Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 38:1
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name [was] Hirah.
1. at that time ] Cf. Gen 21:22. The notes of time in this chapter are very indefinite. Cf. 12, “in process of time.” The marriage of Judah with the daughter of Shua, the birth of his three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah, and the marriage of the first two with Tamar, evidently represent a long interval.
Adullamite ] Judah moved from the high ground near Hebron to the lower, i.e. southern, country. The town of Adullam (Jos 12:15; Jos 15:35) is now identified with the ruins ‘Aid-el-m, 17 miles S.W. of Jerusalem and about 12 N.W. from Hebron. See 1Sa 22:1.
Judah and Simeon in Jdg 1:1-20 are represented as acting by themselves, and their names do not appear in Deborah’s Song commemorating the patriotism of the Israelite tribes.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
– The Family of Judah
1. adullam, Adullam, righteousness. chyrah Chirah, nobility?
2. shua, Shua, luck, riches, cry.
3. er, Er, watching.
4. ‘onan, Onan, strong.
5. shelah, Shelah, request? rest. kezyb Kezib, falsehood.
6. tamar, Tamar, palm.
12. tmnah, Timnah, counted or assigned.
14. ‘eynaym, Enaim, two fountains.
29. perets, Perets, breach.
This strange narrative is an episode in the history of Joseph; but an integral part of the generations of Jacob. It is loosely dated with the phrase at that time. This does not indicate a sequel to the preceding record, the proper phrase for which is after these things ( ‘achar hadebarym ha’eleh Gen 22:1). It implies rather a train of events that commenced at least in the past, some time before the closing incident of the previous narrative Gen 21:22. But the sale of Joseph, which alone is recorded in the last chapter, only occupied some few weeks or months of a year. Hence, the circumstances contained in this memoir of Judahs family must have taken their rise before that event. The date at that time, is rendered indefinite also by being attached to the phrase, And it came to pass, which covers at least all the events in the first eleven verses of the chapter.
All this is in accordance with the customary mode of arranging parallel lines of events in Hebrew narrative. We shall see reason afterward for placing the birth of Er at as early a date as possible in the life of Judah Gen 46:12. Now Judah, we conceive, was born when his father was eighty-seven, and Joseph when he was ninety-one, and hence, there is a difference about four years in their ages. We suppose Er to have been born in Judahs fourteenth year, when Joseph and Dinah were in their tenth, and therefore, about three years before the rape of Dinah, and shortly after Jacob arrived at the town of Shekem. The dishonor of Dinah, and the cruel treatment of Joseph, being of essential moment in the process of things, had to be recorded in the main line of events. The commencement of Judahs family, having no particular influence on the current of the history, is fitly reserved until the whole of the circumstances could be brought together into a connected narrative. And the private history of Judahs line is given, while that of the others is omitted, simply because from him the promised seed is descended. As soon as Jacob is settled in the promised land, the contact with Hebron and its neighborhood seems to have commenced. A clear proof of this is the presence of Deborah, Rebekahs nurse, in Jacobs family Gen 35:8. The great thoroughfare from Damascus to Egypt runs through Shekem and Hebron, and we know that when Jacob was residing at Hebron, his sons fed their flocks at Shekem and Dothan, and the youthful Joseph was sent to inquire after their welfare.
Gen 38:1-11
Judah marries and has three sons. Went down from brethren. This seems to have been an act of willful indiscretion in Judah. His separation from his brethren, however, extends only to the matter of his new connection. In regard to property and employment there seems to have been no long or entire separation until they went down into Egypt. He went down from the high grounds about Shekem to the lowlands in which Adullam was situated Jos 15:33-35. A certain Adullamite. He may have become acquainted with this Hirah, when visiting his grandfather, or in some of the caravans which were constantly passing Shekem, or even in the ordinary wanderings of the pastoral life. Adullam was in the Shephelah or lowland of Judah bordering on Philistia proper. A certain Kenaanite. This connection with Shuas daughter was contrary to the will of God and the example of his fathers. Onan was born, we conceive, in Judahs fifteenth year, and Shelah in his sixteenth.
At Kezib. – This appears the same as Akzib, which is associated with Keilah and Mareshah Jos 15:44, and therefore, lay in the south of the lowland of Judah. This note of place indicates a change of residence since her other children were born. In the year after this birth the dishonor of Dinah takes place. Took a wife for Er. Judah chose a wife for himself at an early age, and now he chooses for his first-born at the same age. Was evil in the eyes of the Lord. The God of covenant is obliged to cut off Er for his wickedness in the prime of life. We are not made acquainted with his crime; but it could scarcely be more vile and unnatural than that for which his brother Onan is also visited with death. And be a husband to her. The original word means to act as a husband to the widow of a deceased brother who has left no issue. Onan seems to have been prompted to commit his crime by the low motive of turning the whole inheritance to his own house. At the time of Ers death Judah must have been in his twenty-seventh year; Joseph was consequently in his twenty-third, and Jacob had for ten years past had his headquarters at Hebron. Hence, the contact with Timnah, Adullam, and Enaim was easy.
Gen 38:12-23
Judah now comes into criminal, and, though unknown to him, incestuous sexual intercourse with Tamar. And many were the days, a year or somewhat more. To Timnah. This town is about twenty miles northwest of Hebron. There is another, however, in the hills about seven miles south of Hebron. Put on a veil; to conceal her face from Judah, or any other beholder. The qate of Enaim. This is supposed to be the same as Enam Jos 15:34. And thy lace. This is the cord by which the signet was suspended round his neck. Courtesan. The original word qedeshah means one consecrated to the worship of Ashtoreth, in which chastity is sacrificed.
Gen 38:24-30
Tamar bears Perez and Zerah to Judah. After three months her pregnancy was manifest. Let her be burnt. It is manifest Judah had the power to execute this punishment. The life of the widow of his son was in his hands. Stoning was the mode of punishment by the law of Moses Deu 22:20-24; burning, only in aggravated cases Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9. He is a severe judge in a case where he is equally criminal. She hath been more righteous than I. Tamar was less culpable in this matter than Judah. For he was moved by lust to commit fornication, and was the indirect occasion of Tamars conduct by withholding Selah. But Tamar, though wronged, was not free from blame in her mode of righting herself. The youthful indiscretion of Judah in forming an intermarriage with a Canaanitish family, without the concurrence of his brothers or his father, has been fruitful of crime. If this immorality goes on, the chosen family will be speedily absorbed in the surrounding paganism. Hence, we begin to see the necessity of an immediate removal to another land, where they may be kept more distinct from the native superstition. By the disclosure of Tamar Judah is brought to acknowledgment of his fault, and, we may infer, to repentance. His abstaining from all further sexual intercourse with her may be accepted as a proof of this. A scarlet thread. The right of primogeniture here manifests its importance. Perez – a breach. Slight incidents become the foundation of names, and are often the hinges on which great events turn. The minutest circumstances connected with the progenitors of the promised seed have a lasting interest.
Judah was at the close of his twenty-ninth year when Perez and Zerah were born. The dates in his family history may be arranged as underneath, on the supposition that the first child was born when the father was in his fourteenth year. This hypothesis is fairly allowable when we take into consideration not only other cases, but the early willfulness of Judah, and the example he gave to his children. The command also to be fruitful and multiply Gen 35:11, which was given especially to Jacob, may have had a tendency to encourage early marriages. It is certain that the Jewish rabbis considered a man to have transgressed a divine precept who passed the age of twenty without being married. They also fixed the marriageable age for males at thirteen years and a day. King Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah when he was not more than twelve 2Ki 16:2; 2Ki 18:2; and King Josiah the father of Jehoiakim, when fourteen years of age 2Ki 22:1; 2Ki 23:36.
Judah 13 years 6 months when Er was born.
Judah 14 years 4 12 months when Onan was born.
Judah 15 years 3 months when Shelah was born.
Judah 28 years 9 months when Perez was born.
Judah 42 years 3 months when Hezron was born to Perez.
Judah 43 years 2 months when Hamul was born.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gen 38:1-7
Judah
The character of Judah –
I.
FAITHLESSNESS TOWARDS GOD.
1. In his separation from his brethren (Gen 38:1).
2. In his marriage with an idolater (Gen 38:2).
II. A STRONG SENSUAL NATURE (Gen 38:12-18).
III. AN UNDERLYING SENSE OF JUSTICE.
IV. SELF-DEPENDENCE. (T. H. Leale.)
The lessons of Judahs history
I. GODS CAUSE HAS IN IT THE SEEDS OF TRIUMPH EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS TO FAIL.
II. GODS JUDGMENTS ON THE SIN OF UNCHASTITY.
III. THIS HISTORY HAS AN IMPORTANT BEARING UPON GODS PURPOSE OF SALVATION. Considered in regard to Gods redeeming purpose, this history shows–
1. That Gods election is by grace. Otherwise Judah would not have been chosen as the ancestor of Christ. It shows–
2. The native glory of Christ, He derives all His glory from Himself, and not from His ancestry. It shows–
3. The amazing condescension of Christ. The greatest and most shameful sinners are found in His birth-register. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Arbitrary is the Spirit of God in recording times of events; therefore careful should we be to search them.
2. Wanton forward youths are apt to leave their station, brethren, and fathers, where they should be ruled.
3. Such averseness from duty inclines foolish hearts to lose acquaintance. So it was here.
4. Wanton youths choose to be familiar with worldly companions in lust rather than to be with a good father.
5. Names of men and places of miscarriage by the sons of the Church are noted for instruction (Gen 38:1).
6. In bad company, and out of mens places usually, are offered baits of temptation.
7. Wanton hearts have wanton eyes by which they are carried out to evil.
8. Daughters of the Canaanites may please the eyes of the sons of Jacob to misguide them.
9. Violence of lust drives men to take their delights, never desiring leave of God or man.
10. Lust desires no better marriage than a carnal enjoyment of its pleasure.
11. Lust fears no law of God that forbids Jacobs seed to marry with Canaanites (Gen 38:2). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Lessons
1. Such as have been disobedient to parents are not willing their children should be such to them.
2. It is the fathers right to provide and give wives to their sons.
3. It is natural for fathers to care mainly for the first-born son.
4. Providence orders wives from strangers to be registered in His Church for His own ends.
5. The first-born of mens hopes may prove most wicked, and greatest crosses.
6. It is height of wickedness to dare the Lord to His face.
7. God Himself turneth executioner to avenge Himself upon daring sinners.
8. Premature death is determined sometimes and executed upon obstinate wicked sinners. (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Judah
Judah had taken to wife the daughter of a Canaanite, no doubt to the grief and regret of his father (Gen 26:35); he had done what hitherto every member of the chosen branches of Abrahams house had scrupulously avoided; for even the sanguinary deed of Simeon and Levi had been dictated by the desire of preserving the purity of their family. He left his brothers and went to Adullam. This is a town in the plain of Judah, south-west of Jerusalem, mentioned together with Jarmuth and Sochoh, or with Libnah and Makkedah; it is one of the most ancient cities, and enjoyed an existence of unusual duration; for in the time of the Hebrew conquest it was the seat of a Canaanitish king; a cave in its neighbourhood was the refuge of David from the persecutions of Saul; here his relatives joined him; here he assembled around his person a large number of distressed but resolute men; and here he met a part of the Philistine army. Adullam was fortified by Rehoboam; it was later counted among the important cities of Judah; it was still inhabited after the exile; and existed even in the time of the Maccabees. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Judah marries the daughter of a Canaanite, 1, 2;
and begets of her Er, 3,
Onan, 4,
and Shelah, 5.
Er marries Tamar, 6;
is slain for his wickedness, 7.
Onan, required to raise up seed to his brother, refuses, 8, 9.
He also is slain, 10.
Judah promises his son Shelah to Tamar, when he should be of
age; but performs not his promise, 11.
Judah’s wife dies, 12.
Tamar in disguise receives her father-in-law, he leaves his
signet, bracelets, and staff in her hand, and she conceives
by him, 13-23.
Judah is informed that his daughter-in-law is with child; and,
not knowing that himself was the father, condemns her to be
burnt, 24.
She produces the signet, bracelets, and staff, and convicts
Judah, 25, 26.
She is delivered of twins, who are called Pharez and Zarah, 27-30.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVIII
Verse 1. And it came to pass at that time] The facts mentioned here could not have happened at the times mentioned in the preceding chapter, as those times are all unquestionably too recent, for the very earliest of the transactions here recorded must have occurred long before the selling of Joseph. Mr. Ainsworth remarks “that Judah and his sons must have married when very young, else the chronology will not agree. For Joseph was born six years before Jacob left Laban and came into Canaan; Ge 30:25, and Ge 31:41. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold into Egypt, Ge 37:2; Ge 37:25; he was thirty years old when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, Ge 41:46. And nine years after, when there had been seven years of plenty and two years of famine, did Jacob with his family go down into Egypt, Ge 41:53-54, and Ge 45:6; Ge 45:11. And at their going down thither, Pharez, the son of Judah, whose birth is set down at the end of this chapter, had two sons, Hezron and Hamul, Ge 46:8; Ge 46:12. Seeing then from the selling of Joseph unto Israel’s going down into Egypt there cannot be above twenty-three years, how is it possible that Judah should take a wife, and have by her three sons successively, and Shelah the youngest of the three be marriageable when Judah begat Pharez of Tamar, Ge 38:14; Ge 38:24, and Pharez be grown up, married, and have two sons, all within so short a space? The time therefore here spoken of seems to have been soon after Jacob’s coming to Shechem, Ge 33:18, before the history of Dinah, Ge 34:1-31, though Moses for special cause relates it in this place.” I should rather suppose that this chapter originally stood after Ge 33:1-20, and that it got by accident into this place. Dr. Hales, observing that some of Jacob’s son must have married remarkably young, says that “Judah was about forty-seven years old when Jacob’s family settled in Egypt. He could not therefore have been above fifteen at the birth of his eldest son Er; nor Er more than fifteen at his marriage with Tamar; nor could it have been more than two years after Er’s death till the birth of Judah’s twin sons by his daughter-in-law Tamar; nor could Pharez, one of them, be more than fifteen at the birth of his twin sons Herron and Hamul, supposing they were twins, just born before the departure from Canaan. For the aggregate of these numbers, 15, 15, 2, 15, or 47 years, gives the age of Judah; compare Ge 38:1-30 with Ge 46:12.” See the remarks of Dr. Kennicott, at the end of Clarke’s note at “Ge 31:55“.
Adullamite] An inhabitant of Adullam, a city of Canaan, afterwards given for a possession to the sons of Judah, Jos 15:1; Jos 15:35. It appears as if this Adullamite had kept a kind of lodging house, for Shuah the Canaanite and his family lodged with him; and there Judah lodged also. As the woman was a Canaanitess, Judah had the example of his fathers to prove at least the impropriety of such a connection.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This story is not without difficulty, if we consider how little time is allowed for all the events of this chapter, there being not above twenty-three years between Judah’s marriage and the birth of Pharez, yea, and the birth of his sons too, Hezron and Hamul, who are said to go into Egypt with Jacob, Gen 46:12. But there are two ways proposed for the resolution of it, as the phrase, at that time, may be understood two ways; either,
1. More largely, for the time since Jacob’s return from Padan to Canaan, and so the history may be conceived thus, Judah was married some years before the selling of Joseph, though it be here mentioned after it, and so out of its place, as being the foundation of all the following events, which are here placed together, because they followed the selling of Joseph. Judah, and Er, and Onan, and afterwards Pharez, are supposed each to marry and have a child at fourteen years old, which, though unusual, wants not examples both in sacred and profane writers. And they that will quarrel with the Scripture, and question its authority for some such uncustomary occurrences which it relates, show more of impiety than wisdom in it, and shall do well to consider, that God might so order things by his providence, and record such things in his word, upon the same account on which he hath put several other difficult passages in Scripture, partly to try and exercise men’s faith, humility, and modesty; and partly to punish the evil minds of ungodly men, and for their sins to lay an occasion of stumbling and cavilling at the Scriptures before them that greedily seek and gladly catch at all such occasions. Or,
2. More strictly, for the time following the sale of Joseph, which seems the more probable way, and so the story lies thus, Judah was now about twenty years old when he married, and the three first years he hath three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. The two first marry each when they were about seventeen years old. Three years after both their deaths, and when Shelah had been marriageable a year or two, and was not given to Tamar, Judah lies with Tamar and begets upon her Pharez. But as for Hezron and Hamul, they are said to go into Egypt with Jacob, as also Benjamin’s ten sons are said to go with him thither, to wit, in their father’s loins, because they were begotten by their father in Egypt, whilst Jacob lived there, of which more in its proper place.
Judah went down from his brethren; probably in discontent, upon occasion of quarrels arisen among them about the selling of Joseph, whereof Judah was a great promoter, if not the first mover.
A certain Adullamite, of the city of Adullam; of which see Jos 12:15; 15:35.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. at that timea formulafrequently used by the sacred writers, not to describe any preciseperiod, but an interval near about it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass at that time,…. This some refer to the time of Jacob’s coming from Padanaram into Canaan, soon after he came to Shechem, and before the affair of Dinah; but to this may be objected the marriage of Judah at an age that may seem too early for him, his separation from his brethren, and having a flock of his own to keep, which seems not consistent with the above history: wherefore it is better to connect this with the history of Joseph’s being sold into Egypt; for though there were but twenty three years from hence to Jacob’s going down into Egypt, Joseph being now seventeen, and was thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh, after which were seven years of plenty, and two of famine, at which time Jacob went thither with two of Judah’s grandsons, Hezron and Hamul, Ge 46:12, which make the number mentioned; yet all this may be accounted for; at seventeen, Er, Judah’s firstborn, might marry, being the eighteenth from the selling of Joseph, and the marriage of his father; and Onan at the same age, which was the nineteenth; and allowing two or three years for Tamar’s staying for Shelah, there was time for her intrigue with Judah, and bearing him two sons at a birth, before the descent of Jacob into Egypt; as for his two grandsons, they may be said to go into Egypt; as Benjamin’s sons did in their father’s loins, being begotten there during Jacob’s abode in it:
that Judah went down from his brethren: not from Dothan to Adullam, as Ben Melech observes, as if this separation was at the time and place of the selling of Joseph; but rather from Hebron thither, after he and his brethren were come home to their father, and had reported and condoled the death of Joseph; and Judah is said to go down, because he went from the north to the south, as Aben Ezra notes; whether this departure from his brethren was owing to a misunderstanding or quarrel between them on account of the affair of Joseph, or on any account, is not certain:
and turned in to a certain Adullamite; an inhabitant of Adullam, a city which afterwards fell to the tribe of Judah, and where was a famous cave, that had its name from thence in David’s time; it was ten miles from Eleutheropolis to the east i, and eight from Jerusalem to the southwest k; hither he turned, or stretched out l; that is, his tent, with his flock, which he extended to Adullam, as Ben Melech interprets it, and joined to this man,
whose name [was] Hirah; whom the Jews m fabulously report to be the same with Hiram king of Tyre, in the days of David and Solomon, and that he was the husband of Nebuchadnezzar’s mother, and lived twelve hundred years.
i Jerom de loc. Heb. fol. 88. F. k Bunting’s Travels, p. 78. l “et tentorium fixerat”, Schmidt. m Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
About this time, i.e., after the sale of Joseph, while still feeding the flocks of Jacob along with his brethren (Gen 37:26),
(Note: As the expression “at that time” does not compel us to place Judah’s marriage after the sale of Joseph, many have followed Augustine (qusaet. 123), and placed it some years earlier. But this assumption is rendered extremely improbable, if not impossible, by the fact that Judah was not merely accidentally present when Joseph was sold, but was evidently living with his brethren, and had not yet set up an establishment of his own; whereas he had settled at Adullam previous to his marriage, and seems to have lived there up to the time of the birth of the twins by Thamar. Moreover, the 23 years which intervened between the taking of Joseph into Egypt and the migration of Jacob thither, furnish space enough for all the events recorded in this chapter. If we suppose that Judah, who was 20 years old when Joseph was sold, went to Adullam soon afterwards and married there, is three sons might have been born four or five years after Joseph’s captivity. And if his eldest son was born about a year and a half after the sale of Joseph, and he married him to Thamar when he was 15 years old, and gave her to his second son a year after that, Onan’s death would occur at least five years before Jacob’s removal to Egypt; time enough, therefore, both for the generation and birth of the twin-sons of Judah by Thamar, and for Judah’s two journeys into Egypt with his brethren to buy corn. (See Gen 46:8.))
Judah separated from them, and went down (from Hebron, Gen 37:14, or the mountains) to Adullam, in the lowland (Jos 15:35), into the neighbourhood of a man named Hirah. “ He pitched (his tent, Gen 26:25) up to a man of Adullam, ” i.e., in his neighbourhood, so as to enter into friendly intercourse with him.
Gen 38:2-5 There Judah married the daughter of Shuah, a Canaanite, and had three sons by her: Ger ( ), Onan, and Shelah. The name of the place is mentioned when the last is born, viz., Chezib or Achzib (Jos 15:44; Mic 1:14), in the southern portion of the lowland of Judah, that the descendants of Shelah might know the birth-place of their ancestor. This was unnecessary in the case of the others, who died childless.
Gen 38:6-10 When Ger was grown up, according to ancient custom (cf. Gen 21:21; Gen 34:4) his father gave him a wife, named Thamar, probably a Canaanite, of unknown parentage. But Ger was soon put to death by Jehovah on account of his wickedness. Judah then wished Onan, as the brother-in-law, to marry the childless widow of his deceased brother, and raise up seed, i.e., a family, for him. But as he knew that the first-born son would not be the founder of his own family, but would perpetuate the family of the deceased and receive his inheritance, he prevented conception when consummating the marriage by spilling the semen. , “destroyed to the ground (i.e., let it fall upon the ground), so as not to give seed to his brother” ( for only here and Num 20:21). This act not only betrayed a want of affection to his brother, combined with a despicable covetousness for his possession and inheritance, but was also a sin against the divine institution of marriage and its object, and was therefore punished by Jehovah with sudden death. The custom of levirate marriage, which is first mentioned here, and is found in different forms among Indians, Persians, and other nations of Asia and Africa, was not founded upon a divine command, but upon an ancient tradition, originating probably in Chaldea. It was not abolished, however, by the Mosaic law (Deu 25:5.), but only so far restricted as not to allow it to interfere with the sanctity of marriage; and with this limitation it was enjoined as a duty of affection to build up the brother’s house, and to preserve his family and name (see my Bibl. Archologie, 108).
Gen 38:11 The sudden death of his two sons so soon after their marriage with Thamar made Judah hesitate to give her the third as a husband also, thinking, very likely, according to a superstition which we find in Tobit 3:7ff., that either she herself, or marriage with her, had been the cause of her husbands’ deaths. He therefore sent her away to her father’s house, with the promise that he would give her his youngest son as soon as he had grown up; though he never intended it seriously, “ for he thought lest ( , i.e., he was afraid that) he also might die like his brethren.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Judah’s Profligacy. | B. C. 1717. |
1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. 3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. 4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. 5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. 8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. 11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.
Here is, 1. Judah’s foolish friendship with a Canaanite-man. He went down from his brethren, and withdrew for a time from their society and his father’s family, and got to be intimately acquainted with one Hirah, an Adullamite, v. 1. It is computed that he was now not much above fifteen or sixteen years of age, an easy prey to the tempter. Note, When young people that have been well educated begin to change their company, they will soon change their manners, and lose their good education. Those that go down from their brethren, that despise and forsake the society of the seed of Israel, and pick up Canaanites for their companions, are going down the hill apace. It is of great consequence to young people to choose proper associates; for these they will imitate, study to recommend themselves to, and, by their opinion of them, value themselves: an error in this choice is often fatal. 2. His foolish marriage with a Canaanite-woman, a match made, not by his father, who, it should seem, was not consulted, but by his new friend Hirah, v. 2. Many have been drawn into marriages scandalous and pernicious to themselves and their families by keeping bad company, and growing familiar with bad people: one wicked league entangles men in another. Let young people be admonished by this to take their good parents for their best friends, and to be advised by them, and not by flatterers, who wheedle them, to make a prey of them. 3. His children by this Canaanite, and his disposal of them. Three sons he had by her, Er, Onan, and Shelah. It is probable that she embraced the worship of the God of Israel, at least in profession, but, for aught that appears, there was little of the fear of God in the family. Judah married too young, and very rashly; he also married his sons too young, when they had neither wit nor grace to govern themselves, and the consequences were very bad. (1.) His first-born, Er, was notoriously wicked; he was so in the sight of the Lord, that is, in defiance of God and his law; or, if perhaps he was not wicked in the sight of the world, he was so in the sight of God, to whom all men’s wickedness is open; and what came of it? Why, God cut him off presently (v. 7): The Lord slew him. Note, Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners, and takes them away in his wrath, when they are but just setting out in a wicked course of life. (2.) The next son, Onan, was, according to the ancient usage, married to the widow, to preserve the name of his deceased brother that died childless. Though God had taken away his life for his wickedness, yet they were solicitous to preserve his memory; and their disappointment therein, through Onan’s sin, was a further punishment of his wickedness. The custom of marrying the brother’s widow was afterwards made one of the laws of Moses, Deut. xxv. 5. Onan, though he consented to marry the widow, yet, to the great abuse of his own body, of the wife that he had married, and of the memory of his brother that was gone, he refused to raise up seed unto his brother, as he was in duty bound. This was so much the worse because the Messiah was to descend from Judah, and, had he not been guilty of this wickedness, he might have had the honour of being one of his ancestors. Note, Those sins that dishonour the body and defile it are very displeasing to God and evidences of vile affections. (3.) Shelah, the third son, was reserved for the widow (v. 11), yet with a design that he should not marry so young as his brothers had done, lest he die also. Some think that Judah never intended to marry Shelah to Tamar, but unjustly suspected her to have been the death of her two former husbands (whereas it was their own wickedness that slew them), and then sent her to her father’s house, with a charge to remain a widow. If so, it was an inexcusable piece of prevarication that he was guilty of. However, Tamar acquiesced for the present, and waited the issue.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
GENESIS – CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Verses 1-5:
This chapter is a brief glimpse into the history of Judah. It appears here as a part of the reason God found it necessary to remove the Chosen People from the Land of Promise, and place them temporarily in Egypt. The events recorded in this chapter likely include some which occurred after Judah had moved to Egypt, along with Jacob and his family.
“At that time” is the time immediately following the sale of Joseph to the traveling merchantmen. Judah had successfully argued against the murder of Joseph It is likely he was deeply smitten in conscience by what the brothers had done. He went to another territory in order to escape the daily reminders of his complicity in Joseph’s abduction. Judah was about four years older than Joseph, or about twenty-one or twenty-two at this time.
Judah went to the territory of Adullam, a city of the Hebron valley (Jos 15:35). It was the site of a Canaanite dominion during Israel’s conquest of the Land under Joshua (Jos 12:15). It later achieved fame because of the role the region played in David’s life (Isaa 22:1, 2; 2SA 23:13).
In this town Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shuah, and took her to himself as his wife. This man’s name means “wealth,” and implies that he was a man of some wealth, perhaps a merchant. Judah’s wife bore him three sons: Er, the first-born, whose name means “watchman”; Onan, whose name means “strength”; and Shelah, whose name means “prayer” or “peace.” The birth of the third son occurred while Judah and his family lived at Chezib, probably the same as “Achzib” (Jos 15:44). Judah’s actions show the danger of the Promised Seed faced. God did not want them to intermarry with the natives of the Land of Canaan. To do so would corrupt the Faith-line, by exposing it to the dangers of idolatry. Judah’s violation of this Divine directive shows the necessity of God’s plan to move Israel out of this land of Egypt, where the Promised Seed would not be exposed to the temptation to marry outside the Faith-line.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. And it came to pass at that time, that Judah. Before Moses proceeds in relating the history of Joseph, he inserts the genealogy of Judah, to which he devotes more labor, because the Redeemer was thence to derive his origin; for the continuous history of that tribe, from which salvation was to be bought, could not remain unknown, without loss. And yet its glorious nobility is not here celebrated, but the greatest disgrace of the family is exposed. What is here related, so far from inflating the minds of the sons of Judah, ought rather to cover them with shame. Now although, at first sight, the dignity of Christ seems to be somewhat tarnished by such dishonor: yet since here also is seen that “emptying” of which St. Paul speaks, (138) it rather redounds to his glory, than, in the least degree, detracts from it. First, we wrong Christ, unless we deem him alone sufficient to blot out any ignominy arising from the misconduct of his progenitors, which offer to unbelievers occasion of offense. Secondly, we know that the riches of God’s grace shines chiefly in this, that Christ clothed himself in our flesh, with the design of making himself of no reputation. Lastly, it was fitting that the race from which he sprang should be dishonored by reproaches, that we, being content with him alone, might seek nothing besides him; yea, that we might not seek earthly splendor in him, seeing that carnal ambition is always too much inclined to such a course. These two things, then, we may notice; first, that peculiar honor was given to the tribe of Judah, which had been divinely elected as the source whence the salvation of the world should flow; and secondly, that the narration of Moses is by no means honorable to the persons of whom he speaks; so that the Jews have no right to arrogate anything to themselves or to their fathers. Meanwhile, let us remember that Christ derives no glory from his ancestors; and even, that he himself has no glory in the flesh, but that his chief and most illustrious triumph was on the cross. Moreover, that we may not be offended at the stains with which his ancestry was defiled, let us know that, by his infinite purity, they were all cleansed; just as the sun, by absorbing whatever impurities are in the earth and air, purges the world.
(138) Phi 2:7 “But made himself of no reputation,” literally, “emptied himself, ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε.” — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
JOSEPH. GODS FAVORITE
Gen 36:1 to Gen 50:26
IF we began our study with the 36th chapter of Genesis we should have to do with the generations of Esau, who is Edom. It is a chapter filled with hard names of men, many of whom wore the title Duke, but like many of the lords and dukes of the present day, did nothing worthy the pen of inspiration. The men whose history God passes over with the mere statement of birth, name, title and death, we may be excused for skipping in our search for the more important characters and the more impressive lessons of the sacred Word.
The 37th chapter introduces us to such a character in Joseph, and launches us upon a study which has engaged the most serious thought of Scripture students for thousands of years. According to the reckoning of John Lord, in his essay on Joseph, this great-grandson of Abraham was born at Haran about 3701 years ago. The most distinguishing feature of his early life was his peculiar and prophetic dreams or visions. He comes before us in the blush of seventeen summers, nicknamed by those who knew him best, this Dreamer. Already in the visions of the night, God had vouchsafed to him the earnest of his coming supremacy and power. The eleven sheaves of his brethren had made obeisance, while Josephs sheaf had stood upright and received their homage. The sun and moon and eleven stars had gathered at his feet. And, when the dreams were known, his father gently reproved, but his brothers resolved and agreed to watch for a chance to act. The favorite of the household was to be put out of the way. The beauty of face that had made him a subject of parental partiality was to be despoiled. The jealousy-breeding coat was to become all crimson; the tattling tongue was to be silenced, and this business of first dreaming and then interpreting to his own profit was to be brought to a deserved end!
Such were the resolutions; and their chance came. Joseph is at last within their grasp, and with a shout of triumph they cry, as they lift their eyes to his sweet though envied face,
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreamt (Gen 37:19-20).
