In our last message, we looked at the tragic escalation that led to Joseph being so despised by his older brothers, the other sons of Israel, that they contemplated his murder and ultimately sold him into slavery. Two of those brothers – Reuben and Judah – were singled out for the different ways they tried to nudge their brothers away from a lethal solution. Now, though, it's time to take a closer look at their messy lives before and after that day.
I mentioned before that Reuben's eagerness to rescue Joseph might have been linked to some hot water he had gotten himself into, something involving his stepmother Bilhah. It's a brief story we glossed over before, back in chapter 35. After Rachel died during childbirth on the family's way to Ephrath (Genesis 35:16-20), we're told “Israel journeyed on and stretched out his tent beyond Midgal-Eder,” the 'Watchtower of the Flock' (Genesis 35:21). As the family takes a pause there on their route to Hebron “while Israel lived in that land,” what went wrong? This: “Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine” (Genesis 35:22).
Ancient readers, scratching their heads as to what Reuben could've been thinking, guessed maybe he'd caught a glimpse of her bathing by moonlight (David-and-Bathsheba-style), was overcome with desire, and assaulted her in the night while she slept; but those who explained things this way differed as to whether Bilhah then woke up and screamed out, or slept through the entire ordeal.1 More likely, though, it was an act of contempt and a bid for power. Remember who Bilhah was: Rachel's maidservant (Genesis 29:29). Reuben was the first son of Leah, the sister-wife who'd so often felt overshadowed by Rachel in their competition for family status and the affections of their shared husband, and had long felt a responsibility to defend his mother Leah's interests. Now that Rachel is dead, it seems possible that her favored position could be passed, not to the first wife Leah, but to Bilhah as Rachel's proxy. In attempting to 'defile' Bilhah, Reuben may hope to drive a wedge between her and Jacob, ensuring Bilhah could never become serious competition for Leah, since Bilhah might then be “shut up until the day of [her] death, living as if in widowhood” (2 Samuel 20:3).2
Plus, in their world, seizing a leader's women was a way of staking a claim on his position, effectively an attempted coup; that's why Saul's son Ishbaal was incensed when Abner 'went in' to the late Saul's concubine Rizpah (2 Samuel 3:6-7), and why David's rebellious son Absalom publicly 'went in' to David's concubines (2 Samuel 16:21-22).3 So, in effect, Reuben here “directly challenges his father for leadership,”4 and is executing “a political power-grab... to wrest the leadership of the clan from his father,”5 even as he shows pretty extreme callousness for what his half-brothers Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Bilhah, would think of all this. The whole thing is deeply scandalous, especially coming one chapter of Shechem's defilement of Dinah (Genesis 34:5); for Reuben has become a new Shechem toward Bilhah!6
The Law of Moses would later carefully ban a man from “uncovering the nakedness of [his] father's wife” like this (Leviticus 18:8), imposing as a penalty to “be cut off from among their people” (Leviticus 18:29). In fact, “if a man lies with his father's wife..., both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them” – thus stood the Law (Leviticus 20:11). Some later Jews thundered emphatically that “there is no forgiveness to atone for a man who has done this forever but only to execute him and kill him and stone him and to uproot him from the midst of the people of our God.”7 Even St. Paul labels it “sexual immorality... of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans” (1 Corinthians 5:1).8
And the Apostle knew whereof he spoke. In Greek legend, when a young man named Phoinix heeded his mother's pleas to sleep with his father Amyntor's concubine, the “father soon found out, heaped curses on me, invoked the dread Furies to ensure that he never held on his knees any son sired by me; and the gods indeed in due course fulfilled his curses.”9 But here in Genesis, all we read is: “And Israel heard” (Genesis 35:22). What – no heaping on of curses, no crying out for divine vengeance? Instead, Israel “reacted with restraint, overcome by natural affection” for Reuben as his son.10 Later Jews imagined Reuben was severely afflicted and spent years doing heavy penance,11 and that he was so deeply and visibly ashamed of himself that Jacob didn't have to rebuke him, but instead “prayed to the Lord in [Reuben's] behalf so that the Lord's anger would pass [him] by.”12 Israel comes across as the anti-Amyntor. (He'll revisit the consequences of Reuben's sin years later [Genesis 49:4].) When Genesis immediately hurries on to give us a recap of the twelve sons of Jacob, it forthrightly lists Reuben first as “Jacob's firstborn,” even while carefully arranging the list to position Joseph in lucky spot #7 (Genesis 35:22-26).13 The message is that Jacob refuses to let his family slip back beneath twelve sons, that number that in Genesis marks out a family's pathway to becoming a nation.14
That's the condition in which the family finally reaches Hebron, reuniting Jacob with his father Isaac after many decades of separation (Genesis 35:27). That's where we'll hear of Joseph's colorful coat and daring dreams, and of the plotting and the pit, and of the slave-sale and the sacrificial sham (Genesis 37). “It happened at that time that,” just as Joseph was 'made to go down' away from his family into Egypt (Genesis 39:1), so now “Judah went down from his brothers” (Genesis 38:1),15 “turning his back on his brothers and on his father.”16 Leaving them behind, he crosses the hill country to their west and descends to the town of Adullam, the area where a fugitive David would one day gather his family and supporters (1 Samuel 22:1-2), just a four-mile hike from where he slew Goliath. There, Judah “turned unto a man, an Adullamite, and his name was Hirah” (Genesis 38:1). Hirah the Adullamite is subsequently referred to as Judah's “friend” (Genesis 38:12), as Hushai the Archite was to David (1 Chronicles 27:33). It's also the word used throughout the Law as 'neighbor.'
