May your house be like the house of Perez! (Ruth 4:12a)
It’s interesting isn’t it, that just as I was about to start this topic, a young man walks into the room. I continued, paying him a little notice, and all of a sudden, I could see his mouth open, and some others giggling.
Perez you see, is being referred to here as one whose house is blessed, but how is Perez blessed and what became of His twin brother? The reference to Perez actually opens a lot of Israel history, but since you are in the mood for an exciting story, do listen in.
Jacob, transformed to Israel, become a a great nation, and fathered the 12 tribes of Israel. He had a mixed bunch, and even though Reuben was the first born, he missed the blessings because he slept with one of his father’s concubines – how does a son even do that. Israel cursed him with instability, he lost the right to be the head of the family. This left a vacancy. A vacancy that would ordinarily fall on Joseph as he was the one most like Christ. The similarities between Jesus and Joseph are over 40, quite remarkable. Indeed, Joseph got the blessing of the first born – the double portion. His two sons – Ephraim and Manasseh would feature in Israel’s blessings and will become tribes with their uncles, but Joseph didn’t get the best blessing. By God’s choice, that fell on Judah. Israel declared – the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver between his feet. When you see words that have forever or eternity in them, it’s a marker for Christ. He is the only way to eternity. He is the source of real life – eternal life.
So on Judah lies great promise, the Messiah would come through this one. The question then is which of His sons will get this blessing? Er, Onan or Shelah? I would suppose that these would be happy to carry on in God’s plan, but no! Er lives wickedly in the sight of God and the Lord killed him, and Onan has an opportunity to take on His wife Tamar and bear offspring by her, but they dealt with her treacherously, so much so that God struck them down. He was okay with the sex, but he ensured he emitted on the ground. Judah saw that his son’s were dying and decided to send Tamar away, until his last son became of age. Here was the beneficiary of God’s promise going childless.
It’s in the midst of this seemingly hopeless drama that, Tamar tracks Judah, disguises as a prostitute and positions for Judah. Judah could not resist and negotiates a one night stand with his signet and staff as surety, while he would pay a goat for her services. He has his way, and she has hers, she gets pregnant… This story is how Perez is born, but not quite.
(Remember the giggling and open mouth in the beginning? Yes, the mouth was getting wider and the giggles were increasing). The guy who had just walked in, was named Perez, how coincidental right? Well, I think there is a lesson here worth learning.
Tamar was pregnant with twins for her father inlaw – Judah. One baby brought out his hand, and ribbon was tied, they were so sure he was the first, then they pushed the hand back for proper positioning and out came Perez! He broke forth!
This little Child of strange circumstance would be the first born of Judah and a great great in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Talk about God’s favor, talk about God’s workings. This was the prayer prayed for the family of Boaz and Ruth, and then they gave birth to Obed, grand father of David, and lineage of Christ.
Key Lesson: Blessing is Christ and our connection with Him. Our highest blessing is to be found in His lineage as his seed. Our access is faith, and our pathway to fullness of stature is Favor.
Selah
