Reasons to Avoid Judah's House at Holiday Time

Genesis 38

Judah leaves home and finds a Canaanite wife. I'm not sure of this was taboo for God's children at this time, but it doesn't turn out too well. He and Shua gave birth to a son appropriately named Er(r). He also has two more sons named Onan and Shelah.

So Judah finds Er a wife named Tamar - but Er was wicked in the Lord's sight and He puts him to death. I wonder what he would have had to do to be struck dead. Judah just sold off his brother into slavery and he lived to populate. Would Er's error have to be worse than that? Not necessarily, based on what happens later. Maybe the key is God's knowledge of the hearts of men.

So, with Er out of the picture- Judah tells Onan to do his brotherly duty and make some children with Tamar so his brother's line would continue. Onan's not too keen on the idea of making children for his brother, but he doesn't mind the sex, so he sleeps with Tamar, but pulls out and spills on the ground. God isn't happy, and Onan is put to death.

It's possible to view this as God being against birth control, but I think the displeasure comes more from Onan taking advantage of the situation and gratifying himself with his brother's wife purposefully failing at the supposed purpose of the union in the first place.

Judah is understandably distraught, and a little hesitant to send Shelah to a possible death sentence by setting up a union between he and Tamar. So he tells Tamar to go home to her father and when Shelah is old enough he'll come and follow through with his duty.

But Judah's definition of growing up doesn't seem to line up with Tamar's. Later on after Judah's wife has died, he heads to Timnah. Tamar, hearing about it, disguises herself as a prostitute (wearing a veil) and Judah is easy prey.

She asks what he's willing to part with and he offers a young goat. So she asks for a pledge until he sends the goat and he offers his seal and cord. Well Tamar gets pregnant, and when Judah sends the young goat the "prostitute" is not to be found.

But word gets out that Tamar has prostituted herself and has become pregnant. Judah decides to have her burned to death. Maybe he saw this as the solution to solving the whole Shelah problem. If she's dead, my son escapes the fate of his brothers.

When she's brought out she sends a message to Judah identifying the father of her children to-be as the owner of the cord and staff. This reads a lot like the Nathan and David story- Judah, you are the man (not in a good way). I think some of the shock value of this story comes from the whole father/daughter connection. But in a culture where marriage to your half-sister isn't taboo, it seems like a union between a father and widowed daughter-in-law isn't quite as icky. Icky, but not quite as icky. This situation certainly has circumstances that condemn Judah beyond that simple union.

So Judah is shamed and Tamar is spared and she has twins. As the first one exits her womb a midwife ties a scarlet thread to his wrist so they'll remember who's older- but he draws his hand back inside, and the other twin comes out first. This is a really weird story. The only thing I can think of is that this is an illustration of the principle Jesus later shares- "The first shall be last and the last shall be first."