three things:
A Robe : A symbol of Identity
A Ring: A symbol of Authority
A Sandal: A symbol of inheritance.
The same thing that sin takes from you, is what God restores to you when you come to Christ in repentance.
There are so many Priests and Princes without authority, no identity and no inheritance, but thank God for Jesus.
On Christ you can be restored to God.
Don’t forget El-Ashiyb, The God who Restores.
Now this is no longer about Judah,
This is about us
What have sin taken from you?
If you turn to God, He will restore it to you.
What you lost to sin, can be restored in Christ.
