Judah and Tamar
Judah and Tamar
Leaving Home
About that time, Judah left his brothers and stayed with an Adullamite named Hirah.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Soon after the family had completed the time of mourning for Joseph, Judah left the camp and went to live near his friend Hirah. His father’s inconsolable state deeply affected Judah, which probably explains why he left.1 He lived in Adullam for the next twenty years or more, until shortly before the family moved to Egypt.
Though most of Genesis 37–50 focuses on Joseph, it tells the story of Jacob’s descendants, not Joseph alone.2 Far from an unnecessary interruption, the story of Judah and Tamar continues the line of the promised offspring of Eve and how God preserved it through a series of disasters.3 Both Joseph and Judah played a role in saving Jacob’s descendants.
Judah’s three older brothers had disqualified themselves as Jacob’s heirs.4 Having spearheaded the sale of Joseph, Judah seemed poised to do the same.5 Indeed, he and his sons would endanger the chosen line through their own selfishness. But through the courage of Judah’s daughter-in-law, Tamar, God would not only save the chosen line but also begin a change in Judah that would eventually redeem his entire family.6
Judah’s Sons
While there Judah saw a daughter of Shua, a Canaanite. He married her and made love to her. Then she conceived and gave birth to a son. He was named Er. She conceived and gave birth to another son. She named him Onan. Then she gave birth to a third son. She named him Shelah. Judah was in Kezib when she gave birth to Shelah.
Judah arranged for Er, his firstborn, to marry a woman named Tamar. But Yahweh considered Er, Judah’s firstborn, evil. So Yahweh killed him.
Then Judah told Onan, “Go sleep with your brother’s wife. Fulfill your duty to her to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew the offspring wouldn’t be considered his. So whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he tried to prevent her from becoming pregnant so he wouldn’t give offspring to his brother. Yahweh considered what he did evil. So Yahweh killed him too.
After leaving home, Judah met and married a Canaanite woman. Like Esau, he disregarded his family’s traditions and special status before God by arranging his own marriage to a Canaanite.7 They had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. When Er grew to adulthood, his father arranged for him to marry Tamar. But God put Er to death for some unspecified sin.
After Er’s death, Judah gave Tamar to Onan through an ancient tradition called levirate marriage. If a man died without an heir, the man’s closest relative would marry his widow. The first son born to the widow counted as the heir of the deceased.8 This allowed for the continuation of inheritance rights as well as providing for the widow.
But Onan had no interest in providing an heir for Er. With Er’s death, Onan had become Judah’s heir, which entitled him to a double portion of the inheritance. He would receive two-thirds of Judah’s wealth, while Shelah received one-third. But if Tamar gave birth to a son, he would receive the double portion instead. The child would receive half of the inheritance, while Onan and Shelah each received one-fourth. By fulfilling his duty, Onan would greatly reduce his own inheritance.
Onan pretended to obey his father. But whenever he slept with Tamar, he practiced a primitive form of birth control to prevent her from conceiving. This angered Yahweh because Onan refused to provide for either his brother or his sister-in-law. He tried to cheat his own family. So God put Onan to death too.
Left a Widow
Judah told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Live in your father’s house as a widow until my son Shelah grows up.” He was afraid Shelah would die like his brothers. So Tamar left and lived in her father’s house.
Image by ScienceGiant from Pixabay
After Onan’s death, it became Shelah’s duty to marry Tamar and produce an heir for Er. But Shelah was still too young for marriage, so Judah sent Tamar back to her father’s house until Shelah grew older. Normally, Tamar would have remained in Judah’s household, and her dowry would have provided for her during this period. But in truth Judah wanted nothing more to do with her. He considered her ill-fated and feared Shelah would also die if he married her. Judah had no intention of allowing them to marry.
Onan’s selfish behavior had threatened his line and Er’s, leaving both without an heir. Judah’s selfish behavior threatened Shelah’s line, risking the elimination of the tribe of Judah. Because Shelah and Tamar were considered engaged, neither could marry anyone else without committing adultery. Yet Judah didn’t seem bothered by how unfairly he treated them both.
The Pledge
Some time later, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah was comforted, he went to see his sheepshearers in Timnah, along with his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
Tamar was told, “Look! Your father-in-law is going to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she changed out of her widow’s clothes, covered her face with a veil, and wrapped herself up. Then she sat down near the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah because she realized that even though Shelah had grown up, she had not been allowed to marry him.
When Judah saw her, he assumed she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. So he turned aside off the road and said to her, “Please let me sleep with you.” He didn’t recognize her as his daughter-in-law.
“What will you give me if I let you sleep with me?”
“I will send you a kid from my flock.”
“Only if you give me a pledge until you send it,” she replied.
“What pledge do you want me to give you?”
“Your seal with its cord and the staff in your hand.”
He gave them to her and slept with her. And she became pregnant by him. Then she got up and left. She removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothes.
Shelah grew up, yet Tamar remained in her father’s house. She realized she would have to take desperate action to avoid remaining a childless widow the rest of her life, which could mean becoming destitute when her father died. Tamar’s opportunity came when she found out Judah was traveling to Timnah to check on his sheep. Judah’s wife had recently died, and Tamar hoped this would leave him vulnerable.
Tamar traveled to the nearby town of Enaim, changed out of her widow’s clothes, and disguised herself. Then she sat down near the road where Judah would soon pass by. Mistaking her for a prostitute, Judah took the bait. He failed to provide for the needs of his son and daughter-in-law but didn’t hesitate to satisfy his own carnal desires.
