Judah Interlude – Genesis 38

The NIV Truth and Grace Study Bible has a great introduction to this passage:  “If the first chapter of Genesis 37–50 set the stage for the Joseph story, the next chapter seems like a complete digression with its focus on Judah and his descendants. But this seemingly extraneous episode shows the beginning of Judah’s rise to prominence. Judah saved Joseph from death (37:26); now he saves his family line and confesses to sin. Judah causes his father to mourn for the death of his son (37:34–35); now he mourns for the deaths of his own two sons. But it is his daughter-in-law, Tamar, who is ultimately responsible for the continuation of the family line. A daring woman, she risks everything to ensure the line of descent is not broken, and as a result she contributes to the line that produces the Messiah (Mt 1:3).”

[1] It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. [2] There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, [3] and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. [4] She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. [5] Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him.

[6] And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. [7] But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death. [8] Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” [9] But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. [10] And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also. [11] Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.

[12] In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. [13] And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” [14] she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. [15] When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. [16] He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” [17] He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” [18] He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet 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. [19] Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.

[20] When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. [21] And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” [22] So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” [23] And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.”

[24] About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” [25] As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” [26] Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.

[27] When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. [28] And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” [29] But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. [30] Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. (Genesis 38, ESV)

Judah marries (probably a Canaanite woman, frowned upon by the Abrahamic family) and has three sons.  His first son marries a (probably Canaanite) woman, Tamar, but God kills him for his wickedness before he has a son by Tamar.  The culture that values the firstborn son’s role as the one who takes on the father’s responsibilities at the father’s death, has made it mandatory that the deceased firstborn son’s brother should marry his wife and have a son for his deceased brother.  The son born to him would then become the firstborn son of the family.  So the brother who has this son by his brother’s wife has all the expense of raising him and loses the firstborn son’s privileges. 

So the second son, Onan, marries Tamar, but uses coitus interruptus to prevent impregnating her.  Some have seen this a prohibition against masturbation, but that is not at all what is going on here.  Onan is selfishly seeking to prevent a son being born to his deceased brother so that he can, in effect, become the firstborn.  God kills him also. 

It is fascinating to see God’s justice meted out this way, not something He always or even usually does.  Walton argues:  “Though Judah is the fourth son of Jacob, it can be argued that his three older brothers have already disqualified themselves for birthright status. As things stand in Jacob’s family, however, these disqualifications may have simply made it more likely for Jacob to exercise his choice rather than simply follow birth order. If so, Joseph could easily be seen as a threat to Judah’s inheritance (see 1 Chron. 5:1 – 2). It is to Judah’s advantage, therefore, to dispose of Joseph. If this is so, the indictment pronounced against Onan (38:8 – 10) hangs over Judah’s head as well. Recognition that the deaths of his sons may well be punishment for his treatment of Joseph give plausibility to his fear that his last son, Shelah, will meet the same fate as his brothers (38:11).”

Walton further notes that “women who seemed prone to become widows were in danger of being suspected of witchcraft.”  Judah seems justified in keeping his youngest son from marrying Tamar.  But Tamar understands the importance of keeping her first husband’s name alive and arranges to entice Judah into serving as the father of her child (this was actually a provision in Hittite law when brothers could not produce offspring).  Judah thinks she is a shrine prostitute, a common ritual sexual act that was supposed to imitate the gods and how they impregnated the earth to produce successful crops or caused the herds to reproduce.  She is acting more appropriately than Judah.

Judah recognizes this when his liaison with Tamar is discovered.  His harsh demand for her being burned alive quickly turns to a recognition of his own sinful behavior.  This is the beginning of a change in Judah towards God and righteousness.  The table is set for how he will act in regard to the reunion with Joseph.

[Apologetic note:  (Walton)  “We should notice immediately that this account creates a problem chronologically. According to the time span in the Joseph sequence, Joseph is sold when he is seventeen (37:2), is elevated when he is thirty (41:46), and is thirty-nine when Jacob and the family move to Egypt (45:6). This gives a space of twenty-two years. In that same time span, Judah leaves the family, finds a wife and marries her, and has three children by her. These sons grow up, and the oldest gets married. When he dies, his widow marries the second, and he dies. After a time, Tamar gets pregnant by Judah and has twins. They grow up, get married, and have children, two of whom are in the group that goes down to Egypt (46:12). This requires two generations to be born, grow up, and have children of their own. Even if we assume that the males become fathers at the tender age of fifteen, this sequence would take at least thirty-five years — and that does not take account of the “after a long time” in 38:12.

Cassuto addresses this problem in detail and begins with several acute observations. First he notes that not all of the names given in the list in Genesis 46 go down to Egypt — notably, Judah’s sons Er and Onan (who have died, 46:12), and Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are born in Egypt (46:20). Cassuto contends that the sons of Perez, Hezron and Hamul (46:12), should be included in that number. He constructs a case that they have not actually been born yet when the journey is made to Egypt but are included in Genesis 46 because they eventually take the place of Er and Onan through the levirate laws. This helps resolve the tension in that now only one generation has to be born, grow up, and have children in the course of Genesis 38.

According to Cassuto’s calculations, if Judah left, married, and had sons in short order, his family could be in place by the time Joseph is twenty or twenty-one. If Er was married when he was eighteen, Joseph would be thirty-six, and the time of plenty would be in its sixth year. If Er and Onan both die in their first year of marriage and Tamar waits for one additional year for Shelah, we reach the first year of famine. It is perhaps at this juncture that the brothers make their first trip to Egypt. Then Tamar’s masquerade, her pregnancy, and the birth of the twins can come between the two trips. Consequently, this narrative is reaching its climax just as the Joseph story also reaches the climax of Joseph’s revealing himself to his brothers.]