1.  Concerning Genesis 38, J. Vernon McGee writes: “This is another chapter that seems to be about as necessary as a fifth leg on a cow.  After you have read the story, you may wish that it had been left out of the Bible.”

2.  There are four reasons for the inclusion of chapter 38 in the Genesis record:

-Judah’s failure is a contrast with Joseph’s victory in Genesis 39

-to teach, by contrast, the need for purity

-to teach the importance of not buying into the culture’s viewpoints, especially of sex and marriage

-MOST IMPORTANTLY, Chapter 38 traces the line of Messiah through Judah, Tamar and Perez (see genealogies at Ruth 4:18-22; Matthew 1; and Luke 3).

3.  John MacArthur rightly says: “The genealogy of Jesus Christ is immeasurable more than a list of ancient names; it is even more than a list of Jesus’ human forbears.  It is a beautiful testimony to God’s grace and to the ministry of His Son, Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, who ‘did not come to call the righteous, but sinners’ (Matt. 9:13).  If He has called sinners by grace to be His forefather, should we be surprised when He calls them by grace to be His descendants?  The King presented here is truly the King of grace!”

4.  Once again Genesis 38 shows us that: God uses sinful people (we’re the only material He has to work with); whatever we are today, we may be better; and whatever our past sins, we may be forgiven and used of God again (though we will experience the consequences of forgiven sin.