Bible Readings

Reading 31: God works through Judah and Tamar

Read Genesis 38:1–30.

The Bible leaves Joseph for a time and focuses on his older brother, Judah. The events of Genesis 38 span about 22 years.

After the incident of selling off Joseph, Judah moved away from the family. He married Shua, a Canaanite woman whom he liked. With her, he had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah.

His great-grandfather Abraham and grandfather Isaac had been careful not to choose Canaanite wives for their sons because the Canaanites had such immoral lifestyles and were very much into worshipping false gods. Abraham and Isaac knew the ungodly influence that the Canaanites would have. But Judah didn’t seem to care.

Yahweh had specifically chosen Abraham and his descendants to preserve His history and truth but Judah was threatening God’s plan with his unwise behaviour. When Er was old enough, Judah found a Canaanite woman, Tamar, to be Er’s wife. Again, we see Judah’s foolishness and lack of concern for God’s plan for his family.

Er was an evil man and God put him to death. According to the culture of that time, if a widow had no children, the custom was to protect her and her dead husband’s property by getting an unmarried brother of the dead man to marry her. This way, the brother would produce an heir for his dead brother and the widow. This child would be known as the child of the dead brother and his wife and thus inherit the dead brother’s property. This ensued the widow would be protected and provided for. (This custom is known as levirate marriage, from the Latin word levir which means “brother-in-law”.)

So Judah made his second son Onan take on that responsibility. Onan was willing to have sexual relations with Tamar, but he made sure he didn’t get Tamar pregnant. Perhaps he reasoned that if Tamar had no heir, then his share of the family inheritance would increase. But God was displeased with his behaviour and also put him to death.

Now the duty to help Tamar went to Judah’s remaining son, Shelah. But Judah feared that Shelah might also die. And so he sent Tamar away with the excuse of wanting Shelah to grow older first.

This was when more deception falls upon Jacob’s family. Jacob had tried to deceive his father Isaac with Esau’s clothing and the skins of goats. Then Judah himself deceived Jacob by covering Joseph’s robe with goat’s blood. And now, Tamar deceived Judah, her father-in-law, by hiding her face with a veil and asking for a goat as payment for sex.

Judah’s moral character has been very flawed. He had deceived his father about Joseph, he had cheated Tamar of the right to have a child by one of his remaining sons and a share of the family wealth, and now he had no qualms about paying for sex with a stranger! And Tamar too, had chosen a risky, immoral move to get an heir (and preserve her right to her husband’s inheritance) through her father-in-law!

Amazingly, through these poor decisions, God was also doing something. The men and women involved in God’s plan were not perfect, not morally right much of the time, and often made poor decisions. Yahweh did not approve of their sins, and He ultimately revealed and judged their sins. But God can take the weak things of this world and use them to accomplish His good purposes.

What did God do through Judah and Tamar? In the future, their son Perez would produce a long line of descendants that ultimately led to Jesus’ earthly parents. This was why Judah and Tamar’s account was significant. Their life story reminds us of God’s patience, grace and sovereignty. God has purposes for all His people.

If we have made poor choices, do not think that God cannot redeem the situation. Go to Him with a humble, repentant heart and seek His help and guidance. Even when we make sinful choices, God is not stuck. He is able to work with and through us, especially when we are repentant.

When Judah realised his unrighteous behaviour, he said of Tamar, “She is more righteous than I am, because I didn’t arrange for her to marry my son Shelah.” Judah repented of his behaviour. When we see him again later in Genesis, he will be a changed man.