Genesis 38
Judah and Tamar
4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.
11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.
12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”
“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?”
“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.
20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. 21 He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”
“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.
22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”
23 Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”
25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.
Genesis 38 (NIV)
Judah was one of Jacob and Leah’s sons. He moved away from his brothers and married a woman named Shua with whom he had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah.
Er married a woman called Tamar but soon died because of his wickedness. Onan married his brother’s wife but purposely avoided having any children with her, he was wicked in God’s eyes and so his life was cut short also. At the time, Shelah was very young so Judah told Tamar to move back to her father’s house as a widow while waiting for Shelah to grow older so she can be married to him (even though he actually did not want her to marry his last remaining son).
Genesis 38 shows God’s attitude towards wicked people – God despises wickedness. It also tells the story of a man (Judah) who was too quick to judge someone else (Tamar), just to realize he was as guilty of sin as she was.
Lessons from Genesis 38
- Instill your values into your children: Unlike his father Jacob, Judah married a Canaanite woman. Considering how Jacob had always been spiritually minded, it is rather surprising that his son did not understand why he should not have married a Canaanite woman. (We discussed this point in this Bible study).
With the advancements in technology and ease of transportation, today more than ever it is easy to imbibe different values and ways of living. Teach your children your values and beliefs, not only by telling what to do and what not to do, but also taking the time to explain the reasons for these things and the consequences of doing otherwise.
- God does not like wickedness: To be wicked means being evil or morally wrong. God despises the very appearance of evil. Because of their wickedness, Er and Onan lost their lives. (Genesis 38:7-10)
The love of God in your heart should drive out every spec of evil, light and darkness cannot coexist. You cannot love the Lord but yet treat fellow [wo]men with wickedness (1 John 4:20).
- Children often pick up their parents’ traits and behaviours: Jacob had pulled quite a number of cons in his life. Now Judah was doing the same by promising Tamar that she was going to be Shelah’s wife even though he didn’t intend to honour that word, he feared that Shelah would meet the same end as his brothers had and so didn’t want the young man to marry Tamar. (Genesis 38:11,14)
- Mistakes have consequences and these consequences don’t just go away because you had a reason for doing/saying what you did/said: When you make a mistake, apologize and seek to make amends, not to provide excuses to justify why you did/said what you did/said.
- Do not judge others, be quick to extend grace: It is because God loved us first that we are saved, none of us earned our righteousness (Ephesians 2:8). Knowing this, we ought to be quick to extend grace instead of judgement to one another (Ephesians 4:32).
When Judah found out his daughter-in-law had prostituted herself and gotten pregnant, he was quick to request that she be put to death. But then he realized she was carrying his baby and his attitude suddenly changed.
Before you go around condemning others for their sins, stop to evaluate your own life and acknowledge that you’ve been saved by grace. Leave judgement to God.
Reflection
- Do you treat everyone with love and kindness or do you let wickedness dwell in your heart?
- Are you quick to judge others for their mistakes or do you extend grace?
Further reading
- Proverbs 22: 6 [Train up a child in the way he should go: And when he is old, he will not depart from it.]
- Psalm 9:17 [The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God]
- John 8:7 [So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.]
Prayer
Dear Father, I am not always perfect but you love me perfectly. You provide for me and forgive me when I err. Forgive me for the times I casted judgement on others and teach me to love like you do – perfectly and without judgement. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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