Site Search Engine

THE SONS OF JUDAH

Chapter 38

Judah (praise) was the fourth son of Jacob by Leah. It was Judah who convinced his brothers to sell Joseph as a slave, not to be guilty of his death (chapter 37:26,27). He became powerful among his brothers (1 Chronicles 5:2).

Soon after the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, Judah (now about  25 years old) left the company of his brothers “and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.” Adullam was one of the Royal cities of the Canaanites, in the Valley of Elah (where centuries later David defeated the giant Goliath).

There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua (Wealth), with whom he soon married and had three children from her: Er (Watchful), Onan (Strong) and Shelah (Petition). When this last one was born, she was in the city of Chezib (Misleading).

Everything indicates that Judah was eager to have a great progeny, which would be an honour for him. The rest of the story in this chapter revolves around the right to succession.

Following the customs of the time, Judah chose the wife of his eldest son Er, a woman named Tamar (Palm). Er was probably very young, because the whole story told in this chapter occurred within little more than twenty years. But Er died soon after: the LORD killed him, because of his wickedness.

At that time there was a custom whereby the brother of a man who died without leaving children must marry the widow, in order to produce a son who would be the heir to his late brother. This custom was incorporated into the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), known as the levirate law.

Judah therefore made his second son Onan marry Tamar to raise an heir for the late Er. As Onan was now the heir because Er died without descendants, he didn´t wish to generate a son of Tamar for his brother, who would then be his brother´s heir instead of he.

Onan obeyed his father to the point of marrying her, but avoided having children by using a primitive method of birth control. Because of this, the promises of God to Abraham and his sons were being prevented from continuing through the line of Judah and this displeased the LORD, so He also killed Onan.

Judah was left with one son, still very young. Fearing that he would be killed like his brothers, he told Tamar to return to her father´s house and remain a widow till his youngest son Shelah was grown.

Sometime later the wife of Judah died. Tamar was still waiting for marriage with Shelah, who had become an adult by now, but it appeared that Judah had forgotten her. More than anything, she wanted a son to be the heir of Judah. It was then that the idea emerged to her of having a child directly from Judah, without any more waiting for one by Shelah.

She took off her clothes of widowhood, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself in the disguise of a harlot, and sat in an open place where she knew Judah would be passing by.  

As she had calculated, Judah lusted after her, proposed and offered a young goat in exchange for her services which he would send to her later. She demanded the pledge of his signet and cord, and the staff in his hand until he could deliver the goat. Completed the deal, she didn´t wait for the goat but went home and changed her clothes again.  Judah sent a friend with the goat to retrieve the surety from the woman, but she was no longer found there.

She conceived on this occasion, as intended. Three months later, the news was given to Judah that Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was pregnant – therefore she had committed adultery. Immediately he ordered her to be brought out and burned.

At that time the most important role of a woman was considered to be the production of children who perpetuated the lineage of her husband. To be absolutely sure that the children belonged to the husband, the bride must be a virgin and the wife must be faithful to him. The wife who committed adultery could be executed at the behest of her husband.

Prostitutes did not belong to families: they were either religious prostitutes, sustained by offerings, or common prostitutes, sustained by their customers. Their children were not entitled to family inheritance, and their customers did not offend anybody's lineage.

Judah did not see any harm in renting the services of a prostitute, but was about to kill Tamar because, if she was pregnant due to prostitution, her child could never have an inheritance in the family. The issue of sexual morality did not influence him: his concern was the purity of his lineage. The low moral level of this man is manifested, in sharp contrast with the moral purity of his half-brother Joseph, as we shall see in the next chapter.

Tamar had acted prudently by demanding very personal objects as a pledge by Judah: the seal, for example, was a form of identification used to authenticate legal documents; it usually consisted of a special design engraved in stone, mounted on a ring or collar, used always by its owner. When she was condemned to death for alleged prostitution, Tamar managed to prove without any doubt that the objects were his, making him admit their meeting.

Judah immediately admitted that he was the father of the unborn child, and that she was more righteous than he: it was Tamar, and not Judah, who had taken steps to give him a rightful heir. With her stratagem, she had acted more in the spirit of the law than he, who had not given his third son Shelah to marry her.

At the time of childbirth, it was discovered that there were twins to be born. The midwife tied a scarlet thread round the first hand that appeared, but as the owner withdrew it his brother came out first unexpectedly and the twin with the scarlet thread on his hand came last. So the first twin breaking through was named Perez (chasm, breaking), and his brother was called  Zerah  (Sunrise).

The two are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1: 3), he is a descendant of Perez. Thus the sons of his daughter were eliminated from the lineage of the LORD Jesus.

 

R David Jones

1 It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her.
3 So 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 And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him.
6 Then 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 killed him.
8 And Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother."
9 But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother.
10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD; therefore He killed him also.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah is grown." For he said, "Lest he also die like his brothers." And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
12 Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Judah's wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13 And it was told Tamar, saying, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."
14 So she took off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given to him as a wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face.
16 Then he turned to her by the way, and said, "Please let me come in to you"; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
17 And he said, "I will send a young goat from the flock." So she said, "Will you give me a pledge till you send it?"
18 Then he said, "What pledge shall I give you?" So she said, "Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand." Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
19 So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand, but he did not find her.
21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, "Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?" And they said, "There was no harlot in this place."
22 So he returned to Judah and said, "I cannot find her. Also, the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place."
23 Then Judah said, "Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed; for I sent this young goat and you have not found her."
24 And it came to pass, about three months after, that Judah was told, saying, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; furthermore she is with child by harlotry." So Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"
25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man to whom these belong, I am with child." And she said, "Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff."
26 So Judah acknowledged them and said, "She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son." And he never knew her again.
27 Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb.
28 And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, "This one came out first."
29 Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, "How did you break through? This breach be upon you!" Therefore his name was called Perez.
30 Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

Genesis chapter 38