Genesis 38 | Judah & Tamar

Genesis 38 – Judah & Tamar
• Well as always, thank you so much for joining me in this verse-by-verse Bible study as we can continue our study of the book of Genesis. I’m Randy Duncan and in this episode, we are going to tackle Genesis chapter 38.
• Now in the last episode, we began the fascinating story of the life of Joseph. We discussed his coat of many colors, his first two dreams, his brothers’ hatred of him, and finally, his brothers throwing him into a pit, and then selling him to Midianite traders who then take him to Egypt and sell him on the slave market.
• And so, as we begin chapter 38 here, you might be a bit disappointed to learn that we experience an abrupt interruption in the Joseph narrative, just as it is getting started. We sort of leave Joseph hanging in the balance for one chapter here, as we read the story of his brother Judah, and Judah’s daughter-in-law, Tamar. And although this chapter at first appears to be out of place, we will see why it is significant in the grand scheme of things. And in the next episode, we pick right back up with Joseph in Egypt. But for now, let’s dive into chapter 38.
• Verses 1-5 read…It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him.
• So, what we are going to see here are events that happen within about 22 years after the sale of Joseph into slavery. But about the time that Joseph was sold, Judah leaves his brothers in the hill country of Hebron, and goes down to Adullam, which is about 3 miles from Bethlehem.
• Now there are various thoughts on why Judah left his brothers. But to give you a flavor, some say, since he was the one who came up with the idea to sell Joseph, he may have begun feeling guilty for Joseph’s disappearance, as well as the terrible grief of his father, Jacob. His brothers may have even started to blame him. But we aren’t told exactly why he left, just that he did.
• But while he’s there, he sees a Canaanite woman, marries her, and she ends up giving birth to a son named Shelah. This is the very thing that both Abraham and Isaac feared for their sons, marrying Canaanite women, who tended to lead their husbands away from God, and into their pagan religions. But now we see that is what Jacob’s sons are doing. And this may be one reason God leads them down to Egypt, to prevent them from being assimilated into Canaanite culture.
• It’s interesting that the actual woman herself remains unnamed. It simply refers to her as “the daughter of a woman named Shua”.
• But she and Judah have three sons, the firstborn was Er, the second Onan, and the youngest was Shelah. So now that the scene has been set…
• We continue with verses 6-11…6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So, whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So, Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.
• So, Judah selects a bride for his oldest son, Er. Her name is Tamar. Only one problem. Er was wicked, or evil, in God’s eyes, and so God takes his life. Now, the text doesn’t specify what his sin was, but it must have been very serious. Typically, when God takes a person’s life, the reason is provided, so this is a bit unusual. Er is actually the first named person in the Bible whose life God takes as punishment for his wickedness.
• But with Er deceased, Tamar now becomes a widow. And so, Judah instructs his next oldest son, Onan, to perform the duty of a brother-in-law, and raise up children for his deceased brother. Now what this is talking about here, this “duty” that Judah is referring to, is an ancient law known as “leverite marriage”. Levir is a Latin word meaning “brother-in-law”. And this law obligated a man whose brother died childless to marry and then have children with his brother’s widow. The resulting child would then be given the dead brother’s name, and was considered to be a successor to the dead brother’s line.
• Now, this may seem a little archaic to us today. Many of you women listening right now may be squirming at the thought of marrying your brother-in-law:) But this practice continued up until the time of Jesus. In fact, Matthew, Luke, and Mark all three touch on this subject when they mention Jesus being questioned by the unbelieving Sadducees. BTW, the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, that’s why they were sad, you see:) But taking just one example, in Luke 20, we read that 27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
• And they go on to try and trick him into answering one of their set-up questions. But the point is, they refer to this leverite marriage that we are discussing here. So, even though it may sound strange to us today, this was a way to help ensure that the widowed woman could have both children, and economic security, as well as knowing that she would be treated as family because she would not be married off to some stranger outside the family
• So, this duty fell on Onan. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. And the text tells us that whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. Now when it says he would waste, it literally means that “he let it spoil on the ground”.