Judah had nothing with him to pay a prostitute, so he promised to send a young goat as payment. This played right into Tamar’s hands. She needed proof of Judah’s indiscretion. So she demanded a pledge that she would keep until she received the goat—Judah’s seal and staff. A seal engraved with a unique image served as a signature when pressed into wax. The carving on top of a walking staff also identified the owner.
Tamar had the items she needed. She slept with Judah, then quickly left. She changed back into her widow’s clothes and returned home with no intention of waiting for the goat. She soon discovered God had given her success. She became pregnant by her father-in-law. Er would have his heir after all.
Ridiculed
Judah sent his friend the Adullamite with the goat to retrieve the pledge from the woman. But he couldn’t find her. He asked the men living there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?”
“There was no shrine prostitute here,” they replied.
So he returned and told Judah, “I couldn’t find her. And the men said there had been no shrine prostitute there.”
“Let her keep what she has,” Judah said. “Otherwise, we’ll be ridiculed. Besides, I did send the goat, but you couldn’t find her.”
Image by David Selbert from Pexels
When Judah reached his flock, he sent his friend Hirah back to Enaim with the promised goat. Judah wanted to retrieve the pledge he had given the woman. But Hirah couldn’t find the prostitute by the road. When he asked the locals about her, they denied ever seeing a prostitute there.
The Canaanites accepted the practice of prostitution, and shrine prostitutes played a major role in Canaanite fertility rites.9 They plied their trade openly. So Hirah expected to find the woman sitting around the same area, waiting for a client. And he expected the community to know her. But there was no prostitute who regularly sat by the entrance to town. Tamar had arrived there just before Judah and Hirah.
Hirah returned to Judah and reported his failure to find the woman and recover Judah’s pledge. At that point, it seemed the prostitute had cheated Judah. His seal and staff were likely more valuable than a single goat. If Judah and Hirah continued their vain search, the story would spread, and people would start to ridicule them for being tricked by a woman. Having tried to keep his end of the deal, Judah let it go. But that wouldn’t protect him from the humbling revelation to come.
Judah’s Guilt
About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been sleeping around, and now she’s pregnant because of it!”
So Judah said, “Bring her out and burn her!”
As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law. “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these. Please look to see if you know who owns this seal, cord, and staff.”
Judah recognized them. “She’s more innocent than I am. I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He never slept with her again.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Three months later, Tamar’s pregnancy began to show. Still engaged to Shelah, she had clearly committed adultery, and word of this got around to Judah. Adultery was punishable by death, so Judah ordered her burned.10 At first glance, this worked out in Judah’s favor since it nullified the engagement and allowed Shelah to marry someone else. But Judah didn’t realize that in condemning Tamar, he also condemned himself. The man she slept with had also committed adultery.
On her way to be executed, Tamar carried out the last part of her plan. She sent the seal, cord, and staff back to Judah. Face-to-face with the proof of his sin, Judah finally showed remorse for his actions. He had wronged Tamar and had no right to judge her. She was innocent. He was guilty. The engagement proved a farce, and Judah never intended to give Tamar to Shelah. How could he accuse her of adultery?
As Er’s widow, Tamar had every right to be the mother of Judah’s heir, and Scripture honors her courageous tenacity. She is mentioned in the blessing on Boaz and Ruth and named in Jesus’s genealogy.11 Blame for the unscrupulous method she had to use lay entirely with Judah, as he himself admitted. This small act of repentance began a drastic change in Judah. Soon he would return to his family and face a devastating famine. During that time, a very different picture of Judah emerged—that of a leader willing to sacrifice himself to save his family.12
Perez and Zerah
When the time came, [Tamar] gave birth to twins. While she was in labor, one baby put his hand out. So the midwife tied a scarlet thread to it. “This one came out first.” But then he pulled his hand back in, and his brother came out! The midwife asked, “How did you break through like that?” So he was named Perez. Afterward, his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand. He was named Zerah.
Image by wendy CORNIQUET from Pixabay
Judah acknowledged Tamar’s child as his own and restored her to her rightful place in his household. Several months later, she gave birth to twin boys. Like their grandfather and his twin, the boys struggled for supremacy in the womb.13 One put out his hand, so the midwife tied a scarlet thread around his wrist to mark him as the firstborn. But then to the midwife’s great surprise, that baby pulled his hand back in, and his brother came out first!
The boys’ names commemorate the events of their birth. Perez means “breaking through.” Zerah means “brightness,” in reference to the scarlet thread.14 Their birth restored the number of Judah’s sons to three. Since Tamar had slept with Judah, she could no longer marry Shelah. But Shelah did marry. He, Perez, and Zerah became the ancestors of the three clans of the tribe of Judah.15
But by breaking through in the birth canal, Perez won the right to be Judah and Er’s heir. He would receive the double portion, and the chosen line would continue through him.16
- Genesis 44:30–34.
- Genesis 37:2.
- See The Snake’s Punishment; Seth.
- See The Fall of Reuben.
- See Joseph Sold.
- See Substitution.
- Genesis 26:34–35.
- Deuteronomy 25:5–6.
- Only Hirah used the term “shrine prostitute.” The general word for prostitute is used in verse 15. So it seems unlikely Judah was participating in the fertility cult.
- In later Israel, stoning was the punishment for adultery, but that law didn’t apply here. Deuteronomy 22:23–24.
- Ruth 4:12; Matthew 1:3.
- Genesis 44:1–34.
- See Two Nations.
- Harris, Archer, and Waltke, Wordbook, “זָרַח.”
- Numbers 26:20.
- Matthew 1:3.