The remainder of the story is familiar to every one of you, and I do not propose to give time to a rehearsal of its incidents, but rather to a consideration of its fundamental lessons.
DIVINE FAVORS DO NOT INSURE AGAINST HUMAN HATRED.
Joseph had, indeed, almost a monopoly of the favors to be coveted in this life. Through his veins there pulsed no common or unclean blood. Four of his brethren were of the meaner extraction of slave mothers, while six others were born to the tender-eyed Leah. It was Josephs good fortune, and doubtless his pride, to be the elder son of the beautiful Rachel, the only lawful wife of Jacob, because the woman of his selection, and the only one to whom he was bound by love. It may be a sin in the child to love his father and mother less because they are those in whom he can take no special pride, but I am sure that his joy is as commendable as natural who loves and delights in them the more, because they are virtuous, honorable and superior in every way. Such a pride was Josephs possession. Who of us are as grateful as we should be for godly and noble parentage?
Again, providence had favored this child in his own person. Joseph was a goodly person and well favored (Gen 29:6). Doubtless that fact accounts for some of Jacobs inexcusable partiality. He saw in the beautiful boy those princely features which called for a royal tunic as a natural complement. Beauty of person is one of Gods better gifts, and it has played its part in the role of human history. It was that charm and that alone that saved the child, Moses, and opened to him the princess nursery and put him in the splendid Egyptian school from which he graduated unto the great work of saving his people and serving his God. It was beauty of face and grace of form that brought Esther to the throne at the very time when the interests of Israel were trembling in the balance, and Gods people were waiting for just such a friend. The prominent role that Cleopatra played in the world is assigned almost entirely to the solitary circumstance of her personal charms. I have often wondered why the great artists have not made more of Joseph as a subject fit for the choicest marble, and worthy the best skilled brush.
In his spirit also, Joseph was divinely favored. So far as the record of his life goes, it would be dangerous to affirm that the splendid child, or the saintly man, Samuel, was ever possessed of sweeter temper than that which Joseph discovered in all the changing and trying experiences of his life. Not a single indictment against his conduct can be successfully sustained. If it be said that his brothers hated him on account of his intolerable pride, let it be remembered Eliab hurled at David this sentence, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thy heart. In each instance the bigger brother was voicing the naughtiness of his own heart instead. If he be charged with tattling because he brought unto his father the evil report of his brethren, let us answer with a question, Is silence at the sight of sin a virtue? If a report is to be made, to whom other than the father, the rightful authority? His behavior toward the woman whose unholy love his beauty had excited discovers at once a righteousness of personal character, a keen sense of others interests, and a splendid sensitiveness to sin against God that all right thinking people must admire. His dealing with the butler whose freedom he secured, to be rewarded by base neglect for two long years, proved his patience with forgetfulness and ingratitude. Toward his fratricidal brothers, whose lives eventually fell to his disposal, he discovered only the bosom of love, treating with all tenderness those who had attempted his destruction. Blood may be a good thing, and beauty a joy forever, but that magnanimity of soul which can forget a wrong, be patient with a weakness, and treat with affection those who have subjected you to contemptthat is divine! To do that is to prove ones kinship with the Son of God.
Finally Joseph was favored with dreams of a wider and nobler life. The most promising youth is the one who enjoys such visions of the night. Guizot once wrote to his son who was contesting for a university prize, You are ambitious, my boy; you have a right to be. A man at forty may be too ambitious, but at 20, never.
Now and then the world is astonished by the sudden awakening of some sleeping Samson who discovers unsuspected powers at the attack of the Philistines of opposition; but the rule is that Longfellows, while still beardless, dream of being laureates and write to their mothers asking, Do you not think I may one day write books that will be read all over the land? I think that Dr. Hillis has called attention to an important truth when, in his book A Mans Value To Society, he emphasizes the imagination as the architect of manhood.
But let no man conclude that such Divine favors will insure against human hatred. Jealousy is the blindest of passions, and envy never sees anything save through the green glasses which convert all virtue into vice, and all merit into excuses for murder. We have already seen that Josephs conduct toward his brethren was commendable and in every instance meant for their good. But as the belligerent Israelites resented Moses plea for peace between brethren, so these sons of Leah and the concubines interpreted Josephs just report of their behavior as bad tattling. How many a noble Christian man has been insulted and cruelly criticised because, forsooth, he tried to get people to live right and when they would not, reported their sins to the church!
The modern martyr is that noble Joseph who keeps out of fights himself and says to his brethren, You must behave or I shall be compelled to report you to our spiritual mother. Yes, it is one of the most significant suggestions of the sham of modern profession that it will brook no correction from the brother of tenderest love, yea, even from the officials of the church of God elected for the very purpose of counsel and, when needful, of correction.
Again, how many, Joseph-like, are hated because they have had some dream of position, influence and real worth? You have heard it said, There is one black sheep in every flock. Yes, and the converse is equally true, In a black flock one white sheep appears. In most families there is one child that early comes into possession of that broader view of character, conduct and life. How often his first utterance of the hope for the future, that has grown big within his breast, is met with some expression of contempt for such pretensions, or scorn for such pride of heart! Josephs experience and Davids has been known to the bleeding heart of many a precocious boy. An education has been resolved upon, and he begins the long climb of attainments ladder alone. It would seem enough that he should struggle single-handed, and without assistance or sympathy, but how often he must make his way upward, carrying in memory the bitter reproaches and keen sarcasm of his brothers who see nothing in his dream save concentrated egotism and vain conceit!
If any reader has suffered at one or more of these points, I come to say, Be not discouraged! Retrace your steps in nothing! Be slow to conclude you are wrong, or that it is of no use to labor against such opposition. Christ experienced it all boiled down to its last bitterness and yet, when it did its final work of lifting Him to the cross, it only hastened His crown. Josephs brethren can sell him, but if he is always right the Lord will be with him, and the sale into slavery is only an additional push toward the waiting throne.
Now for our second suggestion,
And Josephs master took him and put him into prison. But the Lord was with Joseph (Gen 39:20-21).
INNOCENCE CANNOT BE EFFECTUALLY DISHONORED.
People sometimes make the mistake of affirming that an innocent man cannot be injured. On the contrary, history is rife with illustrations of the fact that no character is so easily sullied as that of the purest and best of men and women. The principle is easy of explanation. The whiter the sheet of paper the easier it is for dirty fingers to leave their track. Some people have the impression that after all preachers and other religious people are about as capable of immoralities as are the members of any other circle. Alas! for the poisoning power of a sensational and truthless press! Many a Joseph has been silenced, and even banished for a while by such confessed lovers of the profession. They know the ease with which that lord, Public Opinion is excited to jealousy and cruel judgment. They know, too, the inability of the best man to defend himself when accused of the meanest crimes, and so they clap their hands and seek on the spotted hounds of slander. Let us ever be slow in believing charges that are calculated to humble the best reputations to the dust, and wrong the most innocent by robbing them of their good name, and opening for them the door into some dungeon of shame!
Joseph may submit to the inevitable, and under the ban of the law, languish in silence, but God has a reckoning to make, and then the Hamans will swing on the gallows, and the Mordecais ride in the royal chariot and dictate to the throne.
Innocent men, however, can best afford to be lied about and wronged, since truth has wonderful powers of coming abroad. So far as the record of Scripture goes, Joseph complains in never a word. Who doubts that by faith he saw his final triumph; and said in his heart of that prison what the three Hebrew children, of a later time, said of the fiery furnace, Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us. The innocent and righteous man, and he alone, can employ such words and give to them their weight. I come more and more to think that no enemy can effectually injure him who walks uprightly, loves the truth and obeys God.
Dr. Talmage tells how, some years ago, two professed temperance lecturers speaking in Ohio, and taking the unusual course for that class of men, maligned Christians and preachers. Among other things they claimed to be well acquainted with Dr. Talmage and declared that their former drunkenness began with drinking wine from that clergymans table. Talmage, indignant over such a charge, went to Patrick Campbell, then chief of the Brooklyn police, and requested his company to Ohio to effect the arrest of the libelous orators. Campbell only smiled and said, Do not waste your time by chasing these men. Go home and do your work, and they can do you no harm. The advice was taken, and the falsehood died of weakness, if indeed it was not stillborn. There is not a scandal in the power of the tongue strong enough to blight the life that loves innocence and clings to God. Joseph may be imprisoned and never entertain the thought of breaking jail, and yet there are not doors enough in all the dungeons of Egypt to keep him in the narrow cell. Butlers will need his help, the king will require his wisdom and God will bring him forth. This brings us to a third lesson.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Thou shalt he over my house and according unto thy mind shall all my people be ruled, Only in the throne shall I he greater than thou (Gen 41:39-40).
PRISONS WILL NOT HOLD THE MAN FIT TO BE PREMIER.
I know of few things that will so certainly effect recognition as merit. You cant sell into slavery the man who has it. You may set a price on him and be paid it, but you cant enslave him. There was an old colored man who trotted me on his knees the year the Civil War began. He never was a slave. He was always free! He would have been free on the southern plantations where masters rode with revolver in pocket and whip in hand. You cant enslave the man who makes himself needful to you at every turn. You can put him in prison but an hour later you will need him and bring him out again. Darius once had Daniel put into a lions den. But Daniel was still freer than the king. He curled himself up in a corner of that cage and slept, while Gods angel watched with his hand at the hungry mouths. But the king went to his palace and passed the night in fasting, and his sleep went from him, and very early in the morning he made haste to see if the Hebrew was yet alive, without whom the kingdom could not run; and so Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of
Cyrus the Persian. The city authorities at Philippi tried imprisoning Paul and Silas, but next day they came and let them forth and gave them full permission to depart in freedom. You may bind the body of Zedekiah with fetters of brass, and carrying him away to Babylon, imprison him for life; but he, in whom the spirit of Joseph is, must yet rule in the throne.
Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant; whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron. Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance; to bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senators wisdom (Psa 105:16-22).
Men are slow at times to discern merit, but even jailbirds will feel its power and witness to its presence. The incidental remarks in Acts, which say of the midnight song of Silas and Paul and the prisoners heard them, is not more significant than the sentence which informs us of Joseph that he was in favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. Let no man flatter himself that he has great virtues but the world is ignorant of them. Goodness is power and will be felt, and the worlds wise men will be discovered, though a very prison seek to both hide and silence them. God knows the nooks of the universe and when there is need of a man he will find the fittest one in some corner and bring him forth.
When Saul has uncrowned himself, there is a shepherd youth known to God upon whom the mantle will fall. When Eli is old and his family are an offense to heaven, there is a boy in the temple trained, though the great outside world has never heard his name. When famine threatens Egypt and the king is unequal to the task of averting it, Joseph is lying in wait, ready to take the place by Divine appointment.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.
Gen. 38:1. Turned in.] (Heb.) And he pitched, i.e., his tent. He came to dwell in the near neighbourhood of a man belonging to the small kingdom of Adullam (Jos. 12:15; Jos. 15:25.)
Gen. 38:2. Whose name was Shuah.] This is not the name of Judahs wife, but of her father.
Gen. 38:8. Go in unto thy brothers wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.] This was according to the custom of the Levirate marriage, which was afterwards legalised by Moses. So called from the Latin levir, a brother-in-law.
Gen. 38:12. Unto his sheep-shearers to Timnath.] A town in the mountain country of Judah, seven miles south of Hebron. The sheep-shearing was a holiday with the shepherds.
Gen. 38:18. Thy bracelets.] (Heb.) Strings. The signet-ring or seal was suspended from the neck with a silk string, and worn inside the garments. (Son. 8:6; Jer. 22:24; Hag. 2:23.)
Gen. 38:21. The harlot.] The name by which Hirah calls her is literally a holy woman. In the horrid religious rites of the Goddess Ashtoreth, the priestesses or female devotees were harlots, who sat and solicited the passers-by. (Jer. 3:2; Eze. 16:25; Barach 6:43.) (Alford.)
Gen. 38:23. Let her take it to her.] The meaning is, let her keep the pledge for herself.
Gen. 38:24. Let her be burnt.] The punishment of burning for unchastity was afterwards by the law reserved for the daughters of priests. (Lev. 21:9.) And Knobel thinks that this sentence was pronounced upon Tamar as being now by marriage one of the holy race. Had she merely been punished as the betrothed of Selah, she would have been stoned. (Lev. 20:10; Deu. 22:23; Eze. 16:40; Joh. 8:5.) (Alford.)
Gen. 38:29. Pharez.] A breach. Perez, in the struggle before birth obtained the primogeniture, and in the tenth generation, David the King of Israel, descended from him. (Rth. 4:18-22.) Tamar, therefore, has a place as one of the female ancestors in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. (Jacobus.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gen. 38:1-30
THE CHARACTER OF JUDAH
The story of Joseph is interrupted at this point, for the purpose of giving some particulars concerning the family history of Judah. This account is not to be considered merely as an episode, but rather as a parallel history, all belonging to the wider history of the sons of Israel. The chief points of Judahs character are here illustrated.
I. Faithlessness towards God. This is seen,
1. In his separation from his brethren. Judah went down from his brethren. (Gen. 38:1.) This was an act of wilful indiscretion, and dangerous to his spiritual interests. He leaves the family where God was known and honoured, and forms a close friendship with a Canaanite.
2. In his marriage with an idolator. (Gen. 38:2.) He had objected to his sisters marriage with Shechem, and yet he marries this woman, and that without consulting his father. Such connections as these were forbidden to the covenant family, who were to be a separated people. These alliances were corrupting, and dangerous to the highest interests of the people of God. We have a sad illustration in the children born from this marriage. Judah was the first of Israels sons who took this false step. He was weary of the restraints of religion.
II. A strong sensual nature. We have a melancholy illustration of this in the account of his incestuous intercourse with Tamar. (Gen. 38:12-18.) Judah had already become heathenish by his unlawful connections, and was easily seduced.
III. An underlying sense of justice. He had not sunk into that lowest depth of degradation in which the conscience is seared, and there is no longer any sense of, or concern for, righteousness. He scrupled not to acknowledge his guilt, and the superior sense of justice shown by his daughter-in-law. (Gen. 38:26.) He now acknowledges that in withholding his son from the widow and denying her right, he had brought about this shameful and sad result. It is evident from the narrative that she was driven to this stratagem, not from base lewdness, but to obtain through Judah himself the covenant posterity of which he was wrongfully depriving her. (Jacobus.) Judah had also enough sense of religious obligation left to keep up the customs of the covenant family which were wisely ordained for its preservation. (Gen. 38:8.) This was an important provision in its bearing upon the supreme purpose for which the race of Israel was chosen. (Rth. 4:10-12; compare also with Gen. 38:18-22.) Onan, however, proved false, and his crime of violating Gods ordinance by a shameful abomination was also punished with death. Thus the covenant household seems degraded and disgraced. But the salvation lies not with them, but with God. (Jacobus.)
IV. Self-dependence. Judahs was a strong character. He was a headlong, rushing man, with great power in him for evil or for good.
THE LESSONS OF JUDAHS HISTORY
I. Gods cause has in it the seeds of triumph even when it seems to fail. At the close of the last chapter Joseph appears to be altogether lost. In like manner, here, Judah appears to be lostthe hope of his posterity clean gone for ever. Yet, as the history unfolds, we shall find signs of future greatness both in Joseph and Judah. The tribe appeared to be extinguished, but the purpose of God shall still be accomplished. So in the cross the cause of Christ seemed to fail; His life and teaching but, at best, a pleasing memory, or it may be, a curious chapter in the history of enthusiasm. But that, in the design of God and in actual result, was the hour of His sublime triumph. Thereby was He the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1Co. 1:24.)
II. Gods judgments on the sin of unchastity. Judah is disgraced both in himself and in his sons. There is a stain upon the family honour.
III. This history has an important bearing upon Gods purpose of salvation. This history derives its importance and justifies its place in the sacred record, from the fact that Christ sprang from the tribe of Judah. The minutest circumstances connected with the ancestors of the promised seed have a lasting interest. Considered in regard to Gods redeeming purpose, this history shows
1. That Gods election is by grace. Otherwise Judah would not have been chosen as the ancestor of Christ. It shows
2. The native glory of Christ. He derives all His glory from Himself, and not from His ancestry. It shows
3. The amazing condescension of Christ. The greatest and most shameful sinners are found in His birth-register. He despised the shame, and made Himself of no reputation. The strong purpose of His love can triumph over the worst evils of human sin. Luther asks, Why did God the Holy Ghost permit these shameful things to be written? Answer: That no one should be proud of his own righteousness and wisdom; and, again, that no one should despair on account of his sins. It may be, also, to remind us that by natural right, Gentiles, too, are the mother, brothers, sisters of our Lord.
THE SIN OF ONAN.Gen. 38:8-10
I. It was prompted by a low motive. It was as selfish as it was vile. Onans design was to preserve the whole inheritance for his own house.
II. It was an act of wilful disobedience to Gods ordinance. Ill deservings of others can be no excuse for our injustice, for our uncharitableness. That which Tamar required, Moses afterward, as from God, commandedthe succession of brothers into the barren bed. Some laws God spake to His Church long ere He wrote them: while the author is certainly known, the voice and the finger of God are worthy of equal respect.(Bp. Hall.)
III. It was a dishonour done to his own body. Unchastity in general is a homicidal waste of the generative powers, a demonic bestiality, an outrage to ancestors, to posterity, and to ones own life. It is a crime against the image of God, and a degradation below the animal. Onans offence, moreover, as committed in marriage, was a most unnatural wickedness, a grievous wrong, and a desecration of the body as the temple of God. It was a proof of the most defective development of what may be called the consciousness of personality, and of personal dignity.(Lange.)
IV. It was aggravated by his position in the covenant family. The Messiah was to descend from the stock of Judah, and for aught he knew from himself. This very Tamar is counted in the genealogy of Christ. (Mat. 1:3.) Herein he did despite to the covenant promise. He rejected an honourable destiny.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen. 38:8. The Levirate law. An endeavour to preserve families, even in their separate lines, and to retain the thereby inherited property, pervades the laws of the Israelitesa feeling that doubtless came down from the patriarchs. The father still lived on in the son; the whole family descending from him was, in a certain sense, himself; and, through this, the place among the people was to be preserved. From the remotest antiquity so much depended upon the preservation of tradition, upon the inheritance of religion, education, and custom, that these things were never regarded as the business of individuals, but of families and nations. The first motive for the patriarchial custom, or for Judahs idea, comes, doubtless, from a struggle of faith in the promise with death. As the promise is to the seed of Abraham, so death seems to mar the promise when he carries away some of Jacobs sons, especially the first-born, before they have had offspring. Life thus enters into strife with death, whilst the remaining brothers fill up the blank. The second motive, however, is connected with the fact, that the life of the deceased is to be reflected in the future existence of their names in this world. Israels sons are a church of the undying. There is a third motive; it is to introduce the idea of spiritual descent. The son of the surviving brother answers for the legitimate son of the dead, and thus the way is prepared for the great extension of the adoptive relationship, according to which Jesus is called the Son of Joseph, and mention is made of the brothers of Jesus. The institution, however, being typical, it could not be carried through consistently in opposition to the right of personality. A particular coercive marriage would have been at war with the idea of the law itself. (Deu. 25:5-10; Rth. 4:7.)(Lange.)
Gen. 38:12-14. That Tamar desired Shelah to be given to her was not unreasonable; but her course in thus avenging herself is by no means approved, though some of the Christian fathers (Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theodoret), praise her on this very account, and ascribe her design to a peculiar desire to become the mother of the Messiah.(Lange.)
Tamar seeks by subtilty that which she could not have by award of justice. The neglect of due retributions drives men to indirect courses; neither know I whether they sin more in righting themselves wrongfully, or the other in not righting them.(Bp. Hall.)
Gen. 38:16. Three women only are mentioned in the genealogy of Christ. Rahab, the harlot; Bathsheba, the adulteress, and this incestuous Tamar (Matthew 1); to show His readiness to receive the most notorious offenders that come unto Him with bleeding and believing hearts. (1Ti. 1:15.)(Trapp.)
Gen. 38:23. Shame is the easiest wages of sin, and the surest, which ever begins first in ourselves. Nature is not more forward to commit sin, than willing to hide it.(Bishop Hall.)
Gen. 38:26. God will find a time to bring His children upon their knees, and to wring from them penitent confessions; and rather than He will not have them soundly ashamed. He will make them the trumpets of their own reproach.(Bishop Hall.)
And he knew her again no more. An assurance of the sincerity of his repentance.
Inasmuch as Hebrew customs afterwards sanctioned by the law, (Lev. 18:15; Lev. 20:12), condemned such an act as incest, he repeated it not.(Alford.)
Most commentators regard the saying of the midwife as allusive to the division of the kingdom, by which a breach was made in the sovereignty of the house of David which came of the line of Pharez.(Alford.)
The Jewish writers say, In Pharez the strength of Davids house was portended; and therefore from him proceedeth the Kingdom of the house of David.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
PART FORTY-FIVE
THE INCIDENT OF JUDAH AND TAMAR
(Gen. 38:1-30)
The Biblical Account.
1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her. 3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. 4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. 5 And she yet again bare a son, and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar. 7 And Er. Judahs first-born, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah slew him. 8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brothers wife, and perform the duty of a husbands brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brothers wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest she should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah: and he slew him also. 11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in thy fathers house, till Shelah my son be grown up; for he said, Lest he also die, like his brethren. And Tamar went and dwelt in her fathers house.
12 And in process of time Shuas daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheep-shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep. 14 And she put off from her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given unto him to wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; for she had covered her face, 16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Come I pray thee, let me come in unto thee: for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17 And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave them to her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. 19 And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood 20 And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the womans hand: but he found her not. 21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There hath been no prostitute here. 22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I have not found her; and also the men of the place said, There hath been no prostitute here. 23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be put to shame: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot; and moreover, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. 25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and the cords, and the staff. 26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She is more righteous than I, forasmuch as I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. 27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. 28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out a hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, Wherefore hast thou made a breach for thyself? therefore his name was called Perez. 30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zerah.
1. The Unity of the Narrative.
The subject-matter of this chapter seems to be an interruption of the continuity of the narrative (Saga) of Joseph. Partly on this account, and partly because the name Jehovah occurs in it (Gen. 38:7; Gen. 38:10), it has been pronounced a later Jehovistic interpolation. Its design has been explained as an attempt to glorify the line of David by representing it as sprung from Judah, or to disclose the origin of the Levirate law of marriage among the Jews; but the incidents here recorded of Judah and his family are fitted to reflect dishonor instead of glory on the ancestry of David; and the custom here mentioned of raising up seed to a dead brother by marrying his widow, though the idea may have originated with Judah, is more likely to have descended from earlier times. Rightly understood, the object of the present portion of the record appears to have been not simply to prepare the way for the subsequent genealogical register (Gen. 46:8-27), or to contrast the wickedness of Judah and his sons with the piety and chastity of Joseph in Egypt, or to recite the private history of one of Christs ancestors, or to show that the pre-eminence of Judah in the patriarchal family was due exclusively to grace, but also and chiefly to justify the Divine procedure in the subsequent deportation of Jacob and his sons to Egypt. The special danger to which the theocratic family was exposed was that of intermarrying with the Canaanites (Gen. 24:3, Gen. 28:6). Accordingly, having carried forward his narrative to the point where, in consequence of Josephs sale, a way begins to open up for the transference of the patriarchal house to the land of the Pharaohs, the historian makes a pause to introduce a passage from the life of Judah, with the view of proving the necessity of such removal, by showing, as in the case of Judah, the almost certainty that, if left in Canaan, the descendants of Jacob would fall before the temptation of marrying with the daughters of the land, with the result, in the first instance, of a great and rapid moral deterioration in the holy seed, and with the ultimate effect of completely obliterating the line of demarcation between them and the surrounding heathen world. How the purity of the patriarchal family was guarded till it developed into a powerful nation, first by its providential withdrawment in infancy from the sphere of temptation (Gen. 46:5), then by its separate establishment in Goshen beside a people who regarded them with aversion (Gen. 46:34), and latterly by its cruel enslavement under Pharaoh (Exo. 1:10), is a subject which in due course engages the attention of the writer (PCG, 440). Italics mineC.C.) (See again Gen. 15:12-16).
The story related in ch. 38 of the involvement of Judah with Canaanite neighbors is, according to K-D (338339), intended to point out the origin of the three leading families of the future princely tribe in Israel, and at the same time to show in what danger the sons of Jacob would have been of forgetting the sacred vocation of their race, through marriages with the Canaanitish women, and of perishing in the sin of Canaan, if the mercy of God had not interposed, and by leading Joseph into Egypt prepared the way for the removal of the whole house of Jacob into that land, and thus protected the family, just as it was expanding into a nation, from the corrupting influence of the manners and customs of Canaan. This being the intention of the narrative, it is no episode or interpolation, but an integral part of the early history of Israel, which is woven here into the history of Jacob, because the events occurred subsequently to the sale of Joseph.
We must never overlook the connection between the revelation to Abraham in Gen. 15:12-16 and that part of the patriarchal story which is now beginning to unfold in the last days of Israels life. It should be noted that, following Gen. 37:1-2, we are still dealing with the generations of Jacob, even though the content of most of the latter part of Genesis has to do with the experiences of Joseph. It is with the forming of the Israelite nation that we are dealing here, the nation which by galling bondage and a subsequent glorious deliverance, prepared the way for the Messianic Reign, of which the early Theocracy was in so many respects a pattern. Thus God used person, prophecy, type, and institution to point forward to, and thus to identify, in minute detail, the Messiah Himself at His appearance in the world, and to validate the institutions of the Christian System which were established by Him per se, and by Him also through the Apostles whom He chose and trained to act as the executors of His Last Will and Testament.
Again quoting K-D: The disappearance of the name Jehovah, therefore, is to be explained, partly from the fact that previous revelations and acts of grace had given rise to other phrases expressive of the idea of Jehovah, which not only served as substitutes for this name of the covenant God, but in certain circumstances were much more appropriate; and partly from the fact that the sons of Jacob, including Joseph, did not so distinctly recognize in their course the saving guidance of the covenant God, as to be able to describe it as the work of Jehovah. This imperfect insight, however, is intimately connected with the fact that the direct revelations of God had ceased; and that Joseph, although chosen by God to be the preserver of the house of Israel and the instrument in accomplishing His plans of salvation, was separated at a very early period from the fellowship of his fathers house, and formally naturalized in Egypt, and though endowed with the supernatural power to interpret dreams, was not favored, as Daniel afterwards was in the Chaldean court, with visions or revelations of God. Consequently we cannot place Joseph on a level with the three patriarchs, nor assent to the statement, that as the noblest blossom of the patriarchal life is seen in Joseph, as in him the whole meaning of the patriarchal life is summed up and fulfilled, so in Christ we see the perfect blossom and sole fulfilment of the whole of the Old Covenant dispensation (Kurtz), as being either correct or scriptural, so far as the first portion is concerned. For Joseph was not a medium of salvation in the same way as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was indeed a benefactor, not only to his brethren and the whole house of Israel, but also to the Egyptians; but salvation, i.e., spiritual help and culture, he neither brought to the Gentiles nor to the house of Israel. In Jacobs blessing he is endowed with the richest inheritance of the firstborn in earthly things; but salvation is to reach the nations through Judah. We may therefore without hesitation look upon the history of Joseph as a type of the pathway of the Church, not of Jehovah only, but also of Christ, from lowliness to exaltation, from slavery to liberty, from suffering to glory (Delitzsch); we may also, so far as the history of Israel is a type of the history of Christ and His Church, regard the life of Joseph, as believing commentators of all centuries have done, as a type of the life of Christ, and use these typical traits as aids to progress in the knowledge of salvation; but that we may not be seduced into typological trifling, we must not overlook the fact, that neither Joseph nor his career is represented, either by the prophets or by Christ and His apostles, as typical of Christin anything like the same way, for example, as the guidance of Israel into and out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1, cf. Mat. 2:15), and other events and persons in the history of Israel (BCOTP, 333334). (Nevertheless, the analogies between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ are several, and very significant, as outlined infra in our section on material for sermonizing). (Cf. also Heb., chs. 8, 9, 10). Again: The very fact that the author of Genesis, who wrote in the light of the further development and fuller revelation of the ways of the Lord with Joseph and the whole house of Jacob, represents the career of Joseph as a gracious interposition of Jehovah (ch. 39), and yet makes Joseph himself speak of Elohim as arranging the whole, is by no means an unimportant testimony to the historical fidelity and truth of the narrative; of which further proofs are to be found in the faithful and exact representation of the circumstances, manners, and customs of Egypt, as Hengstenberg has proved in his Egypt and the Books of Moses, from a comparison of these accounts of Josephs life with ancient documents and monuments connected with this land (K-D, ibid., 333).
The history (tholedoth) of Isaac commenced with the founding of his house by the birth of his sons; but Jacob was abroad when his sons were born, and had not yet entered into undisputed possession of his inheritance. Hence his tholedoth only commence with his return to his fathers tent and his entrance upon the family possessions, and merely embrace the history of his life as patriarch of the house which he founded [cf. Gen. 37:2]. In this period of his life, indeed, his sons, especially Joseph and Judah, stand in the foreground, so that Joseph might be described as the moving principle of the following history. But for all that, Jacob remains the head of the house, and the centre around whom the whole revolves. This section is divided by the removal of Jacob to Egypt, into the period of his residence in Canaan (chs. 3745), and the close of his life in Goshen (chs. 4650). The first period is occupied with the events which prepared the way for, and eventually occasioned, his migration into Egypt, The way was prepared, directly by the sale of Joseph (ch. 37), indirectly by the alliance of Judah with the Canaanites (ch. 38), which endangered the divine call of Israel, inasmuch as this showed the necessity for a temporary removal of the sons of Israel from Canaan. The way was opened by the wonderful career of Joseph in Egypt, his elevation from slavery and imprisonment to be ruler over the whole of Egypt (chs. 3941). And lastly the migration was occasioned by the famine in Canaan, which rendered it necessary for Jacobs sons to travel to Egypt to buy corn, and, whilst it led to Jacobs recovery of the son he had mourned for as dead, furnished an opportunity of Joseph to welcome his family into Egypt (chs. 4245). The second period commences with the migration of Jacob into Egypt, and his settlement in the land of Goshen (chs. Gen. 46:1 to Gen. 47:27). It embraces the patriarchs closing years, his last instructions respecting his burial in Canaan (ch. Gen. 47:28-31), his adoption of Josephs sons, and the blessing given to his twelve sons (ch. 49), and extends to his burial and Josephs death (ch. 50) (BCOTP, 329). It should be noted, in this connection, that in the various Scripture references to the fathers of the Jewish nationthe patriarchsthree, and only three, are mentioned, and the same three in the same order, viz., Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Cf. Exo. 3:6; Exo. 3:15-16; Exo. 4:5; Mat. 8:11-12; Mat. 22:32; Mar. 12:26, Luk. 20:37, Act. 3:13; Act. 7:32). In Act. 7:8-9, the term patriarch is extended to include the twelve sons of Jacob, founders of the twelve tribes who were constituted a nation at Sinai.
