Genesis study chapter

Genesis 38

c. 1700-1600 BCJudah’s family and Tamar’s story reveal both failure and surprising covenant grace.

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Key Verses: Genesis 38:26, 38:29-30

This chapter interrupts the Joseph narrative with Judah’s story. Judah leaves his brothers, visiting his friend Hirah the Adullamite. There Judah sees the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua and takes her as a wife. She bears Er, then Onan, then Shelah. Judah gets a wife, Tamar, for Er, his firstborn. Er is wicked in the LORD’s sight; the LORD puts him to death. Judah tells Onan to perform brother-in-law’s duty, raising offspring for his brother. Onan knows the offspring won’t be his, so whenever he lies with Tamar, he wastes the semen to prevent giving offspring to his brother. What he does is wicked in the LORD’s sight, so He puts him to death also. Judah tells Tamar, his daughter-in-law, to remain a widow in her father’s house until Shelah grows up (but he fears Shelah would die like his brothers). Tamar goes to her father’s house. Years pass. Judah’s wife dies. After mourning, Judah goes up to Timnah to his sheepshearers with his friend Hirah. Tamar hears her father-in-law is going to Timnah for shearing. She removes her widow’s garments, covers herself with a veil, wraps herself, and sits at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah-she sees Shelah is grown but she hasn’t been given to him as a wife. Judah sees her, thinking she’s a prostitute (her face is covered). He propositions her. She asks what he’ll give. He promises a young goat from his flock. She asks for a pledge until he sends it. “What pledge?” She requests his signet, cord, and staff. He gives them, lies with her, and she conceives. She rises, removes her veil, and puts on widow’s garments again. Judah sends the goat by his friend Hirah to retrieve the pledge, but he can’t find her. He asks locals where the cult prostitute is; they say no prostitute has been there. He reports to Judah, who says, “Let her keep the things, lest we be laughed at. I sent this goat, and you didn’t find her.” About three months later, Judah is told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the whore, and moreover, she’s pregnant by whoredom.” Judah says, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she’s brought out, she sends to her father-in-law: “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” She says, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Judah identifies them, saying, “She is more righteous than I, since I didn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He doesn’t lie with her again. When her time comes, behold, twins are in her womb. In labor, one puts out a hand; the midwife ties a scarlet thread on it, saying, “This one came out first.” But he draws back his hand, and his brother comes out. She says, “What a breach you’ve made for yourself!” So he’s named Perez (“breach”). Afterward his brother with the scarlet thread comes out, named Zerah.

This chapter seems out of place in the Joseph narrative but serves crucial purposes: (1) It explains the delay before resuming Joseph’s story; (2) It shows Judah’s moral decline away from family; (3) It establishes Judah’s line through Perez, from whom David and ultimately Jesus descend (Matthew 1:3); (4) It demonstrates God’s sovereignty working through flawed people and sinful situations. Judah’s marriage to a Canaanite violates Abraham’s concern about wives from among God’s people. Er and Onan’s deaths show God’s judgment on wickedness-Onan’s sin isn’t contraception per se but refusing levirate duty (Deuteronomy 25:5-10), denying his dead brother’s name and inheritance. Tamar, denied her rights, takes matters into her own hands, though by deception. Yet Judah acknowledges “she is more righteous than I” because he failed his obligation. Judah’s willingness to burn Tamar for prostitution while he frequented prostitutes shows hypocrisy. The twin birth, with the hand emerging first but the other breaking through, parallels Jacob and Esau’s birth struggle. Perez’s line leads to King David and Jesus-scandalous grace that God includes Tamar (and the sordid circumstances) in Messiah’s genealogy.

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Discussion Questions:

  1. Why does this chapter interrupt the Joseph narrative, and what does it reveal about Judah’s character that’s important for the later story?
  2. How does Judah’s acknowledgment that Tamar “is more righteous than I” (38:26) demonstrate appropriate recognition of his own failure in withholding Shelah?
  3. What does Tamar’s inclusion in Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:3) teach us about God’s scandalous grace and willingness to work through flawed people and messy situations?