While being thus neighborly with his new friend Hirah, “Judah saw there the daughter of a man, a Canaanite, and his name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her” (Genesis 38:2). We know her only as 'the daughter of Shua,' or – as she's called later – “Bathshua the Canaanite” (1 Chronicles 2:3), which is interesting because, in those same texts, Bathsheba shows up as named 'Bathshua' (1 Chronicles 3:5).17 Now, for a while, the norm has been for fathers to be involved in arranging good marriages for their sons: Abraham sent his steward to “take a wife for my son Isaac” (Genesis 24:4), Isaac sent Jacob in person to “take as your wife... one of the daughters of Laban” (Genesis 28:2), but problems arose when Esau took it upon himself to take a few Hittite wives (Genesis 26:34). So Judah is already starting out looking something like a new Esau.18
It wasn't long till Bathshua “conceived and bore a son; and he,” Judah, “called his name Er” (Genesis 38:3), meaning something like 'watchful'; and after that, again “she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Onan” (Genesis 38:4), meaning something like 'vigorous.'19 But notice how he names the first child, and she takes over for the second; it raises a question about whether Judah's beginning to detach a bit from his fatherly role already.20 Our suspicions are confirmed once “she added to bear a son, and she called his name Shelah, and he was in Chezib when she bore him” (Genesis 38:5). This time, it's not just that Bathshua names the son; it's that Judah doesn't even bother to show up for the birth! He's left town, left his pregnant wife! And that this isn't good is underscored by where he is: Chezib is a place, but its letters also spell 'to lie, fail, or disappoint.'21
Years pass by from there. The three sons grow, and finally the eldest son reaches a marriageable age. Wasting no time, his father does what his grandfather didn't: “Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn,” and we're told that “her name was Tamar,” which means date-palm (Genesis 38:6). She's presumably from a local Canaanite family, but the Bible doesn't actually say that, which gave later Jews room to rewrite things to make her an Aramean like Rachel and Leah,22 or even to position her as the daughter of Melchizedek!23 The only other Tamars in the Bible will be a daughter and a granddaughter of David (2 Samuel 13:1; 14:27).
Not so long after their wedding, we discover that “Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 38:7). Don't be too surprised, since Er's own name is just 'evil' spelled backwards in Hebrew.24 In fact, so greatly did Er offend God that “the LORD put him to death” (Genesis 38:7). Now, you'd think that, with such a mortal sin, the Bible would've spelled out for us exactly what Er did wrong. But it doesn't. We'll later hear of plenty of times the Children of Israel do “what is evil in the eyes of the LORD” by “transgressing his covenant” and serving other gods (Deuteronomy 17:2-3). But ancient Jews tended to think that, more specifically, Er despised Tamar and treated her unfairly, determined to never have children by her;25 others added that, to that end, “he had sodomitical relations with her.”26 We needn't explore that thought further.
So the judgment of God has put Er, firstborn son of Judah and husband of Tamar, to death. Now we have a bit of a problem. This makes Tamar a childless widow, which was – especially in their world – a very vulnerable situation to be in. Moreover, Er has effectively been erased from the world, with no one to carry on his memory (which is tragic even if his deeds were disreputable). For cases like this, many cultures had a custom or even a law, to the effect that “if a man has a wife, and the man dies, his brother shall take the widow as a wife.”27 It's called the levirate law, from the Latin for 'husband's brother.' Even Israel had a version of this: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be outside to a strange man; her brother-in-law shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the levirate duty to her” (Deuteronomy 25:5). So Judah decides that should address the problem here. “Judah said to Onan, 'Go in to the wife of your brother, and perform levirate duty to her, and raise up seed for your brother'” (Genesis 38:8).
