Tamar: God's Helper in the Messianic Lineage

Tamar demanded a great a greater righteousness out of Judah. That's what it means to be a helper. A helper is someone who calls something out of you that you need to be able to produce because you are being called to be someone greater. To be a helper is not to be subservient. To be a helper means to be an ally. It means to be someone who calls a greater righteousness out of someone in front of you. [01:16:04] (31 seconds)  #HelperIsAlly

Imagine us using this word in the right context. Because traditionally and primarily this word is used to portray god as our helper, but it's not a helper that is subservient to us. That's silly to think that god would be subservient to us in calling him a helper. Without god, we can't save ourselves. Without god, we can't do the things that he calls us to. And, ultimately, without god, we can't have an abundant and harmonious life. [01:01:14] (38 seconds)  #GodIsOurHelper

This word is used for Eve, which really changes the meaning and the way that we should view Eve as. Because not only does it apply to her, but Eve is a symbol for the rest of humanity. An someone who even saves you in a militaristic sense. The is the ally that you need in order to win the war. You can't fathom doing it on your own. They are your equal. She is your equal in power, in command because you both work together as one unit. [01:01:51] (40 seconds)  #EveEqualAlly

Now you may wonder, like, Michael, like, how is there anything that is redeemable from this story? Let me tell you that god works through adversity to bring greatness, to bring salvation. It could have been that god chose to work through someone else like Joseph, but we see that god instead chose to work through someone like Judah and specifically through Tamar. [01:14:37] (29 seconds)  #GodWorksThroughAdversity

And not only call for it, but also live out a greater righteousness, healing the sick, feeding the poor. The process of righteousness, yes, it's messy. But without the messiness, without the adversity, we wouldn't realize what we actually need, and that is we need each other. We need him. Now back to the story. My buddy and I were running down this hill. It is not going well. We are tired. [01:17:10] (44 seconds)  #RighteousnessIsMessy

Maybe you've experienced this, and I'm sorry. It's a gross misrepresentation of who god actually sees you as and what this whole text was trying to communicate. And so I'd like to go over what the actual word for helper means in the Hebrew. If you turn with me to Genesis, I will be going over this text. You'll see that the lord god in the beginning in this creation account. He said it's not good for man to be alone. So he decided to make a suitable helper for him. [00:57:12] (39 seconds)  #NotGoodToBeAlone

Traditionally, in the Hebrew culture, only the patriarch only the patriarchs were mentioned. However, Matthew is one of the only Jewish authors who actually includes women in Jesus' and specifically in Jesus' lineage, is super significant. You don't usually see women, and when you do, it means that you really need to pay attention. This is something that the author is saying, this is going to have a lot of significance not only on the rest of the story, but even on who this person is and who they play out to be. [00:55:23] (37 seconds)  #MatthewIncludesWomen

Genealogies. Usually, like, when we start out a sort a story, you don't think of a genealogy as a way of starting out a story. You want something exciting, some sort of event, some sort of action. When you start out with a family tree, maybe it's just me, but I'm like, this is really boring. I don't even know these names. I don't know how to actually pronounce them. If I hadn't taken a class on how to pronounce these names, I don't know how much interest I would actually have. Why are we starting out with the genealogy? That's a good question. [00:53:38] (37 seconds)  #WhyStartWithGenealogy