It should be emphasized at the outset that the story of Joseph is essentially a study in, and revelation of the ways of, Divine Providence: hence, it lacks the kind of problems (geographical, sociological, scientific, ethical and spiritual) that have required our attention in the first thirty-six chapters of Genesis. The narrative that engages our attention in the last fourteen chapters of the book is a simple story in many respects simply told. It is from beginning to end, from every point of view, a human interest story.
2. The Birth of Er and His Marriage to Tamar (Gen. 38:1-11).
At that time, i.e., about the time that Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, Judah went down from Hebron (3714) or the mountains of Judah, toward the south, specifically to Adullam, in the lowland (Jos. 15:35), into the neighborhood of a certain Adullamite, a man named Hirah. Adullam was a town in the Hebron valley; in the period of the Conquest it was the seat of a Canaanite king (Jos. 12:15); afterward, it was celebrated for its connection with the history of David (1Sa. 22:1-2; 2Sa. 23:13), and is subsequently mentioned in Scripture (2Ch. 11:7, Neh. 11:3, Mic. 1:15). Judah, it would seem, deliberately separated himself from his brothers, and entered into an alliance, at least into friendly relations, with this Canaanite. It would not be surprising if it turned out some day that Hirah was the name of an actual king of this Canaanite city, which lay in the Shephelah, or hill country, bordering the Philistaean plain. The name of Adullam survives to this day in an Arabicised form. . . . The Adullam of antiquity did not lie exactly at that village, but rather to the south of it on a site situated on a near-by hill, where sherds of the Middle Bronze Age confirm the existence of a city of patriarchal times. Travelers going from Hebron to Jaffa, or from Jerusalem to Gaza, would be attracted to it. King Rehoboam later found it worth while to fortify this city (2Ch. 11:7) (Kraeling, BA, 90). (Incidentally this writer explains: We hear little in the narratives preceding the Joseph-cycle concerning the various sons of Jacob. And that little is not very much to the credit of the individuals thus singled out. In Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi came in for attention in connection with the role they are held to have played in the Shechem area. In Gen. 35:21-22 there was some notice of Reuben. Genesis 38 now gives us information about Judah. The strange position of this narrative after the first installment of the Joseph stories is due to the fact that in chapter 37 [Gen. 38:26] Judah is with his brethren; hence the compiler was not able to introduce it sooner. We shall take it up first before turning to Joseph (ibid., p. 90). We follow the same procedure in the present text.
The question that arises here is surely pertinent, viz., what prompted Judah to go away from his brothers? That is, to set up a separate and independent establishment apart from them? Not only immediately after Joseph was sold, but also on account of it, in a fit of impenitent anger (Kurtz)? in a spirit of remorse (Lange)? How can we know?no definite information is given us as regards his motivation. However, as noted already in considering Genesis 34, such alliances between nomads and city dwellers always resulted in intermarriage, and so it was in this case. Like Esau, this son of Jacob probably cast off the restraints of religion and married into a Canaanite family, and it is not surprising that the family which sprung from such an unsuitable connection should be infamous for bold and unblushing wickedness (Jamieson). At any rate, Judah married the daughter of Shuah, a Canaanite, and had three sons by her, respectively, Er, Onan, and Shelah. It strikes the present writer that Judahs motive for separating from his paternal household may well have been an infatuation for this daughter of Shuah. Although it would appear that the tribe of Judah had an early history independent of the other tribes of Israel, the fact remains that Judah himself was back with his brothers in their various appearances in Egypt after Joseph became the vizier there under Pharaoh. As a matter of fact Scripture represents Judah as having taken subsequently a decided lead in all the affairs of Israels family. When it became necessary to go into Egypt for food a second time, Judah remonstrated with Jacob against his detention of Benjamin and undertook to be responsible for the safety of the lad (Gen. 43:3-10). When the telltale cup was found in Benjamins sack, and punishment by Joseph seemed imminent, Judahs earnest petition for his father and brothers and his offer of himself as a slave so moved his princely brother that the latter could no longer retain the secret of his identity (Gen. 44:14-34). Soon after, also, it was Judah who was sent by Jacob to act as guide (show the way) for the migration of the latter and his house into the land of Goshen (Gen. 46:28). We read no more of him until we find him receiving, along with his brothers, his fathers final blessing (Gen. 49:8-12). We now understand what the inspired writer means when he tells us that Judah, though not the firstborn of Israels progeny, still and all prevailed above his brethren (1Ch. 5:2).
As stated above, Judah married the daughter of Shuah, a Canaanite, (Gen. 38:2Shua was not the name of Judahs wife, but that of her father, cf. Gen. 38:12). The woman bore a son, and Judah named him Er. When Er was grown up, according to ancient custom (cf. Gen. 21:21, Gen. 34:4), his father gave him a wife, named Tamar (Gen. 38:6), probably a Canaanite, of unknown parentage. But Er proved to be too wicked for Yahweh even to tolerate his continued existence, and so He slew him (i.e., caused him to die). The son-in-law, no doubt, was addicted to all the abominable vices of Canaan (cf. Rom. 1:20-32). The wickedness involved elicited the heaviest divine disapproval; the wickednessin all likelihood, some form of sex perversionmade Er guilty in a special sense, and so Yahweh let him die. We find here a positive evidence of the truth, the soul that sinneth, it shall die (cf. Gen. 2:17, Psa. 90:7 ff., Pro. 10:27, Eze. 18:20, Gal. 6:7-8, etc.)an echo that rings throughout the entire Bible.
After the death of Er, Judah wished Onan, as the brother-in-law, to marry the childless widow of his deceased brother, and thus to raise up seed, i.e., a family, for him. But Onan knew, of course, that the firstborn son would not be the founder of his own family, but would perpetuate the family of the deceased and receive his inheritance, and therefore prevented conception when consummating the marriage by spilling the semen, letting it fall on the ground. This act not only betrayed a want of affection to his brother, combined with a despicable covetousness for his possession and inheritance, but was also a sin against the divine institution of marriage and its object, and was therefore punished by Jehovah with sudden death. The custom of levitate marriage, which is first mentioned here, and is found in different forms among Indians, Persians, and other nations of Asia and Africa, was not founded upon a divine command, but upon an ancient tradition, originating probably in Chaldea. It was not abolished, however, by the Mosaic law (Deu. 25:5 ff.), but only so far restricted as not to allow it to interfere with the sanctity of marriage; and with this limitation it was enjoined as a duty of affection to build up the brothers house, and to preserve his family and name (K-D, 340). (Cf. also Mat. 22:23-33). The custom of levirate marriage seems to have prevailed quite universally at the time, as it is known to have been customary among many nations ancient and modern. Judah does not appear as an innovator in this instance. Levirate marriage implied that if a man had died without leaving a son, the next brother of the deceased, if unmarried, would take the widow to wife with the understanding that the first son born would carry on the line of the deceased, but all other children would be accounted his own. . . . Onan knew of this provision and intentionally prevented its realization. Selfishness may have prompted him: he did not care to preserve his brothers family. Greed may have been a concurrent motive: he desired to prevent the division of the patrimony into smaller units. But in addition to these two faults there was palpably involved the sin of a complete perversion of the purpose of marriage, that divine institution. What he did is described as taking preventive measures. The original says: he destroyed [i.e., the semen] to the ground. From him the extreme sexual perversion called onanism has its name. The case is revolting enough. But plain speech in this case serves as a healthy warning. Yahweh let him die even as his brother (EG, 980981). In the science of medicine, masturbation (commonly called self-abuse) is erroneously designated onanism. Onans act was an offense against the theocratic family, not an act indulged for erotic gratification, an act which, if allowed to become habitual, undoubtedly contributes to sexual impotence in later life. It is interesting to note that Er and Onan disappear from the sacred narrative never to be heard of again, except as statistics (Gen. 46:12, Num. 26:19, 1Ch. 2:3-4).
The sudden death of his two sons, in each instance soon after marriage with Tamar, must have made Judah hesitate to give her the third son as a husband also, thinking, it would seem, according to a superstition which we find in the apocryphal book of Tobit (ch. 3), that either she herself, or marriage with her, had been the cause of her husbands deaths. He therefore sent her back to her fathers house, telling her to remain there as a widow, with the promise that he would give her his youngest son Shelah to wed her as soon as Shelah had grown up. It is generally conceded that Judah never meant this seriously, for he thought lest (i.e., he was afraid that) he [Shelah] also might die like his brethren. Judah sends Tamar home to her family, on the pretext that his third son Shelah is too young to marry her. His real motive is fear lest his only surviving son should share the fate of Er and Onan, which he plainly attributes to Tamar herself (ICCG, 452). Her return to her fathers house was in accordance with the law for a childless widow (Lev. 22:13, Rth. 1:8): so Tamar went and dwelt in her fathers house (Gen. 38:11).
3. Tamars Stratagem (Gen. 38:12-19).
Skinner calls it Tamars daring stratagem, and indeed it was just that. Tamar, after waiting a long time, saw that Shelah had grown up and was not yet given to her as a husband; she therefore determined to procure children from Judah himself who had become a widower in the meantime. Judah, having comforted himself (i.e., ceased to mourn for his deceased wife) went to the sheep-shearing at Timnath. The sheep-shearing was kept with great feasting by shepherds. Judah therefore took his friend Hirah with him, a fact noted in Gen. 38:12 in relation to what follows. When Tamar heard that Judah was on his way to the feast, she took off the garments of widowhood, put on a veil, and sat down, disguised as a prostitute, by the gate of Enaim, by which Judah would be sure to pass on his return from Timnath. (Enaim no doubt was the same as Enam in the lowland of Judah, Jos. 15:34). (The veil was the sign of the harlot, here the term is kedeshah, that is, a cult prostitute, a woman dedicated to impure heathen worship, cf. Deu. 23:17, Hos. 4:14). Tamars veil, her wrapping herself and sitting by the wayside (at the crossroads) set her apart as one who plied this iniquitous trade. (There are two evils that man, in his entire history on earth, has never been able to eliminate or even to control: one is drunkenness, and the other is prostitution). When Judah saw her, naturally he took her for what she expected him to: her design actually was realized. Judah does not appear to a very good advantage in this account. He seems to know altogether too well how to carry on a transaction of this sort. Since the veil seems to be the customary device to give herself the appearance of coyness, such as persons of this sort may use, it effectually served the purpose of disguising Tamar. When, besides, it is indicated that Judah did not know that she was his daughter-in-law [for she had covered her face], we see that Judah surely would not have consciously made himself guilty of incest (EG, 984). Of course they entered into negotiations. The price agreed upon was a kid of the goats. This is indeed suggestive in view of the fact that the goat, because of its prolificness, played a rather prominent role in the ancient Fertility Cult, and hence was sacred to Astarte. The present of a kid on these occasions may be due to the fact that (as in classical antiquity) the goat was sacred to the goddess of life (ICCG, 453). (Cf. Pausanias,, VI, 25, 2; Tacitus, Hist., 2, 3; Lucian, Dial, meretr. 7, 1). Tamars master-stroke, however, was the obtaining of a pledge which made the identification of the owner absolutely certain. The pledge was Judahs seal, cord, and staff. This was his signet ring, with the band by which it was hung around his neck, and his staff: these served as a pledge of the young buck-goat which he offered her. These were objects of value and were regarded as ornaments in the East (cf. Herodotus, i, 195). The cord may have been regarded as having magical powers like those occasionally worn by Arab men (ICCG, 454). Judah then lay with Tamar, and she became pregnant by him. She then put off her veil and put on her garments of widowhood.
4. Tamars Vindication, (Gen. 38:20-26).
When Judah sent the young buck-goat to the supposed harlot, by his friend Hirah, for the purpose of redeeming his pledges, the latter could not find her, and was told, on inquiring of the people of Enaim, that there was no prostitute there (literally no consecrated one). The consecrated, i.e., the hierodule, a woman sacred to Astarte, a goddess of the Canaanites, the deification of the generative and productive principle of nature; one who served the goddess by prostitution: cf. Deu. 23:17-18). This was no doubt regarded as the most respectable designation for public prostitutes in Canaan (K-D, 341), Ritual prostitution was an essential element of the Cult of Fertility which flourished throughout the entire ancient pagan world. Kedeshah here, Gen. 38:21, strictly sacred prostituteone dedicated for this purpose to Ishtar-Astarte, or some other deity, Deu. 23:18, Hos. 4:14, ICCG, 454).
When Judahs friend returned with the kid and reported that he had had no success in finding the woman, Judah decided to leave his pledges with the girl, lest he might expose himself to popular ridicule by any further inquiries, since he had done his part toward keeping his promise, It is significant that Judah employs his fidus Achates Hirah in this discreditable affair, and will rather lose his seal, etc., than run the risk of publicity, Gen. 38:23.
In due time, however, it was made known to Judah that his daughter-in-law had played the harlot and was certainly with child. Hence it fell to Judah as the head of the family to bring her to justice. This meant that she should be brought out and burned. Death by burning is the punishment imposed in Hammurabi, sect. 157, for incest with a mother, and was doubtless the common punishment for adultery on the part of a woman in ancient Israel. In later times the milder penalty of stoning was substituted (Lev. 20:10, Deu. 22:23 ff., Eze. 16:40, Joh. 8:5), the more cruel death being reserved for the prostitution of a priests daughter (Lev. 21:9, cf. Hammurabi, Sect. 110). Judah ordered the burning, whereupon Tamar, on being brought forth for the infliction of the penalty, by thus waiting till the last moment, made her justification as public and dramatically complete as possible. Producing the things which Judah had given her as a pledge, she addressed the crowd, saying, By the man to whom these belong I am with child. Judah recognized the seal, the cord, and the staff as his own, and frankly confessed that her conduct was justified by the graver wrong which he had done her in not giving her his son Shelah as a husband. In passing sentence on Tamar, Judah had condemned himself. His sin, however, did not consist merely in having given way to his lusts so far as to lie with a supposed public prostitute of Canaan, but still more in the fact, that by breaking his promise to give her his son Shelah as her husband, he had caused his daughter-in-law to practise this deception upon him, just because in his heart he blamed her for the early and sudden deaths of his elder sons, whereas the real cause of the deaths which had so grieved his paternal heart was the wickedness of the sons themselves, the mainspring of which was to be found in his own marriage with a Canaanite in violation of the patriarchal call. And even if the sons of Jacob were not unconditionally prohibited from marrying the daughters of Canaanites, Judahs marriage at any rate had borne such fruit in his sons Er and Onan, as Jehovah the covenant God was compelled to reject. But if Judah, instead of recognizing the hand of the Lord in the sudden death of his sons, traced the cause to Tamar, and determined to keep her a childless widow all her life long, not only in opposition to the traditional custom, but also in opposition to the will of God as expressed in His promises of a numerous increase of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Tamar had by no means acted rightly in the stratagem by which she frustrated his plan, and sought to procure from Judah himself the seed of which he was unjustly depriving her, though her act might be less critical than Judahs. For it is evident from the whole account, that she was not driven to her sin by lust, but by the innate desire for children; and for that reason she was more in the right than Judah, Judah himself, however, not only saw his guilt, but he confessed it also; and showed both by his confession, and also by the fact that he had no further conjugal intercourse with Tamar, an earnest endeavor to conquer the lusts of the flesh, and to guard against the sin into which he had fallen. And because he thus humbled himself, God gave him grace, and not only exalted him to be the chief of the house of Israel, but blessed the children that were begotten in sin (K-D, 342343). It follows that the episode is not meant to reflect discredit on the tribe of Judah. It presents Judahs behavior in as favorable light as possible, suggesting extenuating circumstances for what could not be altogether excused; and regards that of Tamar as a glory to the tribe; cf. Rth. 4:12 (ICCG, 455). To suppose that incidents like that recorded in Gen. 38:12-26 were of frequent occurrence in ancient Israel, or that it was the duty of the father-in-law under any circumstances to marry his sons widow, is to miss entirely the point of the narative. On the contrary, it is just the exceptional nature of the circumstances that explains the writers obvious admiration for Tamars heroic conduct. Tamar shows her fortitude by her disregard of conventional prejudice, and her determination by any means in her power to secure her wifely rights within her husbands family. To obtain this right the intrepid woman dares the utmost that womanly honor could endurestoops to the level of an unfortunate girl, and does that which in ordinary cases would lead to the most cruel and shameful death, bravely risking honor and life on the issue. At the same time, like a true mother in Judah, she manages her part so cleverly that the dangerous path conducts her to a happy goal (ibid., 455).
5. Birth of Perez and Zerah, (Gen. 38:27-30).
Tamar brought forth twins, and a circumstance occurred at the birth, which does happen occasionally when the children lie in an abnormal position. Moreover, it always impedes delivery, and this fact was regarded in this instance as so significant that the names of the two children were founded on it. At the birth, a hand came out first, around which the midwife tied a scarlet thread to mark this as the firstborn (Gen. 38:20). We then read that when the child drew back its hand behold, his brother came out. Then the midwife said, wherefore hast thou made a breach for thyself? (Marginal, How hast thou made a breach? a breach be upon thee!). That is, Thou bearest the blame of the breach, i.e., by breaking through by pressing forward. From this fact he received the name Perez (breach, breaker through). Rashi renders it: Why hast thou acted with such strength to force thy way out before thy brother (SC, 241). Then the other child, the one with the scarlet thread around his arm, came into the world, and was named Zerah (exit, rising, or according to Rashi, shining, because of the bright color of the crimson thread, SC, 241). Zerah sought to appear first, whereas in fact Perez was the firstborn, and is therefore placed before Zerah in the genealogical tables (Gen. 46:12, Num. 26:20. Perez was the ancestor of the tribe-prince Nahshon (Num. 2:3), and of King David also (Rth. 4:18-22, 1Ch. 2:3-17). Through Perez, it should be especially noted, Tamar has her place as one of the female ancestors of Christ. Perez himself carried on the chosen line that culminated in Messiah (Mat. 1:3). The grace of God is vividly demonstrated by His use of these abominable events to accomplish His own purposes. The Divine Potter, undoubtedly for reasons of His own, has often worked with very inferior clay (cf. Jer. 18:1-12). Again we must be impressed with the fact that the Bible is a very realistic book: it pictures life as men and women have lived it, and continue to live it. It is preeminently the Book of Life.
The twin-birth of Rebecca is once more reflected. We see how important the question of the firstborn remains to the Israelitish mother and midwife. In the case of the twins there appears more manifestly the marks of a striving for the birthright. Pharez, however, did not obtain the birthright, as Jacob sought it, by holding on the heel, but by a violent breach, In this he was to represent Judahs lion-like manner within the milder nature of Jacob. According to Knobel, the midwife is supposed to have said to Pharez; a breach upon thee, i.e., a breach happen to thee; and this is said to have been fulfilled when the Israelitish tribes tore themselves away from the house of David, as a punishment, because the Davidian family of the Pharezites had violently got the supremacy over its brethren (Lange, 593). (Cf. 1Ch. 11:11; 1Ch. 27:2-3; Neh. 11:4-6). Later references to the progeny of Judahs third son, Shelah, are found in Gen. 46:12; Num. 26:20; 1Ch. 2:3; 1Ch. 4:21-23). These references to the line of Shelah are, as will be noted, mostly statistical.
We probably should mention here the matter of the sequence of time between chapters 37 and 38. At that time, Gen. 38:1, ch. 37, must surely mean, just after, or soon after, Joseph had been sold into Egypt, at the age of seventeen (Gen. 37:2). He was elevated to the position of prime minister of the land at the age of thirty (Gen. 41:46). It will thus be evident that some twenty-two years intervened between the sale of Joseph and the settlement in Egypt (13 years until Josephs promotion plus 7 years of plenty plus 2 years of famine). On this basis Judah had time to marry, to have a son whom he gave in marriage in his seventeenth year; to have a second son whom in his eighteenth year he gave to the same wife; allowing an additional two years for the rest of the events narrated in ch. 38. Judah departed from his brethren in vexation over their treatment of their brother Joseph and over their hypocrisy in the sight of their father. At least some such reason for his going away from his brethren is possible. . . . Judah does approach more closely to a Canaanite man, who appears to have been friendly and welcomed the approach. . . . A further contact with the Canaanites follows. A man by the name of Shua (a name meaning perhaps opulence) has a daughter whom Judah takes to wife. Whether resentment against his brethren had anything to do with this, or whether easygoing friendship with Canaanites lay at the bottom of it all, is had to say (EG, 977). (It is interesting to note that Leupold differs from authorities quoted above on the matter of Judahs motivation in pitching his tent toward Canaanites). Again, on the chronological problem we note the following: The 23 years which intervened between the taking of Joseph into Egypt and the migration of Jacob thither, furnish space enough for all the events recorded in this chapter (38). If we suppose that Judah, who was 20 years old when Joseph was sold, went to Adullam soon afterwards and married there, his three sons might have been born four or five years after Josephs captivity. And if his eldest son was born about a year and a half after the sale of Joseph, and he married him to Tamar when he was 15 years old, and gave her to the second son a year after that, Onans death would occur at least five years before Jacobs removal to Egypt; time enough, therefore, both for the generation and birth of the twin-sons of Judah by Tamar, and for Judahs two journeys into Egypt with his brethren to buy corn (K-D, 339).
The Tribe of Judah, together with that of Benjamin, retained its identity down to New Testament times, we might well say to the Fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent Dispersion, A.D. 70. The history of this tribe is of considerable importance, in view of the fact that Messiah was of the seed of Abraham, of the royal lineage of David, and of the tribal lineage of Judah (although a high priest after the order of Melchizedek) (Gal. 3:16; Gal. 3:29-29; 2Sa. 7:12; Matthew 21-9; Joh. 7:42; Rom. 1:3; Rev. 5:5, etc.; Heb., ch. 7, also Gen. 6:20).
Judah early in life took a prominent role among his brothers, as is shown by the story of Joseph (Gen. 37:26-27; Gen. 43:3-10; Gen. 44:16-34; Gen. 46:28). Genesis, ch. 38, though throwing light on the beginnings of the tribe of Judah, probably stands where it does for the purpose of contrasting Judahs character with that of Joseph. Gen. 49:8-12, though not strictly a promise of kingship to Judah, but rather of leadership and tribal stability, the promise of Shiloh does involve kingship ultimately. (Note the blessings of Moses on Judah; Deu. 33:7). The genealogies of Judahs descendants are given us in 1 Chron., chs. 24. When Judah went into Egypt he had three sons, but so rapidly did his family increase that at the time of the first census it numbered 74,600 (Num. 1:26-27) and was first in population of all the tribes. At the second census, it numbered 76,500, still retaining its rank (Num. 26:22). Its representative among the spies, and also among those appointed to partition the land, was the great leader Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (Num. 13:6). According to rabbinical authority, Judahs standard was green, with the symbol of a lion (Keil) (UBG, s.v.). Throughout the Exodus and the Wanderings, the tribe of Judah was at the forefront of the procession (Num. 2:3; Num. 2:9). Judah was the first tribe which received its allotted territory (inheritance) west of the Jordan, which included fully one-third of the entire land. When a survey was made later, at the completion of the Conquest, an adjustment was made by which a part of Judahs territory was given to Simeon (Jos. 15:20-63; Jos. 18:1-10; Jdg. 1:3). The boundaries and cities of the region allotted to Judah are given at great length (Jos. 15:20-63). Judah and Simeon led the military expedition which resulted in the defeat of the Canaanites, including the capture of Jerusalem (Jdg. 1:10); whereupon they extended their conquest by overrunning most of the coastal plain (Jdg. 1:16-21). During the rule of the judges, Judah maintained an independent spirit toward the other tribes; and while they acquiesced in the Benjamite (Sauls) appointment as king, it could hardly have been with a very good grace, as may be inferred from the very small contingent they supplied to that monarchs army against Amalek (1Sa. 15:4). When Judah established David as king, and removed the sanctuary to Jerusalem, the Ephraimites were dissatisfied, and seized the first opportunity of setting up an independent kingdom. Then the history of Judah as a tribe lapsed into that of Judah as a kingdom (UBD, 614). Then followed a long history of wars, vassalage and occasional prosperity. Against Judah were arrayed Israel, Egypt, Syria, and finally the country was ravaged by the king of Babylon, Jerusalem was burned with fire, the holy temple laid in ashes, the people taken away into captivity, and Judah was no more (ibid., p. 615). (Cf. 2 Kings, chs. 24, 25; Jer. chs. 3941).
The territory of Judah extended east and west from the northern end of the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, and north and south from this line to the region of Kadesh-Barnea. It included the cities which figure pre-eminently in the Biblical story, and with great significance especially in New Testament times. It is interesting to keep in mind that from the tribe of Judah came the Son of Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Luk. 1:35), the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and that from the tribe of Benjamin came Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:1, Php. 3:5, 2Co. 11:22).
The following comment on ch. 38 by Dr. Speiser is important: Because of the eventual pre-eminence of the tribe of Judah, the personalized history of that branch was of obvious interest to tradition. Through the period of Judges and down to the time of David, Judah expanded by absorbing various Canaanite elements, This beginning of that composite history is here intimated by Judahs settlement among the Canaanites and his acquisition of a Canaanite wife, His line, however, is in danger of extinction; but a daughter-in-law by the name of Tamar, apparently another Canaanite, takes heroic measures and triumphs in the end. In resolutely following the intent of the law, by unorthodox and hazardous means, Tamar thus takes her place alongside Rachel (Gen. 31:19). She had the stuff, it was felt, to be the mother of a virile clan, which is clearly the main theme of the story. What brings this theme into bold relief is the institution of the levirate marriage, that is, marriage with the wife of a deceased brother (or another relative in special circumstances). The objective was to maintain the family line in a society that set great store by blood ties, and consequently had little use for adoption. Biblical law upholds this obligation and frowns on any attempt to circumvent it (cf. Deu. 25:5 ff., Ruth, ch. 3f.). Judah sought to live up to this practice, yet shrank from risking the life of his last surviving son. When Tamar became convinced that her father-in-law was temporizing, she tricked him into leaving her with child, by waylaying him in the disguise of a harlot. But she had the presence of mind to secure positive proof of her mates identity. Here J adds a subtle human touch. Judah mistakes Tamar for a common harlot, Heb. zanah, Gen. 38:15, just as he was meant to do. But when his friend Hirah seeks to redeem the pledge, he asks for the local kedeshah (votary, hierodule, cult prostitute), in order to place the affair on a higher social level. At the critical moment, Judah finds out that Tamar was no wanton, and absolves her of any guilt in the matter. She rewards him for his candor and understanding by presenting him with twins. An aetiological notice about the boys names brings the unique tale to a close (ABG, 300).
FOR MEDITATION AND SERMONIZING
The Book of Life
The Bible pictures life just as it is lived by men and women in all ages. There is no false modesty in the Book of Books. The Old Testament pictures life as it was lived in ancient timesin all its sensuality, debauchery, and vice. This, unfortunately, seems to be the way men are living in our day: apart from the influence of Biblical religion and morality, theyseem not to have changed very much, if at all. The charge of vulgarity has been hurled against the Bible. Some have said that it is bestial. No, it is not the Bible that is vulgar, bestial: it is men and women who choose to live life on the level of the brute, indulging their animal passions to the full. The Bible portrays life exactly as human beings live it. It pictures their vices as truly as their virtues. It is pre-eminently the Book of Life. The content of the Bible is essentially realistic, from every point of view.
This is not true of ordinary writers of fiction. Their villains are too villainous and their heroes too heroic. I recall some of the works of fiction which I read as a boy, especially a novel by the name of St. Elmo. The leading man of the story was the meanest villain I had ever read of, and the heroine was simply too good for this world. Characterizations were so overdrawn as to be absurd. And the cheaper the fiction, the greater the exaggeration in character portrayal. I recall other books, Ishmael, Self Raised, Lena Rivers, etc. Nick Carter was the most unrealistic character in the time of Victorian fiction, with the possible exception of Rollo or Little Lord Fauntleroy. And of all the tear-jerkers that ever appeared in print, what shall we say of East Lynne?
But the characters of the Bible are true to life. The more one studies them, the more one realizes that they were the same kinds and classes of men and women as those with whom one rubs elbows day by day. Their modern parallels are living down the street from our home or across the hall from our apartment. First, there was gentle, peace-loving Abel, and there was wild, reckless, daring Caintwo boys of completely different temperaments and aspirations such as are often found in the same family. There was old patient Noah, a righteous man in the midst of an ungodly generation, but his righteousness did not prevent his falling a prey to the wine-cask. Some are inclined to exonerate Noah on the ground that he was the first to cultivate the vineyard and did not know that the product was intoxicating if taken in excess. They may be right.
There was patriarchal Abraham, with flowing beard and spiritual miengrand, solitary, sublime, in his walk with God, a friend of God and the father of all the faithful. But he did not always tell the whole truth. On two occasions, when a half-lie seemed to serve his purpose better, he told the half-lie and was caught in it both times.
There was self-seeking Lot. Lot always looked out for number one. There was Isaac, the hen-pecked man, who seemed unable to realize that his wife was taking advantage of him repeatedly. There was shrewd, property-loving Jacob, a man who could take a small investment and build it into a fortune. There was strong-willed Joseph: one instance in which the dreamer proved to be the most practical man of his time. We are compelled to admire Joseph. There was the meek Moses who endured as seeing Him who is invisible (Heb. 11:27). Moses could not make a speech (so he said), and so God sent Aaron along to do the persuading. Aaron was a typical politician: the words ran out of his mouth like oil, and he always kept his ear to the ground to gauge the direction of the winds of public sentiment, and when the people wanted to set up the golden bull and worship it, he allowed it to be done. We suppose he thought he could get away with it, but Moses returned at the wrong time and caught him red-handed in the act of sanctioning idolatry. There is persistent, plodding Joshua, the U.S. Grant of the Bible who proposed to fight it out on his line if it took all summer or longer. And there was Saul, powerful and handsome in physique, but small in spirit, jealous, revengeful, and mean. Saul hit the bottom rung of the ladder when he drifted into the witch of Endors den. And there was David! The man who could fight and sing, and sing and fight. Never could man sin more heinously and repent more genuinely than could David. There was Daniel the courageous, who could say No to despots, who, like Luther and Knox, defied the powers that be in order to be true to their God. There was hopeful, optimistic Isaiah, melancholy, pessimistic Jeremiah. There was Hosea, the man with a broken heart, who, out of this domestic experience, could give us a deeper picture of Gods love than did any other man of Old Testament times. There was John the Immerser, the iconoclast, the smasher of images, who overturned precedents, who could call his audience a generation of vipers, who cared not one whit what people thought of him but sought only to call them to repentance. There was impulsive, boastful, yet withal lovable Simon Peter. Peter was always out-and-out just what he was: he was adept at opening his mouth and putting his foot in it. One may not have agreed with Peter all the time but one always knew just where he stood! There was Paul, the lawyer, the intellectual giant, a product of Gamaliels rabbinical school in Jerusalem. Paul was so shrewd in dealing with audiences or in pleading the cause of Christ before kings and emperors. When the Jews were about to kill him in Jerusalem, he hurled a question at them about the Resurrection. It so happened that the mob was made up of both Pharisees (who believed in the resurrection of the dead) and the Sadducees (who did not, Act. 23:6-8). The shrewd Apostle cried out that he was being opposed because he believed in the resurrection of the body, whereupon the Pharisees and Sadducees went to arguing among themselves, and while they argued, Paul slipped away unharmed. There was James, the practical man, who paid his respects to backbiters and gossips, and who had much to say about the danger of riches, the brevity of life, the nastiness of the tongue, the real meaning of faith, and pure and undefiled religion. And there was the beloved John, who reclined on the Masters bosom at the Last Supper, whose vision penetrated eternity and heaven itself to let us know that in the beginning there was the Word, and that the Word was with God, and that the Word is God, that is, deity as truly as Father and Son are deity.