Onan has no choice. But Onan has concerns. See, “Onan knew that the seed would not be his” – biologically, yes; legally, no. The whole point of the practice was that “the firstborn whom she bears shall rise to the name of his dead brother” (Deuteronomy 25:6). On the plus side, during the time of this arrangement, Onan will get administrative control over anything and everything that belonged to Er; but, on the downside, giving Er a legal son might be the brotherly thing to do, but it's against Onan's interests, because in Er's absence, Onan and his own heirs can have a much larger chunk of the family inheritance.28 Now, under Moses, if a brother objected to this arrangement, he could accept a public shaming before the town elders, exposing him as a selfish man who wasn't willing to build up his late brother's house (Deuteronomy 25:7-10). But that wasn't an option yet. Onan figures, though, that he can find a way to exploit this situation to his advantage rather than his loss, to have his cake and eat it too – and by his craftiness, Onan “betrayed his greed.”29
What did Onan do? Well, “it came to pass, if he went in to the wife of his brother, that he would waste it toward the earth, so as not to give seed to his brother” (Genesis 38:9). This went on for quite some time; some readers guessed “he was with her for a year.”30 Through all this time, Onan went “beyond all bounds in love of self and love of pleasure,”31 since he “violated the law of procreation,”32 corrupting sexuality so that “the conception of offspring is precluded” on purpose.33 He proved “reluctant to contribute to a future that he cannot possess on his own terms.”34 To make things worse, he acted in “hatred of his brother” by this “cruel stratagem,”35 treating his late brother Er with the same contempt Joseph's brothers had for him.36 “Evil in the eyes of the LORD was what he did” (Genesis 38:10), so, like Er before him, he was “destroyed by the divine wrath.”37 Again, don't be too surprised: Onan's name isn't very far from the Hebrew word for 'iniquity,' and the description of Onan “corrupting it toward the earth” reminds us of God's reasoning for the Flood, that “the earth was corrupt before the face of God” since “all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12).38
Alright, so put yourself in Judah's sandals. You've had three sons, and you're done. Then one dies, shortly after marrying this woman you picked out for him. It's a mind-boggling tragedy. Desperate to salvage the situation, you have his next-of-kin, your second son, step in. But soon enough, after beginning to spend time with that very same woman, he suddenly also drops dead? Once is a fluke; twice is a pattern emerging. And the heart of that pattern looks to be this Tamar woman. Alarm bells are now going off. Thinking the best of his late sons, of course Judah can only assume that somehow Tamar is responsible – whether she's poisoning them in secret, or whether she's simply cursed, doesn't much matter. If you're Judah, looking at Tamar, you just can't forget “the two sons of whose death she was accused” in his heart of hearts.39
Judah is understandably nervous. “This put fear into Judah, seeing such a rapid dispatch of his two sons.”40 He knows he's now obligated, by this law and custom, to provide another substitute for Er, and thus to honor the ties binding Tamar firmly to his family. But, be she bad luck or black widow, Judah can't assume the third time will miraculously be the charm. And Judah has just one son left. That'd be his youngest, and Judah has fear for Shelah's very life, should Shelah receive Tamar as his wife, “lest he die like his brothers” (Genesis 38:11). For perhaps the first time, Judah can understand what he put his father Israel through by faking the death of his baby boy Joseph all those years ago. Now Judah is on the brink of a similar crisis. So what's Judah to do? Steer a middle course. He devises a plan. He pleads that Shelah isn't quite at marriageable age yet – likely true enough – and so, in a couple years, when he's old enough, then Judah will make the match as mandated (or so he claims, deceptively). Until then, he says, Tamar should go away – banished back, in disgrace and suspicion, to her father's house, to live there as a quasi-betrothed widow, and there to wait to hear from him (Genesis 38:11).
