Cultural Danger: Genesis 38:1-11
Danger lurks at the door. Sin crouches around the corner, waiting for our vulnerability. Sin can be forgiven and we know we need not fear its bondage over us, but we still fall prey to it periodically. We remain vigilant.
Once more we see someone in the Hebrew patriarchal line breaking with God’s ways. Reuben usurped his father’s power, Simeon and Levi massacred a town, and now Judah leaves his brothers to marry an Adullamite, an inhabitant of a city in Canaan.
Abraham carefully chose a wife for Isaac from people who understood God’s ways. Isaac likewise sent Jacob to find a wife from among his own people. Conversely, Esau chose wives from among the Canaanites, a decision allowing him to make choices aligned to the world’s ethics more than God’s ethics. Judah does the same.
The Canaanites weren’t particularly worse people than the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, or other people groups in the area. There isn’t anything particularly bad about them that isn’t also true about all cultures. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. We all walk away from God’s ways to pursue our own desires. Judah’s wife being a Canaanite isn’t the issue.
The point is Judah marrying someone who doesn’t value the same things as God, regardless of cultural group. Life does not make it easy to choose the right course of action. If we don’t have people around us to help us choose righteousness, the difficulty in following God’s ways increases.
That’s the issue being taught in this story. Judah leaves his brothers and seeks a wife from among the Canaanites. He’s cut himself off from those who could hold him accountable to God’s ways. In marrying a Canaanite, he’s allowed himself and his children to be influenced into following a different set of ethical values.
This point is made clear in the story. His first son, Er, was so wicked God put him to death. It raises the question as to where he learned wickedness to that level. The sons of Jacob did some horrible things, but not to the point where God desired to put them to death. Er was raised in an environment that allowed his wickedness to go unchecked.
Onan, Judah’s next son, refused to perform the family duty of producing offspring with Er’s wife, Tamar. This behavior might seem strange to the modern ear, but at the time it was about ensuring a particular lineage did not pass into obscurity. Onan’s culture allows him to circumvent his responsibility and do the wrong thing.
It is difficult – perhaps impossible – to get all of life’s decision’s right. Our human impulses are selfish. Our emotions often prevent us from responding logically. Sometimes even a lack of information prevents us from drawing the proper conclusion. This is why it is so important to surround ourselves with godly accountability. Danger lurks at the door.