Two women, one named Mary, the other Martha, are mentioned by two New Testament writers. Luke writes five verses about them, and John writes fourteen. Yet these two women live in our own day and their names are household words among people who read the Bible, despite the fact that all we know about them is to be found in nineteen New Testament passages. The characters of the Bible are genuine. They are true to life. They are portrayed just as they lived, thought and acted. No book in all the world is as true to life in its portrayal of all shades of human character as is the Bible. It is a realistic book. It deals with mankind honestly. It tells him that he is in sin, and it shows him the way out. To fail to read and meditate upon the Word that is in the Bible is to miss the pearl of great price. C.C.C.
REVIEW QUESTIONS ON PART FORTY-FIVE
1. What reasons are suggested by various writers for the insertion of this story about Judah and Tamar at this point in the patriarchal narratives?
2. Are we still following the account of the toledoth of Jacob? How does the story of Joseph fit into this background?
3. What are the two periods of Jacobs life following his entrance into full possession of the patriarchal inheritance? When did that event occur?
4. What is the motif that pervades the entire narrative of Josephs career?
5. What reasons are suggested for Judahs separating himself from his brothers?
6. What problem did his consorting with Canaanites raise? Why is this story of Judah and Tamar inserted into the story of Joseph at this point?
7. Whom did Judah marry? What were the names of his three sons? Which of the three did God allow to die?
8. In what passages does Judah appear again in the story of Joseph in Egypt?
9. What particular sin did Onan commit? What was his purpose in doing what he did? What is known as onanism today? Is this designation strictly relevant? Explain.
10. What was the custom of levirate marriage? To what extent did it prevail in the ancient world? What was the purpose of it?
11. What was Judahs reaction to the deaths of his first two sons by Tamar?
12. What did he do with Tamar? What did he promise her, and why did he fail to fulfil his promise to her?
13. What deception did Tamar perpetrate on Judah? What was her purpose?
14. Distinguish between the zanah and the kedeshah in the Canaanite culture.
15. What was the price agreed upon between Tamar and Judah? What was the significance of this price?
16. What threefold pledge did Judah give Tamar to bind the bargain?
17. Explain what ritual prostitution was in the ancient pagan world? With what cult was it associated?
18. Why did Judah decide to leave his threefold pledge with Tamar?
19. How did Tamar dramaticallyand publiclyprove Judahs guilt in this transaction?
20. How did Judah react? On what ground did he justify Tamars act? What did he admit to be his own motive in failing to keep his original promise concerning Shelah?
21. On what basis may we justifyat least partiallyTamars role in this incident?
22. What aspect of nobility does Judah finally manifest in this incident?
23. How would you evaluate this incident morally and spiritually in the light of the motives of the two persons involved? How are we justified in speaking of this as a human interest story?
24. What two sons did Tamar bear to Judah? What was significant about the manner of their birth? In what respects was this a sort of repetition of the story of the birth of Rebekahs sons?
25. How explain the sequence of the time element between chs. 37 and 38? (That is, between the story of young Joseph and the story of the sons of Judah).
26. What two tribes retained their identity down to the Fall of Jerusalem? Who was the great Personage who hailed from the tribe of Judah? What important person came from the tribe of Benjamin?
27. Trace briefly the history of the tribe of Judah as it is pieced together out of the Old Testament record. What gave it its special significance?
28. Summarize Dr. Speisers presentation of the significance of this story of Judah and Tamar, also his evaluation of Tamars character, and of Judahs role in the affair.
29. How does Dr. Leupold differ from other commentators in his theory of Judahs motivation in this case?
30. Why do we say that the Bible is the Book of Life? Show how this story of Judah and Tamar proves this to be true. What do we mean when we say that it is a realistic book?
31. What son and what grandson of Jacob became members of the Line that brought forth Messiah?
32. Explain the metaphor, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. What does this metaphor suggest?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) At that time.This does not mean at the time of Josephs sale; for as there was only an interval of twenty-two years between that event and the descent into Egypt, this period is scarcely long enough for the events recorded in this chapter. According to the usual chronology, Judah, Leahs fourth son, would not have been more than eight years old when he left Padan-aram, and only one year at most older than Joseph, the son of Jacobs old age. But the more true chronology which we have followed, gives time for him to have been Josephs senior by twenty years, and the events recorded here probably began soon after his fathers arrival at the tower of Eder.
Adullamite.The town of Adullam, near which was Davids famous cave, has been clearly identified by Lieut. Conder (Tent-work, ii. 158). It lay in the great valley of Elah, which formed the highway from Hebron to the country of the Philistines, some two or three miles south of Shochoh, and fifteen or sixteen miles west by north from Hebron. Judah went down thither, not as Abenezra and others have supposed, because it was to the south, but because it was towards the sea, and the road is an actual descent from the hill country of Judah into the Shephelah, or lowland, in which Adullam was situated. The sons of Jacob often, probably, with a few retainers, made expeditions in search of pastures for their cattle; and Hirah, apparently, had shown Judah hospitality on some such journey, and finally a friendship had grown up between them. Turned in to, however, literally means pitched (his tent) close by; and the friendship between Judah and Hirah, thus accidentally formed, seems to have ended in Hirah taking the charge of Judahs cattle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. At that time During the time that Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings . Gen 37:1. It does not say after these things, as in Gen 22:1; so that the exact point of time is altogether indefinite.
Judah went down from his brethren Went southward from Shechem, perhaps on some errand to his grandfather Isaac, and before Jacob had removed from Shechem.
Adullamite A native of Adullam, a city in the plain some distance north-west of Hebron, which is mentioned in Jos 15:35, among the cities of Judah, and situated between Jarmuth and Socoh. Its site has not been ascertained, but Eusebius and Jerome mention it as lying to the east of Eleutheropolis. On the cave of Adullam, famous in David’s history, see 1Sa 20:1. Turned in to Not “pitched his tent up to,” or in the neighbourhood of, ( Keil,) but, as the word is used in Gen 38:16, and often elsewhere, in the sense of turning aside unto. What inclined him thus to turn in we are not told. It appears that once upon a time Judah, in passing down to Hebron, for some reason, accepted the hospitality of this Adullamite, and saw there a woman who so excited his love for her that he at once took her in marriage.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Judah Falls Further Into Sin ( Gen 38:1-30 ).
The compiler’s purpose in the insertion of this separate account of Judah’s private life here is to demonstrate that Judah, having betrayed Joseph (and Jacob) by instigating the selling of him to the Midianites, now as a consequence continues on a downward path. Thus the one who suggested selling Joseph to the Midianites demonstrates even more clearly his unworthiness by his subsequent behaviour which the compiler possibly sees as the fruit of his primary sin against Joseph.
It is interesting that all the oldest sons of Leah have now been discredited in Jacob’s eyes. Reuben because of his taking of his father’s concubine (Gen 35:22), Simeon and Levi because they slew the men of Shechem (Gen 34:30), and now Judah for marrying a Canaanite woman and breaking his oath to Tamar.
But why should the account have been written in the first place? It is not a covenant narrative and it is not part of the story of Joseph. The answer may well be that it is a kind of covenant narrative in the sense that it is a record of Tamar’s vindication after trial, a record necessary to maintain her position in the tribe. She would want it in writing for it is her vindication before all.
Gen 38:1
‘And it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned in to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he took her and went in unto her. And she conceived and bore a son and he called his name Er. And she conceived again and bore a son and called his name Onan. And she yet again bore a son and called his name Shelah, and he was at Chezib when she bore him.’
“Went down from his brothers.” He goes to see a friend, Hirah an Adullamite. Adullam was a Canaanite city, later in the territory of Judah (Jos 12:15). This emphasises his Canaanite associations. Then he compounds his position by marrying a Canaanite woman. This could only add to Jacob’s grief of heart, for he would undoubtedly have looked on this as going against the covenant. The lesson is that if we follow sin it will lead us and our children deeper and deeper into trouble.
It is not necessary to see this as signifying separation from the family tribe. There is no suggestion that he takes flocks and herds with him. It is a private friendship. And his visits to Shua to meet his daughter, under the guise of visiting his friend Hirah, may well have been in secret.
Nor does he necessarily lead a separate life from his brothers when he is married. While the marriage would be a shock to Jacob (compare Gen 26:34-35) it was not a reason for his son leaving the family tribe. There is nothing to suggest that Judah did not bring his wife into the tribe. The point is rather stressed that he begets three sons, for this explains the following narrative. It is only when it comes to the third birth that we are told where he was. Chezeb is probably the same as Achzib, later a town of Judah, in the lowland hills. And there is nothing in this to cast doubt on the fact that he continued to work alongside his brothers. If they took the herds and flocks to Shechem they could also take them to Chezeb.
Later, however, we do read of ‘his sheep shearers’ (Gen 38:12) which may suggest a level of independence. But we might expect the sons as they grow older to exert their authority independently, even establishing sub-groups within the tribe. (But not necessarily. These sheep shearers may simply represent the group he was in charge of at the time. The flocks were very extensive). Yet if this is so it is many years later when his wife has died after two of his children have grown up.
But what is significant is that the name of his wife is never mentioned, she is only ‘Shua’s daughter’ (Gen 38:12). It is as though what follows puts her beyond the pale in the eyes of the writer. This may have been because she was seen as such an evil influence on her sons (see following).
Gen 38:6-10
‘And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. And Er, Judah’s firstborn was wicked in the sight of Yahweh, and Yahweh slew him. And Judah said to Onan, “Go into your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother.” And Onan knew that the seed would not be his. And it came about that when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled it on the ground lest he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh and he slew him also.’
We find here the fruit of the difference between the culture of the family tribe and the culture of the Canaanites. It is clear that the family tribe practised the custom of Levirate marriage. According to this custom, which is described later in Deu 25:5-10 and illustrated in the Book of Ruth, a brother of a man who dies childless has a duty to marry his brother’s wife and go in to her to produce children on his brother’s behalf, and those children are seen as his brother’s. It was a law known and practised elsewhere. But Onan refused to accept the custom, possibly because his mother has brought him up in the Canaanite religion, and he took steps to ensure it did not work. No faithful member of the family tribe would have dared to refuse in that way. (Outwardly Onan would have to conform to the traditions of the tribe. But his mother’s influence may well have had a counter-effect).
“Er was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh.” Er may also have been brought up by his mother in the Canaanite religion, and even been taken secretly to some of their festivals, thus his experience of the Canaanite religion may have meant that he indulged in sexual practises that could only be seen as an abomination by the family tribe. So when he dies it is put down to his moral and sacrilegious behaviour. Note the reintroduction of the name of Yahweh. It is clear that Er’s crime is seen as going against the covenant.
“Yahweh slew him.” His early death, possibly through venereal disease exacerbated by some other disease, is seen as the judgment of Yahweh.
“And Judah said to Onan.” Onan dared not disobey the head of his sub-tribe. He carried out the motions of what he was required to do. But when he was about to ejaculate he withdrew and let the seed fall on the ground. This has nothing to do with birth control. His sin is that he refused to ‘give seed to his brother’ and it was a kind of fratricide. He has disobeyed the laws of the tribe which are seen as part of the covenant (Gen 26:5). Thus he too comes under Yahweh’s disapproval and his subsequent early death is seen as the judgment of Yahweh.
But why should someone behave in this way? It may well be that he too had been brought up in the Canaanite religion and despised the tribal customs. Thus he may have seen the demand made on him as repugnant. Alternately it may have been just stubbornness and unwillingness to do his dead brother a good turn. Indeed inheritance was also involved. Er’s inheritance would go to the child. It may have been mainly the idea of this that Onan did not like. And indeed it may have been a combination of all three. Whatever it was it made him refuse to comply.
(Some have cast doubt on the chronology. We know from Gen 37:2 that Joseph was probably about eighteen when he was sold as a slave, making Judah possibly about twenty two, and say twenty three when he married and bore Er. Then in Gen 41:46 Joseph is thirty, although we may see this as a round number indicating that he has completed his period of preparation (three for completeness times ten for intensity), and this is followed by nine years (seven good years and two bad years) at which point Joseph seeks to persuade the family to come to Egypt. Thus at this point Joseph may be roughly forty and Judah roughly forty four. Then not too long afterwards they do make for Egypt and at this point Judah seemingly has grandchildren by Perez whom he begets after his third son has grown up (Gen 46:12), when he must be at the earliest say forty (which assumes Er married when still quite young. But this could well be so. It may be that Canaanites with their ‘advanced’ sexual attitudes did marry much younger than those in the family tribe – as Judah’s wife presumably did ). This say some is impossible.
But this is to ignore the artificial nature of Genesis 46 (which see), for there the writer is seeking to bring the number of Jacob and his direct descendants to seventy by any means possible in order to indicate the divine perfection of the number who went up to Egypt – intensified seven (he also includes the two sons of Joseph who were born in Egypt). He is not counting them but expressing an idea. Thus it may well be that he includes the grandchildren, even though they have not yet been born, as being as it were ‘in Perez’s loins’).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Story of Judah and Tamar Gen 38:1-30 records the story of Judah and Tamar. The important reason for the insertion of this narrative account lies in the fact that David, the king of Israel, was of the lineage of one of the twins conceived in this wicked manner. The story was especially important to the Israelites during the period of the kingdom as they sought to trace the genealogy of the royal Davidic lineage. Whether this story found itself within the book of Genesis immediately by the hand of Moses or later during the compilation of the Holy Scriptures after the Babylonian captivity or somewhere in between does not weaken its divine inspiration. However, like several passages in the book of Genesis, such as Gen 36:31, which refers to the period of kings reigning over the nation of Israel, the story of Judah and Tamar suggests later compilation when the Davidic lineage was well established with the children of Israel.
Gen 36:31, “And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel .”
A second reason for the insertion of the story of Judah and Tamar is given by Arthurs, who refers to Mathewson’s argument that this narrative “not only heightens tension by suspending the plot but also positions Judah as a foil to Joseph.” While Joseph resists temptation, Judah yields to sexual passions, making Judah the hypocrite and Joseph the genuine man of righteousness. [248]
[248] Jeffery D. Arthurs, Preaching With Variety (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 2007), 75.
Gen 38:1 “a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah” – Comments – This was apparently a friend of Judah. See Gen 38:12; Gen 38:20.
Gen 38:12, “And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.”
Gen 38:20, “And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not.”
Gen 38:8 “Go in unto thy brother’s wife” – Comments – Note that the event of taking a brother’s wife took place before the Mosaic Law commanded it (Deu 25:5).
Deu 25:5, “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her.”
Gen 38:11 Comments – According to Gen 38:14; Gen 38:26 Tamar knew Judah’s motive of withhold his third son from her and this was the reason she deceived him into coming in to her. She did not want to remain barren and become a reproach among her own people.
Gen 38:24 Comments – The fact that Judah pronounced the judgment of death upon Tamar was a reflection of the customs of his day. The Code of Hammurabi, believed by some scholars to have been written by a Babylonian king around 2100 B.C., impacted its culture for centuries. It is very likely that Judah’s rash statement was influenced by law 110 of this Code, which allowed burning people for heinous crimes. Law 110 says, “If a ‘sister of a god’ open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.”
The practice of putting the adulteress to death was also in Mosaic Law (Lev 21:9, Deu 22:21).
Lev 21:9, “And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.”
Deu 22:21, “Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.”
Gen 38:29 Word Study on “Pharez” Strong says the Hebrew name “Pharez” (H6557) means, “breach,” or “breaking forth.” Pharez continued the lineage of Jesus.
Gen 38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.
Ten Genealogies (Calling) – The Genealogies of Righteous Men and their Divine Callings (To Be Fruitful and Multiply) – The ten genealogies found within the book of Genesis are structured in a way that traces the seed of righteousness from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and the seventy souls that followed him down into Egypt. The book of Genesis closes with the story of the preservation of these seventy souls, leading us into the book of Exodus where we see the creation of the nation of Israel while in Egyptian bondage, which nation of righteousness God will use to be a witness to all nations on earth in His plan of redemption. Thus, we see how the book of Genesis concludes with the origin of the nation of Israel while its first eleven chapters reveal that the God of Israel is in fact that God of all nations and all creation.
The genealogies of the six righteous men in Genesis (Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) are the emphasis in this first book of the Old Testament, with each of their narrative stories opening with a divine commission from God to these men, and closing with the fulfillment of prophetic words concerning the divine commissions. This structure suggests that the author of the book of Genesis wrote under the office of the prophet in that a prophecy is given and fulfilled within each of the genealogies of these six primary patriarchs. Furthermore, all the books of the Old Testament were written by men of God who moved in the office of the prophet, which includes the book of Genesis. We find a reference to the fulfillment of these divine commissions by the patriarchs in Heb 11:1-40. The underlying theme of the Holy Scriptures is God’s plan of redemption for mankind. Thus, the book of Genesis places emphasis upon these men of righteousness because of the role that they play in this divine plan as they fulfilled their divine commissions. This explains why the genealogies of Ishmael (Gen 25:12-18) and of Esau (Gen 36:1-43) are relatively brief, because God does not discuss the destinies of these two men in the book of Genesis. These two men were not men of righteousness, for they missed their destinies because of sin. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Esau sold his birthright. However, it helps us to understand that God has blessed Ishmael and Esau because of Abraham although the seed of the Messiah and our redemption does not pass through their lineage. Prophecies were given to Ishmael and Esau by their fathers, and their genealogies testify to the fulfillment of these prophecies. There were six righteous men did fulfill their destinies in order to preserve a righteous seed so that God could create a righteous nation from the fruit of their loins. Illustration As a young schoolchild learning to read, I would check out biographies of famous men from the library, take them home and read them as a part of class assignments. The lives of these men stirred me up and placed a desire within me to accomplish something great for mankind as did these men. In like manner, the patriarchs of the genealogies in Genesis are designed to stir up our faith in God and encourage us to walk in their footsteps in obedience to God.
The first five genealogies in the book of Genesis bring redemptive history to the place of identifying seventy nations listed in the Table of Nations. The next five genealogies focus upon the origin of the nation of Israel and its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is much more history and events that took place surrounding these individuals emphasized in the book of Genesis, which can be found in other ancient Jewish writings, such as The Book of Jubilees. However, the Holy Scriptures and the book of Genesis focus upon the particular events that shaped God’s plan of redemption through the procreation of men of righteousness. Thus, it was unnecessary to include many of these historical events that were irrelevant to God’s plan of redemption.
In addition, if we see that the ten genealogies contained within the book of Genesis show to us the seed of righteousness that God has preserved in order to fulfill His promise that the “seed of woman” would bruise the serpent’s head in Gen 3:15, then we must understand that each of these men of righteousness had a particular calling, destiny, and purpose for their lives. We can find within each of these genealogies the destiny of each of these men of God, for each one of them fulfilled their destiny. These individual destinies are mentioned at the beginning of each of their genealogies.
It is important for us to search these passages of Scripture and learn how each of these men fulfilled their destiny in order that we can better understand that God has a destiny and a purpose for each of His children as He continues to work out His divine plan of redemption among the children of men. This means that He has a destiny for you and me. Thus, these stories will show us how other men fulfilled their destinies and help us learn how to fulfill our destiny. The fact that there are ten callings in the book of Genesis, and since the number “10” represents the concept of countless, many, or numerous, we should understand that God calls out men in each subsequent generation until God’s plan of redemption is complete.
We can even examine the meanings of each of their names in order to determine their destiny, which was determined for them from a child. Adam’s name means “ruddy, i.e. a human being” ( Strong), for it was his destiny to begin the human race. Noah’s name means, “rest” ( Strong). His destiny was to build the ark and save a remnant of mankind so that God could restore peace and rest to the fallen human race. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning, “father of a multitude” ( Strong), because his destiny was to live in the land of Canaan and believe God for a son of promise so that his seed would become fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth. Isaac’s name means, “laughter” ( Strong) because he was the child of promise. His destiny was to father two nations, believing that the elder would serve the younger. Isaac overcame the obstacles that hindered the possession of the land, such as barrenness and the threat of his enemies in order to father two nations, Israel and Esau. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “he will rule as God” ( Strong), because of his ability to prevail over his brother Esau and receive his father’s blessings, and because he prevailed over the angel in order to preserve his posterity, which was the procreation of twelve sons who later multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, his ability to prevail against all odds and father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as one who prevailed with God’s plan of being fruitful and multiplying seeds of righteousness.
In order for God’s plan to be fulfilled in each of the lives of these patriarchs, they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply. It was God’s plan that the fruit of each man was to be a godly seed, a seed of righteousness. It was because of the Fall that unrighteous seed was produced. This ungodly offspring was not then nor is it today God’s plan for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Generation of the Heavens and the Earth Gen 2:4 to Gen 4:26
a) The Creation of Man Gen 2:4-25
b) The Fall Gen 3:1-24
c) Cain and Abel Gen 4:1-26
2. The Generation of Adam Gen 5:1 to Gen 6:8
3. The Generation of Noah Gen 6:9 to Gen 9:29
4. The Generation of the Sons of Noah Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:9
5. The Generation of Shem Gen 11:10-26
6. The Generation of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
7. The Generation Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
8. The Generation of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
9. The Generation of Esau Gen 36:1-43
10. The Generation of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Calling of the Patriarchs of Israel We can find two major divisions within the book of Genesis that reveal God’s foreknowledge in designing a plan of redemption to establish a righteous people upon earth. Paul reveals this four-fold plan in Rom 8:29-30: predestination, calling, justification, and glorification.
Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
The book of Genesis will reflect the first two phase of redemption, which are predestination and calling. We find in the first division in Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 emphasizing predestination. The Creation Story gives us God’s predestined plan for mankind, which is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with righteous offspring. The second major division is found in Gen 2:4 to Gen 50:25, which gives us ten genealogies, in which God calls men of righteousness to play a role in His divine plan of redemption.
The foundational theme of Gen 2:4 to Gen 11:26 is the divine calling for mankind to be fruitful and multiply, which commission was given to Adam prior to the Flood (Gen 1:28-29), and to Noah after the Flood (Gen 9:1). The establishment of the seventy nations prepares us for the calling out of Abraham and his sons, which story fills the rest of the book of Genesis. Thus, God’s calling through His divine foreknowledge (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26) will focus the calling of Abraham and his descendants to establish the nation of Israel. God will call the patriarchs to fulfill the original purpose and intent of creation, which is to multiply into a righteous nation, for which mankind was originally predestined to fulfill.
The generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob take up a large portion of the book of Genesis. These genealogies have a common structure in that they all begin with God revealing Himself to a patriarch and giving him a divine commission, and they close with God fulfilling His promise to each of them because of their faith in His promise. God promised Abraham a son through Sarah his wife that would multiply into a nation, and Abraham demonstrated his faith in this promise on Mount Moriah. God promised Isaac two sons, with the younger receiving the first-born blessing, and this was fulfilled when Jacob deceived his father and received the blessing above his brother Esau. Jacob’s son Joseph received two dreams of ruling over his brothers, and Jacob testified to his faith in this promise by following Joseph into the land of Egypt. Thus, these three genealogies emphasize God’s call and commission to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their response of faith in seeing God fulfill His word to each of them.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
The Origin of the Nation of Israel After Gen 1:1 to Gen 9:29 takes us through the origin of the heavens and the earth as we know them today, and Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26 explains the origin of the seventy nations (Gen 10:1 to Gen 11:26), we see that the rest of the book of Genesis focuses upon the origin of the nation of Israel (Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26). Thus, each of these major divisions serves as a foundation upon which the next division is built.
Paul the apostle reveals the four phases of God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind through His divine foreknowledge of all things in Rom 8:29-30, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Predestination – Gen 1:1 to Gen 11:26 emphasizes the theme of God the Father’s predestined purpose of the earth, which was to serve mankind, and of mankind, which was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with righteousness. Calling – Gen 11:27 to Gen 50:26 will place emphasis upon the second phase of God’s plan of redemption for mankind, which is His divine calling to fulfill His purpose of multiplying and filling the earth with righteousness. (The additional two phases of Justification and Glorification will unfold within the rest of the books of the Pentateuch.) This second section of Genesis can be divided into five genealogies. The three genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob begin with a divine calling to a patriarch. The two shorter genealogies of Ishmael and Esau are given simply because they inherit a measure of divine blessings as descendants of Abraham, but they will not play a central role in God’s redemptive plan for mankind. God will implement phase two of His divine plan of redemption by calling one man named Abraham to depart unto the Promised Land (Gen 12:1-3), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch. Isaac’s calling can also be found at the beginning of his genealogy, where God commands him to dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-6), and this calling was fulfilled by the patriarch Isaac. Jacob’s calling was fulfilled as he bore twelve sons and took them into Egypt where they multiplied into a nation. The opening passage of Jacob’s genealogy reveals that his destiny would be fulfilled through the dream of his son Joseph (Gen 37:1-11), which took place in the land of Egypt. Perhaps Jacob did not receive such a clear calling as Abraham and Isaac because his early life was one of deceit, rather than of righteousness obedience to God; so the Lord had to reveal His plan for Jacob through his righteous son Joseph. In a similar way, God spoke to righteous kings of Israel, and was silent to those who did not serve Him. Thus, the three patriarchs of Israel received a divine calling, which they fulfilled in order for the nation of Israel to become established in the land of Egypt. Perhaps the reason the Lord sent the Jacob and the seventy souls into Egypt to multiply rather than leaving them in the Promised Land is that the Israelites would have intermarried the cultic nations around them and failed to produce a nation of righteousness. God’s ways are always perfect.
1. The Generations of Terah (& Abraham) Gen 11:27 to Gen 25:11
2. The Generations Ishmael Gen 25:12-18
3. The Generations of Isaac Gen 25:19 to Gen 35:29
4. The Generations of Esau Gen 36:1-43
5. The Generations of Jacob Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26
Divine Miracles It is important to note that up until now the Scriptures record no miracles in the lives of men. Thus, we will observe that divine miracles begin with Abraham and the children of Israel. Testimonies reveal today that the Jews are still recipients of God’s miracles as He divinely intervenes in this nation to fulfill His purpose and plan for His people. Yes, God is working miracles through His New Testament Church, but miracles had their beginning with the nation of Israel.
The Genealogy of Jacob The genealogies of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have a common structure in that they open with God speaking to a patriarch and giving him a commission and a promise in which to believe. In each of these genealogies, the patriarch’s calling is to believe God’s promise, while this passage of Scripture serves as a witness to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling each promise. Only then does the genealogy come to a close.
Gen 37:1 to Gen 50:26 gives the account of the genealogy of Jacob, Isaac’s son. Heb 11:21-22 reveals the central message in this genealogy that stirs our faith in God when Jacob and Joseph gave redemptive prophecies, saying, “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” As Abraham’s genealogy begins with a divine commission when God told him to leave Ur and to go Canaan (Gen 12:1), and Isaac’s genealogy begin with a divine commission predicting him as the father of two nations (Gen 25:23), so does Jacob’s genealogy begin with a divine encounter in the form of his son Joseph’s two dreams. These dreams make it clear that Jacob’s divine commission was to bring his clan of seventy souls into Egypt through Joseph for four hundred years while the people multiply into the nation of Israel. This genealogy closes with the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which means “prince of God,” because his destiny was to father a multitude of godly seed. He fathered the twelve sons, or “princes,” who multiplied into the twelve tribes of Israel. His ability to father twelve righteous seeds earned him his name as a prince of God, as a man who ruled over a multitude of godly seed. The Scriptures testify to Jacob’s faith in God’s promise that Joseph would rule over his brethren by the fact that he followed his son into Egypt (Gen 49:22-26), and he blessed the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh (Heb 11:21-22). The fact that Jacob died in a ripe old age testifies that he fulfilled his destiny as did his fathers, Abraham and Isaac.
The Story of Joseph The last story in the origin of the nation of Israel that is recorded in the book of Genesis is the story of Joseph. Perhaps there is no other Old Testament story so moving as when he reveals himself to his brothers. There are many truths that are taught to us in this great Bible story. We learn that if we will serve the Lord amidst persecutions, God will always bring someone into our lives to bless us. Joseph had the favour and blessings of his father as a young man in the midst of his brothers’ persecutions. He then had the blessings of Potipher as a young man in Egypt. He found the favour of Pharaoh as an adult.
God gave Jeremiah some friends who stood by him and blessed him during the most difficult times in his ministry. God gave Daniel three friends in his Babylonian captivity. God gave to Paul men like Timothy and Luke to stand by him during times of persecution and even imprisonment. But for Joseph, he often stood alone, totally trusting in God.
The Chronology of the Life of Joseph – Jacob was one hundred thirty (130) years old when he went to Egypt.
Gen 47:9, “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
Jacob died at the age of 147.
Gen 47:28, “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.”
Joseph became ruler in Egypt at the age of 30.
Gen 41:46, “And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Joseph had two sons by the age of 37.
Gen 41:50, “And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.”
Joseph was 39 when his family comes to Egypt.
Gen 45:11, “And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.”
Therefore, Jacob was 91 when Joseph was born.
Also, Joseph died at the age of 110 (Gen 50:22; Gen 50:26)
Gen 50:22, “And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.”
Gen 50:26, “So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.”
Joseph as a Type and Figure of Christ Jesus In many ways we can see Joseph as a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ. Note some comparisons:
1. Joseph was Jacob’s beloved son, just as Jesus was the Heavenly Father’s beloved son.
Mat 3:17, “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
2. Joseph was given a coat of many colours, which was similar to the seamless robe worn by Jesus Christ, of which the Roman soldiers cast lots (Joh 19:23-24).
Joh 19:23-24, “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”
3. Joseph took bread to his brothers, just like Jesus was sent as the bread of life to His people.
Mat 15:24-26, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.”
4. Joseph was rejected by his brothers like Jesus was rejected by His people, the Jews.
5. Joseph was thrown in the pit in Gen 37:24. This is like Jesus’ death on the cross (Psa 16:10)
Gen 37:24, “And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.”
Psa 16:10, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
6. When Joseph was betrayed by his brethren and sold as a servant. Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot for thirty pieces of sliver.
7. Joseph became a servant in the house of Potiphar, just like Jesus Christ took form of a servant (Php 2:7) and (Psa 105:17).
Gen 37:36, “And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.”
Gen 39:1, “And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.”
Psa 105:17, “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:”
Php 2:7, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”
8. Joseph was sent to Egypt to deliver the house of Jacob (Israel) (Gen 45:7-8) like Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to deliver them.
Gen 45:7-8, “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”
Mat 15:24, “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
9. Joseph was lifted up by Potiphar, then brought down into prison, then raised up by Pharaoh at his right hand. This is like Jesus being brought down to the grave, and then being raised to the right hand of the Father.