Tamar obeys her father-in-law. No doubt she believed that Judah, son of the famed Israel, is surely an honest and upright man in his dealings. Only... as “the days became many” (Genesis 38:12), it begins to dawn on her that “Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife” (Genesis 38:14). Where Abraham had triumphed in faith when he didn't withhold his cherished son Isaac (Genesis 22:16), Judah falls far short of his great-grandfather: he clearly does mean to withhold his final, and hence beloved, son from this risk.41
The result is a terrible trap. Tamar is “left in limbo,” adrift in a no-man's land where she doesn't quite have anywhere she belongs.42 As the widow of Er to whom Shelah is pledged, she isn't free to seek another husband among the peoples. She is, as we'll find out the hard way, still legally subject to Judah's fatherly authority. But she isn't being given what she was promised. Tamar is shelved, prevented permanently from marrying, from having children in a legitimate and respectable fashion; and, without children who could inherit from Er's property, Tamar is left without a way to support herself or defend her rights.43 “To both her and her family, she must have seemed almost buried alive.”44 At the same time, Judah's decision abandons Er's only hope for a posthumous legacy, and thereby “ratifies the sin of Onan.”45 If that weren't enough, it seems as though Shelah can't marry anybody while Tamar lives, meaning Judah's gambit to protect Shelah's life also dooms the line of Judah to extinction, to being blotted out of Israel (cf. Deuteronomy 25:6),46 since Judah has apparently decided it's “better to give up on future grandchildren than to risk the only child he has left.”47
If there were any doubt about the course set, “there died the daughter of Shua, the wife of Judah” (Genesis 38:12). It can't have been old age like Sarah, nor childbirth like Rachel. We aren't told the reason, but later Jews who wanted to salvage Judah's reputation blamed his Canaanite wife not just for Er and Onan's behavior but for withholding Shelah from Tamar, and imagined that finally Judah “pronounced a curse on her in the anguish of [his] soul, and she died in her wickedness” as a result.48 When Rachel died, Israel memorialized her (Genesis 35:20), but we hear nothing of the sort about Bathshua. We're never told Judah mourns for her. But whereas Israel “refused to be comforted” after the apparent death of his beloved son Joseph (Genesis 37:35), we read immediately here that “Judah was comforted” (Genesis 38:12).49 In fact, he promptly plans an outing with his buddy Hirah, “going up to Timnah to shear his sheep” (Genesis 38:13), a tough seasonal chore for the actual manual laborers but one issuing in a big celebration when it's done. In other words, no sooner has Judah become a widower than he feels so much better that he's up for going to the party.
Somehow, word of this reaches Tamar through unidentified channels of communication: “It was told to Tamar, 'Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep'” (Genesis 38:13). And this is the line, this is the last straw, this is the opportunity for Tamar to take matters into her own hands. But first that means a big change to the way she's dressed, which manifests her place in society. As Joseph had his bright robes torn away, so Tamar “removed her garments of widowhood from herself” – drearily dark garments she's still wearing, contrasting sharply with Judah's speedy return to carefree joviality (Genesis 38:14).50 Tamar then “covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself up” in a disguise; and finally, she leaves her father's house and hurriedly travels to Enaim, by the road leading to Timnah. And there she sits in wait for Judah to soon pass by.
Now, since she's veiled her face, Judah sees her but “did not know that she was his daughter-in-law” (Genesis 38:16). He's got no idea this is Tamar; despite her having been married to not one but two of his sons, he can't recognize her through a simple change of clothes and a face veil. Instead, “he reckoned her for a prostitute,” the sort of woman one might find posted up at a crossroads. But what makes this more ironic is that Tamar has seated herself at the gate of Enaim, which might mean 'Twin Wells,' turning this into a parody of biblical scenes of men (like Judah's dad Jacob) meeting their wives at wells; but 'the gate of Enaim' can also mean 'the opening of the eyes,' making us ask whether and how Judah's eyes are – or will be – opened here (Genesis 38:14).51
Scarcely does Judah spy the woman at Enaim than he's already “turned to her by the way; and he said, 'Come, please, let me come in to you'” (Genesis 38:16) – a stunningly bold and crass approach. Judah assumes she's a prostitute and propositions her very directly; he clearly has no moral qualms about hiring a prostitute, at least now that he's no longer married. St. Augustine points out that “the eternal law condemns the prostitution of women,” and so “there is no doubt, insofar as Judah was concerned, he was wrong” to approach her like this.52 But Judah “was seized by lust,”53 by “depraved desire,”54 highlighting the hypocrisy of his “obliging her to continence when he was not continent himself.”55 And so he seeks to hire this apparent prostitute.
So “she said, 'What will you give me, that you may come in to me?'” (Genesis 38:16). Tamar plays the part well and moves immediately to negotiations, to commerce; instead of stipulating a price, she invites him to propose one. And Judah complies. “He said, 'I will send you a kid of goats from the flock'” (Genesis 38:17). Why that choice? It's an immediate food source, so is a desirable commodity; he can presume that a prostitute in Canaan would mainly be debasing herself like this for the sake of survival. And since he's headed to shear his flock, it wouldn't take long to pick out a kid and send it her way, so he won't owe her for long.
