Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Genesis 38

Judah and Tamar


(1) About this time, Judah* left home and moved to Adullam, where he visited a man named Hirah.


*Judah: Judah comes out looking pretty bad in this chapter. But, remember that it was he that suggested selling Joseph instead of killing him (Genesis 37:26-27) Judah will emerge as the leader of the clan in dealing with the famine (43:3-5,8-10,44:14-34,46:28). This acccount gives Judah's lineage for three generations, needed for the future line of Davidic kings. Although Judah was the fourth born, he became heir to the role of leadership in Israel because of his older brothers' failures (49:3-7). Judah is a changed man when he is willing to be imprisoned in place of Benjamin in Genesis 43:9-10 and 44:33-34. In Genesis 49:8-12, Jacob describes the tribe of Judah during his blessing of his twelve sons and says that "the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs (or until Shiloh comes), the one whom all nations will obey".


   Reuben has lost the privileges of firstborn because he committed incest with one of Jacob's concubines. Simeon and Levi were demoted because of their spiteful and vengeful reaction to Dinah's rape--murdering a village full of men. Next in line is Judah who is chosen as the one through whom the royal line would come.


(2) There he met a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her.


(3) She became pregnant and had a son, and Judah named the boy Er*.


*Er means "watchful" - Genesis 46:12: The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (But Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan.) The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. .


(4) Then Judah's wife had another son, and she named him Onan*.


*Onan means "strong".


(5) And when she had a third son, she named him Shelah*. At the time of Shelah's birth, they were living at Kezib**.


*Shelah means "Petition".


**Kezib: All of Judah's children were born in the territory that will belong to his tribe.


(6) When his oldest son, Er, grew up, Judah arranged his marriage to a young woman named Tamar*.


*Tamar means "Palm tree".


(7) But Er was a wicked man in the LORD's sight, so the LORD took his life.


(8) Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, "You must marry Tamar, as our law* requires of the brother of a man who has died. Her first son from you will be your brother's heir."


*law: Per Deuteronomy 25:5-10, A man was required to raise up a line of a near relative who had died without children through that one's widow. This is known as the "levirate law" (from levir, "brother-in-law").  Onan was to marry Tamar, his brother's wife, to fulfill his duty to her and to his dead brother, Er. The first son would have been counted as the son of her dead husband. The best way to understand this and to understand this principal of the "Kinsman-Redeemer" is to study the book of Ruth, which we did in our last study. In Israel, if a married man died without bearing children, his brother is supposed to marry the widow and make her pregnant, in effect giving the dead brother an heir . If there isn't a brother, then the responsibility falls to the deceased's father or his brother. It was a family disgrace to refuse. The kinsman redeemer had to be qualified, (only a next of kin was acceptable), capable (he had to have the means), and willing (it was his choice) to perform his obligation.


(9) But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with Tamar, he spilled the semen on the ground to keep her from having a baby who would belong to his brother.


   In other words, Onan wanted the sex but not the responsibilities that came with it! If he did not want to fulfil the obligation of the leverite law and not marry Tamar, he could have simply refused to marry her - which would have disgraced him.


(10) But the LORD considered it a wicked thing for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the LORD took Onan's life, too.


   This is the verse that the Roman Catholic Church uses to justify its stand against birth control - but you don't hear the Roman Church suggesting that a man impregnate a dead brother's wife to raise up children in his name! You can't have it both ways. The Bible condemns Onan's refusal to get Tamar pregnant because it violated the levirate law. Onan's sin his intent to deny offspring to his brother's widow Tamar. He was now the oldest son in a tribe that was supposed to be fruitful and multiply in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. As the heir of Judah, he was destined to one day become the tribe's spiritual and moral leader. Onan's sin was in purposely disobeying his father, denying his wife the opportunity of conceiving the child that she wanted (and probably needed). There were strong cultural and practical reasons for her desire for children, especially a male heir. Onan was selfish to the core, and showed disrespect for his brother, his wife, his father, and God. God judged Onan not fit for his ultimate position as the leader of this especially important tribe of God's chosen people, which was destined to be the line of King David, and ultimately of Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus. The tribe would one day become known as "the Jews."


(11) Then Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, not to marry again at that time but to return to her parents' home. She was to remain a widow until his youngest son, Shelah, was old enough to marry her. (But Judah didn't really intend to do this because he was afraid Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went home to her parents.


   Judah is afraid that Tamar is somehow "jinxed" and that his last son, Shelah, would die too if he had anything to do with her. He's hoping that Tamar will tire of waiting and will eventually marry someone else. Judah sends Tamar away to her father's house, insisting she live as a widow until Shelah is older.


