Judah and Tamar

Story: Judah and Tamar

Passage: Genesis 38

Characters: Judah, Tamar, Er, Onan

Summary: Judah married a Canaanite. They had three sons. Er, his firstborn, married Tamar, but the Lord put him to death before they had children. Judah told Onan to have children with Tamar for Er, but Onan intentionally failed at this and he was also put to death by God. Judah told Tamar to wait for the next son but he never gave her to him. When Judah’s wife dies, Tamar dressed like a prostitute and slept with Judah. She took some of Judah’s items as a pledge. When Judah heard Tamar was pregnant he was going to have her killed, but she produced his pledge and he realized he was the father. He recognized that he had sinned more than her. She had twins, Perez and Zerah. Zerah’s arm came out first, but after they had tied a scarlet cord on his wrist, Perez came out.

Notes: First off, what a weird story! Judah had not distinguished himself yet as being worthy of the inheritance which Reuben, Simeon, and Levi had lost. I don’t feel like this story helps either, but apparently God still chose Him. This shows God’s incredible grace yet again in the old testament. Judah’s actions and the actions of his family were very sinful here and yet God used these circumstances to continue His redemptive line. Judah married a Canaanite. It is obvious that it would not be long before Israel was completely mixed with Canaan. God had plans to solve this issue though. Anyway, we never hear the name of this woman. She is only referred to as the daughter of Shua. Their sons were apparently quite wicked as well. We don’t know what Er did, but God felt the need to put him to death. In that culture, it was the next brother’s responsibility to have children for his older brother. This was partially to continue the family line, but also because widows were supposed to be taken care of by their children. So to be a childless widow was a grim future. Anyway, Onan did not fulfill his duty. I believe the issue was not that he did not have kids for his brother, but that while refusing to do his duty, he did not refuse to sleep with Tamar. He used her for his pleasure without the responsibility he had. God saw his wickedness and put him to death as well. At this point, can we blame Judah for being scared to let his last son marry Tamar? In his eyes, Tamar’s husbands die. He probably thought she was to blame when in reality, I suspect he was to blame for how he raised his sons. Anyway, when Judah’s wife died, Tamar set her plan into action. She dressed like a cult prostitute and slept with Judah. First of all, prostitution was a significant part of the pagan religions in Canaan. The fact that Judah took part shows us how far he was straying from following the Lord. God allowed her to conceive from this. Obviously, her actions were deceitful and sinful, but God still had a plan for them. Judah tried to find her to give her his payment. He wanted his pledge back, but he couldn’t find her. More specifically, his friend couldn’t find her. This friend was the man who Judah was visiting when he met his wife. Obviously he was very close with this Canaanite. When Judah found out that Tamar was pregnant by prostitution he was ready to kill her. This seems pretty extreme for someone who was obviously himself mixed up with prostitution. Tamar produces his items he had left with her as a pledge. She trusted that he would realize that he was also guilty. He did. He recognized that he was even guiltier than she was since he did not intend to give his son to her to give her children. This was a pivotal moment in the story of Christ. Would Judah recognize his guilt and show Tamar mercy or would he put her to death for her sins? He recognized his sins and showed her mercy. This allowed her twins to be born. This is incredibly important since Perez, the first one who was actually born, is part of the line of Christ. This whole story is a muddled mess, and yet God chose to use this story to continue the line of people leading to His son being born. I also am intrigued that God used Tamar, who is probably a Canaanite, to bring His son to the world. God had a global vision for the church all the way back in Genesis!

Questions: Why would God use such a messed up family in His plans to save the world? If God can use Judah and company, can he use us with all of our brokenness and baggage? Why was Er put to death? How did Tamar feel about her husbands dying? Why was Judah looking for a prostitute anyway? How did this episode influence Judah’s reputation in the area? With his family? Did Judah end up breaking his ties with Canaan?

Lessons: God chooses to use the most messed up rebellious people to do His work. This is good news for us! If God sees a father who is afraid to give his son to his daughter-in-law so instead he sleeps with a prostitute who turns out to be his daughter-in-law and uses the offspring from this incident to bring His son to the world and save it, then I am encouraged and believe that He can use us with all of our issues to serve Him and do His will. It makes no sense, but as we have seen throughout the book of Genesis, God shows mercy and grace to exactly the people who do not deserve mercy and grace!