• Now, Onan’s refusal to fulfill his obligation may have been motivated by his lack of respect or his sense of duty to the dead. But more likely, he may have been motivated by the fact that since his brother had died, he stood to inherit a larger share of Judah’s estate. IOW, there’s now one less brother to have to share the inheritance with. Only two of the three brothers are left, and so now, rather than inheriting a third, he stood to inherit half the estate. However, if he provided an heir to his dead brother’s estate, the inheritance would again be split three ways. And so, this may not have had as much to do with his view of the leverite marriage, as it was a financial play.
• But regardless of his motivation, in God’s eyes, this was wicked. Onan’s sin here was that when he slept with Tamar, he made sure he didn’t impregnate her. He is also simply using Tamar for his own sexual gratification. And in doing so, he was cheating Tamar of having children. He was cheating Judah by pretending to fulfill the obligation of the leverite marriage, and he was cheating his late brother by denying him the preservation of his name in Israel. And God views all his actions as wicked, and so puts him to death also.
• So, Judah now has seen two of his three sons die. He has one remaining son, the youngest, named Shelah. Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—because he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So, Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
• So, this is getting a bit complicated at this point. Judah sends Tamar away to go live with her father until Shelah is grown up and old enough to marry her. But in sending Tamar away, Judah is now shirking his responsibilities to care for his daughter-in-law who has been widowed. He denies her the right to security and well-being and social standing in the community. Sort of like he is just handing over his problems to someone else to deal with.
• But here’s the real catch… Judah has no intention of giving his youngest son Shelah to Tamar. Why? The text tells “for he feared that he would die, like his brothers”. Judah superstitiously believes Tamar is a wife who brings bad luck, that she is bringing misfortune to his family. And so, he sends her away to her father’s house, lying to her, with no intention of allowing her to marry his only remaining son.
• Verses 12-19 continue…12 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s (shoo-aah) daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may sleep with me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So, he gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
• So, we are told that after a long time, literally, “after many days”, that Judah’s wife dies. And after he had recovered from his grief, he goes up to Timnah. Now we know a couple of things noteworthy here. First, Judah goes to Timnah and ends up hooking up with what he believes is a prostitute, but that is only after his wife had died, and he has somewhat recovered from his grief. Not an excuse, but it makes clear that this was not Judah’s normal behavior. Secondly, the text also makes it clear that enough time had passed so that Judah’s youngest son Shelah would have been grown up by now. Enough time has passed for Tamar to know that Judah has deceived her and has no plans to allow Shelah to marry her.
• But Tamar is told that her father-in-law Judah is headed into town. So, took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. Now, we don’t know exactly what the widow’s garments were, but Tamar was still wearing them, even after such a long time. She probably planned on wearing them until Judah gave Shelah to her to marry.
• But she takes off these widow’s clothes, and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim. Tamar realized that Judah wasn’t going to allow his only remaining son to marry her. And so, not only would she be cheated out of having children, but she would also be cheated out of the security that came from being married. And to her credit, Tamar has been loyal this entire time, honoring her late husband, honoring the custom, and not marrying outside the family, not marrying a Canaanite. And so, after waiting for years to be married to Shelah, she finally decides to take matters into her own hands. So, she covers herself like the prostitutes of the day would so that Judah wouldn’t recognize her.
• Now, whether you think Tamar is right or wrong here, you can at least understand and sympathize with her motivation. And whether right or wrong, we see once again in the Bible a woman taking the initiative. You can think about Rebekah, when she sees that Isaac is about to make a mistake, or Ruth and Naomi’s behavior in the book of Ruth. Consider Rahab and Esther, and other examples we see throughout scripture where a woman steps up in a world which at that time was clearly male-dominated. You think of the bravery and the courage that these women must have had.
• Now while the Bible of course condemns prostitution itself, it does not condemn Tamar for acting like a prostitute here. Tamar is actually portrayed as the victim here, the victim of deceit, and a victim of having been deprived of the chance to have children, twice married and twice widowed.
• But Judah sees Tamar, thinks she’s a prostitute, and says “let me sleep with you,”. Tamar then asks him, “What will you give me, that you may sleep with me?” Judah tells her that he will send her a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—”. IOW, she wanted some security, some way of ensuring that he would actually send what he promised, that he would fulfill his obligation. Sort of like a non-refundable deposit today, or maybe an earnest money check
• BTW, this tells us that Judah had not planned on seeking out a prostitute, and that he was simply acting on impulse here. If he had planned on hooking up with a prostitute, he would have brought money with him. But he didn’t have any.
