This was quite an eventful chapter. The figure of Juda is highlighted, and many thoughts and questions came to mind while reading about his conduct. Juda, at least initially, was not a good guy. He seems to be the ringleader in the scheme to sell his brother Joseph into slavery, and we learn that he keeps the company of prostitutes (at least on one occasion), which leads to his being deceived by his daughter-in-law Thamar. And all this while I'm wondering why, of all Jacob's sons, Jesus decides to be born of this particular line! But the answer is quite simple, for by choosing a progenitor prone to sin (but who does eventually repent) we see Jesus Christ's humility and "tender regard for sinners" (Haydock). He doesn't choose a line full of inhumanly perfect people (for what could that do for us?!), but chooses people just like us, weak and tempted by sin, to whom Christ extends His mercy.
At the same time, a powerful dichotomy is going on. For while Juda is caving in to temptation by cavorting with a harlot, Joseph is concurrently in Egypt triumphantly resisting the temptations brought on by his master's wife. God so mercifully gives us figures such as Joseph, whose example we must try to follow.
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