Judah and Tamar
38
📚And it came about at that time that Judah 📖 left his brothers and went down and visited a certain Adullamite 📖, whose name was Hirah. 2 📚And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah. And he took her and went in with her. 3 📚And she conceived and bore a son. And he called his name Er. 4 📚And she conceived again and bore a son. And she called his name Onan. 5 📚And she once again conceived and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.6 📚And Judah got a wife for Er his firstborn. Her name was Tamar. 7 📚And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death 📖.
8 📚And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up offspring for your brother 📖”. 9 📚And Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. And it came about that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled it on the ground 📖, so that he would not produce offspring for his 📖 brother. 10 📚And the thing which he did displeased the LORD, so he killed him also.
11 📚Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow at your father’s house, until Shelah my son has grown up 📖”. For he said, “Perhaps he may die also, like his brothers”. And Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
12 📚And in process of time the daughter of Shuah, Judah’s wife, died. And Judah was comforted and went up to Timnath to those shearing his sheep, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
13 And Tamar was told, saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnath to shear his sheep”. 14 📚And she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat in an open place which was by the Timnath road. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as his wife 📖.
15 When Judah saw her he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. 16 📚And he turned to her at the roadside, and said, “Go on now and let me come in with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me to come in with me?” 17 📚And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock”. And she said, “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?”
18 📚And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” And she said, “Your seal and your cord and your staff that’s in your hand”. And he gave them to her, and went in with her. And she conceived by him. 19 📚And she got up and went away, and put aside her veil, and put on widow’s clothes.
20 📚And Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to get 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 prostitute who was by the roadside?” And they said, “There wasn’t any prostitute in this place”.
22 And he returned to Judah and said, “I can’t find her. Also the men of the place said that there had been no prostitute in that place”.
23 📚And Judah said, “Let her take it with her, so we won’t be put to shame. See, I sent this young goat and you didn’t find her”.
24 📚And about three months after this it came about that Judah was told, saying, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has acted like a prostitute, and look, she is pregnant because of her prostitution”. And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned!”
38:24 Judah did not condemn himself for his own sin (vs 15,16), but was quick to condemn Tamar. In other words, he behaved as the general lot of human beings do. See Gen 3:12-13; Rom 2:1, 21-23. If she deserved death, so did he (see Lev 20:10; 21:9; Deut 22:22).⚜
25 📚When she was brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, “I am pregnant by the man who owns these”. And she said, “Please look at them and see who these belong to: the seal and cord, and staff”. 26 📚And Judah recognized them and said, “She has been more righteous than I; because I did not give her to my son Shelah”. And he did not have relations with her again.
38:26 A poor and partial confession. A better one would have been, “I am more sinful than she”.⚜
27 📚And at the time she gave birth, it so happened that twins were in her womb. 28 And as she was giving birth it came about that one put out his hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first”. 29 📚And when he drew back his hand it so happened that suddenly his brother came out. And she said, “How you have made a breach for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez 📖. 30 📚And afterwards his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his hand, came out, and his name was called Zerah.
38:30 Zerah can mean “dawning” or “scarlet” or “brightness”. Chapter 38 gives more evidence that the Bible shows us what people are like and how much they need the grace of God if they are ever to be saved.⚜