• And so, Judah asks, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” Now, this is brilliant. Such a smart play by Tamer here, and you will see that it ultimately saves her life.
• But she asks for his signet, his cord, and his staff. Now, what exactly were these items? Well, the signet was a seal. It was a small cylinder seal, that was usually made out of stone or metal, and was usually hollowed out in the center so that a cord could pass through it and it could be worn around the neck.
• It was engraved with a distinctive ornamentation. So, when the cylinder was rolled across soft clay, the impression that it made served as a way of identifying personal possessions or to legitimize documents. It was very similar to the signet rings of a king, who would press his ring into wax to leave an impression and prove that a letter was legitimately from the king. And so, these were highly personable objects, and served as a means of identifying a person. It basically served the same purpose as a signature does in our modern society
• The staff, or scepter, was also personalized in many cases, with engraving at the top, or the head of the staff. It was a symbol of authority, and had its mark of ownership etched on top of it. So, the combination of these three items was about the equivalent of today’s driver’s license, credit card, and signature. And Judah leaves them with Tamar as a pledge, as security, until he brings her the goat he has promised. He gives them to her, sleeps with her, and she becomes pregnant. Tamar then leaves, changes out of her veil and clothes of a prostitute, and changes back into the clothes of a widow.
• Verses 20-23 continue….20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” 22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” 23 And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”
• So, Judah had full intention of honoring his promise to the prostitute. He sends one of his friends to bring the goat to Tamar, and to also pick up his belongings, his staff, and his cord and seal. Now consider this; doesn’t it seem a bit hypocritical of Judah to honor his word given to a prostitute he had just met, but not honor his word to his own daughter-in-law? Remember, he had promised to have his youngest son marry Tamar when he had grown up, but he didn’t honor that promise. But here he is honoring his word to a prostitute that he just met!
• Also, notice that Judah doesn’t take the goat himself. He sends it by one of his friends. Is he now too ashamed to be seen in the company of a prostitute?
• But his friend goes to find her, to take her So, payment and retrieve Judah’s belongings, but he can’t find her. He asks the men in town, “Where is the cult prostitute at the roadside?” And they said, “there’s no cult prostitute here.”
• So, he returns to Judah and said, “I can’t find her. And the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here”. And Judah says, well, you can see that I at least tried. I made an attempt to honor our agreement”, but “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at”. IOW, we will be a laughing stock. Judah here is like some careless fool who loses his credit card in some brothel. The prostitute making off with his credit card and wallet makes him look like a fool.
• But we read on…Verses 24-26 continue…24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify who’s these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
• So, all of this sort of comes to a head about three months later. Word is brought to Judah that Tamar is pregnant, that she has been immoral. Remember, Judah had not seen her himself because he had sent her back to her father’s house to live.
• But Judah jumps at the chance to get rid of his bothersome daughter-in-law, Tamar, and orders her to be brought out, which most likely means brought out to the city gate where justice was typically administered. And he orders her to be burned.
• Now, Tamar’s status is still that of a widow who was in waiting to be married to Shelah, and so any sexual relationship outside of that would have been considered as adultery. And adultery was a capital offense. It carried with it the death penalty, as noted in Leviticus 20 and Deuteronomy 22. The particular means of execution is not stated, but was usually stoning. And so, Judah’s extreme means of punishment here may have reflected his high social standing and the dishonoring of his family. Or, another possibility is that Tamar would have first been stoned, and then her dead body burned. And we actually see an example of that happening to Achan in Joshua chapter 7.
• But as she is being brought out to be executed, Tamar plays the trump card she has been holding! Only, she is holding much more than a trump card, she’s holding Judah’s personal belongings. And so, it’s showtime!
• But I first want to point this out. Can you imagine the discipline and the courage and restraint that it must have taken for Tamar to sit on this news all this time, and then wait until the very last moment, the perfect time, to reveal the truth and reality of the situation? And can you imagine the drama here?
• And so, as she is being brought out to be executed, she sends word to Judah, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify who’s these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”. I mean, this is a mic-drop sort of moment here.
• And can you imagine the look on Judah’s face when he sees the items and realizes they are his? In another twist of irony, Judah is asked to identify his belongings, just like he had Jacob identify Joseph’s belongings…his coat.
