12/3/23 The Women of Advent: Tamar

Watch this Week's Message

ICEBREAKER
What's it like to try to explain your family system to someone else?
DISCUSSION

1. Review Matthew 1:1-17.
   1. While this genealogy contains the names of many biblical heroes, their stories also include sin and brokenness. Try to recall with each other what you know about the sin and brokenness in some of their stories.
   2. This genealogy also contains the names of five women in a way that breaks from kingly genealogies and lists of some other surrounding nations of the time. From what Pastor Jim shared, how are they different, and why is this significant?
2. Read Genesis 38:6-30.
   1. What was it like to be a widow in Tamar's world?
      1. How does being a childless widow complicate it?
      2. What is it like for widows in our world today?
   2. What is Yibbum, or a "levirate marriage"? What is the biblical custom of a "kinsman redeemer"?
   3. What was the "sin of Onan"? What was so wicked about it?
   4. How is this different from another, more well-known interpretation of "onananism"? What does this difference in interpretations say about how we read the Bible?
   5. What were the sins of Judah? What was so wicked about them?
   6. Why does Judah say that Tamar is more "tsadaq" than him? What does "tsadaq" mean?
      Note: it can be translated as righteous or just, referring to moral righteousness and social justice.
   7. What does this story say about God's desire for the way things are in the kingdom of God?
   8. What are some implications for us today?
   9. What is significant about knowing this story along with the brokenness in the stories of those listed in Matthew chapter 1? How does this relate to what is said about Jesus in Matthew 1:21.

PRAYER
Take some time for people to share prayer requests. Then pray. First, pray about what was discussed—confessing how we sin in similar ways today and asking for God's help to fulfill his kingdom. Then pray for each others prayer requests.