Very Nice. How Much?

Genesis 38:11-30 So, Judah has left his father’s house, probably because he feels too guilty over what he did to Joseph and can’t bear to see his father grieve. He goes to foreign lands (which is something God hates for this family to do), gets a foreign wife, and raises morally defective sons. This chapter interrupts the Joseph story to give us this side story about Jesus’s direct ancestor. Something has to get Judah from a place of selling Joseph, blaming everyone but himself, and running from his mistakes to a place where he would sacrifice himself for Benjamin’s freedom and his family’s well-being.

After his older two sons were struck down by God, Judah blames Tamar. He doesn’t want to give her to his last son, Shelah, because Judah figures the marriage would kill him too. The trouble is, he owes Shelah to Tamar. He blames the girl rather than himself for raising wicked sons. Maybe he thinks Tamar is so wicked or cursed that God will not allow her to be happily married. 

Judah says to Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until Shelah grows up.” So Tamar does. But Judah never calls her. Shelah grows up. Judah never releases Tamar from her obligation to his family. Maybe he sees this as a fair punishment. She’s under his authority, and she can’t go marry someone else. She is childless, has no purpose, and is put on hold. It’s an injustice.

After Judah’s wife dies, he goes up to a place called Timnah to visit the men who were shearing his sheep. He takes his friend Hirah with him. Tamar takes off her widow’s clothes (which she had been wearing this whole time), covers herself with a veil, and sits where Judah will encounter her on his trip. When Judah sees the disguised Tamar, he thinks she is a random prostitute, because her face is hidden. I guess this wasn’t rare for hookers in the day. Maybe a lot of them were ugly, who knows? Judah's down for some sex. They agree on a young goat from his flock as the price, and Tamar takes his seal, its cord, and Judah’s staff as collateral.

They sleep together and she becomes pregnant. She puts her widow’s clothes back on and goes home. Judah sends Hirah back with the goat, but Hirah can’t find the prostitute. Hirah asks around, but the men there say, “There’s no shrine prostitute here.” Hirah tells Judah, and Judah thinks it’s best to let it go, or they would “become a laughingstock.” Yeah, way to keep the fornication on the DL, Hirah. Running around telling everyone. Sheesh. Is that the first socially limited person in the Bible? Haha. It’s probably my ancestor.

About three months later, Tamar starts showing. People go to Judah and say, “Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and now she’s pregnant.” Judah responds, “Bring her out and burn her to death.” Now, this was more painful than the regular punishment at the time (which was rolling a large stone on top of the person, crushing them instantly). This was overkill. Judah is thinking, “First, she caused my sons to die. Then she gets pregnant. She’s been nothing but trouble to me. All of this is her fault.” Tamar whips out Judah’s property, showing that she tricked him into getting what she deserved.

Judah recognized his stuff and said, “She is more righteous than I.” He gets it. He’s convicted. He did not sleep with Tamar again. There were twin boys in her womb. During labor, one boy put his hand out, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread on his wrist to mark him as firstborn. But he drew his hand back and his brother came out first. The midwife said, “So, this is how you have broken out!” She named that one Perez, and the one with the scarlet thread was named Zerah. Perez is the one who continued the Messianic lineage listed in Matthew and Luke.

This story not only serves as a wake-up call to Judah, showing that he is in need of a spiritual makeover, it shows a contrast between himself and his younger brother, Joseph. Joseph resists sexual temptation in the next chapter. Judah succumbs to it. I like that Tamar’s reaction to being charged with harlotry was to imply that the man was as guilty as she was. The Bible sticks a fork in the moral double standard here. Wherever that double standard came from or however natural and universal it is, it isn’t approved by scripture, Judah, Tamar, or the Genesis writer.

There are no real heroes in this chapter. It’s important that we get that. Judah did. In this world, there are people who willingly mess up a lot. Then there are people who act more righteously than others in some situations. But, other times, they mess up too. Judah no longer lives in a world where he could just blame Joseph, his brothers, or his father, or some young widow for every conflict and tragedy. He can’t just take off either. “Wherever you go, there you are.” 

He has to face consequences when he deserves them. This time, he learned to repent and own up to his unjust and slutty behavior. Soon, he’ll own his past sin of selling Joseph by attempting to make it up to his father. I like this story because it shows how much your character can grow and how self-sacrificing you can become if you first learn to recognize where you're failing. Just the realization can change you.