10. Joseph was exalted as ruler under Pharaoh, like Christians at the right hand of the Father in heaven today.
11. Some scholars suggest that Joseph’s marriage to the Egyptian is a type of Christ’s marriage to the church (especially to the Gentile church). He had two sons, which symbolizes the salvation of the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
12. Joseph’s brothers bowed down to Joseph during the famine (Gen 42:6) like Israel will bow down to Jesus one day (Rom 11:26). Israel shall be saved through the Deliverer.
Gen 42:6, “And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.”
Rom 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
13. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers on their third trip to Egypt. The ten brothers finally coming to Joseph and recognising him and receiving an inheritance is like Israel turning to and recognising Jesus and all being saved.
Rom 11:26, “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”
Jesus will reveal Himself to the Jews after the Church is raptured at His Second Return, thus, a third return.
14. All nations came and bowed down to Joseph, as all nations will someday come and bow down at the throne of the Lord Jesus.
15. Joseph was ruler over Egypt and the whole world, just as Jesus will reign in Zion as king of kings over the earth.
The story of Judah, Shuah, and Tamar
v. 1. And it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. v. 2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. v. 3. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
v. 4. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. v. 5. And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah; and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. v. 6. And Judah took a wife for Er, his first-born, whose name was Tamar, v. 7. And Er, Judah’s first-born, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. v. 8. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. v. 9. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his, v. 10. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord, was evil in His eyes; wherefore He slew him also.
v. 11. Then said Judah to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, EXPOSITION
Gen 38:1
And it came to pass. The present chapter appears to interrupt the continuity of the narrative of Joseph’s history. Partly on this account, and partly because the name Jehovah occurs in it (Gen 38:7, Gen 38:10), it has been pronounced a later Jehovistic interpolation (Tuch, Bleek, Davidson, Coleuso). Its design has been explained as an attempt to glorify the line of David by representing it as sprung from Judah (Bohlen), or to disclose the origin of the Levitate law of marriage among the Jews (Knobel); but the incidents here recorded of Judah and his family are fitted to reflect dishonor instead of glory on the ancestry of David (Havernick); and the custom here mentioned of raising up seed to a dead brother by marrying his widow, though the idea may have originated with Judah (Lange), is more likely to have descended from earlier times (Delitzsch, Keil). Rightly understood, the object of the present portion of the record appears to have been not simply to prepare the way for the subsequent (Gen 46:8-27) genealogical register (Gerlach), or to contrast the wickedness of Judah and his sons with the piety and chastity of Joseph in Egypt (Wordsworth), or to recite the private history of one of Christ’s ancestors (Bush, Murphy, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’), or to show that the pre-eminence of Judah in the patriarchal family was due exclusively to grace (Candlish), but also and chiefly to justify the Divine procedure in the subsequent deportation of Jacob and his sons to Egypt (Keil). The special danger to which the theocratic family was exposed was that of intermarrying with the Canaanites (Gen 24:3; Gen 28:6). Accordingly, having carried forward his narrative to the point where, in consequence of Joseph’s sale, a way begins to open up for the transference of the patriarchal house to the lend of the Pharaohs, the historian makes a pause to introduce a passage from the life of Judah, with the view of proving the necessity of such removal, by showing, as in the case of Judah, the almost certainty that, if left in Canaan, the descendants of Jacob would fall before the temptation of marrying with the daughters of the land, with the result, in the first instance, of a great and rapid moral deterioration in the holy seed, and with the ultimate effect of completely obliterating the line of demarcation between them and the surrounding heathen world. How the purity of the patriarchal family was guarded till it developed into a powerful nation, first by its providential withdrawment in infancy from the sphere of temptation (Gen 46:5), then by its separate establishment in Goshen beside a people who regarded them with aversion (Gen 46:34), and latterly by its cruel enslavement under Pharaoh (Exo 1:10), is a subject which in due course engages the attention of the writer. At that time.
(1) If the date of Judah’s marriage, as is most probable, was shortly after the sale of Joseph (Keil, Kurtz, Lange, Alford, Wordsworth, Quarry), since at the time of that atrocity Judah was still living with his brethren, the only difficulty calling for solution is to account for the birth of Judah’s grandchildren, Hezron and Hamul (the sons of Pharez, the twin child of Judah by Tamar), in the short interval of twenty-two years which preceded Jacob’s descent into Egypt without making Er and Onan marry in comparative boyhood. The case becomes a little less perplexing if Hezron and Hamul, though said to have come into Egypt (Gen 46:27; Exo 1:1; Deu 10:22), may be regarded as having been born there (Hengstenberg), since twenty-two years afford sufficient space for the birth of Judah’s three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah, which may have taken place during the first three years after their father’s marriage, and for the birth of Pharez and Zarah, even if Er married as late as eighteen. Of course if the narrative requires the birth of Hezron and Hamul to have taken place in Canaan (Kalisch), it is simply impossible to hold that all this occurred within little more than a score of years. Hence
(2) the date of Judah’s marriage has been placed before the sale of Joseph; but even on this assumption the task is arduous to make the birth of Hezron and Hamul occur before the emigration of their great-grandfather to Egypt. For as Judah was not more than four years older than Joseph (cf. Gen 29:35 with Gen 30:25), his age at the time of Joseph’s sale could not have been more than twenty-one. But placing Judah’s marriage at the earliest possible date, viz; in his fifteenth year, only substitutes an interval of twenty-eight years instead of one of twenty-two, in which Judah’s son Er must be born, grow up to manhood, (say at fifteen) marry, die, and leave his widow Tamar, who, after marrying with Onan and waiting for Shelah (which would consume at least another year), must become the mother of twin sons by her father-in-law (for which another year would be required), and must see the elder of the two married at ten years of age, if his sons are to be born upon the soft of Canaan. On either hypothesis, therefore, it seems indispensable to hold that Judah’s grandsons were born in Egypt; and in this case there is little gained by putting Judah’s marriage earlier than Joseph’s sale, i.e. in Judah’s twenty-first year. That Judah went downfrom Hebron (Gen 37:14), or the mountains (Keil), towards the south (Aben Ezra, Rosenmller) from his brethren,setting up a separate and independent establishment apart from them; “not only immediately after Joseph was sold, but also on account of it,” “in a fit of impenitent anger” (Kurtz), in a spirit of remorse (Lange)and turned in to a certain Adullamite,literally, and pitched (sc. his tent, Gen 26:15) up to, as far as, or close by, a man, an Adullamite, i.e. belonging to Adullam, a town in the Hebron valley (Jos 15:1-63 :85); in the time of the conquest the seat of a Canaanitish king (Jos 12:15), afterwards celebrated for its connection with the history of David (1Sa 22:1, 1Sa 22:2; 2Sa 23:13), subsequently mentioned in Scripture (2Ch 11:7; Neh 11:30; Mic 1:15), but never successfully identifiedwhose name was Hirah“Nobility” (Gesenius).
Gen 38:2
And Judah saw there the daughter of a certain (literally, of a man, a) Canaanite,not of a merchant (Onkelos), but of an inhabitant of the land of Canaanwhose name was Shuah;”Wealth,” “Riches,” “Cry for Help” (Gesenius). This was not the name of Judah’s wife (LXX.), but of her father(vide Gen 38:12)and he took her,i.e. married her (viz. Gen 6:2; Gen 24:67)and went in unto her.
Gen 38:3
And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er“Watcher” (Gesanius). What is commonly regarded as an idiosyncrasy of the Elohist, viz; the naming of a child by its father, here occurs in a so-called Jehovistic section.
Gen 38:4
And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan“Strength” (Gesenius). The naming of a child by its mother a peculiarity of the so-called Jehovist; but vide Gen 16:15.
Gen 38:5
And she yet again conceived (lit; and she added again), and bare a son; and called his name Shelah:”Prayer” (Gesenius), “Peace” (Furst)and he (i.e. Judah) wassc; absent (Gerlach); or, translating impersonally, it was, i.e. the event happened (Murphy)at Chezib,probably the same as Achzib (Jos 15:44; Mic 1:14, Mic 1:15) and Chezeba (1Ch 4:22), which in the partitioning of the land fell to the sons of Shelah, and was here mentioned that Shelah’s descendants might know the birthplace of their ancestor (Keil); or the fact of Judah’s absence at the birth of his third son may be recorded as the reason of the name, “Peace,” “Rest, “Prosperity, which the child received (Gerlach)when she bare himliterally, in her bearing of him.
Gen 38:6
And Judah took a wife (cf. Gen 21:21; Gen 24:4) for Er his firstborn,“by the early marriage of his sons Judah seems to have intended to prevent in them a germinating corruption (Lange)whose name as Tamar“Palm tree” (Gesenius). Though the name was Shemitic, it does not follow that the person was. Cf. Melchisedeck and Abimelech. Yet she is not expressly called a Canaanite, though it is more than probable she was. Lange conjectures that she may have been of Philistine descent, and thinks the narrative intends to convey the impression that she was a woman of extraordinary character.
Gen 38:7
And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord. The connection between Er’s name () and Er’s character () is noticeable. The special form which his wickedness assumed is not stated; but the accompanying phrase suggests that, as in the case of the Sodomites (Gen 13:13; Gen 19:5), it was some unnatural abomination. And the Lord slew himliterally, caused him to die; not necessarily by direct visitation; perhaps simply by allowing him to reap the fruits of his youthful indulgence in premature and childless death, which yet was so rapid and so evidently entailed by his evil courses as immediately to suggest the punitive hand of God.
Gen 38:8
And Judah said unto Onan (obviously after a sufficient interval), Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her,literally, and perform the part of levir, or husband‘s brother, to her. The language seems to imply that what was afterwards in the code Mosaic known as the Lex Leviratus (Deu 25:5, Deu 25:6) was at this time a recognized custom. The existence of the practice has been traced in different frames among Indians, Persians, and other nations of Asia and Africaand raise up seed to thy brother. As afterwards explained in the Hebrew legislation, the first. born son of such a Levirate marriage became in the eye of the law the child of the deceased husband, and was regarded as his heir.
Gen 38:9, Gen 38:10
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, whenliterally, and it was if, i.e. wheneverhe went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground (literally, destroyed to the ground), lest that he should (or, so as not to) give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased (literally, was evil in the eyes of) the Lord:the word Jehovah is employed not because the writer was a late interpolator, but because the sin of Onan was an offence against the sanctity and prosperity of the theocratic family (Hengstenberg)wherefore he (i.e. Jehovah) slew him also (vide supra).
Gen 38:11
Then said Judah to Tamer his daughter-in-law, Remain a widowalmanah, from alam, to be solitary, forsaken, signifies one bereft of a husband, hence a widow (cf. Exo 22:21)at thy father’s house (cf. Le Gen 22:13), till Shelah my son be grown. It is implied that this was merely a pretext on the part of Judah, and that he did not really intend to give his third son to Tamar, considering her an unlucky woman (Delitzsch, Keil, Kalisch), or, at least, not at present, under the impression that the deaths of Er and Onan had been occasioned by their too early marriages (Lange). The reason of his failure to release Tamar from her widowhood is added in the ensuing clause. For he said (sc. in his heart), Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamer went and dwelt in her father’s house.
Gen 38:12
And in process of timeliterally, and the days were multiplied (cf. Gen 4:3), which is rendered by the same words in the A.V.the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted (or, comforted himself, ceased to mourn), and went up unto his sheep-shearers (vide Gen 31:19) to Timnath,a border town between Ekron and Bethshemesh (Jos 15:10) in the plain of Judah (Kalisch, Wordsworth, W. L. Alexander in Kitto’s ‘Cyclopedia’); but more probably here a town (Jos 15:57) in the mountains of Judah (Robinson, 2.343, Keil, Alford, ‘Speaker’s Commentary’)he and his friend (LXX.)Hirah the Adullamite.
Gen 38:13
And it was told Tamer, saying, Behold thy father in-law, a father-in-law, from , unused, to join together. Of. for , a son-in-law, or generally one connected lay marriage, from goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
Gen 38:14
And she put her widow’s garments off from her (to prevent detection by Judah), and covered her with a veil,to conceal her features, after the fashion of a courtesan (Gen 38:15; cf. Job 24:15)and wrapped herself,possibly with some large mantle (Alford)and sat in an open place,literally, in the opening (i.e. gate) of Enaim (LXX; Gesenius, Keil, Kalisch, Lange, et alii); less happily, in the opening of the eyes, i.e. in a public and open place (Calvin), in the parting of the ways, in bivio itineris (Vulgate), in the opening (or breaking forth) of the two fountains (Aben Ezra, Rosenmller)which is by (or upon) the way to Timnath;”close to the site of Thamna, now Tibneh, three miles to the east, on an ancient road coming from Adullam, the very road by which the patriarch Judah would have come from Adullam to Timnah, is a ruin called Allin, or Anita, or Ainim” (‘Palestine Exploration,’ quoted by Inglis)for she saw that Shelah was grown (he was probably not much younger than either of his brothers who had died), and she was not given unto him to wifeliterally, for a wife.
Gen 38:15
When (literally, and) Judah saw her, he (literally, and he) thought her to be an harlot;literally, thought her (i.e. took her for) an harlot, like de r& (cf. 1Sa 1:13; Job 13:24), or to (fem. part. of , commit fornication); vide Gen 34:31because she had covered her facemore meretricis.
Gen 38:16
And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law). Though willing to commit adultery or fornication, Judah would have shrank from the sin of incest. And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? The conduct of Tamer, though in every way reprehensible, is not to be attributed to mere lust, or inordinate desire for offspring, if not from the son Shelah, then from the father Judah, but was probably traceable to a secret wish on the one hand to be avenged on Judah, and on the other hand to assert her right to a place amongst the ancestresses of the patriarchal family. Yet Tamar was really guilty of both adultery and incest, though Lange thinks the wickedness of Er and Onan renders this open to question.
Gen 38:17
And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flockliterally, a kid of the goats (Gen 38:20; cf. Jdg 15:1). And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?literally, if thou wilt give me a pledge until thy sending (sc. then I consent to thy proposal).
Gen 38:18
.And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet,the chotham, or signet, was either worn on the finger, (LXX.) or suspended round the neck by a pithil, or silk string. Its impression was a sign of property and a means of security (cf. Mat 27:66; Joh 3:33; Eph 1:13, &c.). Among the ancient Babylonians it was customary for every one to wear such a ring (Herod; 1.195); and modern Arabians in towns wear a seal-ring on the finger, or fastened by a cord round the neck, the impression of which serves as a signature (Robinson, 1:52). The seals and signets that have been brought to light by the excavations in Assyria and Babylon are of various forms and materials. They show the art of engraving to have been of great antiquity; but whether Judah’s signet was marked with alphabetical characters cannot be determined, though it may have been, since alphabetical writing was as old at least as the time of Abraham (vide Keil, ‘Introd.,’ Part I. sect. 1. ch. 1. 4)and thy bracelets (rather, thy chain, pithil, ut supra), and thy staff (the mateh, or rod, was so called from the idea of stretching out, the root being natah, to stretch out or extend) that is in thine hand. This too every Baby-Ionian carried (Herod; 1.195). “It was necessarily adorned with some device carved upon it, and consisting in a flower or a fruit, a bird, or some other animal” (Kalisch). And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
Gen 38:19
And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
Gen 38:20
And Judah sent the kidliterally, the kid of the goats, which he had promised (Gen 38:17)by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but (literally, and) he (i.e. Hirah) found her not.
Gen 38:21
Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot,literally, the consecrated, the prostitute being regarded as “one devoted to the worship of Astarte, a goddess of the Canaanites, the deification of the generative and productive principle of nature,” corresponding to the Babylonian Ashtarte, whose worship was of a grossly libidinous character (Herod; 1.199). Cf. Deu 23:19; Num 25:1; Hosed Num 4:14; and vide Keil on Deu 23:19 that was openly by the way side?or, that was in Enajim on the way, ut supra, Deu 23:14). And they said, There was no harlot (or kedeshah) in this place.
Gen 38:22
And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot (or kedeshah) in this place.
Gen 38:23
And Judah said, Let her take it to her,literally, let her take to herself (sc. the pledge)lest we be shamed (literally, become a contempt, i.e. by inquiring after her. Though not afraid to sin against God, Judah was pained at the idea of losing his reputation before men): behold, I sent this kid (i.e. I take you to witness that I have fulfilled my premise), and thou hast not found her.
Gen 38:24
And it same to pass about three months after (the usual time at which pregnancy is certainly determined), that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot (or, acted as a zonah); and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said (altogether unmindful of his own iniquity three months previous), Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. Under the law stoning was the punishment allotted to the crime of Tamar (Deu 22:20-24), burning being added only in cases of excessive criminality (Le Gen 20:14; Gen 21:9). It is obvious that the power of life and death lay in the hand of Judah, as the head of his family.
Gen 38:25
When she was brought forth (literally, she was brought forth, and), she sent to her father-in-law (who apparently had not the heart to witness the execution of his own sentence), saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets (or chain), and staff.
Gen 38:26
And Judah acknowledged (or discerned, ut supra, i.e. recognized) them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I;though Tamer was far from innocent (vide vex. 16), she was by no means as culpable as Judahbecause that (, for, for this cause, i.e. that so it might hap, pen to me: vide Gen 18:5) I gave her not to Shelah my son. And (in token of his penitence) he knew her again no more.
Gen 38:27
And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. Cf. the case of Rebekah (Gen 25:24).
Gen 38:28
And it came to pass, when she travailed,literally, in her bringing forth (cf. Gen 35:17)that the one put out his hand:literally, and it (sc. the child) gave a hand, i.e. it was an abnormal and dangerous presentationand the midwife (vide Gen 35:17) took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
Gen 38:29
And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she (i.e. the midwife) said, How hast thou broken forth! this breach be upon thee:literally, What a breach hast thou made! upon thee, a breach, or, Why hast thou broken forth for thyself a breach (Delitzsch)? or, How hast thou made for thee a breach? (Murphy)therefore his name was called Pharezor Breach (cf. Gen 46:12; Num 26:20; 1Ch 2:4; Mat 1:3).
Gen 38:30
And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and hi, name was called ZarahSplendor.
HOMILETICS
Gen 38:1-30
The house of Judah: a family record of sin and shame.
I. THE WICKEDNESS OF ER AND ONAN.
1. Early. On any hypothesis Er and Onan can have been little more than boys when they were married, and yet they appear to have arrived at a remarkable precocity in sin. Nor was it simply that they had shed the innocence and purity of youth, but they had also acquired a shameful proficiency in vice. Young scholars are mostly apt learners, especially in the devil’s school.
2. Unnatural. Though not described, the wickedness of Judah’s first son had relation to some perversion of the ordinance of marriage; that of his second is plainly stated to have been uncleanness and self-pollution. Neither against nature nor contrary to grace are the endearments of the married state, but every act outside of the Divine permissions concerning woman is both.
3. Heinous. The act of Er is characterized as “wicked in the sight of the Lord,” while that of Onan is said to have displeased the Lord. Hence it may be reasonably inferred that the essential criminality in both cases was the same. They were both perversions of a natural ordinance. They both militated against the purity and development of the theocratic family. Both indicated a contemptuous unbelief in the promise of the covenant, and a sacrilegious disregard for the calling of Israel as the progenitor of the promised seed. Hence both were deserving of Divine reprobation.
4. Disastrous. The tendency of all sin is ruinous, both for body, soul, and spirit. Whether as a natural result of indulgence in vice, or as a direct punitive visitation from God, Er and Onan were consigned to premature graves; and this, it should be noted by young persons of both sexes, is the almost inevitable consequence of indulgence in secret vice, and in particular of the practice of which Onan was guilty. Yielded to, it debilitates the physical constitution by a wasting of the vital powers, it impairs the mental faculties, it corrupts the moral nature, it sears and petrifies the conscience, and finally, what might have been a fair specimen of noble and virtuous manhood or womanhood it covers up, a poor, wasted, shivering skeleton, beneath the clods of the valley, causing it to lie down among the sins of its youth.
II. THE SIN OF TAMAR. The conduct of Judah’s daughter-in-law, the young widow of Er and Onan, though not without its extenuations, in having been partly provoked by Judah’s reluctance to marry her to Shelah, and partly inspired by a desire to take her place among the ancestresses of the promised seed, was yet in many respects reprehensible.
1. She discovered impatience. Although Judah did manifest a temporary unwillingness to give her Shelah for a husband, she might have reasoned that, after losing two sons, it was not unnatural that he should hesitate about exposing a third to the same risk of destruction.
2. She manifested unbelief. If Tamar did regard herself as wronged, as most undoubtedly she was, instead of taking measures to right herself, she should have left her cause to God, who had already vindicated her against the wickedness of her youthful husbands, and who in his own time and way would doubtless have interposed to assert her prerogative as a widow belonging to the family of Israel.
3. She practiced deception. Laying aside her widow’s garments, and assuming the attire of a harlot, she took her station at the gate of Enajim, on the way to Timnath, and pretended to be a prostitute. Tamar manifestly was not a woman of refined and delicate sensibilities; but then she was a Canaanite, and had been the wife of Er and Onan, who were not calculated to improve her modesty.
4. She was guilty of temptation. It is true the narrative does not represent her as having been guilty of solicitation, like the “foolish woman” described by Solomon (Pro 7:6-23; Pro 9:14-18). Perhaps she knew that Judah would not require solicitation; but if so she was all the more guilty in placing temptation in Judah’s way.
5. She committed incest. The guilt of an incestuous connection which rested on Judah unconsciously she had knowingly and willingly taken on herself.
III. THE TRANSGRESSIONS OF JUDAH. More numerous, if not more heinous, than those of either his sons or his daughter-in-law were the offences of Judah. Jacob’s fourth son sinned
1. In marrying a Canaanitish wife. Though Judah’s marriage with Shuah’s daughter was blessed by God, who made it fruitful, it does not follow that it was approved by God.
2. In withholding Shelah from Tamar. Although it does not appear as yet to have been commanded that in default of issue a widow should be married by her deceased husband’s brother, it is obvious that Judah recognized that it should be so, both by his own act in giving Onan to Tamar after Er’s death, and by his own subsequent confession with regard to Shelah (Gen 38:26).
3. In deceiving Tamar. Instead of frankly telling her that he did not intend his third son to become her husband, he bound her to remain a widow, and sent her home to her father’s house (instead of keeping her in his own) under the impression that Shelah was only withheld from her on the score of youth.
4. In committing sin with Tamar. Though in reality Judah committed incest, yet so far as his intention went it was only adultery, or fornication. Yet all forms of unchastity are forbidden in the law of God. And it gives a very low conception of the morality of Judah that he, a member of the consecrated family of Israel, who had himself been married, should have so openly, and deliberately, and coolly turned aside to seek the company of a common strumpet, as he imagined Tamar to be. Judah should have acted on the principle afterwards stated by Paul (1Co 7:9).
5. In condemning Tamar. “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt,” said the indignant patriarch. It is obvious the sentence was excessive in its severity. It was not imperative, else it could not have been remitted; and a recollection of his visit to Timnath three months previously should have inclined him to lean to mercy’s side. But the virtuous Angelos of society always procure indulgence for themselves by damning their fellow-sinners (Measure for Measure, Act II.). Scripture counsels differently (Mat 7:3; Rom 2:22; Gal 6:1).
Gen 38:12-26
Judah’s sin with Tamar.
I. COMMITTED.
1. Suddenly. It was occasioned by the sight of a supposed courtesan. Much evil enters by the eye (cf. 2Sa 11:2). Great need for the prayer of David (Psa 119:37).
2. Openly. Judah was in the company of Hirah, his friend, when he beheld Tamar sitting in the gate of Enajim, and, without attempting to hide it from his friend, went to seek her society. Shamelessness in sin betokens great depravity.
3. Willfully. Though in a manner surprised by the temptation, Judah was not inadvertently betrayed into commission of his sin with Tamar, but, on the contrary, went about it in a remarkably deliberate manner.
4. Inexcusably. There was no reason why Judah should not have sought a second wife to succeed Shuah’s daughter, rather than consort with prostitutes.
II. DETECTED.
1. Quickly. No doubt Judah thought he had heard the last of his indiscretion on the way to Timnath; but lo I in three short months his guilt is discovered. Not every offender is so speedily arrested; but sooner or later detection is inevitable for all. “Be sure thy sin will find thee out.”
2. Unexpectedly. Judah never imagined that his own signet, and chain, and staff would be produced as witnesses against him; and criminals never can be sure from what quarter testimony shall arise to condemn them.
3. Completely. There was no possibility of Judah’s evading the charge of Tamar. By no sort of ingenuity could he repudiate the articles of dress with which probably his household were familiar.
4. Publicly. At the very moment when Tamar was produced for execution Judah was obliged to confess his guilt in presence of his assembled household; and in like manner will the wicked yet be openly convicted in the sight of an assembled world.
III. CONFESSED.
1. Candidly. Found out, Judah did not attempt either to deny or to palliate his guilt, but frankly acknowledged that Tamar’s condition was due to him.
2. Promptly. Nor did he hesitate to own his guilt, but immediately confessed what he had done.
3. Penitently. This we may infer from the statement of the historian that the offence was not again repeated.
IV. FORGIVEN. It does not fall within the scope of the historian’s design to indicate whether Judah obtained mercy; but this may be reasonably concluded from
1. The promptness of his confession.
2. The sincerity of his penitence.
3. The reality of his faith
as evinced by the fact that he was reckoned among the ancestors of our Lord.
Gen 38:27-30
Tamar’s twins.
I. POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE.
(1) The offspring of the same parents;
(2) the fruit of the same sin;
(3) the gift of the same God.
II. POINTS OF DISTINCTION.
(1) The order of their birth;
(2) the import of their names;
(3) the purpose of their livesthe first being an ancestor of the promised seed.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Gen 38:1-30
The goodness and severity of God.
These occurrences in the family of Judah would seem
(1) to betoken the retributive judgment of God, and
(2) illustrate his grace. Joseph is lost, and still Divinely protected.
Judah is a wanderer from his brethren; a sensual, self-willed, degenerate man; yet it is in the line of this same wanderer that the promised seed shall appear. The whole is a lesson on the evil of separation from the people of God. Luther asks why such things were placed in Scripture, and answers,
(1) That no one should be self-righteous, and
(2) that no one should despair, and
(3) to remind us that Gentiles by natural right are brothers, mother, sisters to our Lord; the word of salvation is a word for the whole world.R.
Gen 38:1. And it came, &c. Moses relates this transaction because it concerned the principal end which his history had in view; namely, to transmit the genealogy of Christ, who descended from Abraham by Judah; see Mat 1:3. Le Clerc observes: “Though these words seem to connect the following events with the former chapter, yet some of them, particularly Judah’s marriage, which leads to the rest, must have happened long before Joseph was sold into AEgypt; and both Judah and his children too must have married young, else the chronology will not agree; for Joseph was born six years before Jacob came into Canaan,” ch. Gen 30:25. Gen 31:41. When he was sold into AEgypt, he was seventeen years old, ch. Gen 37:2; Gen 37:28. He was thirty, when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, ch. Gen 41:46. And nine years after, when there had been seven years plenty, and two years famine, did Jacob, with his family, go down into AEgypt, ch. Gen 41:53-54. Gen 45:6; Gen 45:11. And at their going down thither, Pharez, the son of Judah, (whose birth is set down in the end of this chapter,) had two sons, Hezron and Hamul, ch. Gen 46:8-12. Seeing then, that from the selling of Joseph, until Israel’s going down into AEgypt, there cannot be above three-and-twenty years, how is it possible that Judah should take a wife, have by her three sons, one after another, that Shelah, the youngest of the three, should be marriageable when Judah begat Pharez of Tamar, Gen 38:14; Gen 38:24. and Pharez be grown up, married, and have two sons, all within so short a space as three-and-twenty years? This chapter must therefore be placed out of the order of time; and the events here recorded must have happened soon after Jacob came from Mesopotamia into Canaan, though Moses, for some special reasons, relates them in this place. We may add, that the words then, in those days, at that time, often refer in Scripture to a considerable space of time, Deu 10:8. 2Ki 20:1. Mat 3:13; Mat 25:1. See ch. Gen 46:12.
A certain Adullamite An inhabitant of the city Adullam, which lay to the west of Hebron, and will be found frequently spoken of in the history of David. Shuah (whose daughter Judah met with at the house of the Adullamite) was a Canaanite; consequently this connection was highly blameable in Judah.
SECOND SECTION
Judahs temporary separation (probably in sadness on account of the deed). His sons. Thamar.
Gen 38:1-30
1And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down, from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah [noble, free]. 2And Judah saw there the daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah [cry for help]; and he took her, and went in unto her. 3And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er [, watcher]. 4And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his 5name Onan [strength, strong one]. An she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah [peace, quietness, shiloh?]; and he was at Chezib [delusion], when she bare him. 6And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, whose name was Thamar [palm], 7And Er, Judahs first-born, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him. 8And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brothers wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9And Onan knew that the seed should not be his [of his own name]; and it came to pass, that when he went in unto his brothers wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; wherefore he slew him also. 11Then said Judah to Thamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in thy fathers house, till Shelah my son be grown; (for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did); And Thamar went and dwelt in her fathers house. 12And in process of time the daughter of Shuah, Judahs wife, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep-shearers to Timnath [possession], he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13And it was told Thamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnath, to shear his sheep. 14And she put her widows garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place [literally, gate of two eyes]1 which is by the way to Timnath: for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. 15When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. 16And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law); and she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock; and she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her; and she conceived by him. 19And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the womans hand: but he found her not. 21Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot that was openly by the way-side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place. 22And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also other men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. 23And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed; behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her. 24And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told to Judah, saying, Thamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her 25be burnt. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man whose these are, am I with child; and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. 26And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I because that I gave her not to Shelah my son; and he knew her again no more. 27And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that behold twins were in her womb. 28And it came to pass when she travailed, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out; and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee; therefore his name was called Pharez [breach], 30And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Zarah [going forth, sun-rising].
