Genesis 38

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:31:44utc

This thirty-eighth chapter seems to be an interruption in the story of Joseph. But there is more to it than meets the eye. We read in Ch. 37:2 "This is the history of the family of Jacob." (RSV). So we should not be amazed to read an account of Judah and his descendants. In the context of the whole Bible, we understand that the purpose of this story is to show the birth of Perez, who became the ancestor of David and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And also to show why Tamar was included in Jesus' genealogy. Matthew 1:3 tells us: "Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram." It is, of course, impossible that Moses would consciously have included this account for the above purpose. He could not even see as far as the birth of David. There was Jacob's prophecy regarding Judah and the coming of "Shiloh." In Ch. 49:10 we read: "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." But even this prophecy does not say enough to warrant the inclusion of Judah's affair with Tamar. Higher Criticism considers the story to be of the hand of an editor of a later period, or it is seen as proof that the "Yahwist file" came into being in David's time. We reject this kind of interpretation. Moses may not have know what he wrote, but the Holy Spirit did.

The chapter opens with the statement: "At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah." The crime of Joseph's selling into slavery had taken place, because we read that Judah was present and even suggested the sale. It sounds as if the situation at home, where Jacob was mourning a dead son and where the atmosphere was loaded with an evil secret, was more than Judah could stand. He certainly was no angel himself, as the present chapter clearly shows, but he may have had a tender spot in his conscience, which put him one notch above his brothers.

Judah befriends a Canaanite from Adullam, named Hirah and he marries a Canaanite women, named Shua. There is no indication that Judah had married before. In later genealogies only the sons of Shua and of Tamar are mentioned. Shua bears him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. When Er reaches manhood Judah gets him a wife, also a Canaanite, Tamar. Scripture gives a terse and brief testimony about this man. In verse 7 we read: "But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death." We do not know what his crime was or how he died. His behavior must have been even worse than that of his uncles, since God considered that he was not fit to live. He probably demonstrated some of the sins of the Canaanites, which would later lead to the annihilation of all the inhabitants of the country. Judah was partly to be blamed. He married without consulting the Lord. Also he never felt the responsibility Abraham felt about Isaac's marriage and Isaac and Rebekah felt about Jacob's future spouse. Had Judah married a God fearing woman, he would have had a chance to have God fearing children. Obviously, Jacob had no input in Judah's marriage either. If we marry outside the Lord's will, we bear the consequences.

The Bible record is more specific about Onan's son. We find in this chapter the first reference to the so-called "Levirate marriage." The custom would later be incorporated in the Mosaic law, but evidently it existed long before that time. "If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel."[ 1 ]

We read in verse 8 that after the death of Er Judah orders his second son Onan "Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother." The relationship between Onan and Er must not have been a good one. Onan must have hated his brother to the point where he did not want to produce offspring in his brother's name. We are spared the details, but only given to understand that Onan faked as if he married Tamar. He attitude has earned Onan some dubious fame in world history. His name became connection to masturbation, although that is probably not what he did. Supposedly he interrupted the coitus while lying with Tamar in order to prevent conception. We read in verse 10: "What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also."

I am not convinced that Onan was punished because of what he did sexually. There seems to be some commands in the chapters of Deuteronony, in the context of which we find the command about the levirate marriage, that are not specifically a command of the Lord. Jesus, for instance, says that the part about divorce, which we find in the chapter previous to the one mentioned above, was given "because your hearts were hard." In Matt. 19:8 we read: "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning." So it could be that this command, that a brother-in-law marry the widow, was also an accommodation to the custom of the times. Some of these commands receive a finer tuning in the Gospels. But Onan's hatred of his brother was a spiritual sin that God did not want to be unpunished. How Onan died we are not told. Onan may have become notorious for the wrong reason.

After Onan's death Judah promises his third son, Shelah, to Tamar. But Shelah is still too young to marry and Tamar is advised to go home for some years. There is an interesting feature in Judah's character that is brought out in this story. Judah could not have known that in a sense he was the most important of Jacob's sons, since he was going to be the ancestor of the Messiah. There is no record that Judah ever had a divine revelation, or that he even had any personal relationship with God. He is afraid that Shelah will die also if he marries Tamar and that consequently Judah's name would be wiped off the list for lack of offspring. His fear that Shelah would die reeks of superstition. Judah never looked into the matter to find the root of the problem and he certainly did not seek the Lord about it. It is tragic that the man who was to be one of the important links in the history of salvation, after whom the nation of Israel was to be named, (the name Jew is derived from Judah), had no inkling about who he was. We only know who we are if we know Who God is.