That all makes sense. But pause here to notice a running theme. How did Jacob deceive his father Isaac? Well, he wore his brother's clothes and adorned himself with the hairy skins of goat kids that were slain for the trick to work. How, then, did Judah and his brothers deceive their father Jacob? By taking their brother's clothes and staining them with the blood of a goat kid that was slain for the trick to work. And now how is Tamar deceiving her father-in-law Judah? By disguising herself in different clothes and accepting Judah's offer of a goat-kid.56
But, since Judah can't pay the goat-kid up-front, she agrees only on the condition that he leave a pledge, some sort of collateral to ensure he pays up later – and, funnily enough, the word for 'pledge' sounds almost like the names of Tamar's two late husband's stuck together.57 When asked what she'd accept as collateral, she swings for the fences: “Your seal and your cord and your staff that is in your hand” (Genesis 38:18). Now, those are insane things for a man to let out of his sight. A man's staff, which often had his name carved into its head, was a symbol of his authority; his seal, which hung from a cord around his neck, was how he signed documents.58 So the modern equivalent of her demand would be that Judah turn over his car keys and credit card. It'd be as shortsighted and reckless as, say, letting go of his birthright for a bowl of stew (cf. Genesis 25:33-34)!59
And yet Judah's so swept up in desperate desire that “he gave them to her and went in to her” (Genesis 38:18). Knowing, as we do, what Judah doesn't, this is an uncomfortable moment to read; it's eerily “reminiscent of the story of Lot and his daughters” halfway back the book.60 Judah is as blinded now by Tamar's veil as his father had been on his surprising first night with Judah's mom.61 When what's done is done, Judah – still in ignorance – carries on his way to Timnah. Tamar, meanwhile, “arose and went away,” abandoning the gate of Enaim; she sneaks back to her father's house, where “she removed her veil from her, and she put on the garments of her widowhood” again (Genesis 38:19). Tamar resumes her normal life as if nothing happened. But something has. “She conceived by him” (Genesis 38:18). Her objective has been accomplished.
Judah likely reaches Timnah that very day, and although he was faithless to Tamar in her role as his daughter-in-law, he's certainly eager to keep his word to her when he thinks of her as a nameless prostitute who's got his stuff.62 So he promptly takes action to keep his word. “Judah sent the kid of goats by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to take back the pledge from the hand of the woman.” Only, when Hirah gets to Enaim, he looks around – and, lo and behold, “he did not find her” (Genesis 38:20). He starts asking the locals, “the men of the place, saying, 'Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim by the way?'” He euphemistically gives her a fancier designation, literally 'holy woman,' one whose prostitution was an act of worship for Canaan's gods. But they've got no clue what he's on about: “Nowhere in this has there been a cult prostitute!” (Genesis 38:21).
Flummoxed, Hirah leads the little goat all the way back to Judah, reporting his sincerest efforts to carry out his mission for Judah, but confessing that he's failed. Now what's Judah to do? His vital records are missing! He's been had! This is a deeply delicate and highly humiliating situation to be in. Judah could go to Enaim himself; he could gather others and form a search party. But he'd be disgraced. So he decides, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be derided” (Genesis 38:23). If this gets out, Judah will look like a fool – and so, he implies, will Hirah (for some reason). He rationalizes that he's at least made a good-faith attempt to pay his debt.
But think about what this means. Tamar never gets the goat, never even later asks for the goat – that's not what this was ever about.63 Unlike in the prior two generations, her deception didn't claim the animal's life. This goat kid lives! Judah, meanwhile, accepts that he's simply lost his seal and cord and staff, just as much as Joseph lost his coat of many colors.64 But the word for 'staff' is also the usual Hebrew word for a tribe (e.g., Numbers 31:4) – so, unbeknownst to Judah, the tribe of Judah is now in Tamar's hands rather than in his hand.65
A month goes by. Then a second. Then a third. Early in the fourth month, those in Tamar's neighborhood spot her baby bump beginning to develop. Knowing she's been a widow for several years now, they realize it wasn't within the bounds of holy matrimony that she conceived. The rumor mill worked pretty fast in Canaan some 3,700 years ago, much as today. Just as unknown parties passed along news of Judah's trip to Timnah, unknown parties pass along to Judah the gossip that “Tamar your daughter-in-law has fornicated, and moreover, behold, she's pregnant by fornication!” (Genesis 38:24). You can just hear the tone here, can't you?
How will Judah take the news that Tamar is pregnant by fornication (or 'prostitution,' the same word in Hebrew)? Hypocritically and wrathfully, of course. Having previously washed his hands of any responsibility to do good to her, he now reasserts his authority over her life and death.66 After all, this seems like a perfect opportunity to get rid of Tamar, whom he surely sees as an obstacle to his family's future. He immediately – without bothering to investigate the rumor at all, I might add – leaps to judgment. And it's a harsh one. In just two Hebrew words, he decrees the weightiest sentence of all: “Bring her out, and let her be burned!” (Genesis 38:24). The only time this severity of punishment was applied in the Law of Moses was if the culprit was the daughter of a priest (Leviticus 21:9); but, as the daughter-in-law of Judah, “she has caused a defilement in Israel,” so he thinks.67
Tamar is being led out to her execution; and Jewish tradition imagined that, in this moment of dire jeopardy, Tamar had prayed for her three witnesses (namely, Judah's seal, cord, and staff) and pledged to God three gifts in return, descendants who, “when they go down into the burning fire, they will sanctify your holy name.”68 “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,” of the house of Judah, “fell bound into the burning fiery furnace... But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. … Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and changed the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God!” (Daniel 3:23-28).
