Genesis 38:29 | 75
“ Live as a wid ow in your fa ther’ s house hold un til my son She lah grows up.” For he thought,“ He may die too, just like his broth ers.” So Ta mar went to live in her fa ther’ s house hold.
12
Af ter a long time Ju dah’ s wife, the daugh ter of Shua, died. When Ju dah had re cov ered from his grief, he went up to Tim nah, to the men who were shear ing his sheep, and his friend Hi rah the Adul lam ite went with him.
13
When Ta mar was told,“ Your fa ther-in-law is on his way to Tim nah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her wid ow’ s clothes, cov ered her self with a veil to dis guise her self, and then sat down at the en trance to Ena im, which is on the road to Tim nah. For she saw that, though She lah had now grown up, she had not been giv en to him as his wife.
15
When Ju dah saw her, he thought she was a pros ti tute, for she had cov ered her face. 16 Not real iz ing that she was his daugh ter-in-law, he went over to her by the road side and said,“ Come now, let me sleep with you.”
“ And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
17
“ I’ ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“ Will you give me some thing as a pledge un til you send it?” she asked.
18
He said,“ What pledge should I give you?”
“ Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she an swered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she be came preg nant by him.
19
Af ter she left, she took off her veil and put on her wid ow’ s clothes again.
20
Mean while Ju dah sent the young goat by his friend the Adul lam ite in or der to get his pledge back from the wom an, but he did not find her.
21
He asked the men who lived there,“ Where is the shrine pros ti tute who was be side the road at Ena im?”
“ There hasn’ t been any shrine pros ti tute here,” they said.
22
So he went back to Ju dah and said,“ I didn’ t find her. Be sides, the men who lived there said,‘ There hasn’ t been any shrine pros ti tute here.’”
23
Then Ju dah said,“ Let her keep what she has, or we will be come a laugh ing stock. Af ter all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’ t find her.”
24
About three months lat er Ju dah was told,“ Your daugh ter-in-law Ta mar is guilty of prosti tu tion, and as a re sult she is now preg nant.”
Ju dah said,“ Bring her out and have her burned to death!”
25
As she was be ing brought out, she sent a message to her fa ther-in-law.“ I am preg nant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she add ed,“ See if you rec og nize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
26
Ju dah rec og nized them and said,“ She is more righ teous than I, since I wouldn’ t give her to my son She lah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
27
When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giv ing birth, one of them put out his hand; so the mid wife took a scar let thread and tied it on his wrist and said,“ This one came out first.” 29 But when he drew back his hand, his broth er came out, and she said,“ So this is how you have bro ken this creates a wordplay. Er’ s offense or precisely how he died is unknown. 38:8 fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law With the death of Er, his brother, Onan, became responsible for providing children to Onan’ s wife. This custom is known as levirate marriage and is described in Dt 25. The custom, however, certainly predated Deuteronomy, as suggested by parallel ancient Near Eastern sources( e. g., the laws of Nuzi; Hittite laws). The purpose of the obligation is to ensure that widows were cared for and did not marry outside the clan. In a patriarchal culture, a widow needed sons to provide for her material needs and keep the property of her deceased husband within the family; sons also ensured that the name of the deceased husband would not be forgotten( see Dt 25:5 – 6). 38:9 the child would not be his This comment reveals the motives for Onan’ s selfish actions( compare note on Ge 38:8). 38:11 Live as a widow It is unclear whether Judah knew the nature of Er’ s offense, but he may have known why Yahweh killed Onan. The two deaths seem to discourage him from pursuing another partner for Tamar. This put Tamar in a desperate situation, as her livelihood would have depended on a husband or sons. 38:12 men who were shearing his sheep The springtime shearing of the sheep included feasting and celebration( 1Sa 25:11,36; 2Sa 13:23). 38:15 she had covered her face The narrator conveys that had Judah known the identity of the woman, he would not have had sexual relations with her( Ge 38:16; compare v. 26). 38:18 Your seal Likely a cylinder seal. A cylinder seal is a small, oval-shaped object upon which a personal sign or name was engraved. When rolled over clay, an impression was created. They were often hollowed out in the center, which enabled them to be carried on a cord around the neck. Tens of thousands of cylinder seals are known from archeological excavations. 38:21 shrine prostitute The Hebrew term used here is typically used of a woman in the ser vice of a deity or temple. 38:24 burned to death Since Tamar was waiting for someone to fulfill the obligation of levirate marriage( see note on v. 8), any willful preempting of that obligation on her part was viewed as adultery— a capital offense( see Lev 20:10; Dt 22:22). 38:26 She is more righ teous than I Judah knows he is the guilty party and confesses— sparing Tamar’ s life. She gives birth to twins, one of whom( Perez) appears in the lineage of Jesus( Mt 1:3; Lk 3:33). See the people diagram“ Jesus’ Family Tree According to Matthew” on p. 1528. 38:29 you have broken out The Hebrew word used here, perets, often translated is a pun on the baby’ s name Perez( perets). See the table“ Symbolic Names of People in Hebrew” on p. 1388.