Shadowland: Beginnings: Week 43

Genesis 38 The Fall and Redemption of Judah

• 38:1 Judah leaves the family after Joseph is gone, apparently out of rebellion (and maybe guilt), and lives among the Caananites. His friends are Caananites.
• 38:2 Judah hooks up with (it says "took", same word as Shechem and Dinah) a Caananite "looker" in disobedience to God's instruction, and without consulting his father. However, 38:12 calls her his wife, so it seems to be a Vegas marriage. "Daughter of Shua", i.e. Bathshua. This also illustrates why Israel needed to be kept separate in Egypt until the iniquity of Caananites was complete. According to Pink, Shua means "riches".
• 38:3 Er - "watchful"
• 38:4 Onan - "strong"
• 38:5 Shelah - "request" By the time Shelah is born, the family has moved to Chezib - "deception". Judah is living in Deception.
• 38:6 Tamar will be hitting Judah on the head with a clue bat.
• 38:7 Tamar - "palm tree", i.e. "graceful". Bathshua was apparently instilling Caananite culture in Judah's sons. The very reason why Israel was commanded to remain separate. But then Jacob had laid the groundwork by taking his family to Shechem instead of going to Bethel as God told him. Having recognized his own mistake in insisting on choosing his own wife, Judah doesn't give Er that courtesy. The marriage arrangement was no doubt of mutual benefit to the two families - but it is a disaster for Tamar. However, God chose Tamar to be the line of Christ.

  No details are given of Er's sin, but he shattered any girlhood hopes of Tamar. While God has personally killed groups of people, Er is the first individual that God personally kills.

• 38:10 Onan refuses to give Tamar an inheritance, and is also judged. Levirate marriage was part of the code of Hammurabi, and later incorporated in the Law of Moses. With Er childless, Onan inherits two thirds of the estate. If he gives Er a child through Tamar, he only gets one fourth. This is called conflict of interest. Onan loses his life trying to save it.
• 38:11 Tamar is now engaged to the young Shelah. "lest he die" - Judah had no intention of giving Tamar her inheritance. He had no faith like Abraham that God would keep his promise of the Seed. He had tainted the line with Bathshua, and was living in Deception.
• 38:13 The road from Adullam to Timnah goes right by Tamar's home.
• 38:14 Tamar takes drastic action to become a mother in Israel. Reading between the lines, Judah must have told her (or her father) of his birthright when selecting a good wife for Er. By faith, she sees and desires that godly inheritance, but like Rebecca before her, she helps God out.
• 38:15 Springtime in Caananite culture was when temple prostitutes were available to encourage the fertility of Baal and Ishtar. They wore a veil to conceal their identity during the ritual sex.
• 38:16 The fact that Tamar could plan on Judah visiting a temple prostitute shows the terrible state of Judah's character. This is in stark contrast to Joseph in the next chapter.
• 38:23 Judah couldn't see how his tokens were of any use to the prostitute.
• 38:24 The penalty for adultery (including while engaged) in the code of Hammurabi, and later in the Torah, was death.
• 38:26 But not for the men, obviously. The Scripture does not use the word "righteous" lightly. This is how we know Tamar acted in faith - without faith it is impossible to please God. This is also a turning point in Judah's life. He returns to his family, and shows an entirely different character in his protection of Benjamin. Tamar has not only rescued her dead husbands from extinction, but rescued Judah from Deception.
• 38:28 In a strange parallel with Rebecca's twins, one is marked with red and the younger supplants the older. Perez is the ancestor of Christ.
• 38:29 Although Judah was to be ruler in Israel, in Mosaic law, an illegitimate son did not receive an inheritance until the 10th generation. In Ruth 4:18-22, we see that David is the 10th generation from Judah.