Genesis 38

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.

One oftentimes encounters a great deal of confusion when it comes to Genesis 38. One well-known and otherwise strong commentator on Genesis begins his treatment of this chapter thus:

            This peculiar chapter stands alone, without connection to its context. It is isolated in every way and is most enigmatic. It does not seem to belong with any of the identified sources of ancestral tradition. It is not evident that it provides any significant theological resource. It is difficult to know in what context it might be of value for theological exposition. For these reasons, our treatment of it may be brief.[1]

I am loath to disagree with one of the great Old Testament scholars of our day, and I do grant that Genesis 38 is a surprising and odd chapter in many ways that seems to rudely interrupt the Joseph narrative, but for the life of me I cannot understand how it can be said that “[i]t is not evident that it provides any significant theological resource.” On the contrary, one may grant its enigmatic status and yet see this chapter as a profoundly theological statement about God’s redemptive work in the world. Furthermore, there is a fascinating bridge between this chapter and the very beginning of the New Testament that in and of itself makes it more than worthy of deep consideration.

Unions are two-way streets, therefore be careful who you bind yourself to.

We do see the recurring theme of family dysfunction in this chapter. And, perhaps predictably, we see yet another cautionary tale against syncretism.

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.

When Judah “saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite” he should have remembered the covenant promise and the need for covenant fidelity. He should have remembered all of the sad tales of how unions with paganism bring nothing but heartache to the people of God. He should have remembered how his Great Grandfather, Abraham, was insistent that his Grandfather, Isaac, not marry a woman from the land. He should have remembered the heartache that ensued when his family came into conflict with the dominant worldview of the surrounding area, like that which happened at Shechem.

But no. Judah marries a woman of the land. He marries outside the covenant. And, in its own way, this opens the door for yet more problems. “Such was the world into which Judah had married,” writes Derek Kidner.[2] Indeed.

Interestingly one of the evidences of the danger of syncretism can be found in Tamar’s eventual seduction of her father-in-law, Judah. To understand this we need to understand levirate marriage, the idea that a brother should marry his deceased brother’s widow to perpetuate his brother’s name through any children born to the union. We read of this in Deuteronomy 25.

⁵ “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

You will notice that levirate marriage in Israel was fraternal. It is important to know, however, that levirate marriage as a concept existed in many of the people groups of the time. For instance, we have one of the law codes of the Hittite people. This is most interesting. Consider Hittite Law 193:

If a man has a wife, and the man dies, his brother shall take his widow as wife. (If the brother dies,) his father shall take her. When afterwards his father dies, his (i.e., the father’s) brother shall take the woman whom he had.[3]

Did you spot the difference? Whereas the levirate marriage codes of Israel kept the matter fraternal (brothers were to take the widowed wives of their deceased brothers), Hittite law brought in a paternal element: “If the brother dies, his father shall take her.”

In light of this, consider again Tamar’s disguised seduction of her father-in-law. Now we understand: Tamar was, at least in part, following Hittite levirate marriage law. She was, in other words, bringing in a foreign conception of what was supposed to be done in her case. This almost cost her her life.

Such is the nature of syncretism, of unequally-yoked unions. I want to be clear that the issue here is neither race nor ethnicity. It is religion. To wed yourself either through marriage or any other venture to opposing worldviews is to open the door not only for you to influence the other for good but for them to influence you for ill. Beware of opening the door to Hittite law, whatever that is in your life!

This is not a call of radical separatism. We live in the world. And we should be friendly and friends with our lost neighbors and co-workers. But it is a call for caution. We must never be of the world! We must never enter into uncritical or un-boundaried exchanges of worldview with non-believers by which foreign theologies that are not of God are allowed to alter our thinking about who He is.

Generational sins can be eerily consistent, so beware of garments and goats.

Not only is Genesis 38 a cautionary tale against syncretism, it is also a cautionary tale against generational sins. In particular, it solidifies the fact that generational sins can be eerily consistent as it is passed down. The particular sin that plagued the people of God throughout Genesis was the sin of deceit. Just think how many people deceive or are deceived in Genesis.

