Family… it can be hard, can’t it? Jacob’s son Judah, we saw last time, had a troublesome brother. This brother, Joseph, was getting in his way. And since all the brothers were also fed up with Joseph, Judah convinced them to sell Joseph as a slave, send him off to Egypt and concoct a lie to tell their father about what happened to him. But the brothers didn’t count on one thing. Jacob, the father, grieved and mourned for a very long time and no one was able to comfort him (Gen 37:34-35).
Our chapter today opens, in verse one, by saying that Judah chose this time to leave his family and go stay with a man named Hirah in Adullam. Maybe he couldn’t take any more of his father’s grieving or perhaps the guilt of what he had done was haunting him. He left his home and family, went to Adullam, and began a new life.
Read verses 2-5. Judah began this new life by marrying a Canaanite woman. All the previous men in his line have been guided by their parents not to marry Canaanite women. Canaanite women did not know the one true God and they worshipped idols. Judah would have known better, but this is what he did, and she gave him three sons. His sons were Er, Onan, and Shelah.
As was the custom at that time, Judah found a wife for his eldest son, Er. Her name was Tamar and she was the daughter of Shua. But the Bible tells us that God found Judah’s son to be wicked and put him to death. The Bible tells us that we all have sin (Rom 3:23) and deserve the punishment of death (Rom 6:23). But here, the Bible calls out Er in particular for being wicked.
It was the custom, back then, that if a man died and had no sons, that his brother should marry his widow. The first child born from that second union would be counted as a son for the brother who had died. This was necessary because, not having social security or any other social programs in existence, a widow needed a son to take care of her in her old age so she did not starve and this son would carry on the family line for the one who had died. This custom later became part of the Law that God would give to Moses for the Israelite people (Deut 25:5-10) and it continued even into Jesus’ time (Matt 22:23-30).
In verses 8-10, we see that Judah instructed his son, Onan, to do this for Tamar after her husband, Er, died. But Onan knew that whatever child this produced would not be considered his son and he did not want to provide this offspring for his brother so when he slept with Tamar, he withdrew and ejaculated onto the ground to keep from getting her pregnant. He used her sexually for pleasure but did not fulfill his obligation to her and provide an offspring for his brother (Phil 2:3-4). But God, in his omniscience, knows our sins, even in the dark.
In order to understand why he would do this, we must look to Numbers 27:8-9. If Onan had produced an offspring for Er, that offspring would have received Er’s inheritance. But if Er had no offspring, who does Numbers tell us would receive the inheritance instead? Onan was looking out for his own best interest instead of doing his duty to look out for the sister-in-law. And God knows our heart. God judged Onan and he died also.
Verse 11 is probably the most distressing part of all this. Judah’s first two sons have now died. Since he had left his father’s home to escape living with guilt, he was probably now thinking that God had taken his two sons from him because of what he had done to his brother, Joseph. Judah was probably afraid, thinking that his remaining son would die also so he sent Tamar back to her father’s household to live. Judah’s third son, Shelah, was too young to marry, anyway, but Judah promised to send for Tamar when Shelah was old enough to marry her. He is deceiving her to get her out of the way hoping that the family obligations would be forgotten about. He had no intention of giving his remaining son to Tamar.
Verse 12 tells us that Judah’s wife later died and when he recovered from his grieving, he went up to where his men were shearing his sheep. His father-in-law, Shua, went with him. Sheep shearing time was often followed by party time with much drinking and celebrating and so Judah and Shua would have indulged in this time together when the work was finished.
Read verses 13-16. We are told that Tamar knew that Shelah was now a grown man but Judah had not kept his word and sent for her. She disguised herself and sat by the road where he was going to pass by on his way to shear sheep. She had a plan to get what was owed to her. Judah saw her sitting by the road, thought she was a prostitute, and arranged to sleep with her.
Read verses 17-19. Tamar was smart. She asks for a pledge guaranteeing payment for her services since Judah did not have the payment with him. It is a trick. She gets him to leave his seal, his cord, and his staff with her until he sends payment. These were important items that a man at that time would need often and they were very personal. It was the equivalent of holding his driver’s license as collateral. She slept with Judah, getting pregnant, and then changed back into her widow’s clothing and returned to her normal life. He did not recognize who she was throughout this exchange.
Read verses 20-23. After arriving at the sheep shearing, Judah sends his friend Shua back to find Tamar and to bring her the goat he has promised as payment. He wants his things back but Shua cannot find her. None of the locals realized who Shua was looking for because Tamar had disguised herself. The pledge Judah left was valuable, but Judah decides to let her keep the things rather than become a laughingstock by continuing to search for her.
Three months go by (verse 24) and Judah finds out that his daughter-in-law is pregnant, probably due to prostitution. What punishment did he decide on for her? How does verse 25 tell us that she then identified herself to him? I want you to notice something very interesting here. We are going to compare Gen 38:25 with Gen 37:32. If we were to read these two verses in the original Hebrew, we would see that the words Tamar speaks to ask Judah to identify his pledge are the exact same words that the brothers used when they asked Jacob to identify Joseph’s robe after they sold him into slavery (Luke 6:42). God’s hand is at work here. Judah is being held accountable and he confesses his sin. Recognizing and confessing our sins is the first step toward repentance and forgiveness before God. God is working on changing Judah’s heart.
Verses 27-30 tell us that this encounter with her father-in-law leads to Tamar having twin sons. She now had not only one offspring to care for her in her old age, but two, in place of the two sons that Judah had lost. I believe God must have had Judah’s attention by now. He is in the business of changing people’s lives and hearts (I Cor 5:17).
The twins are named Perez and Zerah and we will see that Perez is named in the lineage of both King David and Jesus (Ruth 4:18-22, Matt 1:3).
Responding to God: Praise God for His omnipotence and His omniscience. Thank Him for His mercy and forgiveness. Spend time with Him dealing with any feelings of guilt you may be harboring in your life and seek His help in making things right. Ask for strength to help you meet family responsibilities. If you have never done so before, pray for a changed heart and a new life through Him.
Further Research: Using a concordance, search for Biblical teachings concerning the care of widows.
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