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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