So then she played her hand: “she sent to her father-in-law, saying, 'Recognize, please, whose these are, the seal and the cord and the staff'” (Genesis 38:25). Her opening words are devastatingly familiar: it's the exact same expression Judah and his brothers spoke years earlier to their father Israel (Genesis 37:32).69 As Israel recognized his son's unique robe, so Judah recognizes his own staff and corded seal – I mean, with his name on them, they're as unique as Joseph's pattern. He realizes, from this evidence, that Tamar is pregnant with his own child – and that there's been no offense against his clan after all.
Judah now has his identifying valuables back in his possession. They're Tamar's only proof of his culpability. It would be in his power to hide them away, to pretend this message never came, and to proceed with immolating Tamar; he'd save face that way, once again opting for the easy way out.70 But in burning her, he'd burn his own unborn child. This unexpected twist sends shockwaves through Judah's memories of the past several decades. He had been willing to let his sons be blotted out, just as he'd been willing to see his little brother Joseph vanish without a trace; his callousness to his father and his sons is now cracked open by his recognition of the weight of his role as both a son and a father.71 Moreover, it's obvious to him that everything Tamar's done, she was practically forced into by his own treatment of her, “because I didn't give her to Shelah my son” (Genesis 38:26). See, the way the levirate law worked before Moses, if the supply of brothers ran out, the next in line to shoulder the levirate duty was the late husband's father.72 So Tamar had only forced Judah to fulfill what was, arguably, his legal obligation.73 If not for that, then Judah himself has violated a very serious incest taboo. The Law of Moses would later stipulate that “if a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both shall be put to death; they have committed perversion, their blood is upon them” (Leviticus 20:12). Now, now he's really arrived at 'the opening of the eyes!'74 “I turned aside to Tamar and committed a great sin,” he might well have thought.75
And so Judah does something big, something we aren't outright told in the Bible that Reuben did: Judah admits his wrongdoing. Judah confesses his sin. Openly he concedes, in front of all those gathered, that “she is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26) – almost exactly in the words Saul will later speak to David, that “you are more righteous than I” (1 Samuel 24:17).76 Withdrawing his charges against Tamar, Judah “admitted his own involvement and acquitted her of any guilt.”77 Early readers supposed that Tamar, after all, had been “unwilling to separate from the sons of Israel..., and her intent saved her from all danger.”78 They credited Tamar with a firm faith and “yearning for the blessing that is hidden in” the line of Israel, that their seed whom she might bear would have a glorious destiny under God.79 Tamar, the Canaanite woman, teaches Judah a valuable lesson as she “takes responsibility for the future.”80 For his own part, ancient retellers elaborated here that “Judah knew that the deed which he did was evil..., and he condemned himself in his own sight, and he knew that he had sinned and gone astray..., and he began to mourn and make supplication before the LORD on account of his sin.”81 And this humble admission – contrasted with his lifelong efforts to duck accountability for his actions – is “nothing less than life-changing.”82 “And there was forgiveness for him, because he turned from his sin.”83
Six more months then go by, “and it came to pass, at the time for her birthing, and behold, twins in her belly!” (Genesis 38:27). By the marvelous grace of God, the Judah who has lost two wicked sons now has their loss remedied by receiving not one but two others.84 Hence, “he who sent [Tamar] out on account of his first two sons brought her back for the sake of his last two sons.”85 The story that follows sounds somewhat familiar: we heard thirteen chapters ago of the complicated birth of twins two generations back, Jacob and Esau. This time, as the midwife attends Tamar, “she was giving birth, and he,” one of the twins, “gave a hand, and the midwife took and tied scarlet on his hand, saying, 'This one came out first!' And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, and behold, his brother came out” (Genesis 38:28-29).
