PART 2 – EXPLORE THE CHARACTERS
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Chapter 12 - JUDAH: A STORY OF REDEMPTION
(Joseph episode 6)
The story of Judah and Tamar is one which, I suspect, many of us would prefer to avoid. It’s a story which contains surprisingly explicit content, and from our modern cultural perspective involves Judah and Tamar in a highly immoral relationship.
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The speaker at a women’s conference which my wife recently attended listed Tamar among the women in Jesus’ genealogy who were prostitutes. She was wrong on more than one count, but to characterise Tamar as a prostitute shows a serious misunderstanding of Tamar’s actions, in the context of Old Testament history and culture. Before we look at Judah’s story, we need to dig into the cultural background.
The Jewish custom of levirate marriage
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The particular aspect of Old Testament culture that we need to understand is the practice referred to as “levirate marriage”. The term is derived from the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother". In essence, the custom requires that when a brother dies and leaves a widow without any son to inherit her husband’s property and continue the family line, then the dead man’s brother should marry her to produce children. The first son born from this marriage would be considered the son of the dead brother.
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This practice is first described in Deuteronomy 25:5-6:
If a brother should die and leave his widow without a son to continue his family blood-line, then his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband's brother should marry her and give her children, and the first son which she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.
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Later Jewish authorities discouraged Levirate marriage because of the general prohibition in Leviticus 18:16:
You must not have sexual relations with your brother's wife; because this would dishonor your brother.
But Levirate marriage is only required in very specific circumstances, and was forbidden if there were already any children from the deceased brother’s marriage. The Sadducees referred to the practice when they asked Jesus, in Luke 20:29-33:
“Suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without any children.
So the second brother married the widow, but he also died without having children. Then the third brother married her, and the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. But they all died without children.
Finally, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!"
Judah and Tamar
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So let’s go back to the story of Judah and Tamar.
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After the betrayal of Joseph, Judah left his home and family. He married a Canaanite woman, and had three sons. In the course of time he married his eldest son, Er, to a woman called Tamar. But Er was wicked in God’s sight, so God took his life.
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Er died without having any children. So Judah arranged for his second son, Onan, to marry Tamar, as the law required, in order for him to have a son who would provide an heir for his brother. But Onan was not willing to have a son who would not be his own heir, so he deliberately took steps to make sure Tamar did not get pregnant. God was angry with Onan for denying his brother an heir, so God took Onan’s life too.
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Many commentators censure Onan for the specific manner (you could call it a contraceptive technique) which he used to prevent Tamar from becoming pregnant, but that is missing the point. The whole purpose of Levirate marriage was to produce a child for the dead brother. Onan was ensuring that he got what he wanted from the marriage in order to fulfill his own selfish sexual appetite, but refused to allow Tamar to experience the blessing of having children. That seems to me like a case of domestic abuse. God certainly took a very dim view of it!
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So that left son number three, Shelah. Judah was now obliged to marry Shelah to Tamar, but he did not want to lose his third son like he lost the other two. So he kept putting it off. Now it was Judah who was standing in the way of God’s purposes and preventing Tamar from providing an heir to continue the eldest brother’s family line. What options does Tamar have to ensure that Judah fulfills his obligation to provide her with a son?
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We may not entirely approve of Tamar’s strategy, but Tamar’s purpose is to ensure that Judah does his lawful duty and provides a rightful heir for her dead husband. Which of them commits the greater sin?
Letting the characters tell their own story
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In the last chapter, we looked at the story of Joseph’s betrayal, and Reuben’s part in it, through the eyes of one of the minor characters. In this episode I will allow Judah to tell his own story.
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I suggest, as before, that you start by reading Genesis 38 in your own preferred Bible version, and then read or listen to the story as told here in Judah’s own words.
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Judah’s story (Based on Genesis 38:1-26)
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After Joseph had gone, the atmosphere around the family camp was unbearable. Father’s grief was inconsolable, and no-one could settle down to the daily routine. My brothers were all in a foul mood, bickering, every time they were on their own, about who did what, and blaming each other for the situation we found ourselves in.
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So I packed up my stuff and left. I found myself a Canaanite wife, which I knew my father would disapprove of, but I had already let him down so badly, what did it matter? My wife and I made a new life for ourselves and were blessed with three sons.