(12) In the course of time Judah's wife died. After the time of mourning was over, Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went to Timnah to supervise the shearing of his sheep.


(13) Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law had left for the sheep-shearing at Timnah.


(14) Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but they had not called her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her widow's clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.


(15) Judah noticed her as he went by and thought she was a prostitute, since her face was veiled.


(16) So he stopped and propositioned her to sleep with him, not realizing that she was his own daughter-in-law. "How much will you pay me?" Tamar asked.


(17) "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," Judah promised. "What pledge will you give me so I can be sure you will send it?" she asked.


(18) "Well, what do you want?" he inquired. She replied, "I want your identification seal*, your cord**, and the walking stick*** you are carrying." So Judah gave these items to her. She then let him sleep with her, and she became pregnant.


*seal: The seal would have been a cylinder with his name and/or personal symbols on it that could be rolled onto clay to imprint the owner's name and identification. It could also have been, instead, a ring with his identification mark on it.


**cord: If the seal were a cylinder, it would have had a hole in it with a cord through it to hold it around the neck.


***walking stick: The walking stick, or staff, often had carved heads depicting the symbol of the tribe.


   Judah leaves his signet, belt and staff as collateral. The signet was a well-to-do man's "signature," since it was used to leave an impression in hot wax.


   From the Hebrew words in verses 21 and 22, we know Tamar was not being a common everyday harlot--having sex for money. She was dressed as a religious prostitute whom Judah thought to be associated with some temple to a Canaanite god.


(19) Afterward she went home, took off her veil, and put on her widow's clothing as usual.


(20) Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young goat back to her and to pick up the pledges he had given her, but Hirah couldn't find her.


(21) So he asked the men who lived there, "Where can I find the prostitute* who was sitting beside the road at the entrance to the village?" "We've never had a prostitute here," they replied.


*prostitute: Hebrew - shrine prostitute; also in 38:21b, 22. Literally, "holy woman". Hebrew - "qedeshah". The Hebrew word for prostitute is "zonah" which is used in verse 15.


(22) So Hirah returned to Judah and told him that he couldn't find her anywhere and that the men of the village had claimed they didn't have a prostitute there.


(23) "Then let her keep the pledges!" Judah exclaimed. "We tried our best to send her the goat. We'd be the laughingstock of the village if we went back again."


(24) About three months later, word reached Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was pregnant as a result of prostitution. "Bring her out and burn* her!" Judah shouted.


*burn: Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22. What a chauvinist - having sex with a shrine prostitute is okay; but, horrors if his daughter-in-law would be a prostitute!


   Three months later, Tamar is discovered to be pregnant. Since Tamar had been forced to live in widowhood under the pretense she was betrothed to Shelah, and since Judah was more than willing to fornicate, it's easy to see Judah had no grounds for his self-righteous reaction.


   Why did these two end up in the lineage of David and Jesus? Because God's GRACE is magnanimous enough to cover a multitude of sins. If God can pick up a harlot and a fornicator, dust off their dirtiness and use them for His cause, I suppose He can use the likes of you and me.


(25) But as they were taking her out to kill her, she sent this message to her father-in-law: "The man who owns this identification seal and walking stick is the father of my child. Do you recognize them?"


(26) Judah admitted that they were his and said, "She is more in the right than I am, because I didn't keep my promise to let her marry my son Shelah." But Judah never slept with Tamar again.


(27) In due season the time of Tamar's delivery arrived, and she had twin sons.


(28) As they were being born, one of them reached out his hand, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around the wrist of the child who appeared first, saying, "This one came out first."


(29) But then he drew back his hand, and the other baby was actually the first to be born. "What!" the midwife exclaimed. "How did you break out first?" And ever after, he was called Perez*.


*Perez: means "breaking out" or "breach". He would be counted as the first-born and is listed in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1:3.


(30) Then the baby with the scarlet thread on his wrist was born, and he was named Zerah*.


*Zerah: means "scarlet" or "brightness".



Okay, if 2 Timothy 3:16 is right that "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.", what lessons are here for us? Two lessons given in the New Living Translation are (1) what matters is not so much the events or circumstances of life, but your response to them and (2) With God's help, any situation can be used for good, even when others intend it for evil.



On-Line Sources:



Off-Line Sources:



  • American Heritage® Dictionary fourth Edition - 2003

  • "New International Biblical Commentary - Genesis" – John E. Hartley – Hendrickson Publishers

  • "New Living Translation" – Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

  • "The Genesis Record" – Henry M. Morris – Baker Book House

  • Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - 1913

posted by Oakview Bible Fellowship at 8:57 AM

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