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS
The story here narrated is not, as Knobel supposes, an insertion in Josephs history, but a parallel to it, considered from the one common point of view as the story of the sons of Israel. According to the previous chapter, Joseph (that is, Ephraim) appeared to be lost; here Judah, afterwards the head tribe, appears also to be lost. But as in the history of the apparently lost Joseph there lay concealed the marks of a future greatness, so must we look for similar signs in the history of Judahs apparent ruin. Parallel to Josephs spiritual ingenuousness, patience, hopeful trust in the future, appears Judahs strong and daring self-dependence, fulness of life, sensuality combined with strong abstinence, besides the sense of justice which leads him to acknowledge his guilt. Examine it more closely, and we cannot fail to trace a strong feature of theocratic faith. It is a groundless conjecture of Knobel, that the object of this narrative was to show the origin of the levirate law among the Jews, that required the brother of a husband who died without issue to take the widow to wife, and that the firstborn of this connection should stand in the toledoth, or genealogical lists, in the name of the deceased, Deu 25:5; Mat 22:23; Ruth 4. See Winer on Levirate Marriage. The law in question is of a later date, and needed no such illustration. The custom here mentioned, however, might have existed before this time (see Delitzsch, p. 534). But why could not the idea have originated even in Judahs mind? Besides this, Knobel presents chronological difficulties. They consist in this, namely, that in the period from Josephs abduction to Jacobs migration into Egyptabout twenty-three yearsJudah had become not only a father, but a grandfather by his son Pharez (according to Gen 46:16). Now Judah was about three years older than Joseph, and, consequently, not much above twenty at his marriage, provided he had intended it at the time when Joseph was carried off. On account of this difficulty, and of one that follows, Augustine supposes that Judahs removal from the parental home occurred several years previous. But this is contradicted by the fact of his presence at the sale of Joseph (see Keil, p. 246); whilst the remark of Delitzsch, that such early marriages were not customary in the patriarchal family, is of no importance at all, besides its leaving us in doubt whether it was made in respect to Judahs own marriage, or the early marriage of his nephews. Jacob, he says, had already attained to the age of seventy-seven years, etc. In reply to this, it may be said, that early marriages are evidently ascribed to other sons of Jacob (Genesis 46), though these children, it is probable, were for the most part born in Egypt. Between the patriarchs and the sons of Israel there comes a decisive turning-point: earlier marriagesearlier deaths (see Gen 50:20). Nevertheless, the twenty-three years here are not sufficient to allow of Pharez having two sons already at their close. Even the possibility that Pharez and Zarah were born before the migration to Egypt, is obtained only from the supposition that Judah must have married his sons very early. Supposing that they were seventeen or eighteen years old, the reason for so early a marriage may have been Judahs knowledge of Ers disposition. He may have intended to prevent evil by his marriage, but he did not attain his object. The marriage of Onan that resulted from this was but a consequence of the first; and, in fact, Onans sin seems to indicate a youthful baseness. Judah, however, might have made both journeys to Egypt whilst his own family was still existing. With respect to Judahs grandchildren, it is an assumption of Hengstenberg (Authentic, p. 354), that they were born in Egypt, and that they are considered to have come to Egypt, as in their fathers, together with Jacob (Delitzsch, p. 538). According to Keil, the aim of our narrative is to show the three principal tribes of the future dynasties in Israel, and the danger there was that the sons of Jacob, through Canaanitish marriages, might forget the historic call of their nation as the medium of redemption, and so perish in the sins of Canaan, had not God kept them from it by leading them into Egypt. It must be remarked, however, that, in this period, it was with difficulty that such marriages with Canaanitish women could be avoided, since the connection with their relations in Mesopotamia had ceased. Undoubtedly the beginning of corruption in Judahs family, was caused by a Canaanitish mode of life, and thereby the race was threatened with death in its first development; but we see, also, how a vigorous life struggles with, and struggles out of, a deadly peril.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Judahs separation, his marriage, and his sons (Gen 38:1-5).And Judah went down.He parted from his brethren at the time they sold Joseph. It was not, as in the case of Esau, the unbridled impulse of a rude and robust nature that prompted him prematurely to leave his paternal home, though he showed thereby his strong self-reliance. On account of his frank disposition, Judah could not long participate in offering, as his brethren did, false consolations to his aged father (Gen 37:35). It weighs upon him that he cannot tell the true nature of the case without betraying his brethren; and it is this that drives him off, just as his grudge against those who had involved him in their guilt separates him from their company. Besides, a bitter sadness may have come upon him on account of his own purpose, though meant for good. Thus he tries to find peace in solitude, just as a noble-minded eremite or separatist, leaves a church that has fallen into corruption. Like his antitype, the New-Testament Judas, but in a nobler spirit, does he try to find peace, as he did, after having sold his Lord. In a similar manner did the tribe of Judah afterwards keep its ground against the ten tribes in their decline and ruin. The question now arises, whether Judah went down from the Hebron heights in a westerly direction towards the Mediterranean Sea, to the plain of Sarepta, as Delitzsch and Knobel suppose, or eastward toward the Dead Sea, where, according to tradition, the cave of Adullam lay (1Sa 22:1), in which David concealed himself from Saul. Chezib (Gen 38:5) was situated east from Hebron, if it be identical with Ziph of the desert of Ziph. Timnath, according to Josephus 15:57, was situated upon the heights of Judah, and could be visited as well from the low country in the east, as from that of the north. If, according to Eusebius and Hieronymus, Adullam lay ten Roman miles, or four leagues, east of Eleutheropolis (Beitdschibrin), this statement again takes us to the mountains of Judea. It is, therefore, doubtful. Still it is worthy of note that David, like his ancestor, once sought refuge in the solitude of Adullam.And turned in to, etc. and he pitched, namely, , his tent, Gen 26:25, close by () a man, belonging to the small kingdom of Adullam (Jos 12:15) in the plain of Judah (Jos 15:35). Delitzsch. This settlement indicates friendly relations with Hirah. No wonder that Hirah gradually yields himself, as a servant, to the wiser Judah. Here Judah marries a Canaanite woman. This should be noted in respect to Judah, who became afterwards the principal tribe, as also in respect to Simeon (Gen 46:10), because it would be least expected of him, zealous as he was for the Israelitish purity in the murder of the Shechemites. Without taking into view the unrestrained position of Jacobs sons, this step in Judah might be explained from a transient fit of despair respecting Israels future. In the names of his three sons, however, there is an intimation of return to a more hopeful state of mind.Er, Onan, Shelah (see 1Ch 2:3).The place of Shelahs birth is mentioned, because there remained of him descendants who would have an interest in knowing their native district.
2. The marriage of the sons with Thamar. It may, at least, be said of Thamar, that she is not expressly called Canaanitish. If we could suppose a westerly Adullam, she might have been of Philistine descent. By the early marriage of his sons, Judah seems to have intended to prevent in them a germinating corruption. That he finds Thamar qualified for such a state, that beside her Er appears as a criminal, whose sudden death is regarded as a divine judgment (then Onan likewise), and all this, taken in connection with the fact that, after the death of both sons, she hoped for the growing-up of the third, Shelah, seems to point her out as a woman of extraordinary character.Till Shelah my son be grown.According to Knobel (Delitzsch and Keil), Judah regarded Thamar as an unlucky wife (comp. Tob 3:7), and was, therefore, unwilling to give to her the third son, but kept putting her off by promises, thus causing her to remain a widow. This, however, is inconsistent with Judahs character, and is not sustained by the text. It is plainly stated that Judah postponed Shelahs marriage to Thamar becaused he feared that he might die also. It was not superstition, then, according to the analogy of later times, but an anxiety founded on the belief that the misfortune of both his sons might have been connected with the fact of their too early marriage, that made the reason for the postponement of his promise.In her fathers house.Thither widows withdrew (Lev 22:13).
3. Judahs crime with Thamar (Gen 38:12-16).And (when) Judah was comforted.After the expiration of the time of mourning, he went to the festival of sheep-shearing at Timnath upon the mountains, in company with Hirah.And it was told Thamar.The bold thought which now flashed across the mind of Thamar is so monstrously enigmatical, that it takes itself out of the range of all ordinary criticism. Mere lust would not manifest itself in such a way. It might have been a grieved feeling of right. She seemed to herself, by Judahs command and her own submission to it, condemned to eternal barrenness and mourning widowhood. To break these barriers was her intention. A thirst, however, for right and life, was not her only motive for assuming the appearance of a harlot, the reproach of legal incest (for the intimation of Ers baseness and of Onans conduct leaves it a question whether it was so in reality), and the danger of destruction. Like the harlot Rahab, she seems to have had a knowledge of the promises made to Israel. She even appears to cling, with a kind of fanatical enthusiasm, to the prospect of becoming a female ancestor in Israel. See the Introduction, p. 81. Ambrosius: Non temporalem usum libidinis requisivit, sed successionem gratias concupivit. According to Keil, Judah came to her on his return. Since the sheep-shearing festivals were of a jovial kind, this assumption might serve for an explanation and palliation of Judahs sin; still it cannot be definitely determined from the text.And sat in an open place.Lange translates: And sat in the gate of Ennayim (Enam, in the low country of Judah, Jos 15:34).Which is by the way to Timnath.She puts off from her the common garments of a widow, which were destitute of all ornaments (Jdt 10:3; Jdt 16:8), covers herself with a veil, so as not to be recognized (comp. Job 24:15), and wraps herself in the manner customary with harlots. Knobel. Thamar, says the same, wishes to appear as a kedescha (a priestess of Astarte, the goddess of love). This, however, could hardly have been her intention, as appearing before Judah. The proper distinction may be thus made: According to Gen 38:15, he thought her to be a zona (), but in Gen 38:21 the question is asked, according to the custom of the country: Where is the kedescha? (). As a son of Jacob he might have erred with a zona, but could not have had intercourse with a kedescha, as a devotee of the goddess of love. Still the offence is great; though there is to be considered, on the one side, the custom of the times, together with Judahs individual temperament, and the excitement caused by the sheep-shearing, whilst, on the other, there is to be kept in mind the enigmatical appearance of the transaction, behind which moral forces, and a veiled destiny, are at work. This giving of the seal-ring, the cord, and the staff, shows that Judah has fallen within the circle of a magical influence, and that it is not fleshly lust alone that draws him. These pledges were the badges of his dignity. Every Babylonian, says Herodotus, carries a seal-ring, and a staff, on the top of which there is some carved work, like an apple or a rose. The same custom prevailed in Canaan, as we see here in the case of Judah. Delitzsch. To this day do the town Arabians wear a seal-ring fastened by a cord around the neck (Robinson: Palestine, i. p. 58). The he-goat appears also as a present from a man to his wife (Jdg 15:1). Knobel.Lest we be shamed.These words characterize the moral state of the country and the times. In his eager search for the woman and the pledges (which probably were of far more value than the kid), Judah shows himself by no means so much afraid of moral condemnation, as of mocking ridicule.
4. Thamar and her sons (Gen 38:27-30).And let her be burnt.By this sentence the energetic Judah reminds us again of David, the great hero of his family. With a rash and angry sense of justice he passes sentence without any thought that he is condemning himself, just as David did when con fronted by Nathan, 2Sa 12:5. There are ever in this line two strong natures contending with each other. In his patriarchal authority, he commanded her to be brought forth to be burned. Thamar was regarded as betrothed, and was, therefore, to be punished as a bride convicted of unchastity. But in this case the Mosaic law imposes only the penalty of being stoned to death (Deu 22:20), whilst burning to death was inflicted only upon the daughter of a priest, and upon carnal intercourse both with mother and daughter Lev 21:19; Lev 20:14). Judahs sentence, therefore, is more severe than that of the future law. Keil. The severity of the decision appears tolerable only upon the supposition that he really intended to give to Thamar his son Shelah; besides, it testifies to an arbitrary power exercised in a strange country, and which can only be explained from his confidence in his own strength and standing. How fairly, however, does Thamar bring him to his senses by sending him his pledges. The delicate yet decisive message elicits an open confession. But his sense of justice is expressed not only in the immediate annulling of the decision, but also in his future conduct towards Thamar. The twin-birth of Rebecca is once more reflected. We see how important the question of the first-born still remains to the Israelitish mother and midwife. In the case of twins there appears more manifestly the marks of a striving for the birth-right. Pharez, however, did not obtain the birth-right, as Jacob sought it, by holding on the heel, but by a violent breach. In this he was to represent Judahs lion-like manner within the milder nature of Jacob. According to Knobel, the midwife is supposed to have said to Pharez: A breach upon thee, i. e., a breach happen to thee; and this is said to have been fulfilled when the Israelitish tribes tore themselves away from the house of David, as a punishment, because the Davidian family of the Pharezites had violently got the supremacy over its brethren.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Judahs beginnings as compared with those of Joseph.A strong sensual nature; great advances, great offencesstrong passions, great self-condemnation, denials, struggles, and breaches. 7. Thamars sin, and Thamars faith. 9. Judahs self-condemnation and confession. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See Theological and Ethical. It is only with great caution, and in a wise and devout spirit, that this narrative should be made the ground of homiletical discourses.Judahs solitude.The apparent extinction of the tribe.Gods judgments on the sins of unchastity.The danger arising from feasts (such as that of the sheep-shearing.The keeping of promises.Self-condemnation.The fall and the recovery in our narrative.Apparent extinction, and yet a new life, through Gods grace, in Judahs uprightness and sincerity.
Section First. Gen 38:1-5. Starke: Hall: Gods election is only by grace, for otherwise Judah never would have been chosen as an ancestor of Christ.Bibl. Wirt.: Pious parents can experience no greater cross than to have vile and godless children (Sir 16:1).Gerlach: This marriage of Judah is not censured, since it was impossible that all the sons of Jacob should take wives from their kindred in Mesopotamia.Schrder: Gen 38:5. Chezib; meaning delusion, on account of the delusions connected with this place.The false hope of Judahafterwards of Thamar.Then again of Judah.
Section Second. Gen 38:6-11. Starke: This Thamar, very generally regarded as a Canaanite, though by some of the Jews very improbably called a daughter of Melchizedek, has received a place in the Toledoth of Christ (Mat 1:3), to show that he is also the hope of the heathen. [The Jews might, in two ways, have suggested to them this strange hypothesis of Thamars being the daughter of Melchizedek: 1. Through ancestral pride; 2. From conclusions derived from the law. They reasoned thus: If Judah intended to burn Thamar, she must have been the daughter of a priest. If she was the daughter of a priest, then probably the daughter of Melchizedek.]Hall: Remarkably wicked sinners God reserves to himself for his own vengeance.
Gen 38:11. Judah spake deceitfully to his daughter-in-law. Judah may also have thought that his sons early marriages hastened their death, especially if they were only fourteen years of age (?); and it may be that on this account he did not wish his son Shelah to marry so young.Hall: Fulfilment of promises is the duty of every upright man, nor can either fear or loss absolve him.Schrder: The seed has the promise of salvationthe promise on which the fathers grew. The levirate law was but a peculiar aspect, as it were, of that universal care for offspring which formed the Old-Testament response to Gods covenant faithfulness. Onans sin a murder. It is as if the curse of Canaan descended upon these sons from a Canaanitish woman.Schwenke: The sin of Onan, unnatural, destructive, of Gods holy ordinance, is even yet so displeasing to the Lord that it gives birth to bodily and spiritual death.Heim (Bible Studies): 1Co 6:11. Why is it that the Holy Ghost mentions first in this chapter the sin of Onan, and then points us so carefully to the Saviour of the world as descending from the incest-stained Judah and Thamar? Here only may we find salvation, forgiveness, the taking away of all guilt, and the curse that rests upon it.
Section Third. Gen 38:12-16. Hall: Immodesty in dress and conduct betrays evil desires.Cramer: Widower and widow are to live lives, of chastity. That Thamar desired Shelah to be given to her was not unreasonable; but her course in thus avenging herself is by no means approved, though some of the Christian fathers (Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theodoret) praise her on this very account, and ascribe her design to a peculiar desire to become the mother of the Messiah.
Gen 38:24. It is not agreed whether he spoke these words as judge or accuser. He was here among a strange people; but as he has never subjected himself to them, he would be judge in his own affairs.Calvin: Severe as Judah had been against Thamar, he judges now indulgently in his own case.Lisco has a remarkable view, namely, that Judah himself, after the death of his wife, was under obligation to marry Thamar, if he was not willing to give her to his son. The same view is entertained by Gerlach, undoubtedly from a misunderstanding of the later levirate law.Schrder: Harlots only, in contrast with virtuous and domestic women, frequent the streets and markets, lurking at every cornerstone (Pro 7:12; Jer 3:2; Jos 2:15).
Section Fourth. Gen 38:27-30. Starke: Ver 30. In Christs birth-register, too, great sinners are found.[Osiander: These two children signified two people, namely, the Jews and the Gentiles. For the Jews, though seeming to be the first to enter eternal life, have become the last; whilst those of the Gentiles who heard the gospel of Christ have gone before them and become the first (according to Val. Her berger.)]Schrder: Zarah, according to some, means brightness, as a name given to him on account of the scarlet color of the thread upon his hand. According to others, it means the sun-rising, as indicative of his appearing first.Luther: Why did God and the Holy Ghost permit these shameful things to be written? Answer: that no one should be proud of his own righteousness and wisdom,and, again, that no one should despair on account of his sins, etc. It may be to remind us that by natural right, Gentiles, too, are the mother, brothers, sisters of our Lord.
Footnotes:
[1][Gen 38:14. . Rendered, in our translation, an open place; margin, door of eyes, more literally, with reference to Pro 7:12. The LXX. have taken it as a proper name, , which has led some to regard it as the same with Enam mentioned Jos 15:34, and referred to by Hieronymus as situated in the tribe of Judah, and called, in his day, Beth-enim. See Rosenmller. The dual form here is expressive of something peculiar in the place. It means two eyes, or two fountains, probably the former, denoting two openings, that is, two ways, a place where she was certain to be seen. This corresponds to the Vulgate rendering, in bivio itineris. So the Syriac, ; Arabs Erpenianus the same, . The idea of there being a city there, at that time, or of her taking her place by the gate of a city, is absurd. Aben Ezra says it was a place so called because there were two fountains there. This was an early use of the Hebrew , the eye, arising from the beautiful conception that springs, or fountains, were eyes to the earth, as the herbs, in some places, are called , lights coming from the earth.T. L.]
CONTENTS
This Chapter is a digression from the subject of Joseph’s history, but it becomes a very interesting one, because it records the race of Judah, another of Jacob’s sons. And as our LORD sprang out of Judah, according to the flesh, (Heb 7:14 .) it is indeed highly important to trace the descent of Judah, until we find it terminate in CHRIST. The contents of this Chapter are, Judah’s marriage and issue: the death of his two eldest sons for rebellion against GOD; Judah’s incestuous commerce with his daughter-in-law, and the effects of it.
See 1Ch 2:3 ; Num 26:19-20 . Reader! observe here the general feature of last since the fall. See Gen 6:4Gen 6:4 .
XXIX
JACOB, JOSEPH, AND OTHERS
Genesis 35-41
This will be a running comment commencing at the thirty-fifth chapter and extending through the forty-first. Our last discussion showed the great disturbance of mind on Jacob’s part at the cruelty of Simeon and Levi in destroying the Shechemites. At this time God told Jacob to leave that place and go to Bethel. In removing, Jacob determined to purify his household from idols; if he was to have the enmity of the people, he was determined not to have the disfavor of God. So be commanded all his household to put away their strange gods and to change their garments. They also gave up the rings in their ears and noses. It is not fashionable with us now to wear rings that way, but many do. After this purification God protected them by causing a fear to fall upon the inhabitants of the land, or else Jacob’s crowd would have been annihilated on account of what Simeon and Levi bad done.
At Bethel he builds an altar and worships God, and God reappears to him and gives him a renewed assurance of his protection. He then leaves Bethel for what is now called Bethlehem, or Ephrath. At that place occurred the death of Rachel in giving birth to Benjamin. She was not buried in the cave of Machpelah, like the rest of the family, but for hundreds of years her tomb was standing and visible; they show it to you now, but not with certainty may you accept the tradition. In Gen 35:8 , we find an account of the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse. That is the only hint as to the death of Rebekah. We infer from the fact that the old nurse had come to live with Jacob that Rebekah was dead. I may have an examination question on that point. The rest of the chapter is devoted to the names of Jacob’s sons by his several wives, which I will bring out in an examination question. The chapter closes with the death of Isaac. Jacob comes to Mamre, or Hebron, now the head of the tribe. Esau and Jacob unite to bury their father. The thirty-sixth chapter gives a genealogy of the descendants of Esau. Nothing is particular in that except the generations of Seir, father of the Horites. I will give this examination question: Why in the generations of Esau, are the generations of the Horites included? The answer is that Esau’s people moved to the country occupied by the Horites and intermarried with them. You will note that the Horites, or cave dwellers, are not prehistoric men.
The thirty-seventh chapter is devoted to the youth of Joseph, a very particular section. We find here the development of the murderous envy and hate of Joseph’s brethren toward him. An examination question will be: State what caused the envy and hatred of Joseph’s brethren toward him. The answer is: Joseph brought an evil report concerning the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and they counted that tattling. If he had been one of the sons at work, and had reported on the others, that would have been a tell-tale business. If one in college should be appointed as a representative of the faculty, he could make a report without being justly amenable to the charge of tattling. Joseph was sent by his father to make a report. Next, Israel loved Joseph above all his other sons. I think the circumstances make it certain that he loved him justly. He was the oldest son of the only woman Jacob ever loved. He was intensely lovable, more so than any of the other boys. It is a fact, however, that there never was a case where a parent loved one child more than the others that it did not cause ill will in the family. The third reason is given here: “And he made him a full length garment.” King James Version, “a coat of many colours.” When a parent distinguishes between his children in dress he is sure to bring on a row. There Jacob made a mistake. Fourth, Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him yet the more. “I dreamed that we were binding sheaves, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves stood around and bowed down to my sheaf.” If that dream originated with Joseph it shows that he was already imagining superiority over his brethren. But if it did not originate with Joseph, which it did not, as it came from God it showed a lack of wisdom in Joseph to tell the other boys. The dream was literally fulfilled in afterlife, and so must have been from God. He dreamed another dream: “Behold, I dreamed yet again, and behold the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” The sun is papa, and the moon is mamma, and the stars are the eleven brothers, the whole family bowed down. He ought never to have told that dream to those boys. He told it to his father also. To show how quickly his father understood it, he said, “Shall we indeed, thy mother and thy father and thy brethren, bow down to thee?” His brothers envied him because his father kept that saying. He knew that meant something for his boy, and he was proud of the glory the boy would attain. Here are five things, and envy can get very fat on five things.
I once delivered an address on that subject before the Wake Forest College, entitled the “Ambitious Dreams of Youth.” There do come into bright minds forecasts of future greatness, great elation and swelling of the heart in thinking about it, that cannot be doubted. Sometimes these ambitious dreams do not come from God but from the heart of the student. I told those Wake Forest boys of a young fellow out in the mountains. When he started off to school a dream ran through his mind: “I will go to Wake Forest and make the brightest record ever made in that school. I will get through the four years’ course in three. I will get up my recitations so that the faculty will be talking about the most brilliant student in the institution. I will get the class honors. When I shall have delivered the valedictory and go home, all along the way people will say, ‘There is the boy who delivered the valedictory address.’ When I get home the family and all the servants will come out in a double row, and a band will play, ‘See the conquering hero come.’ ” Then I turned to the president and said, “Mr. President, what are you going to do with these ambitious boys who see the other boys bow down and their parents bowing down before them? Those boys think they have the world in a sling.” But one thing ‘is sure, no one ever became really great who did not aspire to be great. There is an honest ambition to excel, but where the faculty of imagination is wanting and it takes that to be a dreamer that man can be successful in a matter-of-fact way, but he certainly can never be successful as an artist, sculptor, painter, or as an orator or statesman. There is a creative power in the imagination. Woe to the one who expects to be great and has it not. It is characteristic of the Spirit’s day, as foretold by Joel and expounded by Peter, “Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Sometimes men who have not the Spirit, and who find it easier to win in fancy than in fact, indulge in air castles which need to be ridiculed. There is a story in the old “Blue Back Speller” of a maiden who, walking alone with a pail of milk upon her head, fell into the following train of reflections: “The money for which I shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. These eggs, allowing for what may prove addle, and what may be destroyed by vermin, will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market about Christmas, when poultry always brings a good price; so that by May Day I cannot fail of having enough money to purchase a new gown. Green! , let me consider, yes, green becomes my complexion best, and green it shall be. In this dress I will go to the fair, where all the young fellows will strive to have me for a partner; but I shall perhaps refuse every one of them, and, with an air of disdain, toss from them.” Transported with this triumphant thought she could not forbear acting with her head what thus passed in her imagination, when down came the pail of milk, and with it all her imaginary happiness. Dr. Wayland, one of the greatest educators in the United States, has a lecture on the “Evils of the Imagination,” that every schoolboy ought to read. Even barefoot boys, fishing in the creek, will weave stories of companies of which they are captains, and they will kill 1,000 buffaloes and 1,500 Indians. When I was canvassing for the Education Commission in Northeast Texas, I had to go about eleven miles out into the country. A lad of about twelve asked the privilege of taking me. I wondered why, but when we got out of town he turned around and said, “Dr. Carroll, I asked the privilege of taking you to this place because I wanted to talk to you. I heard your address on education, and do you know, I am going to be governor of Texas someday?” I smiled and said, “Tell me about it,” and he unfolded himself. That boy had already drawn out his own horoscope and filled out all the details of his future. He was brilliant. He had stood at the head of his classes. Instead of rebuking him I simply cautioned him and at the same time encouraged him because he had this record. He did not tell lies. He was never absent from his classes. He was never guilty of what you call schoolboy follies. He was intense in his application, and up to that time he had accomplished all that he had ever undertaken. So it would not surprise me if that boy yet becomes governor. I am waiting to see, however. One of the most instructive parts of the Bible is this that relates to the early life of Joseph and his premonitions of future greatness. Not long ago I read an account of a brilliant girl about thirteen years old. Her parents, uncles, and aunts were all trying to restrain her from following a certain line of education. She met it all by saying, “It is in me to do that. I know I can win on it. I dream about it. It fills my vision. I am irresistibly drawn to it.” And she did win on it, a country girl that became famous before the great audiences in European capitals.
This envy that had five roots, after awhile will come to a head when opportunity presents itself. A great many people carry envy and hate in their hearts and it eats like a cancer and burns like a hidden fire and no opportunity ever comes to gratify it, and the world knows nothing about it. “Gray’s Elegy” tells, in referring to the lowly graves, about “some mute, inglorious Milton” that never had a chance to follow the promptings of his muse. Not only that, but the lowly graves hold many a heart which had burned with hatred and envy and petulance that never had an opportunity to express itself in “Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.” They say that everything comes to him who waits, and so this crowd waited, and here is their chance. Joseph’s brethren left Hebron, and went to Shechem, where they had massacred the Shechemites. They were looking for territory to pasture their immense herds. The father tells Joseph to go and see if it is well with the brothers and their flocks. It is a long way from home. When the boys see him coming they say, “Behold the dreamer cometh; let us slay him and cast him into a pit.” There were ten brothers in the meeting; eight were of one mind, but two had dissenting views. Reuben, the oldest, said, “Let us not kill him. Let us cast him into the pit.” The record says that Reuben intended to carry him back to Jacob. So he stands guiltless. The other one is Judah. We find when they bind him and strip off his coat that he pleads with them, ten great strong men, binding a boy, their own brother, and he weeping. Later they saw a caravan coming called Ishmaelites in one place and Midianites in another. Midian was a descendant of Esau, whose territory bordered on Ishmael’s, and the two tribes intermingled. Now Judah said, “Let us not kill him, but sell him to this caravan to take to Egypt.” In a speech I once delivered in the chapel of Baylor University, I told of a proposition about selling a man that would scorch the paper it was written on. The high court of state plotted it, the leading preacher instigated it, and the man they proposed to sell was one of the most illustrious on the roll of fame in the United States. So they sold Joseph. Then they took his coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid, and carried it to the father to make the impression that Joseph bad been torn to pieces by wild beasts. That was the heaviest stroke that Jacob ever received. He rent his garments, put on sackcloth, mourned many days and refused to be comforted. “I am going down to my son mourning to the underworld.” We will leave him there and look at one or two other matters.
The thirty-eighth chapter is devoted entirely to some rather scaly incidents in the life of Judah. The chapter is of such a character that it forbids discussion in a public address. Read it and gather your own lessons. It commences with Judah’s sin in marrying a Canaanite woman. Two of the sons born of this marriage God killed for their wickedness. This wife became an ancestress of our Lord. He derives his descent from four women not Jewesses. Rahab, the harlot; Tamar, the Canaanite; Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David took; Ruth, the Moabitess.
The next three chapters give an account of Joseph in Egypt. When the caravan reached Egypt they sold him to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. Potiphar finds his trustworthiness, purity and truthfulness and attention to business, and promotes this slave to the head of the house. When sold into slavery the brave heart ought not to despair. But the beauty of his person, great personality, evident kindly manhood, attracted Potiphar’s wife, and she fell in love with him, as some married women do. Joseph refused to Join her in this unlawful love. Whereupon, as “love unrequited and scorned turns to hate,” she accused him of the very offense which he refused to consider. So Potiphar puts him in prison. Now, though a prisoner, this man begins to work his way to the front. He is faithful to every duty. Finally he is put at the head of all the criminals in the jail. How can you put down a good man, true to God and himself? This position brings him into contact with other dreams besides his own. There are two that the birds snatched the bread of Pharaoh’s table out of fellow prisoners, the chief baker and butler of Pharaoh. Both are troubled. God sent those dreams. For a man to dream the basket on his head is a very singular thing. Joseph interpreted that to mean that he would gain his liberty but that Pharaoh would put him to death. It happened just that way. The butler dreamed about a cluster of grapes, well formed, sweet flavored, and luscious, and that he squeezed it into a goblet and handed the new wine to Pharaoh. Joseph tells him that means that he shall be restored and promoted to his old place, and says, “When you are promoted, remember me.” The butler promised well enough, but forgot. It is easy to forget the unfortunate. But after awhile God sends more dreams. This time Pharaoh has a double dream. He dreams that he sees seven stalks of grain come up in the Nile Valley, full eared and heavy headed. Right after them come up seven thin) shrivelled, parched stalks and they devour the others. He dreamed he saw seven fat beef cattle, and seven lean, ill favored, gaunt, starved specimens that ate the fat ones up. Nobody could tell Pharaoh what the dream meant. But finally the butler remembered Joseph and said, “When I was in prison there was a Hebrew lad who told us our dreams and they came out just like he said.” Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and we see him step out of the prison to stand before the monarch to explain dreams, as Daniel did later. He says each dream means the same thing, that there were going to be seven years of great plenty in which the earth would be burdened with its crops. It reminds me of what a man on the Brazos River said. Leaving out part of his language, which was very emphatic, I quote the other: “I tell you, I will have to build a wall around my field and call it a crib: there is so much corn in it.” He did make eighty bushels to the acre, and showed me a number of stalks with three full cars, standing only a foot apart and twenty feet high. Joseph said, “These seven years will be followed by seven years of drought and famine in which nothing will be made. God sent me here to provide. You ought to husband the resources of these fruitful years so that they can be spread out over the famine years.” Pharaoh was wonderfully impressed, and instantly promoted Joseph to the position of prime minister and made him next to himself. Just exactly as Joseph predicted, the thing happened. Great storage places, perfect reservoirs for holding wheat, and treasure houses were built. At the end of the first year people wanted bread to eat. Under advice of Pharaoh Joseph sold to them, taking their money, jewels, stock, land, then themselves. At the end of the seven years Pharaoh had the whole country, and Egypt was the granary of the world. “And all countries come into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn.”
That is the history of Joseph up to the time we come in touch with Jacob again.
QUESTIONS 1. Where did God tell Jacob to go from Shechem?
