Purpose Edition
For the eyes of the Lord go to and fro to search for the heart that is loyal to Him to show Himself strong.
Unclean. What is unclean? What is it to be unclean? Who are the unclean? Can someone who has this label ever make a difference? Can an unclean person ever be counted on? Can an unclean person even attempt to do what they can to help even if they themselves are not without fault? Are not without spot? Even if that unclean person is just as filthy, dirty and unworthy as the wrong that they withstand in not keeping silent. In not standing still. In not turning a blind eye. Then there was Rahab the prostitute.
Unclean...
A ritual priestess for performing intimate rituals as a practice of worship for the idols of reproduction. Rahab the prostitute was at an appointed time a strategic element in the conquest and victory for the people of God, the people of Isreal when faced with the great challenge of conquering the city of Jericho. Rahab the prostitute did not look at her circumstance of living. She did not consider her uncleanliness in her way of life when the opportunity presented itself to take sides with the God of the earth and the victory He would deliver up to His people by the hands of an unclean woman. She did not judge herself unworthy when she chose the side of righteousness as an unclean woman consequently condemning the unrighteousness found in the walls of Jericho yet being the unclean woman she was herself. An unclean woman as she was who chose the side where righteousness abided being that as she was.
What if the woman with the issue of blood an unclean woman. Thought let me wait till this flow of blood will stop. Let me wait till I am clean or cleaner so that I may go to find my Lord. That I may enquiry of His help when the time is more appropriate. The miracle would never have happened and we would not know or hear of the faith and courage of this unclean woman.
Then there was Tamar. The Canaanite woman who even made herself to become unclean to take possession of a promise and an inheritance of a seed that would pass through her all the way to the Holy Seed that would come forth in the Promised Son of God. Tamar was the daughter in law of Judah, you know, the lion of Judah and all that. So Judah’s son betrothed Tamar but was let’s call it wicked so that he and his brother who betrothed her after the first, both died. Yet both died prematurely due to their spite. Leaving Tamar promised to the youngest to continue the name of her husband as it was customary to do so in those times.
However Judah despised Tamar and sent her away with this promise to her father’s house where he would leave her without fulfilling his promise. As he was weary that her marrying his last son would become the death of him as the former. Tamar after some time had passed and the youngest son had grown and become of age. Came to realise that Judah had no intention of being faithful to his word in marrying his last son to her and perpetuating the seed through her in honour of her first husband as it was accustomed. Now in the case of Tamar unlike Rahab the prostitute and the woman with the issue of blood. Tamar very shrewdly went even further in making herself to become unclean.
What if Tamar said let me wait until Judah comes so that he will surely fulfil his vow to marry me to his youngest son. Surely he would come just as he promised. Even though right before her eyes his son had already grown.What if she had decided to be passive and an inactive woman, ignoring the obvious signs. Ignoring the alert of the times. She would not be the woman of faith recognised amongst the genealogy of the Promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. That even by means of the most filthy, vile and unclean manner she did not remain silent in the face of the evil that would come upon her. To become a barren widow with no means to live or survive. She did not remain still. On the contrary, filled with faith and a reaction upon the reality of becoming a widow who would die in the house of her elderly parents without a child or an inheritance to honour and perpetuate the name of her late husband. Tamar got up got dressed and confronted that evil that was destined for her in the most shrewd and disreputable way.
Yet it was this courage and fearlessness that the God of the whole earth, who does not look to the outward appearance but the heart that fears Him. Not the fear of terror and horror but the honour, love, respect and admiration in recognising Him and acknowledging Him as an ever present Father only a prayer away. Respecting His holiness, righteousness and everlasting sovereignty. A heart to know Him and to please Him when we listen and obey His advice. A heart that seeks Him with a desire to be apart of His everlasting covenant in righteousness and holiness which is to be separated and different from the ways of the world. To pass through the waters of baptism from the death of the old nature. To life in a new nature formed by His Spirit, through His Word. A work facilitated by the second institution of the family, an institution for the whole community of families. The church.
The church for Tamar at that time was represented by the covenant and linage that was in the family of Abraham. The father of faith and the friend of God. That through this covent would pass down through generation after generation the Holy Seed that would bring forth thePromised Son the Lord Jesus. That Holy Seed today for us is the Holy Spirit we receive when we receive, believe, accept and understand His Word.
This is what Tamar found in becoming a heiress of faith and being apart of the family of Abraham. That though she feigned for a moment for a purpose intentionally to present herself as a prostitute to confront the evil of becoming a childless widow and the deceitful injustice of her father in law, Judah who forsook her leaving her to die at her parents house.
Tamar did not keep silent. She did not keep still. No, she got, got dressed and claimed what was her rights to be apart of the inheritance, linage and seed of Abraham and God honoured her faith. That though in the most unclean, vile and disruptable means, she did not keep still. She did not keep silent. She too heard the still silent voice that even transcends space and time to GO!
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