Judah - From Sinner to Saint
Building Godly Character - March 10, 2010
I want to look at a life that exemplifies the grace of God; a life that progressed from sinner to saint. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. Judah means praise. Leah named him Judah because she gave praise to the Lord for his blessing of her fourth son. Judah did not have a good beginning. First Judah took part in the selling of his brother into Egyptian slavery.
Gen. 37:26 “Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? His blood would just give us a guilty conscience.”
Second he was a hypocrite.
Gen. 38: 24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has acted like a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s pregnant.” “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” Judah demanded. 25 But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: “The man who owns these things made me pregnant. Look closely. Whose seal and cord and walking stick are these?” 6 Judah recognized them immediately and said, “She is more righteous than I am, because I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.” And Judah never slept with Tamar again.
Judah’s sin was as great as Tamar’s but he was willing to have her killed for her sinfulness. Jesus refers to this attitude when he tells us to get the pole out of our own eyes before we mention the speck in our brother’s eye. Having read these portions we would all wonder why in the world Judah would be the father of the kings of Israel and of Christ. I believe the answer is in his repentant heart and his willingness to take responsibility. After the affair with Tamar he claimed her to be more righteous than himself. As Judah’s life progresses he is able to make things right with his father and with Joseph. Gen. 43 records that Judah was willing to risk his own life to protect the life of Benjamin.
Gen. 44:33 “33 “So please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!”
The lives of so many Biblical characters, as so often ours do as well, reflect the goodness and the grace of God. Judah was wrong in what he did but he took responsibility for his actions.
Gen. 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you 9 Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,[a]until the coming of the one to whom it belongs,[b] the one whom all nations will honor. 11 He ties his foal to a grapevine, the colt of his donkey to a choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine.”
Perhaps the greatest testament to Judah’s life is found in the book of Matthew.
Matt. 1:1-3 “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David[a] and of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar).”
What a blessing to know that God’s grace is sufficient for us as well.
Calvary Christian Center, Assemblies of God, Louisville, KY