Genesis 38:1-30

Introduction

While it the account of Judah and Tamar can be a troubling account to read, we are often reminded that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). No Patriarch is presented in Scripture as blameless and without sin. We could shrug our shoulders and just assume that God is making the best of what he has available to Him. However, Jacob's blessing makes the account of Genesis 38 even more troubling:

"Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father's bed; Then you defiled {it} --he went up to my couch.--Genesis 49:3-4

Though Reuben is the firstborn, he forfeits his right as the firstborn because he slept with his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22).

"Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence. Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.--Genesis 49:5-7

Similarly, though Simeon and Levi would be next in the succession, the firstborn blessing is forfeited due to their angry vengeance against the Shechemites (Genesis 34).

"Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him {shall be} the obedience of the peoples. He ties {his} foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.--Genesis 49:8-12

Now, Judah has slept with his daughter-in-law, yet he is promised supremacy over his brothers, great prosperity--and most astoundingly--that the Messianic line will come through him. How is this possible?

Some will argue that Judah did not realize he was sleeping with his daughter-in-law. And though her identity was hidden from him at the moment, this seems to ignore that his intention was still to sleep with a harlot.

Others will argue that since Judah offers to be the substitute for Benjamin (Genesis 44:18-34), he proves himself to be of noble character. But this ignores that Reuben also tried to intercede for his brother (Genesis 37:20-22).

Why wouldn't the blessing pass to Zebulun, whom we have no sinful account? The answer must be found in chapter 38.

Commentary

38:1-5
As Judah is visiting his friend, Hirah the Adullamite, he meets his wife, the daughter of Shua the Caananite. Through Shua's daughter, Judah has three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. By the time she has Shelah, she and Judah are living in Chezeib.

38:6-7
Presumably from the land of Chezib (though we do not know for certain), Judah takes Tamar as a wife for Er. However, Er was evil in the the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life.

38:8-10
Though "levirate marriage" has not been fully instituted yet (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), Judah understands his son's responsibility to provide offspring in Er's name. Onan, however, does not want to comply and commits coitus interruptus. The LORD is not pleased with this and takes Onan's life also.

[There is much debate as to why Onan's actions were offensive to the LORD. Many throughout ages have distorted these verses in an attempt to defend or condemn any number of activities. However, at a minimum we see two heart conditions of Onan which would be offensive to the LORD. First, Onan was willing to simply give the appearance of honoring his father and brother Er. Though he had no desire to produce offspring for his brother, and was going to take action to keep this from happening, he was willing to go through the motions to make his father, and others, think he was obeying. We also see a selfishness in Onan, as intercourse was clearly not the obstacle for him, but the condition of offspring. This is probably and indicator that Onan did not want Er to have any offspring, for that would effect the inheritance that his own children could receive. Lastly, we see that Onan had no problem with finding pleasure in Tamar, but refused to allow her the pleasure of children. Such selfishness shows he was willing to use this woman for his own purposes without allowing for the real intention of their intimacy. While there may be other reasons that some could find his actions offensive, the above reasons seem more than sufficient for the LORD to judge him.]

38:11
Judah delays in giving Tamar to his son, Shelah. While he claims Shelah is too young, his real purpose is fear. He is afraid that if Shelah has Tamar for his wife that he too may die. Tamar is left to go back to her father's home and wait.

38:12
Some time later, Judah's wife dies. After the time of mourning, Judah and Hirah head up to his sheepshearers in Timnah.

38:13-14
When Tamar finds out that Judah is heading to Timnah, she removes her widows clothes and covers herself with a veil. She heads to Enaim, which is a town on the way to Timnah. She plans to confront Judah because she has heard the Shelah is now old enough, yet she has not been given to him.

38:15
Judah mistakes Tamar for a harlot. Commentators disagree about Tamar's intent. Some argue that Tamar intentionally posed herself as a prostitute in an attempt to trap Judah. Others argue that Tamar removed her widow's clothes and wrapped herself in a veil as a means to present herself as a bride. This latetr perspective seems probable since the text says her actions were based upon hearing Shelah was now old enough to marry. Whatever her intent, Judah sees a woman alone on the side of the road with her face covered and assumes she is a prostitute.

38:16-18
Whatever Tamar's intent, she does not reveal herself when Judah approaches her. Even when Judah reveals his desires and asks to have relations with her, she does not reveal herself, but asks what he may be willing to pay. They agree to the price of a young goat from among Judah's flock. However, since Judah does not have the goat with him, he must give Tamar a form of collateral. Judah agrees to give her his seal, cord and staff...all objects which would be easily identified with him. Once they have agreed, Judah enters Tamar and she conceives.

