At one point, Judah left his brothers to visit his friend, Hirah, an Adullamite. While there, he met Shua’s (a Canaanite) daughter. He married her and consummated the marriage. She conceived and gave birth to a son, which was named Er. She conceived again and had another son and named him Onan. Judah’s wife conceived a third time and had another son and named him Shelah. They were in Chezib when Shelah was born.

Judah got a wife for Er whose name was Tamar. Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord killed him. Wow! A person has to be extremely wicked for the Lord, Himself to kill them. Judah told Onan to marry Tamar and have a child to raise up as an heir to his brother. A couple of scriptures that address this practice are Deuteronomy 25:5-10 and Matthew 22:23-28. Onan knew that the heir would not be his. So, when he was intimate with Tamar, rather than emitting the sperm inside her, he emitted on the ground so he wouldn’t give an heir to his brother. This action displeased the Lord and therefore God killed him too. Onan’s actions make me wonder about his relationship with his wicked brother, Er. Or was he just being selfish? Also, since Judah’s name means “praise” (Genesis 29:35), it’s amazing that two of his sons were killed by the Lord because of wicked and displeasing actions. Judah told Tamar to go back to her father’s house and remain a widow and when his third son, Shelah, became of age, she could marry him, lest he should die like his brothers. So, Tamar went back to her father’s house. Now, it’s up to Shelah, to raise an heir unto his brothers, once he’s old enough.

Eventually, Judah’s wife died. After Judah’s time of mourning was completed, he and his friend, Hirah, went to his sheepshearers at Timnah. Tamar was told that her father-in-law was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. So, Tamar took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself up and sat in an open place on the way to Timnah. She did this because she saw that Shelah was grown, but she wasn’t given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because he couldn’t see her face since it was covered. So, not knowing this was his daughter-in-law, he solicited her services for sex. She asked him what would he give her for payment. He said that he would give her a young goat from his flock. So, she wanted to know if he would give her something as collateral until she got the goat. Judah asked her what did she want as collateral and she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” He had sex with her and she got pregnant. After she left him, Tamar put back on her widow’s garments. Judah had Hirah to take the young goat to the prostitute so that he could get back his items. However, Hirah could not find her. He asked the men of that place about the prostitute that was by the side of the road. The men said that there was never a prostitute there. Hirah returned to Judah and told him that he could not find the prostitute and the men said that there wasn’t a prostitute there. So Judah said to let her keep the items he gave her because if they kept looking for her, then people would start laughing at them. He said that he tried to keep his part of the agreement, but she couldn’t be found. Judah was willing to keep his word to a prostitute, but not keep his word to his daughter-in-law, not knowing she was one in the same. I wonder why he did not have Shelah marry Tamar. Could it have been that Shelah didn’t want to marry her because she could have been a lot older than him?

About three months later, Judah heard that Tamar got pregnant while prostituting herself. So Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!” When Tamar was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, Judah, saying that the father of her baby is the owner of these items – the signet, cord and staff. Judah acknowledged that the items belonged to him. He also said that Tamar was more righteous than he was because he did not give her to Shelah as wife. He was never intimate with Tamar again. Judah said that Tamar was more righteous than he was; she pretended to be a prostitute and tricked her father-in-law into having sex with her. All Judah did, besides soliciting a “hooker”, was not keep his word. Some people would say that what Tamar did was worse than what Judah did. Man puts “degrees” on sin, but God sees sin as sin. There is no big sin and no little sin to God. Also, let’s remember that Judah’s name means “praise”. Do you know what your name means? Assuming that your name has a positive meaning, do you always live up to your name? Remember, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Tamar gave birth to twins. As the twins were being born, one of them put out his hand and the midwife put a scarlet thread on his hand to indicate that he was the first one born. The baby drew back his hand and unexpectedly, the other baby came out first. The midwife said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore, his was named Perez, which in Hebrew means “breach or breakthrough.” Afterwards, his brother who had the scarlet thread on his hand was born. He was named Zerah, which means glowing, dawn, among other meanings. Googled, of course. This also means that Perez now receives the benefits of being the first born, the birthright.

Next stop – Genesis 39

To God Be The Glory!

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