2. What important step did he take before going, and why?
3. How did God intervene to save Jacob from the inhabitants of the land?
4. What events happened at Bethel?
5. When did Rebekah die and what is the evidence?
6. Where did Jacob go from Bethel and what the events by the way?
7. Name the sons of Jacob by each of his wives and handmaids.
8. Where were they born?
9. Where does Jacob go from Ephrath, or Bethlehem, and what important event occurred there?
10. To what is the thirty-sixth chapter devoted, and why the genealogy of the Horites in this connection?
11. Whose is the most flawless character in history i Ana.: Joseph’s.
12. As a child, what could he say of his father and mother?
13. State in order the several causes or occasions of the hatred of his brothers.
14. What mistake did Joseph make in this?
15. What is the importance of dreams of greatness? Illustrate.
16. What is the difference between dreams of true greatness and building air castles? Illustrate.
17. What is the nature of ungratified envy and hate?
18. Cite passages from “Gray’s Elegy” to illustrate this point.
19. What was the culmination of the hatred of Joseph’s brothers? Can you find a parallel to this in the New Testament?
20. How was Reuben’s attitude toward the hostility against Joseph distinguished from that of his brothers?
21. How was Judah’s?
22. Who took Joseph out of the pit and sold him? (Gen 37:27-28 .)
23. Explain the confusion of the names of the Midianites and the Ishmaelites.
24. Compare the dejection of Jacob with that of Elijah, and show wherein both were mistaken.
25. To what is the thirty-eighth chapter devoted?
26. What was Judah’s beginning in this downward course of sin?
27. What four Gentile women became ancestress of our Lord?
28. Who became Joseph’s master in Egypt, what of his promotion and misfortune in this house?
29. How did he get out of prison and what six dreams touched his life?
30. Who was the author of those dreams?
31. To what position was he promoted in the kingdom?
32. What of Egypt at the close of the seven years of famine?
Gen 38:1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name [was] Hirah.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass at that time. ] Before the rape of Dinah, the sale of Joseph, and soon after their return from Mesopotamia.
Judah went down from his brethren.
To a certain Adullamite. NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gen 38:1-5
1And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her. 3So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er. 4Then she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan. 5She bore still another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him.
Gen 38:1 “And it came about at that time” The Hebrew phrase here is very ambiguous and the exact temporal connection between chapters 37 and 38 is uncertain. It could be either immediately after chapter 37 or after a period of some time. Notice the different temporal connections.
1. now Jacob lived in the land, Gen 37:1
2. and it came about at that time, Gen 38:1
3. now after a considerable time, Gen 38:12
4. now it was about three months later, Gen 38:24
5. and it came about at that time, Gen 38:27
6. then it came about after these things, Gen 40:1
7. now it happened at the end of two full years, Gen 41:1
It is obvious that the author is conscious of time, but this is not necessarily western sequential history.
“that Judah departed from his brothers” There has been much speculation about why Judah departed. Some say it was because of the moral degeneration of his brothers or possibly their treatment of Joseph.
“and visited” This VERB is literally “turned aside,” BDB 639, KB 692, Qal IMPERFECT). It implies a lengthy departure from his brothers. This same general geographical region will later be included in the tribal allocation of Judah (cf. Jos 15:35). The cave of Abdullah will later be connected with the exploits of David in connection with Saul (cf. 1Sa 22:1). Apparently it was in the hill country of Judah, close to the coastal plain.
Gen 38:2 “Shua” This name (like Hirah, Gen 38:1, BDB 301) is found only here in the OT. The same root consonants (BDB 447) mean “independent” or “noble.” It has the same three internal consonants as “salvation” (BDB 447), but there seems to be no theological connection.
“Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite” The girl’s name is never mentioned (she is named “Bath-shua” in 1Ch 2:3, but this is not a name but a characterization-“daughter of Shua”), but it is obvious that Judah must have fallen in love with her at first sight. This particular marriage to a Canaanite is not condemned specifically in the immediate context. Judah was apparently a faithful husband to this one wife (cf. Gen 38:12).
“Chezib” The rabbis use this place name (BDB 469) in a derogatory sense (it is similar to the root “lie,” “falsehood,” “deceptive thing,” BDB 469) to refer to the children who were born of this woman. However, the rabbinical bias against the surrounding nations is obvious in all of their literature. It is just a place name. It probably is the same as Achzib (BDB 469) in Jos 15:44.
certain, &c. = a man, an Adullamite. Hebrew. ‘ish. See App-14.
Chapter 38
For the correlating audio message go to Chapter 37
Now it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and he turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her ( Gen 38:1-2 ). Now customarily, if you wanted to get a wife, you’d have your father go ahead and arrange a dowry. You have a big ceremony and everything else. Judah didn’t bother to go through all of this. He just went down, saw this gal Shuah. She was probably a nice-looking girl and he just decided that let’s just go ahead and you be my wife, we’ll just live together. And so he took her and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him ( Gen 38:5 ). Now that’s only about eight miles from Hebron. Judah took a wife. She conceived actually bare three sons; Er, Onan and finally, Shelah. Now the interesting thing is that Judah was to be the father or in the ancestry of Jesus Christ. But Shuah wasn’t evidently God’s choice for his wife, but was Judah’s own willful choice. He just saw the gal, was attracted to her, they started living together and they had three sons. But it wasn’t in the plan of God that Shuah should be the mother of those descendants that would bring forth the Christ child. And thus, Judah’s action was no doubt out of the plan and the will of God. I would imagine that she was a Canaanite, she was attached to her Canaanite gods; Judah maybe thought that he could convert her to Jehovah. She evidently wasn’t converted because the last two sons are named with Canaanite names. Judah no doubt named the first son Hebrew name, but the last two are Canaanite names which means that she began to have a stronger and stronger influence. Now Judah knew that from his seed there was to come one day the Messiah and thus he went out and he made arrangements for his son to marry this girl whose name was Tamar. So he took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er [verse seven], Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him ( Gen 38:6-7 ). Now it is interesting, it doesn’t tell us what his wickedness is nor does it tell us how God killed him. But God did not want this son born of Shuah to be in the line of the Messiah. So before this son of Shuah could have a child, because of his own wickedness, God killed him. Now a part of the code in those days was that if your brother died before he had a son, then it was the obligation of the next oldest son to take that same woman as a wife and the first son would be named after the dead brother. And this later became incorporated as a part of the Jewish law but it was already the code in the earlier laws of Hammurabi and others. It is there as a part of the codes of the earlier laws that was already an accepted practice and was later incorporated into the Mosaic Law. And so Onan ( Gen 38:8 ) The next brother in line was to take Tamar as a wife and bear a son. And he went in unto Tamar. And he went in unto Tamar; but instead he spilled his seed on the ground, and so God killed him ( Gen 38:9-10 ). Now there are those that would seek to use this particular text as a text against masturbation but it is not at all for that reason that God slew Onan. It is interesting that the Bible really says nothing about that particular practice. Some use this for an argument against coitus interruptus but again, it isn’t that at all for which God slew him. The reason that God slew him was his failure to be obedient to the law that God established of raising a seed for the dead brother. It was a rebellion against that established law of God for which God slew him. Now as far as these other two things, the Bible is completely silent. And where the Bible is silent on a subject, we must remain silent, and just take certain scriptures such as Romans the fourteenth chapter and let that be the criteria of judgment. “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” ( Rom 14:5 ). As far as birth control and the family’s exercise of birth control, methods of birth control or something, that is something that each family must work out. The Bible doesn’t actually cover or deal with these issues. Where the Bible doesn’t deal specifically with the issues, then we just have to take where the Bible deals with the non-specified issues. And that is that each person has to be convinced in their own mind of what is right and what is wrong. And thus each couple must determine within themselves the method of birth control practices that they want to follow. I do think that God expects us to use wisdom, as far as the size of our family, and I do not believe that God has intended that intercourse be strictly for the perpetuation of the human race between husband and wife, but to be a very pleasurable experience between husband and wife, an experience that draws them together. In Hebrews we read that “marriage is honorable among all men, and the bed undefiled” ( Heb 13:4 ). And so Paul teaches in Corinthians that there should be a mutual understanding and arrangement between husband and wife as far as the frequency of their intimate relationships. But yet there should not be a prolonged withholding of one from the other lest Satan will move in and use that prolonged time as an opportunity to tempt. And so this scripture here where Onan spilled his seed upon the ground and God slew him must be taken in its context. It is not an argument against these practices, that men have used it as an argument against them, but it is actually because he failed and rebelled against the law of God in raising up a seed for his dead brother. That is why the Lord slew him. And that’s why we don’t have children in the Sunday evening services, because it’s good to talk to you on an adult level. And these things are there, there are issues in the Bible and we shouldn’t really skirt them and I don’t know what they did on the radio but, And the thing which he did [verse ten] displeased the Lord: wherefore the Lord slew him also. Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at your father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brothers did. And Tamar went and dwelt at her father’s house ( Gen 38:10-11 ). Now Shelah was still a little young to get married. He was the youngest of the three brothers but Judah, more than that, was fearful. Man, if two sons have died in an abortive marriage with this gal, he didn’t want to lose all three sons. And so he says, “You go home to your father’s home and you dwell there” and he just sort of forgot her. Just sort of tried to put her out of sight, out of mind kind of thing and just let her go. And now in the process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died ( Gen 38:12 ); So this gal that he married that really wasn’t God’s choice at all died and she must have been fairly young because Judah was only about forty years old at this time. And so she must have been fairly young when she died. and Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers ( Gen 38:12 ) Now it doesn’t seem like he spent too much time mourning over her. I would imagine that the marriage turned into a pretty sad affair. It was not really God’s purpose that Shuah be in line with the Messiah. She was a Canaanite and no doubt never did convert and began to exercise more and more influence upon the family. And the Lord has now removed her at an early age, and Jacob was comforted-or Judah was comforted and then he headed out for the party, sheep shearing, because sheep shearing was always accompanied by big celebration parties. It was just a fun time of the year and they would gather together and shear the sheep and then they’d have a big party. And so he went to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold your father in law is going up to Timnath to shear his sheep. And so [she put on her] she put off her widow’s garments, and she covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife ( Gen 38:12-14 ). Now her father-in-law has not been treating her right. Shelah’s now a man and he’s supposed to be her husband but they haven’t been back to claim her. And so she’s going to start to take things in her own hands. In putting on the veil and sitting in this place, actually she is taking on the guise of a temple prostitute. Among the Canaanite women, it was very common to be a temple prostitute. And even married women were required to give a certain amount of time during their life to serve their god in this way because the fertility processes were worshipped in their primitive worships of god, their worship ceremonies of god. And so the women were required during times of their life to become temple prostitutes. They were giving their life in a sense to their god and the goddesses of fertility. And so she put on the garbs, the veil of a prostitute and sat in the path on the way to Timnath. Now when Judah saw her ( Gen 38:15 ), Maybe she was hoping Shelah would see her and would then he was the one supposed to marry her anyhow and she maybe was figuring to catch him, but instead the dad saw her and of course, his wife is now dead and so, he thought her to be a prostitute; because she had veiled her face. And he turned in unto her by the way, and said, I pray thee, let me come in to thee; (for he did not know that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, How much you give me? And he said, I’ll send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Will you give me a pledge, till you send it? He said, What pledge do you want? She said, I’ll take your signet, and your bracelets, and the staff that is in your hand. And so he gave it to her, and he came in unto her, and she conceived by him ( Gen 38:15-18 ). Now this business, “What pledge shall I give thee?” Interesting the giving of a ring in a marriage actually comes back to this; the pledge to show sincerity. The pledge was always the purpose to show “I’ve made a promise to you and now to show you that my promise is sincere, I give you a pledge”. And so the ring is a pledge to show the sincerity of the agreement or of the promise. It’s a guarantee of the promise. And so that’s the purpose of a ring in a wedding. It’s a pledge by which you’re guaranteeing the fact that you’re going to keep that agreement, that covenant that has been verbally made. And so he went in to her. She conceived. And she arose, and went away, and she put the veil from her, and put back on her garments of widowhood. And so Judah embarrassed to come back himself sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge back from the woman, but he could not find her. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, “Where is the prostitute that was sitting here by the side?” And they said, “There was no prostitute around this place”. And so he returned to Judah, and he said, “I can’t find her; and also the men of the place said that there wasn’t any prostitute around there”. And Judah said, “Well, let her keep it then”, you know, let’s not press it any further, I’m embarrassed about the whole scene and so I at least sent the kid, and you haven’t found her. So we did what we could. Now it came to pass about three months after that, that someone told Judah, Tamar your daughter in law has played the harlot; and she’s with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her out, and we’ll burn her ( Gen 38:24 ). The whole thing with Tamar have been sort of an uncomfortable thing and he probably thought, “Oh, I’ll finally get rid of her and that that’s it now”. But he had a surprise coming. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, who owns these, I am with child: and she said, Take a careful look, I pray thee, do you recognize this signet, and these bracelets, and this staff. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She has been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. But he knew her not again. But it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one of them put his hand out: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew his hand back in, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called the Breach or Breaking Forth. And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and they called his name Zarah ( Gen 38:25-30 ). So twins were born, and again it’s interesting the one seem to be coming out of the womb and suddenly retracted his hand and the other was born first, because the other was to be the one through which the line of Christ was to come. So Shuah and her sons are out of the way, as far as the line and genealogy to lead to Jesus Christ. And now the genealogy of Christ is going to come through Pharez, the son of Tamar. So God finally has things worked around now the way He had wanted them. It was a long, roundabout process and yet God has very interesting ways of working out His plans and His purposes in our lives. So chapter thirty-eight of Genesis, why was it put in the record? I don’t know. But I’m sure that God had a purpose for putting it in the record. And perhaps one of the purposes is to show that Christ came from just common, ordinary human passionate people who are not at all perfect, in order that we might be able to better identify with Jesus Christ ourselves because we are plain, ordinary, passionate people far from perfect. And perhaps God is wanting to show how that His purposes can overrule man’s mistakes. Judah in his own flesh, going out and choosing Shuah as a wife, but God not wanting Shuah to have anything to do with the genealogy that will lead to His Son, Tamar being God’s choice. And so by this roundabout process, brings Tamar into the picture so that her son will be the one that will come in the lineage of Christ. Now it is interesting in Matthew’s gospel when Matthew traces the genealogy of Christ, there are four women that are mentioned, one of them being Tamar. Of all of the women that were in the ancestry because there was a woman for every man, naturally in the genealogy of Christ, four women were named; Tamar, Rahab. Now Tamar was there, she played the prostitute. Rahab was there; she was a professional prostitute. Ruth, who was a Moabitess and Bathsheba, who became David’s wife through very seamy circumstances. And so the four women that are named by Matthew in the genealogy of Christ are four of what we would choose to be most unlikely candidates to be in that line that would bring forth the Savior to the world. And they are the four that are mentioned by Matthew.
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The sad and tragic story of Judah’s corruption recorded here needs very little comment. It carries its own lessons of the frailty of human nature and of the far-reaching effects of sin.
However, placing it at this point in the history is suggestive and important. Following this revelation, we are observing the first movements of God in the process of regeneration amid the degeneration of the race. So far, we have been occupied almost exclusively with individuals. Gradually the larger outlook on the family and society emerges into view. The conditions which made possible Judah’s sin, and the sin in itself, revealed the necessity for another new departure. A marked tendency toward the corruption of the chosen people by unhallowed intercourse with the people of the land was apparent. Had there been no divine over-ruling and had these people been left to themselves, the chosen seed would have inevitably been utterly corrupted and the purposes of God defeated.
While Judah was thus sinning, Joseph was already in Egypt, and so the segregation of the chosen people for a long period was already being prepared by keeping them separate from other people and by the rigid exclusiveness of the Egyptians.
CHAPTER 38 Judah and Tamar
1. Judahs marriage to the Canaanitish woman (Gen 38:1-2)
2. His sons: Er, Onan and Shelah (Gen 38:3-5)
3. Tamar married to Er and Onan (Gen 38:6-10)
4. Tamar waiting for Shelah (Gen 38:11)
5. Her deception and Judahs sin (Gen 38:12-16)
6. The birth of Pharez and Zarah (Gen 38:27-30)
Historically this chapter comes before the thirty-seventh. The higher critics are one against the other in their unbelieving speculations over the composition of this chapter. It is inserted here for a most interesting purpose. Judahs history foreshadows the history of the Jews after they had rejected the Lord Jesus. His connection with a Canaanite (trafficker) and his marriage to the daughter of Shuah (riches) shows what the Jews have been ever since they rejected Christ. His offspring is Er (enmity) and Onan (wickedness) till the significant third one comes, Shelah (the sprout) pointing to the godly remnant of that nation in the future. (On that remnant see chapter on Isaiah.)
And Tamars sin, so dark and vile, shows forth the grace of God. We find her name and the names of her two sons in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1).
Chapter 33
Judah Went Down
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
Gen 38:1-30
If you read the Scriptures carefully, paying attention to what you read, you will sometimes come across a passage which seems totally out of place. When you do, do not just glance over it, or ignore it. That which seems out of place in the Word of God is put where it is to get our attention, to teach us something extraordinary.
Without question, anyone reading through the Book of Genesis, as he reads chapters 37, 38, and 39, and on to the end of the Book, has to stop, scratch his head, and ask What do the events in chapter 38 have to do with the story of Josephs betrayal, imprisonment, and exaltation? The events recorded in this chapter have very little, if anything, to do with the history of Joseph. These thirty verses interrupt the history of Joseph. They seem to have been thrown into the story haphazardly. At first glance, the whole passage seems out of place. But that is not the case.
These thirty verses were given by Divine inspiration. Moses wrote this narrative exactly as God the Holy Spirit directed him. And the things here recorded were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope (Rom 15:4). May God the Holy Spirit, who inspired Moses to record this piece of sacred history, inscribe upon our hearts the lessons he here teaches.
We are told, in verse one, that Judah went down. However, his descent and degradation, shameful as it was, was the bleak, black backdrop upon which the Lord God would display the wondrous glory of his grace. Here we see sin abounding, and grace super-abounding. What we have before us in this chapter is much, much more than a story of sin and degradation. This is a story of grace, marvelous, free, sovereign, amazing grace.
Judahs Sin
The first thing, the most obvious thing, set before us in this chapter is the utter depravity of our race. Since the fall of our father Adam, one thing has always characterized the human race. One thing can always be counted on as a matter of certainty. One thing can be seen in the course of every son of Adam, in the life of every mortal, in the history of every family. There is one black mark by which every man is identified, one odious characteristic by which our race is identified, one horrible plague by which every heart is corrupted and every life is defiled. That one thing is sin. Sin is what we are. Sin is what we do. Sin is the thing that dominates our lives by nature. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are all, by nature, children of wrath, a people deserving the wrath of God. We are a race of evil doers.
This is a fact which history verifies. The total depravity of man is verified in every news paper in the world every day. Preachers, like politicians, like to flatter people, and talk about mans innate goodness. But the Word of God speaks not of mans innate goodness, but his innate vileness. It is written, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Though Judah was a chosen sinner, one predestined to eternal life, a man in the direct lineage of Abraham, one to whom the Lord God had sent the light of Divine revelation when very few were given such light, Judah proved himself to be a wicked, sinful, depraved man. We are not told how or why it came to pass, but this chapter opens by declaring that Judah went down from his brethren (Gen 38:1)
In direct violation of the revealed will of God, Judah chose to abandon the family of Abraham, the people of God, and took for his choice companion an Adullamite, by the name of Hirah. No doubt, he felt fully justified in his actions. He could easily vindicate his choice before any man. But I assure you, the path of compromise is the path of sorrow. It is written, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If you take fire to your bosom, you are going to get burned. If you sow to the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. Lets see if Judahs history does not verify this.
He chose a pagan for his friend. Then he chose a pagan for his wife. His two oldest sons (Er and Onan), following the example of their father, were slain under the wrath of God (Gen 38:2-6). We are not told what Ers wickedness was; but it was obviously something for which he was manifestly slain by the hand of God (Gen 38:7). Onans sin, however is specifically described (Gen 38:7-10).
“And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.”
There have been many things written about Onans sin. Papists and others point to this as a proof text against birth control. But I am certain that God did not send this man to hell simply because he spilled his seed on the ground. Onan, like Esau before him, despised the grace of God in Christ He perished because he did not believe God, because he would not have Christ
That which was later written in the law of God given to Israel (Deu 25:5), was already clearly established as the revealed will of God to the children of Abraham. If a brother died without children, his brother next to him was required to take his wife and raise up a son in the name of his dead brother.
This, like all other aspects of the law given to Israel, was a messianic law, a prophetic law, pointing to the person and work of Christ. It was given to none but Israel. It applied to none but Israel. It was given to Israel, to Abrahams children, because the Lord God promised to send his Son, the Messiah, our Redeemer, through Abrahams seed. The promised Redeemer, the promised Savior, in whom all blessedness is found, and the heritage of grace in him, was the birthright of the firstborn son.
When Onan refused to raise up a child in the name of his brother, he showed contempt for Gods covenant, despising Gods Son. Just as Esau before him, Onan snubbed his nose at Gods goodness and grace in Christ. It was for this that God killed him. God almighty has not changed. He still sends men and women to hell for snubbing their noses at his Son.
After the death of his first two sons, Judah promised Tamar that as soon as his third son, Shelah, was old enough, he would marry her. But, in Gen 38:11, we are told that it was a promise he had no intention of keeping.
In Gen 38:12-23, we read of Judahs shameful sin. It is here recorded as a warning beacon to all. What could be more terrible than the record here given of Judah and his family? Here is a man brought up in the midst of a favored people, blessed with godly influences, surrounded by examples of grace from his youth. Yet, Judah chose the rebels path. The consequences of his actions are glaring. His sons were slain under the wrath of God. Still, Judah goes on, walking after the lusts of his flesh.
Between Gen 38:11-12 many years had passed. Judahs wife died and Shelah was grown, and Judah After the death of his wife, Judah took his Adullamite friend with him to see about the shearing of his sheep. Tamar disguised herself as a harlot. Judah hired his daughter-in-law as a prostitute. He sent his companion in ungodliness to pay his harlot and retrieve his signet, his bracelets, and his staff. When Hirah could not find a harlot in the place, Judah thought the matter was over. He shrugged his shoulders and said, Thats that. Let her take those things and forget the matter, lest we be ashamed. This man who had no regard for the holy Lord God, did not want men to know what he had done, lest he lose face with mere mortals! But the story was not over.
When Judah heard that Tamar was pregnant, he was enraged, and said, Let her be burned. That is to say, Let her wear the mark of a whore (Lev 21:9), so that all seeing her will know what kind of woman she is. What hypocrisy! — What self-righteousness!
Judahs Confession
At last, Judah acknowledged and confessed his sin “And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.”
This seems to be the time of Judahs conversion. I say that not only because he acknowledged his sin. He really had no choice in that matter. He was caught red-handed. But he did more. He stated plainly that Tamar, though guilty of incest, knowingly so, (which is certainly a worse crime than fornication with a prostitute), had acted more righteously than he.
How can that be? It appears that Tamar realized and believed the promise of God concerning the gift of his Son through Judah, the promise that up to this point Judah and his sons had despised. Being denied marriage to Shelah, she was determined to have Christ, no matter the cost. Her actions remind me of another woman who hazarded her honor that she might have the Kinsman Redeemer, who was the only hope and refuge of her soul (Rth 3:8-9). Obviously the people who were present when Boaz took Ruth for his wife saw the same parallel (Rth 4:11-12).
Tarmars incest cannot and must not be justified, or glossed over as an insignificant thing. What she did was horribly evil. Yet, Judah declares here that her actions were more righteous than his. In doing so, he acknowledges and confesses his sin and the gospel of God. And those who do that are forgiven sinners. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:9). It seems to me that when Judah spoke of Tamar being more righteous than he, he was saying, This woman, though she and I have both behaved shamefully, believed God who I did not believe.
Divine Election
Genesis 38 is, also, a plain declaration that Divine election is a matter of pure, free grace. Judah was chosen as the object of Gods grace simply because God loved him. There was nothing good, noble, or righteous about this man by nature. Every choice he made was evil. He was not seeking the Lord, but serving the lusts of his flesh, when God stopped him in his path to destruction. Judah was no better than his sons; but God chose Judah. Judah was no more upright than his Adullamite friend, Hirah; but God chose Judah. This chapter was written to teach us, forcibly and plainly, that salvation is by grace alone. Not by mans will, but by Gods will. Not by mans work, but by Gods work. Not by mans worth, but by Christs worth. That which distinguished Judah from his neighbors and his own family, and that which alone distinguishes Gods elect from the rest of the world is the distinguishing grace of God (1Co 4:7; 1Co 1:26-31).
Gods Purpose
A third thing displayed in this chapter is the absolute immutability of Gods purpose. God had purposed from eternity that his Son would come into this world through the line of Judah. So it must be; and so it was. As surely as this chapter records the faithlessness of man, it records the immutable faithfulness of our God. God is always faithful to his purpose; and his purpose is the purpose of grace
We read in Mat 9:10-11, that “as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? In his exposition of Genesis 38, Ralph Bouma wrote, Not only does our Master eat and drink with publicans and sinners, but the twelve gates of heaven are named for them to encourage the chiefest of sinners to come unto Him (Rev 21:12)
Divine Providence
Here again, we see the wondrous mystery of divine providence. Once more, God overruled evil for good (Psa 76:10; Rom 8:28). Our God is always behind the scene. All the vast machinery of providence is under his control, absolutely. His finger directs all the circumstances of the universe. He who is Lord of all is above all, rules all, and uses all for the good of his people, the glory of his name, and the accomplishment of his purpose of grace in Christ. How sweet, how blessed, how comforting it is to the believing heart to trace all things back to the will of God our Father! All angels, men, and devils are his servants and execute his purposes precisely (Rom 8:28-30; Rom 11:33-36).
The Glory of Christ
Not only does this chapter give us a genealogical record of Christs ancestors, it shows us that our Saviors glory as a man was native to himself. It was not a glory derived from his ancestors. The Jews proudly boasted that they were not born of fornication (Joh 8:41), though in fact that is precisely how the nation was born. Our Saviors glorious righteousness as a man was not derived from his family tree, but was the glory of his own sinless nature and his own perfect obedience as our Substitute (Joh 17:4-5).
The Grace of God
As God dealt with Judah, so he deals with all his elect in grace, free, sovereign, saving grace (Eph 2:1-4). Genesis 38 stands before us as a most blessed display of Gods amazing, free grace to sinners in Christ. Instead of casting Judah and Tamar into hell for their sin, God had chosen not only to save them, but to make them the direct progenitors of Christ. Gods grace is not frustrated and cannot be frustrated. That which appears to be a hindrance to grace is but the instrument of grace. The Son of God, the Lord of Glory not only came down here to save sinners, he purposed from eternity to identify himself with sinners even in his ancestry through the tribe of Judah (Rth 4:12-13; Mat 1:1-3; Heb 7:14). This is now, and shall forever be, the theme of his everlasting praise..
“The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Rev 5:5-12).
The history of Judah is written for us in these 30 verses of Inspiration to teach us that where sin abounds, grace super-abounds. In election, in redemption, in providence, in forgiveness, and in blessedness, our great God, in his great grace, rises above and over rules the sin and folly of man for the salvation of his elect and the glory of his own great name. Yes, he rises above and over rules our sin and folly for our salvation, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And when he gets done, every creature in heaven, earth, and hell will see the wonder of his work and praise him for everything that has been. “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” (Psa 115:1).
am 2265, bc 1739
it came: As there cannot be above 23 years from the selling of Joseph, unto Israel’s going down into Egypt; and as it is impossible that Judah should take a wife, and by her have three sons successively, and Shelah, the youngest, marriageable when Judah begat Pharez of Tamar, and Pharez be grown up, married, and have two sons, all within so short a period; Mr. Ainsworth conceives that the time here spoken of is soon after Jacob’s coming to Shechem – Gen 33:1. We have accordingly adapted the chronology to correspond with that time.
turned: Gen 19:2, Gen 19:3, Jdg 4:18, 2Ki 4:8, Pro 9:6, Pro 13:20
Adullamite: An inhabitant of Adullam, a city of Canaan, afterwards given to Judah, situated in the southern part of that tribe, west of Hebron. Jos 12:15, Jos 15:35, 1Sa 22:1, 2Sa 23:13, Mic 1:15
Reciprocal: Gen 29:35 – called Gen 38:12 – Timnath Gen 46:12 – Judah Num 26:19 – Er and Onan 2Sa 13:3 – a friend
Section 2. (Gen 38:1-30).
Judah’s separation from his brethren and humiliation.
At this juncture, the history of Judah is introduced, which as that of Judah alone is itself significant. Israel (the ten tribes) has for long had none: the Jews represent for us the whole people. Here, at the outset, Judah separates himself from his brethren, and connects himself with the Canaanite -the “merchantman” -marrying the daughter of Shuah (or “riches”). Surely these names give us in plain speech the characteristics of the nation for these centuries since the cross! His seed is thus, however, continued upon the earth, although God’s wrath is upon the first two sons (whose names may speak, Er, of “enmity,” and Onan, of “iniquity”), while the third son, Shelah (“sprout”?), speaks of divine power in resurrection, bringing out of death. Thus is a remnant preserved.
The story of Tamar shows us how, in God’s marvelous way of grace, Christ comes into connection with Judah, and thus it is her name appears in the Lord’s genealogy in the gospel of Matthew, first of those four women’s names, whose presence there demonstrates the grace which has stooped to take up men. Each of these four has its own distinctive gospel-feature to bring out, as elsewhere shown. It is Tamar’s sin that brings her in, as it is Rahab’s faith; while for Ruth to come in, the sentence of the law as to the Moabites must be set aside, and Bathsheba -named even as the wife of Urias -shows us grace triumphing over even a believer’s sin. A salvation for sinners, -through faith, -apart from law, -and eternal: this is what the simple insertion of these names declares. Tamar’s sin was the very thing which brought her into the Lord’s genealogy: and as sinners simply have we title to rejoice in a work accomplished for sinners. Judah will find, in a day that is near, his title, not in legal righteousness, nor in mere descent from Abraham, but in the truth which God has emphasized for us here.
Judah’s Adultery With Tamar
Perhaps out of disgust for his brothers’ thoughts of killing Joseph and deceiving Jacob, Judah went to a city about twelve miles outside Bethlehem. He married a Canaanite woman who bore him three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah arranged a marriage contract for Er with a woman named Tamar. Before they could bear any children, God slew Er for wickedness. By the law of levirate marriage (see Deu 25:5-10 ), Onan was compelled to marry Tamar. The first son born to them would then be named for the deceased brother, Er, to keep his name alive. Onan apparently did not want to bear a child to carry on the memory of his brother, so he spilled his semen on the ground. God killed him for his act ( Gen 38:1-10 ).
Judah instructed Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s house until Shelah reached an age for marriage. Actually, he feared for Shelah’s life. Over the course of time, Judah’s wife died. Tamar was told he was going up to Timnah to shear his sheep. She took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a harlot’s veil and waited by the road for Judah to pass. When he did, she made an agreement to have relations with him for a kid. He left his signet ring on a cord and shepherd’s staff as collateral until he could send a kid back in payment.
When Tamar was found with child, Judah planned to burn her. However, she produced his signet ring on a cord and staff. Judah said she had been more righteous than he, however, both sinned in this matter. She bore twins, Perez and Zerah. It seems likely this story is included in the text because Judah was to receive the birthright. The Lord came out of the tribe of Judah. Also, Judah’s sin is in stark contrast to Joseph’s actions in the house of Potiphar ( Gen 38:1-30 ).