• Abraham deceived Pharaoh. (Genesis 12)
• Abraham deceived Abimelech. (Genesis 20)
• Isaac deceived Abimelech. (Genesis 26)
• Onan deceived Judah. (Genesis 38)

This is one of the most notorious acts of deceit of Genesis, primarily because of the shocking nature of it.

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.

To understand what is happening here, we need to understand the concept of “levirate marriage.” Robert Alter explains:

The legal obligation of yibum, which was a widespread practice in the ancient Near East, was incurred when a man died leaving his wife childless. His closest brother in order of birth was obliged to become his proxy, “raising up seed” for him by impregnating his widow. The dead brother would thus be provided a kind of biological continuity, and the widow would be able to produce progeny, which was a woman’s chief avenue of fulfillment in this culture.[4]

By refusing to fulfill his levirate responsibilities, Onan was refusing to allow his brother’s name to continue forward and he was refusing to allow Tamar her place in the covenant people of God. Let us continue with the recurring theme of deceit in Genesis.

• Judah deceives Tamar.

In particular, Judah deceived Tamar in that he made a promise he never intended to fulfill.

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.

Judah said that in time Tamar would have Shelah as her husband. Out of fear, he had no intention of doing so and, in his mind, putting his son at risk. Later in our chapter Judah will acknowledge his deceit.

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.

Deceit is a recurring theme in Genesis. It seemed to surround Jacob specifically. John Walton writes that “Jacob’s resort to deception continues to echo through the family history.”[5] That is true. And it is not surprising. While we must be careful with the idea of generational sin, there can be no doubt that sin seems to be passed down from generation to generation. The idea is expressed in Deuteronomy 5:

⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Generational sin exists. We inherit, create, and pass on certain proclivities. This does not excuse our own culpability, but it does explain our innate proclivities. In fact, if we look more closely at the particular acts of deceit in Genesis we can see certain recurring specifics and, oddly enough, they seemed to be tied to garments and goats. Watch:

Esau’s garments were put on Jacob when he deceived Isaac. (Genesis 27:15)

• Laban may have used a veil when he deceived Jacob into marrying Leah. (Genesis 29)
• Jacob’s sons deceived Jacob with Joseph’s garment. (Genesis 37:32-33)
• Tamar deceived Judah by wearing a prostitute’s garment. (Genesis 38:14-15)

Notice, in our chapter, how garments played a role in Tamar’s deceit.

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.”

This is a good bridging text, for not only does Tamar’s deceit involving garments, it also involves a goat. Goats are also a recurring specific in the deceits of Genesis:

• The skins of young goats were put on Jacob’s hands and neck in his deceiving of Isaac. (Genesis 27:16)
• Joseph’s coat was dipped in the blood of a goat. (Genesis 37:31)
• Judah gave Tamar a young goat. (Genesis 38:17-20)

And there it is: garments and goats, those specifics that keep popping up in families generation after generation. For some families it is a penchant for alcoholism and for other families it is promiscuity. For some it is drug use and for others it is violence or temper.

We all inherit certain generational proclivities and, most frightening, we all carry with us the possibility of beginning a new trend that might affect those not yet born. If we could somehow get this into our heads—the reality that our actions, for good and ill, will continue to ripple onward and affect, in ways we cannot imagine, our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren—then perhaps we might turn away from sin more quickly.

Think of it: what you do this coming Tuesday may very well effect for good or ill your progeny one hundred years from now!

Sin, like virtue, is never contained in the individual that commits the act. It is always expanding. It is always affecting and infecting everybody around us. You may introduce some virtue into your lineage. You may introduce some vice. Your progeny are not bound to either, but they will in some way be affected by both.

Stop and think: your garments and goats will keep popping up above the surface as the story of your family unfolds! But your godliness and holiness could as well if you were to give yourself to God!

God is holy and rightly reacts against sin as He sees fit.