It was a rare case of twin entanglement: one twin's arm had gotten trapped in the cervix alongside the other twin's head; the midwife mistook them, understandably, as the head and arm of the same child, and so marked the hand; this action triggered the first child's reflexes to retract his arm, which allowed for the successful delivery of the one whose head was in position.86 So the one with the scarlet on his hand, seemingly marked as firstborn, was not then the first to be fully born; the other broke through with a breakthrough, which is what his name, 'Perez,' means (Genesis 38:29). “And afterward his brother came out, him upon whose hand was the scarlet, and his name was called Zerah,” 'shining forth' (Genesis 38:30). It feels a lot like Zerah's a new Esau – Zerah's sunrise-red hand even matching Esau's red hair – while Perez is a new Jacob, breaking through.87
Early Christians took the confusing births of Perez and Zerah as an allegory for the history of salvation: Zerah's hand thrust out first was a glimmer of life before the Law; Perez's breakthrough was the arrival of the age of the Law, which slipped through into the world; but the full birth of Zerah is the shining forth of the gospel light.88 So “even before the Law, there was justification by faith, and after the Law, grace shone forth.”89 Ultimately, Judah had to realize, this whole ordeal “was from the Lord,” who wrote straight with Judah's crooked lines.90 In some providential way, “God brought Tamar out to the wayside,”91 so that, through Tamar's shrewdness, “what happened was by divine design” to ensure life and a future.92 And this was despite Judah's sin, that “had it not been for the penitence of my flesh, the humility of my soul, and the prayers of my father Jacob, I would have met death childless; but the God of my fathers, who is compassionate and merciful, pardoned me.”93
Centuries later, we meet another widow. Her husband had died. But then her brother-in-law died, and likewise her father-in-law died; and so, even under prevailing pagan laws, “she is indeed a widow, she shall go wherever she pleases.”94 But she opted to seek out her late husband's clan. She sought and sought until she found a man among them willing to embrace the levirate duty out of love. His name was Boaz. Her name was Ruth. And the people of Bethlehem blessed Boaz on their wedding day with the words: “May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the seed that the LORD will give you by this young woman” (Ruth 4:12). See, Boaz – as was Ruth's late husband – was a descendant of Perez, and so of Judah's scandalous union with Tamar. The line of Perez went down through Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon (who was chief of the tribe during the exodus [Numbers 2:3]), and then Salmon, Boaz, Obed, and eventually to Jesse and his many sons, of whom the youngest was named David (Ruth 4:18-22).
Fast-forward through the pages of history, and two Evangelists each differently revisit the genealogies of this house and lineage. Luke traces his way upward from Jesus, “the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, of Eli,” and works backward to “Perez, of Judah,” all the way to “Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:23-38). Matthew, for his part, traces his way downward from Abraham through “Judah, who begat Perez and Zerah out of Tamar” to reach “Jacob who begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, out of whom was begotten Jesus, the one called Christ” (Matthew 1:2-16). People have always noticed, and been confused about, the different names for Joseph's dad. But a Christian living in Emmaus just two centuries later went to research the apparent contradiction, and what he found was that family tradition held that Joseph himself was born out of a complicated levirate marriage.95
These have been messy stories we've been reviewing: Reuben assaulting his stepmother, Judah being tricked into impregnating his daughter-in-law, and a death by fire so narrowly averted. And yet it's amidst this mess, and not merely among the fully upright and dignified, that God chooses to be glorified. In the face of Judah's callousness and lust and hypocrisy, God clears the way for redemption and pardon. It's Judah and Tamar whom he chooses to bless, taking their family nightmare and turning it into salvation. For from this union descends Jesus according to the flesh, so as to transform their scandalous mess into salvific beauty.
Which is just what Jesus does: he takes the sloppiest messes of our sin, our scarlet letters and our shames, our self-righteousness and hypocrisies, our cruelties and our coldness, our fornications and our flames, and breathes hope into them when we confess, when we cry out that he is the Righteous One and have only what his grace will work through us, when we turn back to the Source of life and love. That's why he came. That's why he refuses to let the number of his elect fall short of completion. That's why he became our Brother, so that, when what's earthly within us is put to death (Colossians 3:5), he's there to step in as our Levirate Lord, that we might “belong to... him who has been raised from the dead” as Bridegroom for our souls, “in order that we may bear fruit for God,” begetting unto eternal life (Romans 7:4). Hallelujah! Amen.
1 Jubilees 33:1-4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:119; Testament of Reuben 3.11-14, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:783.
2 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 142; Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 22-23.
3 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 244; Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 478; Shaul Bar, Daily Life of the Patriarchs: The Way It Was (Peter Lang, 2015), 44; Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 19-20.
4 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 505.
5 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 381.
6 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 309.
7 Jubilees 33:13, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:119.
8 Augustine of Hippo, Answer to Faustus the Manichean 22.64, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/20:342.
9 Homer, Iliad 9.453-455, in Peter Green, trans., The Iliad: A New Translation (University of California Press, 2015), 175.
10 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 60.9, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:181.
11 Testament of Reuben 1.7-10, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:782.
12 Testament of Reuben 4.2-4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:783.
13 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 306.
14 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 382.
15 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 263; Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 158; David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 279.
16 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 528.
17 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 265.
18 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 280; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 326.
19 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 327.
20 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 280.
21 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 266; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 418 n.3.
22 Jubilees 41:1, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:122; Testament of Judah 10.1, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:797.