Gen 38:1. At that time That is, about that time; this expression, as also the words then, in those days, often referring in Scripture to a considerable space of time. For though these words, as Le Clerc well observes, seem to connect the following events with those spoken of in the former chapter, yet some of them, particularly Judahs marriage, which leads to the rest, must have happened long before Joseph was sold into Egypt. This chapter must therefore be here placed out of the order of time, and the events here recorded must have happened soon after Jacob came from Mesopotamia into Canaan, though Moses, for some special reasons, relates them in this place. Judah went down from his brethren Withdrew for a time from his fathers family, and got intimately acquainted with one Hirah an Adullamite. When young people that have been well educated, begin to change their company, they will soon change their manners, and lose their good education. They that go down from their brethren, that forsake the society of the seed of Israel, and pick up Canaanites for their companions, are going down the hill apace.
Gen 38:1. At that time. All the events of this chapter could not happen in the twenty-two years from the selling of Joseph, to Israels going down into Egypt; but according to Eben Ezra, as quoted by critics, Judah must have married a Canaanite before the sale of his brother. At the age of fourteen he left his father, and married this strange woman, by whom he had Er, Onan, and Shelah in three years. Judahs morals were therefore corrupted at an early age, and this accounts for the tragic occurrences of his house.
Gen 38:7. Er, though very young was so extremely wicked, that the Lord slew him. God having concealed the nature of his crimes in the dark cloud of his vengeance, we ought not to make farther inquiry.
Gen 38:9. Onan was not better than his brother Er. His crime was double; first, in denying issue to Tamar, and thereby depriving her of all her covenant rights; and secondly, in secret wickedness, for which the Lord slew him. Both these sons, it should be remembered, were educated by a heathen mother. Onanism is not only to be avoided by early rising, but all that leads to it abhorred, as idleness and novel reading. This sin superinduces every disease incident to the body. The Greeks have a proverb which applies here. , , . To conquer ones self is the first and best of all victories; but for a man to be conquered by himself, is the vilest and worst of sins.
Gen 38:13. It was told Tamar. This young widow had borne much reproach for the singular loss of two young husbands. She had been defrauded by Onan, and disappointed of Shelah; and considering her marriage claims of issue and of property from the family, she took this bold and singular step. Her peculiar situation, and the laws of her people should be well considered, before we too far censure a mysterious deed.
Gen 38:17. A kid. How lost to reason, and blinded by passion. How deplorably wretched must both the man and the woman be, who can barter their virtue for so paltry a price.
Gen 38:18. Thy signet. This was usually a precious stone; the writing was often a short and ingenious monogram, so that it could not be counterfeited without aid of a goldsmith and a lapidary. Thus Tamar by getting possession of the signet outwitted Judah.
Gen 38:21. Where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside? kedaish, that was separated from her family, and devoted to hire. So is the sense of Hos 4:14. They are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots. Neither families, nor society can know a woman who devotes herself to prostitution; and the magistrate is bound to punish the crime. Brothels provoke the anger of heaven against a nation; all such women should be put in some asylum. Tamars case was unique, not a case of imitation.
Gen 38:24. Let her be burnt. She was betrothed to Shelah, and in that case she ought to have suffered death. Deu 22:23-24. Lev 21:9. It is highly probable that she was a priests daughter.
REFLECTIONS.
Here is a chapter painted with the deepest tints of vice. Here is a black catalogue of persons, extremely young, who had made a daring progress in the worst of vices, all of which began in youthful folly. Judah obstinately left his fathers house to live with Hirah; and marrying a Canaanite immediately, he lost the modesty of youth, and imbibed the corruptions of the country. How instructive is Judahs error to all young men, whose hearts are ready to be carried away with a torrent of vice. Their weakness has need to be protected by a parents eye, or sheltered by the care of a righteous family.
In Er and in Onan, two depraved young men of a wicked age, we have instruction and warning of the most awful kind. Oh what purity of heart, what sanctity of life, what rigour of piety should be here inculcated! And with what horror should we start at the slightest propensity to evil; for sin worketh death. Let us listen to that warning voice, The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are; and if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.
But here the father offended as well as the sons; one would have thought, heaven had now given up these royal branches to their own ways, that the whole might be destroyed body and soul. Judah wrought folly in Israel when shearing his sheep, when in company with a Canaanite, and on a day of feasting and wine. He lost his staff and signet, his princely honours were in possession of a harlot; and must this man still be addressed, my lord, and sit in the first place at table, who but last night left all his laurels in the chamber of a mistress! Let all men learn the strictest laws of temperance and sobriety, nourishing and feeding the body for the service of God, and the duties of life.
But did Judah desist from repeating the inquiry after the harlot, and was he content to lose his staff, his bracelets and his ring for fear of shame? Ah, and sinners are too often actuated merely by the same sentiment. It is detection and public shame which alarm their fears, and induce them not unfrequently to fabricate a multitude of lies to cover the guilt of one foul and scandalous offence. But the language of true repentance is Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Here is also instruction for magistrates, and for those who exercise discipline in the church. Bring her forth, said Judah, and let her be burnt; for the heads of tribes were invested of God with power to punish crimes with death. It often happens however, that great men, guilty themselves, are much more disposed to punish vices which tarnish their honour, or affect their interest, than because those sins are odious in the eyes of heaven.
We also see the mysterious conduct of grace and justice largely unfolded. After God had made an awful example of Er and Onan, and after granting repentance, we would hope, to Judah and Tamar, he was graciously pleased to consecrate one of their offspring to be primogenitor of the Messiah. Surely the largeness of this grace is intended to comfort the chief of sinners, when like Judah and Tamar they never repeat their sin. He who abhorred not Judahs line, will not disdain to make their souls a habitation of his glory. Happy, happy indeed the Magdalen who is more devoted to God and his glory, than she has been to the world; but happier still, thrice happier the youth, who keeps himself unspotted as a branch of righteousness from the pollutions of the age.
Genesis 38
Presents one of those remarkable circumstances in which divine grace is seen gloriously triumphing over man’s sin. “It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda.” (Heb. 7: 14) But how? “Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar.” (Matt. 1: 3) This is peculiarly striking. God, in His great grace, rising above the sin and folly of man, in order to bring about His own purposes of love and mercy. Thus, a little further on, in Matthew, we read,” David the king begat Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias.” It is worthy of God thus to act. The Spirit of God is conducting us along the line through which, according to the flesh, Christ came; and, in doing so, he gives us, as links in the genealogical chain, Thamar and Bathsheba! How evident it is that there is nothing of man in this! How plain it is that when we reach the close of the first chapter of Matthew, it is “God manifest in the flesh” we find, and that, too, from the pen of the Holy Ghost man could never have devised such a genealogy. It is entirely divine, and no spiritual person can read it without seeing in it a blessed exhibition of divine grace, in the first place; and of the divine inspiration of Matthews gospel, in the second place, at least, of his account of Christ’s genealogy according to the flesh. I believe a comparison of 2 Sam. 11 and Gen. 38 with Matt. 1 will furnish the thoughtful Christian with matter for a very sweet and edifying meditation.
In perusing these interesting sections of inspiration, we perceive a remarkable chain of providential actings, all tending to one grand point, namely, the exaltation of the man who had been in the pit; and, at the same time, bringing out, by the way, a number of subordinate objects. “The thoughts of many hearts” were to be “revealed;” but Joseph was to be exalted. “He called for a famine upon! the land: he brake the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant; whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in Iron; until the time that his word came; the word of the Lord tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance; to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom.” (Psalm 105: 16-22)
It is well to see that the leading object was to exalt the one whom men had rejected; and then to produce in those same men a sense of their sin in rejecting. And how admirably all this is effected! The most trivial and the most important, the most likely and the most unlikely, circumstances are made to minister to the development of God’s purposes. In Gen. 39 Satan uses Potiphar’s wife, and in Gen. 40 he uses Pharaoh’s chief butler. The former he used to put Joseph into the dungeon; and the latter he used to keep him there, through his ungrateful negligence; but all in vain. God was behind the scenes. His finger was guiding all the springs of the vast machine of circumstances, and when the due time was come, He brought forth the man of His purpose, and set His feet in a large room. Now, this is ever God’s prerogative. He is above all, and can use all for the accomplishment of His grand and unsearchable designs. It is sweet to be able thus to trace our Father’s hand and counsel in everything. Sweet to know that all sorts of agents are at His sovereign disposal; angels, men, and devils – all are under His omnipotent hand, and all are made to carry out His purposes.
In the scripture now before us, all this is seen in a most remarkable manner. God visits the domestic circle of a heathen captain, the household of a heathen king, yea, and his bed-side, and makes the very visions of his head upon his bed contribute to the development of His counsels. Nor is it merely individuals and their circumstances that we see thus taken up and used for the furtherance of God’s ends; but Egypt and all the surrounding countries are brought into the scene; in short, the whole earth was prepared by the hand of God to be a theatre on which to display the glory and greatness of the one “who was separate from his brethren.” Such are God’s ways; and it is one of the happiest and most elevating exercises for the soul of a saint to trace thus the admirable actings of his heavenly Father. How forcibly is God’s providence brought out in this profoundly interesting history of Joseph! Look, for a moment, into the dungeon of the captain of the guard. See there a man “laid in iron,” charged with a most abominable crime – the outcast and offscouring of society; and yet see him, almost in a moment, raised to the very highest eminence, and who can deny that God is in it all?
“And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him to ride in the second chariot that he had: and they cried before him, bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41: 39-44)
Here, then, was exaltation of no ordinary kind. Contrast this with the pit and the dungeon; and mark the chain of events by which it was all brought about, and you have, at once, a marked exhibition of the hand of God, and a striking type of the sufferings and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph was taken from the pit and the dungeon, into which he had been brought by the envy of his brethren, and the false judgement of the Gentile, to be ruler over the whole land of Egypt; and not only so, but to be the channel of blessing, and the sustainer of life, to Israel and the whole earth. This is all typical of Christ; indeed, a type could hardly be more perfect. We see a man laid, to all intents and purposes, in the place of death, at the hand of man, and then raised up by the hand of God, And set in dignity and glory. “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” (Acts 2: 22-24)
But there are two points in Joseph’s history which, together with what has been noticed, render the type remarkably perfect; I allude to his marriage with a stranger in Gen. 41, and his interview with his brethren in Gen. 45. The following is the order of events. Joseph presents himself to his brethren as one sent by the father; they reject him, and, so far as lies in them, put him in the place of death; God takes him up from thence, and raises him to a position of highest dignity: thus exalted, he gets a bride; and when his brethren, according to the flesh, so thoroughly broken and prostrate before him, he makes himself known to them, tranquillises their hearts, and brings them into blessing; he then becomes the channel of blessing to them and to the whole world.
I shall just make a few remarks on Joseph’s marriage and the restoration of his brethren. The strange wife shadows forth the Church. Christ presented Himself to the Jews, and being rejected, took His seat on high, and sent down the Holy Ghost to form the Church, composed of Jew and Gentile, to be united with Him in heavenly glory. The doctrine of the Church has already been dwelt upon in our remarks on Gen. 24, but one or two points remain to be noticed here. And, first, we may observe, that Joseph’s Egyptian bride was intimately associated with him in his glory. [Joseph’s wife sets forth the Church as united to Christ in His glory; Moses’ wife presents the Church as united to Christ in His rejection.] She, as being part of himself, shared in all that was his. Moreover, she occupied a place of nearness and intimacy, known only to herself. Thus it is with the Church, the bride of the Lamb. She is gathered to Christ to be the sharer, at once, of His rejection and His glory. It is Christ’s position which Gives character to the position of the Church, and her position should ever give character to her walk. If we are gathered to Christ, it is as exalted in glory, and not as humbled down here. “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” (2 Cor. 5: 26) The Church’s gathering point is Christ in glory. “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me.” (John 12: 32)
There is far more of practical value in the clear apprehension of this principle than might, at first sight, appear. It is ever the aim of Satan, as it is the tendency of our hearts, to lead us to stop short of God’s mark in everything, and specially in the centre of our unity as Christians. It is a popular sentiment, that “the blood of the Lamb is the union of saints,” i.e., it is the blood which forms their centre of unity. Now, that it is the infinitely precious blood of Christ which sets us individually as worshippers in the presence of God, is blessedly true. The blood, therefore, forms the divine basis of our fellowship with God. But when we come to speak; of the centre of our unity as a church, we must see that the Holy Ghost gathers us to the Person of a risen and glorified Christ; and this grand truth gives character – high and holy character to our association as Christians. If we take lower ground than this me must inevitably form a sect or an schism. If we gather round an ordinance, however important, or round a truth, however indisputable, we make something less than Christ our centre.
Hence, it is most important to ponder the practical consequences which flow out of the truth of our being gathered to a risen and glorified Head in the heavens. If Christ were on earth, we should be gathered to Him here; but, inasmuch as He is hidden in the heavens, the Church takes her character from His position there. Hence, Christ could say, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world;” and again, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17: 16, 19) So also, in 1 Peter, me read, “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious; ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an Holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2: 4, 5) If we are gathered to Christ we must be gathered to Him as He is, and where He is; and the more the Spirit of God leads our souls into the understanding of this, the more clearly we shall see the character of walk that becomes us. Joseph’s bride was united to him, not in the pit or the dungeon, but in the dignity and: glory of his position in Egypt; and, in her case, we can have no difficulty in perceiving the vast difference between the two positions.
But, further, we read, “And unto Joseph were born two sons, before the years of famine came.” There was a time of trouble coming; but previous thereto, the fruit of his union appeared. The children whom God had given him were called into existence previous to this time of trial. So will it be in reference to the Church. all the members thereof will be called out, the whole body will be completed and gathered to the Head in heaven, previous to “the great tribulation” which shall come upon all the earth.
We shall now turn, for a little, to Joseph’s interview with his brethren, in which we shall find some points of resemblance to Israel’s history in the latter day. During the period that Joseph was hidden from the view of his brethren, these latter were called to pass through deep and searching trial – through intensely painful exercises of conscience. One of these exercises is poured out in the following words: “And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear therefore, behold, also, his blood is required.” (Gen. 42: 21, 22) Again, in Gen. 44 we read, “And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord What shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” None can teach like God. He alone can produce in the conscience the true sense of sin, and bring the soul down into the profound depths of its own condition in His presence. This is all His own work. Men run on in their career of guilt, heedless of everything, until the arrow of the Almighty pierces their conscience, and then they are led into those searchings of heart, and intense exercises of soul, which can only find relief in the rich resources of redeeming love. Joseph’s brethren had no conception of all that was to flow to them from their actings toward him. “They took him and cast him into a pit ….. and they sat down to eat bread.” “Woe to them…. that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” (Amos 6: 6)
However, God produced grief of heart, and exercises of conscience, and that in a most wonderful way. Years rolled on, and these brethren might have vainly imagined that all was right; but, then, “seven years of plenty, and seven years of scarcity!” What did they mean? Who sent them? And for what were they designed? Admirable providence! Unsearchable wisdom! The famine reaches to Canaan, and the calls of hunger actually bring the guilty brethren to the feet of the injured Joseph! How marked is the display of God’s own hand in all this! There they stand, with the arrow of conviction thrust through and through their consciences, in the presence of the man whom they had, “with wicked hands,” cast into the pit. Surely their sin had found them out; but it was in the presence of Joseph. Blessed place!
“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.” (Gen. 45: 1) No stranger was allowed to witness this sacred scene. What stranger could understand or appreciate it? We are here called to witness, as it were, divinely wrought conviction in the presence of divine grace; and we may say, when these two come together there is an easy settlement of every question.
“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, Whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you, to preserve life. ….. And God sent me before you, to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you sent me hither, but God.” This is grace indeed, setting the convicted conscience perfectly at rest. The brethren had, already, most thoroughly, condemned themselves, and hence Joseph had only to pour in the blessed balm into their broken hearts. This is all sweetly typical of God’s dealings with Israel, in the latter day, when “they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn.” Then they shall prove the reality of divine grace, and the cleansing efficacy of that “fountain which shall be opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” (Zech. 13: 1).
In Acts 3, we find the Spirit of God in Peter seeking to produce this divine conviction in the consciences of the Jews. “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.” These statements were designed to elicit from the hearts and lips of the hearers the confession made by Joseph’s brethren – “we are verily guilty.” Then follows the grace. “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” We here see that, although the Jews really carried out the enmity of their hearts, in the death of Christ, as did also Joseph’s brethren in their treatment of him, yet, the grace of God to each is seen in this, that all is shown to be decreed and foreshown of God for their blessing. This is perfect grace, surpassing all human thought; and all that is needed, in order to the enjoyment thereof, is a conscience truly convicted by the truth of God. Those who could say, “We are verily guilty,” could rightly understand the words of precious grace, “It was not you, but God.” Thus it must ever be. The soul that has thoroughly pronounced its own condemnation, is prepared to understand and appreciate God’s pardon.
The remaining chapters of this book are taken up with the removal of Jacob and his family into Egypt, and their settlement there; Joseph’s actings during the remaining years of famine; Jacob’s blessing the twelve patriarchs; his death and burial. We shall not dwell in detail upon these things, though the spiritual mind may find much to feed upon therein.* Jacob’s groundless fears dissipated by the sight of his son alive, and exalted – the peculiar grace of God seen in its overruling power, yet evidently mingled with judgement, inasmuch as Jacob’s sons have to go down into the very place whither they had sent their brother. Again, Joseph’s remarkable grace throughout: though exalted by Pharaoh, he hides himself, as it were, and binds the people in abiding obligation to the king. Pharaoh says, “Go to Joseph,” and Joseph, in effect, says, “all you have and all you are belong to Pharaoh.” This is sweetly interesting, and leads the soul on to that glorious time when the Son of man shall take the reins of government into His Own hand, by divine appointment, and rule over the whole redeemed creation, His Church – the bride of the Lamb – occupying the nearest and most intimate place, according to the eternal counsels. The house of Israel, fully restored, shall be nourished and sustained by His gracious hand; and all the earth shall know the deep blessedness of being under His sceptre. Finally, having brought everything into subjection, He shall hand back the reins of government into the hands of God, that “he may be all in all.” From all this we may form some idea of the richness and copiousness of Joseph’s history. In short, it sets before us, distinctly, in type, the mission of the Son to the house of Israel – His humiliation and rejection – the deep exercises and final repentance and restoration of Israel – the union of the Church with Christ – His exaltation and universal government, and, finally, it points us forward to the time when “God shall be all in all.” It is quite needless to remark, that all these things are largely taught, and fully established, throughout the entire canon of inspiration: we do not, therefore, build their truth upon Joseph’s history; still it is edifying to find such early foreshadowings of these precious truths: it proves to us the divine unity which pervades holy scripture. Whether we turn to Genesis or to Ephesians – to the prophets of the Old or those of the New Testament – we learn the same truths. “ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD.
{*The close of Jacob’s career stands in most pleasing contrast with all the previous scenes of his eventful history. It reminds one of a serene evening, after a tempestuous day: the sun, which during the day had been hidden from view by clouds, mists, and fogs, sets in majesty and brightness, gilding with his beams the western sky, and holding out the cheering prospect of a bright tomorrow. Thus is it with our aged patriarch. The supplanting, the bargain-making, the running, the management, the shifting, the shuffling the unbelieving selfish fears – all those dark clouds of nature and of earth seem to have passed away, and he comes forth, in all the calm elevation of faith, to bestow blessings, and impart dignities, in that holy skillfulness, which communion with God can alone impart.
Though nature’s eyes are dim, faiths vision is sharp. He is not to be deceived as to the relative positions assigned to Ephraim and Manasseh, in the counsels of God. He has not, like his father Isaac, in Gen. 27, to “tremble very exceedingly,” in view of an almost fatal mistake. Quite the reverse. His intelligent reply to his less instructed son is, “I know it, my son, I know it.” The power of sense has not, as in Isaac’s ease, dimmed his spiritual vision. He has been taught, in the school of experience, the importance of keeping close to the divine purpose, and nature’s influence cannot move him from thence.
In Gen. 48: 11, we have a very beautiful example of the mode in which our God ever rises above all our thoughts, and proves Himself better than all our fears. “And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face; and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.” To nature’s view, Joseph was dead; whereas in God’s view he was alive, and seated in the highest place of authority, next the throne. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2: 9) Would that our souls could rise higher in their apprehension of God and His ways.
It is interesting to notice the way in which the titles “Jacob” and “Israel are introduced in the close of the Book of Genesis; as, for example, “One told Jacob, and said, Behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed” Then, it is immediately added, “And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz.” Now, we know, there is nothing in scripture without its specific meaning, and hence this interchange of names contains some instruction. In general, it may be remarked, that “Jacob” sets forth the depth to which God had descended; “Israel,” the height to which Jacob was raised.}
Genesis 38. Judah and Tamar.The source is J, but not the same stratum as that to which the Joseph story belongs. There is not room for the events either before or after the events of Genesis 37, nor does the Joseph narrative suggest that Judah left his brothers and lived the independent life here described. The chronology is quite inconsistent with the view that Genesis is a unity. Judah was roughly about twenty when Joseph, at the age at least of seventeen (Gen 37:2), went into Egypt. The interval between that event and the journey of Jacob into Egypt was not more than twenty-two years. Within that period the whole of the events of this chapter have been crowded; moreover, Perez has two sons by its close (Gen 46:12). To a certain extent the chapter contains tribal history. Judah at first consisted of the clans of Er, Onan, and Shelah, half-Hebrew, half-Canaanite. The two former largely died out; later, by a further fusion with Canaanites, the clans of Perez and Zerah arose. It is probably true that Judah had a large Canaanite element, and certainly till the time of David its ties with Israel were very loose. Tamar, however, is hardly the name of a clan. She is the clan-mother, whose desperate device for securing posterity for her first husband would be celebrated by her descendants whose existence it made possible, as the even more drastic measures of Lots daughters were celebrated by Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38*). To us the whole story is extremely repulsive, but it is a mistake to impute our standards to the early Hebrews. It is surprising that Tamar lays the trap for Judah rather than Shelah, to whom she had a right. Partly it would be to bring home to Judah his fault in withholding Shelah from her (Gen 38:26), partly to secure sons from the tribal fountain head. Judah was naturally chary of risking his last son with a woman who, as he would think, had proved fatal to his two brothers (cf. Sarah and her seven husbands in Tobit iii. 8). On the levirate marriage, see p. 109. The offspring of such a marriage was reckoned to the dead man, hence Onans evasion of his duty.
The story of Joseph is interrupted in this chapter to expose the shamefulness of an important part of Judah’s history. We have seen that Judah took the lead in selling Joseph as a slave. In fact, in every relationship of Judah his shame and dishonor is evident. He sold his brother, he deceived his father, he married a Canaanite wife, he had both his sons killed by the Lord for wickedness, he deceived his daughter-in-law when promising his son Shelah to her, then had two sons by the same daughter-in-law (unwittingly).
He pictures the tribe of Judah, which has had a deeply painful history over the ages, so that it will require the powerful work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the manifestation of the Lord Jesus in glory, to break down Judah’s proud arrogance (Zec 12:7-14), just as we see Judah personally broken down when having to face Joseph in Gen 44:18-34. In verse 1 Judah is seen leaving his brothers. The history of his brothers is not considered here, for Israel’s long history has really been represented in the history of Judah since the ten tribes were separated from Judah and Benjamin. Judah’s marriage to a Canaanite wife (v.2) symbolizes the nation’s illicit commerce with Gentile business. For Canaan means “a trafficker,” a principle contrary to true Christian character, but Israel has exchanged any spiritual values she had for the legal principle of trading or trafficking in the world’s markets. Shuah’s name means “riches,” which the Jewish nation has sought as an object for centuries.
Three sons were born to Shuah, the first one killed by the Lord because of wickedness (v.7). The second, Onan, agreed to take the widow or Er as his wife in order to have a child that would be officially his brother’s. But he did not complete his contract honorably, and the Lord considered this serious enough to kill him also (vs.8-10). The reason was his absolute selfishness, for the child would not be officially his (though actually so). These two cases illustrate the degrading history of the tribe of Judah. Shelah, the youngest son, is said to possibly mean “sprout,” and indicates at least a preserved remnant that promises a miraculous revival for the nation Israel.
Judah promised Tamar that when Shelah was grown (for as yet he was only young), then she could marry him, meanwhile asking her to remain as a widow in her father’s house. But we shall see that Judah failed to keep his promise, just as the tribe of Judah has constantly done
Eventually Judah’s wife Shuah died, for “riches (the meaning of her name) take themselves wings; they fly away” (Pro 23:5). Judah was not driven to the feet of the Lord by this, but turned to the company of one whom he thought was a prostitute. He had promised to give his youngest son Shelah to Tamar, but had not kept his promise. She therefore took matters into her own hands and deceitfully posed as a prostitute to seduce Judah (vs.13-15). When he promised to send her a kid as payment for his fornication, she demanded some security, and he gave her three things that were unmistakably his property (v.18). From this one occasion she conceived a child.
Immediately she left the area and changed her clothes, resuming her widowhood state. Of course when Judah sent the kid, expecting to retrieve the pledge he had left, the messenger was not only unable to find the prostitute, but was told that no prostitute had even been in that place.
Tamar’s plan worked as she had desired, and three months later Judah was told that she was pregnant through prostitution (v.24). He had no hesitation in condemning her, and passed sentence that she should be burned to death. Evidently he never even thought of the man who was involved in the case. Judah could sin without any question being raised, but he considered that for the very same sin Tamar must be killed!
Then Tamar exposed him, sending to him thee items of security he had given her, telling him she was pregnant by the owner of these things (v.25). Judah at least gave her credit for being more righteous than he (v.26), though rather, he was more guilty than Tamar, for righteousness was not involved in the matter at all.
Tamar gave birth to twins, one beginning to come first, but superseded by the other (vs27-29). This is another lesson of the first being last and the last first, as in the case of Esau and Jacob, and many others.
However, out of this shameful history it is amazing to think that God has seen fit to bring about marvelous blessing. For Judah, Tamar and Pharez are recorded as in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus in Mat 1:3. In fact, Tamar is one of only four woman mentioned in that genealogy, — Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and “her who had been the wife of Uriah” (Mat 1:3-6). But this is intended to impress upon us the marvel of the pure grace of God in reaching guilty sinners in the gift of His holy, sinless Son!
There was no continued relationship between Judah and Tamar, and we have no record either of Tamar’s subsequent history.
38:1 And it came to pass at that time, that {a} Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name [was] Hirah.
(a) Moses describes the genealogy of Judah, because the Messiah should come from him.
Levirite marriage (the marriage of a man to his deceased brother’s wife to provide his brother with an heir) was a common custom in the ancient Near East at this time (Gen 38:8-10). [Note: de Vaux, pp. 37-38. See Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, pp. 705-10, for an excursus on levirate marrage.] It was common also in Asia, Africa, and other areas, but it evidently originated in Mesopotamia. The Mosaic Law did not abolish it but restricted it in Israel to preserve the sanctity of marriage (cf. Deu 25:5-10).
"The enormity of Onan’s sin is in its studied outrage against the family, against his brother’s widow and against his own body. The standard English versions fail to make clear that this was his persistent practice. When (9) should be translated ’whenever.’" [Note: Kidner, p. 188.]
Onan’s refusal to give Tamar a child not only demonstrated a lack of love for his deceased brother. It also revealed Onan’s selfish heart that wanted for himself what would have gone to his elder brother’s heir. If Tamar had borne him a son, that child would have been the perpetuator of Er’s name as well as that of Onan (cf. Rth 4:5; Rth 4:21-22). God judged Onan’s sin severely because descendants were important in His plans for the Israelite patriarchs. Onan was frustrating the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (cf. Gen 11:4). This is the first text that states explicitly that God put someone to death.
Judah sinned against Tamar by forcing her to live as a widow (Gen 38:11). He wrongly blamed Tamar for the death of his sons (cf. Gen 38:26) rather than blaming his sons. Tamar had every right to children. Moreover as a member of the chosen family, Judah should have made certain that she had another legitimate opportunity to bear children.
Judah comes across at the beginning of this incident again as a hard and callous man. He had previously suggested selling Joseph into slavery to make money from him and deceiving Jacob despite Reuben’s protests (Gen 37:26-27; Gen 37:29-30). Now the writer portrayed him as showing no grief over the deaths of his sons, in contrast to Jacob who mourned inconsolably over Joseph’s apparent death (Gen 37:34-35). Judah also ordered the burning of his daughter-in-law (Gen 38:24).
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2. Judah as Eremite, or Separatist, in the noblest sense; the dangers of an isolated position.
3. Hirah, from a valuable comrade, becoming an officious assistant,a witness to Judahs superiority.
4. The sons of Judah. The failure of his well-intended experiment to marry his sons early.
5. Onans sin, a deadly wickedness, an example to be held in abhorrence, as condemnatory, not only of secret sins of self-pollution, but also of all similar offences in sexual relations, and even in marriage itself. Unchastity in general is a homicidal waste of the generative powers, a demonic bestiality, an outrage to ancestors, to posterity, and to ones own life. It is a crime against the image of God, and a degradation below the animal. Onans offence, moreover, as committed in marriage, was a most unnatural wickedness, and a grievous wrong. The sin named after him is destructive as a pestilence that walketh in darkness, destroying directly the body and soul of the young. But common fornication is likewise an unnatural violation of the person, a murder of two souls, and a desecration of the body as the temple of God. There are those in our Christian communities who are exceedingly gross in this respect; a proof of the most defective development of what may be called, the consciousness of personality, and of personal dignity.
6. The Levirate law. Its meaning and object. The theocratic moral idea of the levirate law is ascribed in the Calwer Handbuch to the desire of imperishableness. Gerlach remarks: An endeavor to preserve families, even in their separate lines, and to retain the thereby inherited property, pervades the laws of the Israelites,a feeling that doubtless came down from the patriarchs. The father still lived on in the son; the whole family descending from him was, in a certain sense, himself; and, through this, the place among the people was to be preserved. From the remotest antiquity, so much depended upon the preservation of tradition, upon the inheritance of religion, education, and custom, that these things were never regarded as the business of individuals, but of families and nations. When afterward the house of Jacob became a people, this duty of the levirate law necessarily made trouble, and the brother-in-law was no longer forced to it; but even then he was publicly contemned for his refusal (Deu 25:5; Rth 4:7; comp. Mat 22:23). The first motive for the patriarchal custom, or for Judahs idea, comes, doubtless, from a struggle of faith in the promise with death. As the promise is to the seed of Abraham, so death seems to mar the promise when he carries away some of Jacobs sons, especially the first-born, before they have had offspring. Life thus enters into strife with death, whilst the remaining brothers fill up the blank. The second motive, however, is connected with the fact, that the life of the deceased is to be reflected in the future existence of their names in this world. Israels sons are a church of the undying. There is a third motive; it is to introduce the idea of spiritual descent. The son of the surviving brother answers for the legitimate son of the dead, and thus the way is prepared for the great extension of the adoptive relationship, according to which Jesus is called the son of Joseph, and mention is made of the brothers of Jesus. The institution, however, being typical, it could not be carried through consistently in opposition to the right of personality. A particular coercive marriage would have been at war with the idea of the law itself.
8. The Hierodulai. Female servants of Astarte, Aschera, or Mylytta (see Delitzsch, p. 536). The he-goat sacred to Astarte.
10. Judahs (Thamars) twins; Isaacs (Rebeccas) twins.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)