The episode described in vs. 12-30 is one of the mysteries in the realm of biblical revelation. There is nothing supernatural in the events that happen. They are sinful and carnal and debasing. This is another black page in the history of God's chosen people. But the outcome of all this human blundering and sinfulness is a monument of God's amazing grace. If we do not read this story in the light of Jesus' genealogy in Matt. 1:3, we have nothing but mud and filth. But we read: "Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram." It is through what Judah did at the lowest point in his life that he occupies a place in the genealogy of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. This is indeed hard to grasp.

It is obvious that what Judah did not was according to the will of God. We cannot say that God foreordained these events. Everything that happens here is more an attempt by the enemy to thwart God's revelation than to stimulate it. On a certain level, in the private life of Judah, the enemy gained a victory. There are extenuating circumstances. Judah was prejudiced about the myth regarding the continuation of his name. He was superstitious, fearing the death of his youngest son. He was grieving over the death of his wife. He was a widower, who had no outlet for his sexual desires. All these are explanations of why Judah did what he did, but they are no justifications.

Shelah has grown up, but Judah does not give him to Tamar, as he promised he would do. So Tamar plots her own course. She acts shrewdly, capitalizing on what she knows is the weakness of her father-in-law. When she hears that Judah is passing by on his way to sheep shearing, she disguises herself as a prostitute. The NIV uses the expression "shrine prostitute."(Vs. 21,22). The KJV and RSV use the word "harlot." Probably all prostitution at that time was linked to idol worship. This does mean that Judah had to engage in some kind of idol worship in order to be able to have sex with the women. His religious convictions are not strong enough to see this part of the deal as a real obstacle. Yet he must have known better. Judah did not just commit a sexual sin, he indulged in idol worship, thus opening himself up for demonic influences.

Tamar acts very shrewdly. She seems to have expected that this one time intercourse would make her pregnant and she wants to be sure that when her pregnancy becomes know, everybody will know who the father is. If she would not become pregnant, she probably had a plan "B," which she would have carried out with the objects Judah left in her care as a pledge. The plot works and she becomes pregnant.

Judah has strong convictions about prostitution. When he hears that his daughter-in-law is guilty he orders her to be executed. The fact that he uses double standards, one for her and one for himself, does not bother him. Evidently it is debasing for a women to let herself be used as a prostitute, but a man who uses her is above reproach. Yet Deuteronomy condemns both the man and the girl. "If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, You shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death; the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you."[ 2 ] The attitude Judah exhibits has not changed over the ages.

Tamar seems to have carefully planned the moment when she would be lead away for her execution. This is her hour of triumph. Things happened exactly as she wanted. Vs. 25 tells us: "As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. 'I am pregnant by the man who owns these,' she said. And she added, 'See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.'"

Tamar's actions seem to be foremost an act of revenge. She wanted to get back at Judah. She must have embarrassed him to the core. Judah does not show and sense of shame. He says only: "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." (vs. 26). But we do not read either that he gives Shelah to Tamar as husband. The use of the word "righteous" in this context indicates a warped sense of what is right and wrong. What Tamar had done surely wasn't more righteous than what Judah did.

One thing that is hard to understand in this story is the fact that, although Tamar lived in her father's house, as we deduct from vs. 11, Judah could order her execution. Evidently the fact that she was pledged to be married to Shelah one day put her under Judah's jurisdiction. We would expect, though, that Tamar's father would have opposed the burning of his daughter. Maybe he had been informed of the plot, but this would have little bearing on the fact that Judah seems to think he could have her executed.

Verses 27-30 give the report of a rather unusual delivery. Tamar turns out to have twins, but the one who is about to be born first is pushed back out of the birth canal by his younger brother. This earns the little brat the name "Perez" or "Breakthrough." I do not think we should attach any spiritual significance to this. The point of the whole report is to show what God can do with sin. The chapter is full of hatred, strife, jealousy, immorality and revenge. God hates all of this. Nothing of what happens contains any divine revelation. But God glorifies Himself in the outcome. The yeast of sin is burnt away in the fire of God's grace and the result is the coming of Him, Who would be "the bread of life."

[ 1 ] Deut. 25:5,6

[ 2 ] Deut. 22:23,24