Related to this fact is the rather jarring reality of the holiness of God and prerogative of God to act as He deems best against our sins. There is a chilling reminder in the examples of Judah’s first and second sons.

⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death.

¹⁰ And what he [Onan] did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

We do not know what Er did. We do know what Onan did. And we also know what God did. He killed both of these men.

The modern concept of God that many who profess the name of Christ hold to does not quite know how to handle this. But let me remind us all: the God of Genesis 38 is still the God of the year 2020. He has not changed one iota. He is immutable. He is unchanging. He is holy. And He still may, if He so chooses, remove us if He deems it best.

The implication of this is clear enough: should God decide to remove us, to kill us, He would be right to do so. God is love. God desires mercy. But God remains holy and just. God is still not mocked.

There is a mystery here and we must tread carefully. Sometimes the Lord grants the wicked long life and many years. Sometimes the godly die young. Sometimes the opposite is the case. These matters reside in the mysterious will of God. I merely want to remind us of the reality that God does hate sin and God is in control.

We are right to tremble when we sin. We are right to have a holy fear of the just wrath of God.

The schemings of fallen humanity cannot derail the plan of a sovereign God.

And yet, even given the perfect wrath of God, our chapter ends in surprising hope. The chapter ends with the birth of Judah and Tamar’s boys. The account is gloriously strange.

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.

Now this is fascinating, but it begs the question: what are we supposed to do with this chapter and what are we supposed to do with this ending? At this point I would like to remind us of what the famed commentator said that I quoted at the beginning of this sermon:

This peculiar chapter stands alone, without connection to its context. It is isolated in every way and is most enigmatic. It does not seem to belong with any of the identified sources of ancestral tradition. It is not evident that it provides any significant theological resource. It is difficult to know in what context it might be of value for theological exposition. For these reasons, our treatment of it may be brief.

Here is where my objection to these words comes into focus. In point of fact, this chapter does “provide…significant theological resource” and it is here, in its conclusion that we see it. And specifically we see it in the persons of Judah, Tamar, Perez, and Zerah. How so? We see the answer in the very beginning of the New Testament, in Matthew 1. Listen:

¹ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ² Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³ and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar

My my! Did you see that?! Judah and Tamar and Perez and Zerah—this strange and dysfunctional and problematic family—are the particular branch through which the Lord Jesus Christ will come and out of which He will be born! From the human perspective, these are His people!

Church, think of it: it is out of the absolute mess of this fractured, deceitful, frequently wicked, and occasionally virtuous family that God brings Jesus. This means a couple of things. It means, first of all, that you must not despair if you feel your own family is messed up. God loves messed up families and God can bring something beautiful out of your messed up family! There is hope!

But it means something more. It means that there is hope for me, for you, for all of us! Why? Because we are all Tamar! We are all Judah! We are all Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah! These are not merely our people, these are us! And these people, with all of their brokenness and flaws, have their names in the genealogy of Jesus! Which means this: I too can take my place in the family of God through the person and work of Jesus Christ!

It means, in other words, that Jesus makes room for even me in the Kingdom! It means that the door into the family of God is open to us all, to whoever calls on the name of Jesus!

Genesis 38: that shocking, strange, weird, dysfunctional, PG-13 chapter that is simultaneously beautiful and hopeful and wonderful in the way that it links to the New Testament proclamation of Jesus!

Out of the mess, the Rose of Sharon rises. Out of the chaos, the Lion of Judah comes. Praise God, who has not abandoned His needy and broken children!

 

[1] Walter Brueggemann, Genesis. Interpretation. (Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1982), p.308.

[2] Derek Kidner, Genesis. Tyndale Old Testament Commentary. Vol.1 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008), p.200.

[3] https://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/743607/mod_resource/content/1/Hittite%20Laws.pdf

[4] Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses. The Hebrew Bible. vol. 1 (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2019), p.145n8.

[5] John Walton, Genesis. The NIV Application Commentary. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001), p.668.