Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday we ended with Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery, and he was subsequently

sold to a man named Potiphar who worked for the King of Egypt.

Joseph's brothers led his

father Jacob to believe he was dead, and Jacob was crushed. Today we have a brief intermission

from Joseph's story, where we follow what's happening at that time in the life of his half-brother

Judah, Leah's fourth son. Judah finds a wife from among the Canaanites. We've seen them a lot already. We'll

continue seeing them. They're the cursed descendants of Noah's son Ham and grandson Canaan. They're

not worshippers of God, and they currently inhabit the land God promised to give to this family.

Judah and his new wife have three sons, and he eventually arranges a marriage between his oldest son Er and a woman named Tamar.

But Err was wicked, so God kills him, because he's God and he knows hearts.

God is both just and merciful.

In this instance, he leans into his justice.

So if you're feeling any kind of impulse to set yourself up as a judge over God because of this,

I would just encourage you to remember that he's the one who gets to make those kinds of decisions.

We've all committed treason against God and his kingdom, and we all deserve death.

So no matter what Err did or didn't do, he got what he deserved. The rest of us

are just living on mercy. After Err's death, Judah gives Tamar to his second son in marriage,

because if she has neither a husband nor children, it is essentially a death sentence for her in that

day. There would be no one to care for her or provide for her.

It seems like Judah is really trying to take care of Tamar, but son number two isn't having it,

so he gets sneaky about it to make sure she doesn't get pregnant. God's protection of Tamar

...