Why was life so seemingly hard and unfair during old testament times?

I’m going to talk about Genesis, chapter 38:6-29. I’ve copied and pasted it below, with my questions/comments bolded throughout the text:

Judah and Tamar

38 ⁶ Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him. Why did the Lord kill Er? What did he do? What made him so wicked? There are lots of evil people in the world today, but, if they make changes, and accept Jesus, then, they’re automatically accepted into the family of God, and they get eternal life. Does Er not have the hope of eternal life since he was born too early? If he were born during or after Jesus’s coming, I’m assuming the Lord already knew Er’s heart was hardened, and that he’d deny the gift of eternal life?

⁸ And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. ¹⁰ And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; therefore He killed him also.

Doing this, during old testament times, would get you killed by the Lord? I’m not saying that it’s not wrong, but, I’m sure there are people out there today who do this, but, they are not struck down by God after doing this act. I’m assuming that they ask for forgiveness for doing this? I don’t usually delve into the realm of sexual topics on this blog, but, what Onan did is similar to birth control – does that mean it’s wrong to do this now? Any form of BC is wrong? Or, was the law so sacred back then, that, people had to adhere to it, exactly, or they’d be put to death by the Lord? Had Onan missed his chance for eternal life since Jesus had not yet come to earth? Or, was he disobeying the Lord’s command to produce an heir? Judah wanted Onan to produce an heir for his brother – was having an heir (during old testament times) so sacred that Onan’s disobedience cost him his life?

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house till my son Shelah is grown.” For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers.” And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

¹² Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah’s wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³ And it was told Tamar, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” ¹⁴ So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.

It was okay for Judah to break his promise to Tamar, and not give Shelah to her as a husband? This kind of sin  was not as bad as Omar’s and Er’s? The Lord did not kill Judah for doing this? ¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

Does the Lord not frown upon Judah seemingly sleeping with a harlot? The Lord knows it’s Tamar, but, Judah’s actions were not punished by death, unlike his son, Omar. Why? Is it because the Lord chose to forgive Judah since the Lord wanted Tamar to have an heir? Was this all a part of God’s will?

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷ And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

¹⁸ Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹ So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.

So, was this the way the Lord wanted Tamar to produce an heir, through deceit, trickery and dishonesty?

²⁰ And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹ Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?”

And they said, “There was no harlot in this place.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place.”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her.”

²⁴ And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry.”

So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”

What?? Judah has the power to act as God, burning someone for their sins, killing them – yet, he seemingly slept with a harlot? Seems quite unfair that Judah would have this kind of power, live this kind of life, yet want to kill others when he’s guilty of being a party to the same sin.

²⁵ When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”

²⁶ So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” And he never knew her again.

He admits he’s wrong, but, I’m still deeply troubled by Judah’s attitude. The fact that he’d initially wanted to burn Tamar down for harlotry leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

²⁷ Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. ²⁸ And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called Perez. ³⁰ Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

Please provide any comments or insight about this scripture!

Was the land of Gerar evil, like Sodom and Gomorrah?

In Chapter 26 of Genesis, it’s mentioned that there was a famine in the land and that the Lord told Isaac to settle down in Gerar. He took his wife, Rebekah, with him, but, told the people that she was his sister. When he was caught in a passionate moment with Rebekah it was revealed that Rebekah was his wife. King Abimelech issued an order – no one could molest Isaac or Rebekah. If they did, they’d be put to death.

My question is, was molesting one another, both male and female, a common practice in this land?

Later, Issac was told to leave since he’d gained so much wealth. Abimelech felt Isaac had become too powerful to stay. Later Abimelech and his men found Isaac, wanting to make a treaty with him. They knew the Lord was with Isaac, so, since they had not molested Isaac or his wife, he wanted peace between them – he did not want Isaac doing them any harm. Since the molestation issue was mentioned again, I still wondered about this land and all that occurred there. They feared Isaac, since the Lord was with him. But, I wondered how life was in Gerar during this time? How evil was it? The Lord had told Isaac to stay in that land, so, perhaps Isaac was there to fulfill some kind of purpose for the Lord (other than escaping the famine.)

Please, share your thoughts!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Isn’t it hard to imagine that Esau came out of Rebekah’s womb, covered with hair?

Infants are usually smooth-skinned, perhaps a bit wrinkled, with sometimes hair on their head, maybe some eyebrows. I’ve just never seen a hairy baby before. Also, just the thought of Jacob grasping Esau’s heel, coming out of the womb – just sounds so awesome – a hairy baby coming out, with his brother grasping his heel.

Also, Esau despised his birthright. He sold his birthright to his brother for some lentil stew?

Jacob probably knew that Esau despised his birthright, so, he took advantage of that fact by asking his brother to sell it to him in exchange for the stew.

Was it the Lord’s will for Jacob to do this?

Why couldn’t Jacob simply shared, given his brother something to eat without mentioning the birthright?

On a different note, anybody have a good recipe for lentil stew? I also wonder what was used to season the lentil stew. I wonder how lentil stew tasted when it was made during old testament times. I wonder if we ate it, if we’d think it was good.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

21Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son?

I’ve always wondered about this. The obvious answer was to test Abraham’s faith, however, if the Lord were to test my faith this way, I doubt I’d pass the test. I think about my nine-year-old son, so young, innocent, trusting, and I think about the love I have for him in my heart. If the Lord asked me to sacrfice my son…I don’t think I could do it. Actually, I know I couldn’t do it.

Someone mentioned to me that Abraham’s “sacrifice” was symbolic – it was symbolic of the Lord sacrificing his son, Jesus, for all humankind. I do understand and see the symbolism in the example, but, I still struggle to understand God’s reasoning in asking this of Abraham. In addition to being symbolic, someone mentioned to me that Abraham is the father if the Jewish nation, and testing is faith was done for this reason?

Why do you think God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son? Do you remember studying about this in Sunday school when you were a kid? Please, share your thoughts!

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed

Genesis 22:1-2, 9-12

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Why did Lot’s wife become a pillar of salt?

Genesis 19:26

²⁶ But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

I realize she’d been disobedient – the Lord had said not to look back, but, Lot’s wife looked back. But, why would she turn into a pillar of salt? I’d think that the Lord would’ve struck Lot’s wife dead, suddenly, for disobeying. I’d wondered if the salt had some deep meaning – is a pillar of salt symbolic?

I was talking to someone in my Bible study group and she said that when’s Lot’s wife looked back, she’d been so abhorred about the death and destruction that she’d witnessed that she froze, could not move, and perhaps the sulfur which the Lord had raining down from the sky, had fallen upon Lot’s wife, therefore turning her into a pillar of salt.

Another thought is, perhaps his wife just did not want to leave, and had to look back, to see what she was leaving behind. Lot and his family lingered so much that the angels had to take their hands and force them to leave!

Genesis 19:15-17

¹⁵ When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. ¹⁷ So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.

Lot and his family didn’t realize the gravity of their situation. Perhaps Lot’s wife really didn’t want to leave – and when the angels forced her to go, she went against her wishes. Perhaps, when she looked back, she was thinking about returning to her home, and to her friends who’d been left behind?

We can only speculate about this since the scriptures give us limited information about Lot’s wife. Far as I can tell, we don’t even know her name.

Why do you think Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt? Do you recall anything your pastor or Bible study teacher shared with you about this subject?