I have been catching up on reading since having been gone for a few days and it is a blessing to see how this week’s reading kind of flows together from text to text. We read in Genesis about Tamar and how Perez came to be born, and then fast forward in time to Ruth and see several generations after Perez. I have always loved the book of Ruth because the Providence of God is a theme throughout. You can see how God works through everything, good and bad; He even works things out for good that results from the worst decisions we ever make.
The story of Tamar is a sordid one where Judah takes a wife from a people he should not have associated with, and then has sons who also take wives they should not have taken. From there, his daughter-in-law is widowed because son after son is actually killed by the Lord for their wickedness. Finally, as she waits for another son to become her husband she takes matters into her own hands, sleeps with her father-in-law (a huge sin) and gets pregnant. Of course, this is no greater than the father-in-law’s sin of sleeping with an apparent prostitute. This whole sordid incident leads to Tamar giving birth to twins; one of which is Perez.
Now in Ruth, we see 5 or 6 generations later that Perez is revered (4:12) and this family has become honorable under the leadership of Boaz (and others who came before him). The most touching thing is to see how Boaz redeems this pagan Ruth, and then how Naomi’s bitterness is wiped away by the presence of her grandson. This grandson, by the way, becomes the grandfather of David (the man after God’s own heart). Even more powerful is to see how this lineage is the very lineage of Jesus; a lineage that includes the good, the bad and the ugly… but in God’s providence leads to the Son of God and grace for us. No one person on this planet is insignificant, and there is nothing you have ever done that is too terrible for the Providence of God to forgive, redeem and use for His glory. He is always at work and His plans never fail, no matter how much we tend to get in the way!