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In time our eldest son married a young woman called Tamar. My wife and I began to look forward to grandchildren – especially a grandson to carry on the family bloodline.
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But Er got himself deeply involved in the idolatry and immorality of his mother’s Canaanite religion. His life became so evil and corrupt that God stepped in and took his life.
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So I did the right thing and married Tamar to our second son, in order to produce an heir for his brother. But Onan… it embarrasses me to think about the way he treated Tamar, but God considered it a great evil for Onan to deny his brother an heir – so I lost Onan too.
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So what was I supposed to do? Our third son, Shelah wasn’t yet old enough to marry, so I sent Tamar back to her own family until he grew up. Time passed. Shelah came of age, but I couldn’t bring myself to risk losing him as well. So I just kept putting things off… and putting them off…
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And then the day came when one of the servants brought me news that Tamar had acted the prostitute and was pregnant as a result! I was astounded – Tamar was not that kind of girl. But my sense of family honour overpowered any misgivings. “Bring her out!” I cried. “She must be burned to death.”
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I was surprised when the servant returned very soon, flustered, clearly not knowing how to approach his task. In the end he thrusts before my eyes a staff, and a signet ring, “Tamar asked me to bring you these”, he stammers. “She also told me to ask you, ‘Do you recognise to whom these things belong?’”
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The first thing that hits me is a vivid flashback of the scene that for years I‘ve managed to blot out from my memory… I am back there, standing before my father, with the blood-stained robe… I can smell the stale blood, feel the sweat running down the back of my neck, my father’s face turns ashen, the wail of grief pierces right through my heart. I stand there with the question going round and round in my head, a question that I can’t take back; “Do you recognise to whom this belongs?”
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I try to pull myself back to the present. My servant is still standing there, confused. ”Do you recognise to whom these things belong?” I have difficulty focusing, but I look again at the things the servant is holding out to me.… the staff, the signet ring… MY staff, MY signet ring!! How?... where did she get hold of them? What’s happening?
I remember leaving them with the prostitute I spent the night with on the way to Timnah. But how…? Who must she have been? I didn’t see her face. Why would I want to see her face, know her name… could it have been --- Tamar?!!
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I feel the blood draining from my body… If I wasn’t already sitting down I would have fainted. The reality hits me like a ton of bricks. The baby is mine!
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“QUICKLY!... Go and tell them not to harm Tamar!”
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Truly I failed Tamar, just like I failed Joseph, failed my father. It was my responsibility to ensure that Tamar produced a son and heir to my firstborn. The shame and the guilt are mine, not hers. May God forgive me…
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I don’t know whether I will ever be able to atone for my terrible betrayal of Joseph, and repay my father for all the bitter grief I caused him… But now I’m back with my father’s household. The least I can do is show some responsibility to my family and try to compensate for Reuben’s moods and Simeon and Levi’s unpredictably violent outbursts.
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Tamar gave birth, not to one son, but two! Zerah stuck his hand out first, and the midwife tied a scarlet thread round his wrist, but Perez somehow wrestled his brother out of the way to emerge first and claim his birth-right as the firstborn son – takes after his grandfather!!
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I have not slept with Tamar again. She took what was her right in making me fulfil my responsibility, but now the duty is fulfilled it doesn’t seem right to continue treating her as my wife. But our sons are growing and thriving and bringing us much pleasure. Now I have my own sons, I can better understand my father’s grief in losing his beloved Joseph. I will promise to say a prayer, every day, for Joseph’s safety. Maybe, one day, God will have mercy on us and bring him back.
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Some questions for consideration and discussion
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I have made some assumptions about why Judah decided to leave his family behind. Do you think these assumptions are justified? What other reasons might have persuaded Judah to abandon his family?
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How would marrying a Canaanite wife have affected Judah’s spiritual/moral values? What evidence is there that Judah’s morals had been influenced by Canaanite practices?
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The words that Tamar used to confront Judah – “Do you recognise whose these are?” – are almost exactly the same words that Judah and his brothers used when confronting Jacob with Joseph’s blood-stained coat. (Maybe Tamar could have heard the story from her husband, and used the words deliberately.) How would the use of these specific words have impacted Judah?
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Do you believe that Judah’s repentance is genuine? What makes you believe so?
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How does this episode throw light on Judah’s part in the story of the brothers’ subsequent visits to Egypt and their final reconciliation with Joseph?
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