Desperate Measures in Genesis 38

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Tabletalk magazine? I have been a subscriber for a year now, have read it just about every day, and cannot recommend it too highly.

This week, several of the daily studies discuss Tamar's extreme efforts to conceive a son, in Genesis 38, and they certainly make the case that this story is worth understanding in depth. This incident in the history of the covenant family of Abraham falls just after Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, and just before Moses begins the long into-Egypt narrative. I discovered this week that there are good reasons for its inclusion in the history.

Jacob's large household has now settled in southern Canaan, away from the area of the disastrous events at Shechem (chapter 34). Yet his sons continue to fall to the temptation of intermarriage. Judah marries a Canaanite woman, and has three sons with her. When his firstborn Er comes of age, Judah finds another Canaanite for him to marry, the young woman Tamar. Yet Er is an evil man, and God takes his life. Judah responds in a proper manner by directing his second son Onan to take Tamar in levirate marriage.

Onan is as evil as his brother. He is only too happy to take Tamar for the physical pleasure she can provide, all the while refusing to give her a son to raise in his brother's name. Just as with Er, God judges Onan for his wickedness by taking his life. Tamar is now in a truly desperate situation. Women could inherit no property, and without a husband or a son to provide for her she would soon be destitute. Judah sends her to her pagan father's household until his third son Shelah is old enough to be given to her as a husband, but Judah's pledge is dishonest. He sees the deaths of his two sons not as divine judgment but as evidence that Tamar is some kind of bad juju, and delays the marriage until his true intent is obvious even to her.

In due time, Judah's wife dies. Judah mourns, and then departs to visit his sheepshearers. Tamar initiates a scheme she must have been planning for a number of years, and which takes Judah's character and proclivities into mind. Setting aside the distinctive clothing of widowhood that she has worn ever since the death of Onan, she veils herself as a prostitute and places herself along Judah's path. Failing to recognize her as his daughter in law, he approaches her and begins negotiations. Shrewdly, she demands a pledge of his signet ring, cord, and staff until the agreed-upon price (a young goat) is delivered.

Not lingering to exchange the pledge for payment, she returns home pregnant, and dresses again as a widow. Judah sends the young goat with a Canaanite friend, but the prostitute he has been sent to look for is nowhere to be found. Fearing he will be ridiculed, Judah decides to let the unknown prostitute keep the items of his pledge.

Three months later, Tamar's pregnancy is reported to Judah, and since her betrothal to Shelah is still technically binding, she is pronounced an adulteress and sentenced to death. Tamar then sends word to Judah that she is pregnant by the owner of the signet, cord, and staff that she now produces. Identifying them, Judah proclaims her more righteous than him, acknowledging his own refusal to give her his third son as husband. Her death averted, she apparently is allowed to rejoin Judah's household, although he is never sexually intimate with her again. She gives birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, and thus Judah's line (the line of David and David's Son) is preserved (an heir and a spare!) by a Canaanite woman desperate enough to engage in incest.

Our standard (and understandable) reaction to this account is horror at Tamar's degrading actions, but consider that Moses actually portrays her with sympathy. It is Judah who has openly rejected his father's and grandfather's examples of choosing godly wives, who has paid lip service to giving Abraham many descendants (cf. 15:1-6), who has gone after prostitutes, and who has of course treated Tamar shamefully in the matter of his son Shelah (38:14b). While Tamar is the one seducing Judah, it is Judah who first ties the millstone around her neck.

Consider also that Tamar's actions reveal a motivation beyond economic necessity: faith. Perhaps a contrast with another Canaanite woman in almost identical circumstances will help make the point. Ruth chapter one tells the story of Naomi of Bethlehem, who has been driven from her land and people by a famine, and who has settled in Moab with her husband and two sons. The two sons take Moabite wives, but neither they nor their father survive. Naomi has no sons to offer Orpah and Ruth in levirate marriage, and knows she will bear no more. She plans to return alone (to the land of Judah! coincidence?) and urges them to return to their fathers' households. Initially both Orpah and Ruth desire to come with her. We are all familiar with Ruth's faithful insistence, but Orpah does not deliberate long before taking Naomi's (tragic) advice to return to her father's household, to her people, and to her false gods (1:15). We never hear her name again. What a contrast to Tamar, who binds herself to the family of faith in Yahweh (this in spite of Judah's lack thereof) and will not let the deaths of two husbands, or Judah's treachery, keep her away. More faithful than her father-in-law to Abraham's mandate, she is determined to add to his offspring.

Moses' emphasis on Tamar's faith, however blemished and weak it may be, is not lost on later generations of Israelites. Notice how the people and elders of Bethlehem include her name alongside those of Rachel and Leah as they pronounce a blessing on Boaz's intention to marry Ruth (4:12). The central thing about saving faith is not its strength but its object.

God's calling on our lives today is both similar to and different from Tamar's situation. Of course we are not called upon to raise up physical offspring for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it scarcely needs to be said that godly ends cannot be met by ungodly means. How much better it would have been had Tamar looked to God in faith for a son, even as Abraham and Sarah (finally!) did. Yet, her boldness to be obedient to God is worthy of following. Resisting the inertia of despair, of excuses, and of fear, she got moving. Right now, at this moment, what have you or I put off doing for Christ and His Kingdom that we know needs doing? Let's not delay any longer. Write that note of encouragement. Invite that neighbor to church. Reconcile that relationship. Talk to that son or daughter about the things of God. Bend those knees.

One more thing and I'm done. (Thanks to those who patiently read this whole post) This story, for all the discomfort it causes readers, is powerful evidence of God's faithfulness. The covenant family of Abraham is breaking down: they may have survived the aftermath of Shechem, but they are moving apart physically (38:1) and spiritually (chapter 37). They are compromising the faith, and letting pride and jealousy destroy their family. And yet, even as Joseph's brothers are selling him into slavery, God is sending him ahead of them to Egypt - with the purpose of securing a place for them (Goshen) where they will live apart from false religion once again. This episode also marks Judah's nadir: as despicable as he is here, a few chapters and many years later, he will be offering his own life as a substitute for his brother Benjamin's (44:16-34). The divine heart surgery has begun. No matter how bad we have been (and know that we have been very bad) our God is faithful. "None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned" (Psalm 34:22b).