Chapter 7
Tracing the Curse of the Bastard
How does satan use the bastard curse to keep God’s people from drawing near? How has he used it to frustrate the purposes of God to have close fellowship with His people? To answer these questions, let’s begin again in Deuteronomy 23.
Deuteronomy 23:2 and 3
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
Why does God immediately mention that the Ammonites and Moabites fell under the bastard curse? The reason is explained in verse four: they failed to help Israel with bread and water in the wilderness, and because they hired the prophet Balaam to curse them.
But, these behaviors are the direct result of the bastard curse, and the record of this incident is noted in Genesis 19:30-38.20 In these Scriptures, Lot’s daughters have no husbands after the cities Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. In order to raise up children to carry on their father’s name, they got their father drunk and laid with him at night. Both daughters became pregnant from their incest and bore sons, Ammon and Moab, who became the nations by those names.
Ammon and Moab were bastard children. They and their descendents could never come into the congregation of the Lord forever. The bastard curse on these children, however, gave satan the authority to attack God’s people with curses. This time, those attacks were thwarted by God’s love over Israel. But satan got better at using this curse with time.
The first Biblical reference to bastard offspring occurred in Genesis, chapter six. The days of Noah were filled with wickedness. The sons of God are angels whom Jude 1:6 records as having left their first estate. They came to earth to dwell with women. Their offspring were bastards. Their imaginations were evil continually, and God repented of having made mankind.21 A significant part of why God’s heart was grieved was due to the bastard curse on the bloodlines.
God created man, not only in his image, but he also created man for fellowship. The bastard curse prevents that fellowship from occurring because the consequence of this curse is that people are not able to come into the congregation of the Lord. It is God’s primary will that we come into the congregation of the Lord, because this is the place of intimacy and fellowship – the purpose for making man in the first place!
Noah’s flood killed the bastard offspring. But interestingly, Scriptures later mention giants in the earth, and evil prevailed in mankind. Goliath, for example, came from Gath in Philistia in David’s time, much later than the flood. Zechariah 9:6 notes that a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, a city of Philistia not much more than ten miles distance from Goliath’s home town, and that God will cut off the pride of the Philistines, which was Goliath. David, as we will learn later in the next chapter, was not encumbered by the bastard curse at that time.
Satan’s next attempt to introduce the bastard curse on the bloodline of God’s people occurred with Abram. God had covenanted with Abram, declaring that he would be the father of many nations. Abram and Sarah faithlessly pre-empted God by taking Hagar and producing the bastard son, Ishmael. Ishmael was cursed. He was not God’s plan. Ishmael was the result of Abraham’s flesh-decision to do God’s will his own way instead of God’s way.
Genesis 16:11-12
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
Ishmael would be unable to live peaceably with every man. Think about this. The bastard curse prevents people from fellowship with God and with others. This curse lasts for at least 400 years. Naturally, satan doesn’t stop fostering this curse simply with the first incidence, but endeavors to keep it running continually with subsequent generations as well. Ishmael, and all his progeny, are under this curse. Who are Ishmael’s descendents? They constitute one of the world’s three great religions today which claim Abraham as their father. This curse is very far reaching, even today.
The next recorded incident of the bastard curse at work is in Genesis 38. The entire chapter relates how Judah refused to give either of his two remaining sons to his widowed daughter-in-law, Tamar, as required under the law. Realizing this, Tamar dressed as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law to lie with her. The children that resulted from this incest were illegitimate. They were bastards, and thus the bastard curse commenced upon them and their progeny for the next ten generations.
Genesis 38:1-30
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.
And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come
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