(Genesis 38:01 - 38:30)
Afterwards, Judah parted company with his brothers and resided in Adullam with a man called Hirah. There, he spotted a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shuah, and took her as his wife. He had sexual relations with her; she conceived and bore him a son he called Er, and then, another son called Onan. A third son, named Shelah was born when Judah was away in Chezib. She then left off having children.
Judah found for his oldest son Er a wife whose name was Tamar. Er, however, was seen as wicked by Jehovah and so Jehovah killed him. Judah, therefore, ordered his second son Onan to marry Tamar and to have sex with her so that she could bear children and raise them as Er's. Knowing that the children he fathered would not be recognized as his own, Onan, whenever he copulated with his brother's widow, withdrew his penis and ejaculated his semen upon the ground, so that no offspring would be born in his brother's name. This act so displeased Jehovah that he exterminated Onan as well.
Judah then told his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Remain a widow and live with your father until my son Shelah reaches manhood, in case he should chance to die like his brothers." And so Tamar left and returned to her father's home.
Some time later it happened that Judah's wife, Shuah's daughter, passed away. After Judah had ended his period of mourning, he went to Timnath with his friend Hirah the Adullamite in order to see his sheep shearers.
Tamar was told that her father-in-law was going to Timnath to see about the shearing of his sheep. She therefore, cast off her mourning clothes, donned a disguise, and veiled herself. She sat down to wait at the crossroads on the way to Timnath. (Shelah was now grown up, but she had not yet been given to him as a wife.)
When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute, since she had her face covered. He went up to her and said, "Come with me and let me have sex with you," (for he was unaware that she was his daughter-in-law).
"What will you pay me to enjoy my company?" she asked.
"I will send you a kid from my flock."
"What guarantee will you give me that you will send it?"
"What should I give you?" he asked.
"How about the seal round your neck, its cord, and the walking staff you're carrying?"
He gave her what she asked, laid with her, and impregnated her. Tamar then returned home, discarded her veil, and reassumed her widow's weeds.
Judah sent the kid by his friend Hirah to retrieve the things he had left with her as security, but he couldn't find her. He asked the men who were about, "Where is the prostitute who was sitting at the crossroads?"
"There was never any prostitute there," they answered.
Hirah then returned to Judah and told him, "I couldn't find her. The men there told me there was never a prostitute at that place."
Judah answered, "Well, let her come and get it then. She can't accuse me of breaking me word -- I was ready to send her the kid as I promised, but you couldn't find her."
Three months later Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law has been promiscuous and seems to be pregnant."
Judah ordered them, "Bring her to me. She shall be burned to death!"
When Tamar was summoned to be executed, she told her father-in-law, "The father of my child is the man who gave me these. To whom does this seal and cord and this walking staff belong?"
Judah had to acknowledge ownership of the items and admitted to her, "You have been more in the right than I have, because I failed in my promise to give you to Shelah as a wife." He had no more relations with her.
When Tamar was about to give birth, it was found that she was expecting twins. During the delivery, when one child reached out his hand, the midwife tied a red ribbon around it, saying "This one will come out first." However, it drew in its hand and the other child was born first. "Why is it you who is coming through the breach?" the woman asked, thus naming the boy child Perez [meaning "breach"]. Afterwards, his brother, the one who had the scarlet ribbon tied around his wrist, was born, and he was called Zarah.
Notes
1. It seems understandable that Judah did not want to live with his brothers, a pretty scurvy lot. He goes to live in Adullam (about 13 miles west, southwest of Bethlehem) with his friend Hirah. (This is, significantly, perhaps the first mention of any Genesis character having a friend.) Hirah proves his friendship by trying to complete Judah's negotiations with the "prostitute".
2. The extent and nature of Er's transgressions are not even hinted at, but were sufficient for Jehovah to put him to death. Why Jehovah should find the coitus interruptus of Onan (who was being taken advantage of, certainly) objectionable enough to warrant his death would seem a mystery. If Er was so wicked, why would Jehovah want his wife to raise children in his name? But Onan was supposed to abide by the custom called Levirite marriage, in which a younger brother is obligated to marry his older brother’s widow. Apparently it was important in Hebrew society at this time. Judah was probably bewildered by the deaths, though, since he didn't know whether or not he should allow his younger son Shelah to marry the unfortunate Widow Tamar. One wonders, of course, if the two sons/husbands had been merely struck down by an unexplained illness and their deaths blamed on Jehovah.
3. Tamar is put out because Judah has not allowed her to marry Shelah, Judah's third son, as is apparently her right as a widow of his older brothers. It is amazing, though, that after having had such bad luck the Judah family, she wouldn't want to find a husband elsewhere. Yet, she is determined to have a child by someone in the family and, therefore, tricks Judah into lying with her by posing as a prostitute. To go to so much trouble, disguising herself and laying in wait for him where she knew him to be traveling, she must have been confident she could successfully proposition the newly widowed Judah. The price for her favors, a goat kid, seems pretty high, but one doesn't know whether this was the going rate for such services or not. Judah, to his credit, seems a clueless novice in conducting the transaction, not at all the sharp trader who sold his brother Joseph into slavery.
4. The text implies no disapproval of Judah's solicitation of the "prostitute" and, at this point, one is left wondering as to the perceived morality of the act. Tamar's having a child out of wedlock, however, is so egregious a violation of the prevailing moral code that it dooms her to a horrible death. She is pardoned, though, when Judah discovers it is he who has impregnated his daughter-in-law. He had the grace to admit he was more in the wrong than she was. One assumes he was embarrassed, but he did get back his seal and staff (quite personal items). We are never told whether Tamar received the goat she surely earned.
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