38:19
Judah departs completely unaware. Tamar rises up, removes her veil and returns to wearing widows clothes.

38:20-23
True to his word, Judah sends Hirah back to Enaim with a goat to present to the harlot. By presenting the goat to the woman, Hirah would also be recovering Judah's staff, cord and seal. However, since Tamar has returned to her father's home, Hirah is not able to find the woman. He inquires about the temple prostitute, but is told by the men that their is no local temple prostitute. When Hirah returns to Judah and informs him, Judah decides to drop the issue rather than face embarrassment.

38:24
Tamar will not be able to keep her action quiet for long. After about three months, when Tamar's pregnancy would begin to be public, Judah receives word that she has played the harlot. Since his son is pledged to be married to Tamar (and two of his sons used to be), Judah has a right to demand her execution. Judah demands that she be burned for her harlotry.

38:25
As Tamar is being brought out to Judah, she sends his effects ahead of her, stating that they are owned by the father of her child. This is a very discrete way to reveal Judah's action to him.

38:26
Judah immediately recognizes his staff, cord and seal. Judah also immediately recognizes his own sin. Rather than executing Tamar, he takes her into his home and cares for her and his children. However, he does not enjoy relations with again.

38:27-30
When the twins are due to be born, the midwife ties a scarlet cord around a hand that appears first. However, the hand retracts and the other brother is born first. This brother is called Perez (meaning breach), while the other brother is named Zerah (meaning scarlet).

Exposition

Genesis 38 is a brilliant reminder to us that the Scriptures do not rest ultimately in human origin. If men had desired to present their forefathers as admirable men, this chapter certainly would have ended up on the floor of the editing room. Just in this chapter we see that Er is evil. Onan would prefer to take advantage of Tamar and prevent his brother's lineage from continuing. Judah responds in selfishness. Not only this, but Judah desires to sleep with a prostitute. His own friend assumes she was a temple prostitute, merging idol worship in with fornication. Tamar, whatever her motive may have been outside the city, decides to go along with Judah's offer, and though he did not recognize her, she willingly offers herself to her father-in-law. We even see Judah respond in self-righteousness, though he has slept with a harlot, he was willing to kill Tamar for harlotry.

Yet, no where in this passage do we see Judah or Tamar face judgement. In fact, by Genesis 49 we see Judah blessed beyond his brothers! How can this be? If Reuben, Simeon and Levi all sinned in ways which disqualified them from the supreme blessing, shouldn't we be able to say the same thing about a man who mistakes his daughter-in-law for a prostitute and fathers his own grandchildren through her?

Certainly Judah's sin is not something which we should model. "Don't mistake your daughter-in-law for a prostitute," doesn't really appear to be a necessary moral lesson either. However, there does appear to be something to understand about Judah's response to his sin.

When Judah first hears about Tamar's sin, he responds with self-righteous anger. At this point, he is so hardened to the situation, that a charge of harlotry does not even remind him of his own sin at Enaim. He hears of someone else's sin and is ready to act as judge, jury and executioner. (His attitude is quite similar to that of David in 2 Samuel 12.)

However, when Tamar reveals Judah's sin to him, we see immediate repentance.

She is more righteous than I (38:26)

Judah is immediately humbled and sees his own sin before the Lord. However, his is not merely humbled about his participation in harlotry, Judah sees the full course of his sin.

She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.

Judah sees that he has sinned by keeping his son from Tamar. He realizes his sin was not just one "indiscretion" but is born out of a pursuit of his own desires. Judah's self-righteousness is immediately crushed and he then sees himself as the "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).

We also see the extent of Judah's repentance when we consider how he treats Tamar. From this point forward, the man who threatened to kill her, now takes her into his own home to care for her and his children. However, he does not dishonor the Lord again by keeping himself from her from relationally. Judah shows her the kind care and provision he should have been offering her in the first place.

Though his response is the proper response to sin and the forgiveness of sin, his response is not enough to account for the forgiveness of sin.

Conclusion

The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.--Matthew 1:1-3

In Matthew 1 we see the great fulfillment of Genesis 49. God grants that the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah. This great grace is not to be understood in spite of the story of Judah and Tamar--as if God's agenda is simply to show He can use icky situations. No, Judah's response in light of his sin, his repentance and brokenness become great vehicles for presenting the gospel.

Genesis 38 presents a disturbing picture of sin and its escalating effects. It can be difficult to look this account in the eyes. However, Judah, like all his brothers, stands before God as a sinner. Yet, we see God's grace poured upon Judah. First, Judah becomes the tribe through which Jesus would come. Also, in this account we see that the Lord grants Judah repentance.

Oh that we might turn from our sin and trust in the work of Christ also!