seems to be saying that no one is beyond his grace—a message that Jesus reiterates repeatedly. Tamar, the first woman mentioned in the family tree, would have brought a gasp from anyone knowing her history. Her story is one of the most perverse, lurid, sinful events in Scripture. Jacob’s son Judah chose Tamar, a Canaanite girl, to be the wife of his firstborn son, Er. The marriage started rocky and never made it to smooth soil. She was pagan, and he was wicked. Er was