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Genesis 38 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Social media has become a giant in today’s culture. It’s a place you can project the best version of you. It’s a space where you can share your best pictures and your best life stories. It’s a world where you can be “friends” with someone even if you haven’t met them personally. Every view into a person’s life over social media is fairly one-sided. Let’s be honest… it’s a mirage.
Our God is an honest God. He isn’t like us. He presents the whole picture in vivid colors – the good, the bad and the ugly. Genesis 38 falls into the latter category.
The law of primogeniture states that inheritance is given by law, custom, or usage to the eldest son. It was an extremely important concept in Judaism as well as other surrounding nations. In fact, it was part of God’s instruction given to Moses. But truth be told, what we find is that God would continually work against the grain of the firstborn law.
He went against the grain when He chose Abel instead of Cain. He did it again when Jacob received the blessing instead of Esau. Here in Genesis 38, the younger twin (Perez) would continue the Messianic line. Later in Genesis, Joseph would reign over his family and become his older brothers’ only hope. Later in Scripture, David would be chosen as king over all of his older siblings. In the grand scheme of redemption, Israel (the firstborn) would reject the Messiah which would pave the way for the Gentiles (metaphorically younger) to be adopted into God’s family. Pretty amazing, right?
In less than ideal circumstances, God used flawed human choices to produce the glory of Jesus Christ. Oh, and yes, Jesus was a firstborn of all creation…
Colossians 1:15-16 HCSB He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He came to show humanity what a true firstborn Son should accomplish under His Father’s guidance. After witnessing a family history riddled with failed firstborn examples, the perfect firstborn Son stepped out of His Father’s throneroom to set all things in order. The “firstborn way” would have been to conquer all His enemies and reign victoriously for eternity. Once again, God chose the younger, humble, unlikely path. His firstborn Son would be slaughtered to save the world.