grace without borders: Tamar
Matthew 1 is a passage that details the genealogy of Christ. Among the many names that have been mentioned, are the names of five women you wouldn't expect. They are not your average 'perfect' ladies, most of them if not all, would probably have been evicted from today's church, rediculed and mocked. however, God used them in His plan of bringing forth the Messiah. The first woman to be mentioned is Tamar . Her story is in Genesis 38. She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, Joseph's brother. Judah, was Leah's son, Jacob's first wife. He went and married the daughter of a Canaanite man and they had three boys. He found a wife for his firstborn, Er, a girl by the name of Tamar. Er turned out to be wicked and God killed him. Tamar was now a widow and according to their custom, Er's brother, Onan, had to fulfil his duty by sleeping with Tamar so that she can have an offspring for Er. But what does Onan do? He slept with her then poured his semen on th