Sunday, December 15, 2013

Judah and Tamar

Judah is the son of Leah and the brother of Joseph. When Israel sent the brothers unknowingly to Joseph in Egypt to get grain during the famine, one requirement Joseph made of them was for them to bring Benjamin, the younger brother, to him. Joseph held Simeon hostage to ensure the brothers would bring Benjamin, and Judah offered to stay in his place but Joseph did not accept his offer. Judah is the one who convinced Israel, his father, to send Benjamin because Israel did not want him to go.

Gen 38 - Before this, during the time after he and his brothers sold Joseph to the Egyptians, Judah moved away from them and married a Canaanite woman named Shua and had three sons. He took a wife, Tamar, for his first son Er. But Er was evil in the sight of the Lord so the Lord took his life. According to custom, Onan went in to Tamar for the purpose of producing an offspring that would bear Er’s name. He knew the offspring would not be considered his, so he “wasted his seed on the ground” so that Tamar would not become pregnant. This was displeasing to the Lord, so He took Onan’s life too.

The third son, Shelah, was not old enough to be with Tamar yet, so Judah told Tamar to go live in her father’s house as a widow until he was old enough. After a while, Shua died and Judah made his way to Timnah. Tamar heard of it and she also knew that Shelah had reached the proper age and she had not been given to him, so she took off her widow’s garments and disguised herself as a prostitute and sat on the side of the road where they would pass. Judah stopped and asked to be with her. She required him to give her a young goat as payment and he said he would send it. She required his seal, cord and staff as a pledge so he gave them to her.

Judah then sent the goat to her by the way of his Adullamite friend expecting to receive his pledge back but when the Adullamite asked where the temple prostitute was the people there said there was not one. The Adullamite went and told Judah he could not find her, so Judah told him to not search for her anymore (commentary says, apparently, “it is not good for ones reputation to keep asking for the whereabouts of a prostitute).


Three months later Judah was informed it was Tamar who played the role of the prostitute and she was now pregnant. Judah exclaims to have her burned for spreading lies, but she shows the seal, cord and staff he left as a pledge and he admits he was unfair to her to not give her Shelah. Judah did not have relations with her again. She gave birth to twins, Perez and Zerah. Zerah started to come out first, his hand was the first out when she was giving birth, but he withdrew his hand and Perez ended up being the firstborn. 

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