Dirty little secret (a reflection on Genesis 38)

"Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight so the LORD put him to death." Genesis 38:6-7, NIV

As I mentioned in my last post, currently I meet with an inmate at the Barron County Jail on a weekly basis. “Bill” has recently given his life to Jesus and has begun to read the Bible and as he does questions understandably arise. But the one he asked me the other day I don't think I have ever been asked about before:

 “You know Genesis 38? What's that all about?” 

Wow. There's a chestnut worth pondering. In fact, the whole story is rather odd, curious and, frankly, bizarre. It reads like Days of Our

Lives instead of holy writ. It's the story of Judah and how it is he came to produce an heir through a tryst with his daughter-in-law. 

So, Judah married a Canaanite woman by the name of Shua and she gave him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. When Er came of age, Judah arranged a marriage for him to a Canaanite woman named Tamar. But Er was a bad guy or so the narrator tells us – so bad that “God took his life” (v. 7). Now according to the custom in those days, if a brother died before producing an heir it was the responsibility of one his brothers to sleep with his sister-in-law in order to produce one for him. Judah orders Onan to fulfill his duty but Onan knows if she does conceive the child won't be his so every time they are together he...er...pulls out so that no baby will be produced. In other words, he's hiding behind accepted custom to get sexual pleasure out of his sister-in-law. For that, the narrator tells us “God was much offended by what he did and also took his life” (v. 10). 

From Judah's perspective, Tamar is unlucky – two sons dead and both were connected to her. Since Shelah is still young, he sends Tamar home to live with her family assuring her that when he is of age he will fulfill his duty to Er. In reality, he's just trying to keep Shelah from coming to the same bad end as his older brothers. 

 

Time passes, Shelah grows up but Judah makes no preparations to marry him to Tamar. She is just bad luck. Judah's wife, Shua, dies and after he has mourned her loss he goes to Timnah to shear sheep. While there, Tamar decides upon a ruse: she will disguise herself as a prostitute see if she can lure Judah into her bed. The rest is tawdry reading: 

15 Judah saw her and assumed she was a prostitute since she had veiled her face. He left the road and went over to her. He said, “Let me sleep with you.” He had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law. 

16 She said, “What will you pay me?” 

17 “I’ll send you,” he said, “a kid goat from the flock.” She said, “Not unless you give me a pledge until you send it.” 

18 “So what would you want in the way of a pledge?” She said, “Your personal seal-and-cord and the staff you carry.” He handed them over to her and slept with her. And she got pregnant. 

So, Tamar is now pregnant by her father-in-law who at this point is clueless. While he sends his payment to her later she is nowhere to be found. All he is out for the one night stand is his staff and his seal and its cord which serve has his calling card of sorts. Again, I'd rather let Scripture tell the tale: 

24 Three months or so later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law has been playing the whore—and now she’s a pregnant whore.” 

Judah yelled, “Get her out here. Burn her up!” 

25 As they brought her out, she sent a message to her father-in-law, “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things. Identify them, please. Who’s the owner of the seal-and-cord and the staff?”

26 Judah saw they were his. He said, “She’s in the right; I’m in the wrong—I wouldn’t let her marry my son Shelah.” He never slept with her again. 

27-30 When her time came to give birth, it turned out that there were twins in her womb. As she was giving birth, one put his hand out; the midwife tied a red thread on his hand, saying, “This one came first.” But then he pulled it back and his brother came out. She said, “Oh! A breakout!” So she named him Perez (Breakout). Then his brother came out with the red thread on his hand. They named him Zerah (Bright). 

After we reviewed the story together I asked Bill what he thought to

It could be any
of them - or all
of them!

 wit he replied, “This is seriously messed up.” Who couldn't but agree with him? This is a story you'd expect to find in a cheap Harlequin romance not within the pages of Scripture. “So what's it mean?” 

 

Here's how I answered: 

Well, the short answer is: “I don't know.” But just as I said that two other thoughts came to mind: 

One thing about the Bible is that it is always, painfully at times, honest about the people of God – Abraham and Sarah's plan to get an heir, both Abraham and Isaac lying to Pharaoh to save their skin and then each getting caught in the act with their “sister”, Jacob deceiving his brother and his father in order to get the birthright and the blessing, Jacob's wives negotiating “stud”-rights with each other, Judah and his brothers selling their brother Joseph into slavery. And on it goes, seemingly chapter after chapter. It's awkward enough working through Genesis 38 (personally, I'm glad I wasn't having this discussion with a woman). The Bible's consensus seems to be that as a race, we are one sorry lot – sinful, selfish, conniving, manipulative, deceitful – and yet in covenant with Yahweh who often refers to himself as “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. In other words, we're his people. We often do not behave as such but still we remain his. In the New Testament, Paul put it this way: “...we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7, NIV). 

So, Judah who bears a child with his daughter-in-law masquerading as a prostitute because Judah won't fulfill his lawful duty by her – yeah, that's God's people, tawdry tale though it may be. 

I then told Bill to turn to Matthew 1:3 and read it to me. 

“Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron...” (NLT) 

Ah...they skipped some parts

I'm an amateur genealogist and I've come to believe that in most families – if not in all – there are “skeletons in the closet”: family secrets that are not talked about at reunions. Stories of suicide, marital unfaithfulness, incest and the like. I know my family has a few of them. How does it make you feel that Jesus' family has a few of those as well? In fact, a few verses further and we can read about Rahab “the prostitute” and Bathsheba “the adulteress”, they too are included in the genealogy of Jesus “the Messiah”. Their names are listed without apology or explanation. They're part of the family from which Christ came. 

Rahab the prostitute was
also one of Jesus' "Greats"

What I get from that is while our lives may indeed be a mess and in sore need of sanctification if we confess Christ as Lord and Savior we are his and he is at work within us seeking to bring forth new life. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corin 4:16). And that is an encouraging word. 

Frankly, Genesis 38 is a head-scratcher to me. It seems to interrupt the flow of the Joseph story begun the chapter before. People who study these things way more than I do tell me there is way more going on in chapter 38 than Judah's “dirty family secret”. But it's good to know when we feel despondent at our lack of growth in the character of Christ, we are not disowned by him. Rather, we belong and by God's grace, in time we will behave as fitting the sons and daughters of God.