“Genesis 38:12-19”

Saturday, March 21, 2020

“Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. It was told to Tamar, 'Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.' So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, 'Here now, let me come in to you'; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, 'What will you give me, that you may come in to me?' He said, therefore, 'I will send you a young goat from the flock.' She said, moreover, 'Will you give a pledge until you send it?' He said, 'What pledge shall I give you?' And she said, 'Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.' So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.” (verse 12) Sheep shearing time was filled with festivity and frivolity, and all indications suggest that Judah and his friend Hirah headed out together looking for a good time. Judah's wife had recently passed away and after the traditional period of mourning had elapsed he may have went looking for something to comfort him in his loneliness and satisfy his longings. Meanwhile, the estranged Tamar had been keeping tabs on the goings-on and whereabouts of her father-in-law. She was obviously looking for an opportune situation to turn the tables on Judah for his deceptive promise to arrange the marriage between her and Shelah. That opportunity presented itself when an informer told her that “your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” (verse 13)

“So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself...” (verse 14) Tamar had worn those garments for the entire “considerable time” that Judah had sent her back home to her father after the death of his first two sons. Whatever this clothing was, it distinguished a widow as one who was in mourning and in need of compassion. Tamar then put on a veil to conceal her identity from Judah and sat in his pathway “in the gateway of Enaim,” waiting for him to pass by and take the bait. “Tamar apparelled herself in the guise of a religious prostitute (ḳedêshah, Genesis 38:21), one who dedicated herself to the goddess Astarte, the Babylonian Istar. The veil was one of the symbols of Istar.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)

“For she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife.” (verse 14) “Apparently, Tamar has no claim against Shelah, only against Judah. It seems that the responsibility for the enforcement of the levirate obligation rested at this time with the widow's father-in-law, as in the Hittite laws...” (Nahum Sarna) “When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot...” (verse 15) This was Tamar's very intention, and she took advantage of Judah's animal lust to acquire what she coveted from him the most. “So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, 'Here now, let me come in to you'...” (verse 16) Tamar was more than willing to comply. All Judah had to do was name his price.

“He said, therefore, 'I will send you a young goat from the flock.'” (verse 17) Nahum Sarna suggests: “The fact that Judah carried nothing at the moment with which to pay for the woman's services proves that he acted on impulse in 'turning aside to her by the road'—another example of the biblical motif of God using human frailty for His own purposes.” Then again, there are other reasons that could explain why Judah had been carrying nothing with him with which to pay for her services. Maybe his sheep comprised the totality of his livelihood and legal tender. Or perhaps he had frittered his money away on frivolous pursuits during the seasonal festivities. Whatever the situation may have been, Judah wasn't about to pass up this opportunity that had been fortuitously set before him.

“He said, 'What pledge shall I give you?' And she said, 'Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.'” (verse 18) The promise and guarantee for future payment consisted of some of Judah's most personal possessions. The “seal” was “the widely used cylinder seal, a small object made of a hard material, engraved with distinctive ornamentation. The center was hollowed out and a cord passed through so that the seal could be worn around the neck. When the cylinder was rolled over soft clay, the resultant impression served as a means of identifying personal possessions and of sealing and legitimating clay documents. It was a highly personal object that performed the function of the signature in modern society, a kind of extension of the personality. Judah leaves part of himself with Tamar when he gives her his seal... Judah's staff must have had some personalized identifying sign.” (Nahum Sarna)

“So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.” (verse 18) Er had given Tamar no children, and Onan had “wasted his seed on the ground” (verse 9) in order to deprive her of the blessing and satisfaction of motherhood. But Tamar would not be denied. She consorted to trickery in order garner that which she prized the most, and she obviously felt that Judah had owed her this much. “The stratagem worked. Tamar had completely outwitted him. Little could Judah have realized that he had just become the father of a great multitude through Tamar, including the Christ himself. Why did God permit such a thing? Simply because Tamar was a convert from paganism to the true faith, and, by her, God would cut off the fountain head of paganism in the Chosen People, an influence which had already entrenched itself in the household of Judah through the Canaanite daughter of Shua.” (James Burton Coffman)

Please read Genesis 38:20-26 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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