23 Genesis Rabbah 85.10, in Harry Freedman, ed., Midrash Rabbah (Soncino Press, 1939), 2:796.
24 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 266; Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 510; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 417 n.2; Ingrid Faro, Evil in Genesis: A Contextual Analysis of Hebrew Lexemes for Evil in the Book of Genesis (Lexham Press, 2021), 57.
25 Jubilees 41:2, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:130; Testament of Reuben 10.2-3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:797.
26 Cave of Treasures 32.14, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures 1:565.
27 Hittite Laws §193, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:236.
28 Eryl W. Davies, “Judah, Tamar, and the Law of Levirate Marriage,” in Hilary Lipka and Bruce Wells, eds., Sexuality and Law in the Torah (T&T Clark, 2020), 116-117.
29 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 328.
30 Testament of Judah 10.4, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:798.
31 Philo of Alexandria, On the Posterity of Cain 53 §180, in Loeb Classical Library 227:435.
32 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.2.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:291-292.
33 Augustine of Hippo, On Adulterous Marriages 2.12, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/9:175.
34 R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 266.
35 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 34.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:182-183.
36 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 507.
37 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.2.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:292.
38 Ingrid Faro, Evil in Genesis: A Contextual Analysis of Hebrew Lexemes for Evil in the Book of Genesis (Lexham Press, 2021), 57-58.
39 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 34.3, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:183.
40 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 62.3, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:199.
41 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 161.
42 Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 84; Susan Niditch, Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2024), 75.
43 Shira Weiss, Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible: Philosophical Analysis of Scriptural Narrative (Cambridge University Press, 2018), 176.
44 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 283.
45 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 530.
46 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 161; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 420.
47 R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 265.
48 Testament of Judah 11.4-5, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:798.
49 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 263.
50 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 511.
51 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 284-285.
52 Augustine of Hippo, Answer to Faustus the Manichean 22.61, in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century I/20:340.
53 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.2.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:292.
54 Cave of Treasures 32.17, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures 1:565.
55 Theodoret of Cyrus, Questions on Genesis 97, in Library of Early Christianity 1:185.
56 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 533.
57 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 419 n.4.
58 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 268-269; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 328; Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 329.
59 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 285.
60 Johanna Stiebert, Fathers and Daughters in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 2013), 145.
61 Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 329.
62 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 513.
63 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 534.
64 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 419.
65 Steffan Mathias, Paternity, Progeny, and Perpetuation: Creating Lives After Death in the Hebrew Bible (T&T Clark, 2020), 209.
66 Iain W. Provan, Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (Baylor University Press, 2014), 270.
67 Jubilees 41:17, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:131.
68 Targum Neofiti Genesis 38:25, in Aramaic Bible 1A:177; cf. b. Sotah 10b.10, in Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, ed., Koren Talmud Bavli (Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2012-2019), 20:61.
69 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 263.
70 Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 89.
71 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 535.
72 Hittite Laws §193, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:236.
73 Eryl W. Davies, “Judah, Tamar, and the Law of Levirate Marriage,” in Hilary Lipka and Bruce Wells, eds., Sexuality and Law in the Torah (T&T Clark, 2020), 118-119.
74 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 288.
75 Testament of Judah 14.5, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:799.
76 Megan Warner, “'Are You Indeed to Reign Over Us?': The Politics of Genesis 37-50,” in Mark G. Brett and Rachelle Gilmour, eds., Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible (Brill, 2023), 219.
77 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 62.5, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:200.
78 Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 9.5, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:315.
79 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 34.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:183.
80 R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 267.
81 Jubilees 41:23-24, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:131.
82 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 421.
83 Jubilees 41:25, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:131.
84 Iain W. Provan, Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (Baylor University Press, 2014), 268.
85 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 34.6, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:185.
86 John Makujina, “'Behold, There Were Twins in Her Womb' (Gen. 25:24-26; 38:27-30): Medical Science and the Twin Births in Genesis,” Tyndale Bulletin 68/1 (2017): 50-57.
87 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 507; David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 287.
88 Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4.25.2, in Ancient Christian Writers 72:72; John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 62.9, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:202.
89 Theodoret of Cyrus, Questions on Genesis 98, in Library of Early Christianity 1:157.
90 Testament of Judah 12.6, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:798.
91 Cave of Treasures 32.17, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures 1:565.
92 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 62.3, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 87:199.
93 Testament of Judah 19.2-3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:800.
94 Middle Assyrian Laws A §33, in Writings from the Ancient World 6:165.
95 Julius Africanus, On the Agreement of the Genealogies in the Gospels, fragment, in Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 1.7.3-9, in Eusebius, The History of the Church: A New Translation, trans. Jeremy M. Schott (University of California Press, 2019), 61.
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