• Now, to Tamar’s credit, notice that she doesn’t do this publicly. She doesn’t yell out for everyone to hear that Judah is the father. She does it very subtly, quietly, so as not to publicly embarrass or humiliate Judah. And so once again, well played by Tamar.
• And of course, Judah immediately recognizes that the items are his. Once again, as we have seen time and time again in Genesis, the deceiver has been deceived. In fact, it has been said that if the book of Genesis were not named Genesis, it could have been named “Deceptions”. I mean, Abraham deceived Pharoah, Abraham deceived Abimelech, Jacob and Rebekah deceived Isaac, Laban and Leah deceived Jacob, Rachel deceived Laban, Joseph’s brothers deceived Jacob, Onan deceived Judah and Tamar, Judah deceived Tamar, and now Tamar deceived Judah, and the list goes on.
• But Judah immediately realizes what has happened, and to his credit, he admits his fault. He admits, and says, that Tamar is more righteous than I. In fact, Tamar is a heroine in Israel, because she risked her life for family fidelity. And again, to his credit, Judah, confronted with his failure and his deception, owns up to his sin. Now this seems to be a very important turning point in the life of Judah. And as we will see, as time goes on, Judah becomes a much more honorable man. So much so that he will offer himself into slavery for his brother, all in an effort to spare his father Jacob more pain.
• But wrapping up these last four verses of the chapter, verses 27-30 read…27 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. 28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore, his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
• So, the whole encounter between Tamar and Judah results in Tamar giving birth to twins. With Rebekah, who gave birth to twins Jacob and Esau, we knew they were expected. But apparently these twins were not. This may have been a way for God to bless Judah for the loss of his two sons and Tamar for her two husbands, and the fact that, through no fault of her own, she had been childless up until this point.
• And we see that the younger brother will once again prevail here, as even though it appears one of the babies was about to be born, the other manages to be born first, and midwife places a scarlet thread on his finger denoting that he was the firstborn.
• It’s interesting that like the birth of the twins Jacob and Esau, the younger thrusts ahead of the older, and in both cases the one who was expected to get the birthright loses it, and in both cases, this losing of the birthright is associated with red. A red stew in the case of Esau, and a red string in the case of Zerah.
• The firstborn is named Perez, the second child is named Zerah. Perez will end up becoming the ancestor of David, and therefore, the ancestor of the Messiah. In fact, the Messiah comes from an interesting ancestral line. In addition to Bathsheba, Jesus will be the descendent of both Tamar, a Canaanite woman, and Ruth, a Moabite woman, two nations that were enemies of Israel. It sort of foreshadows the fact that Jesus came for everyone.
• And so, as we end this chapter that has temporarily disrupted our story of Joseph just as it is getting started, what can we learn?
• Well, for starters, we learn about the necessity of the covenant family to separate from Canaan. This troubled family has begun to intermarry with the cursed Canaanites and have started to lose their sense of purpose to bless the earth. But God is going to take care of this threat by sending Joseph into Egypt. And as we will see, through famine and servitude, the family can be preserved and prepared to become a great nation who will go on to bless the entire earth.
• But perhaps more importantly, we learn something about God’s grace. Think for a moment about Judah. He failed as a son of the covenant by marrying Canaanite women and then acting like them. He failed as a father, as his sons were wicked to the point of being put to death by God. He failed as a father-in-law, deceiving Tamar. And yet, even Judah would experience the redeeming grace of God
• And you and I are not that different from Judah. Oh sure, we may not have failed in exactly the same ways, but rest assured, we have all failed. None of us can be counted as worthy based on what we have done. Romans 3 tells us that none of us are righteous in and of ourselves. And verse 23 tells us “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”. That’s the bad news. The good news is the very next verse, which continues by telling us that “we are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
• But in order for that redemption to be effective, it must be accepted. For you to be redeemed, for you to be saved, you must place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Listen, I’ve never met anyone in my life who has regretted accepting Christ. And so, I encourage you, if you have never done so, that you seriously consider, right now, placing your faith in Christ, accept what He had done for you, voluntarily suffering death on a cross, paying the price for your sins, and making a way for you to be redeemed. And he did this already knowing that, just like Judah, and just like me, you too would fall short…