JUDAH AND TAMARby Jim Lisenby________________________________________________________________________________Genesis 38 is interesting. It is a tragic story of mistakes and disobedience basically concerning the subject of adultery, and preserving the pure bloodline of Messiah. It is also the story of the events surrounding the relationship between Judah and Tamar. Curiously, it appears abruptly in the middle of the story of Joseph. Joseph's story stops temporarily at the end of chapter 37 and resumes again in chapter 39. It is noteworthy to observe that much is said of Joseph in Genesis, but not so much about Judah. Chapter 38 then is an important inset chapter concerning Judah and what happened to him and his family.These two, of all Jacob's children, are foremost. Judah from Jacob and Leah, and Joseph from Jacob and Rachel. Judah received the kingship of Israel and his descendants ultimately produced our Redeemer. Joseph received the birthright of Israel and his progeny eventually became some of the most blessed people on Earth.Genesis 38 is important historically because it shows a link in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It is also important in that it shows how God can work out circumstances regardless of the situation, and how that He is faithful to do exactly what He said He would do. Our Lord would spring from Judah, and Judah would receive the blessing he was promised even if he sometimes erred just like we all do. Judah erred greatly because of his carnal human nature and possibly because of some outside interference from the evil one. Satan is nowhere mentioned in the story, but I'm not so sure that he wasn't involved.Now, before we get into the meat of the story we need to establish one critical fact. The Holy Bible contains a record of events from Adam to Christ, but throughout it the central thread is Christ and His genealogy, or ancestry. It is important that you absorb this concept thoroughly because it is the basis of the problem in the story of Judah and Tamar.In this lesson I have included the entire text of Genesis 38 from the King James Version of the Holy Bible, as well as other scriptures from the KJV. Other sources used are: Judah's Testament from The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, hereinafter called Judah; and The Book of Jubilees, hereinafter called Jubilees. All Judah and Jubilees references and quotes are from The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Doubleday), Volumes 1 and 2, edited by James H. Charlesworth. The pedigree of Jesus Christ. The lineage of Christ is recorded in Matthew 1 and also in Luke 3 and we should briefly visit them. Why? To show that Judah, Tamar and their son Pharez are included in those pedigrees and to firmly establish the fact that they were the ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth. If you go there to read all of His ancestry, don't get hung up on the fact that these two lineages are different. That is another lesson for another time, so for now be content to know that they are included in both Matthew and Luke as the following verses show. Matt. 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;Matt. 1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;Luke 3:33 Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda,The prohibition from God concerning adultery.The patriarchs of Israel (Judah's great-grandfather Abraham, his grandfather Isaac, and his father Jacob) knew that the Messiah, Savior of the world, would come through them and it was for this reason that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all avoided intermarriage with the Canaanites which would have polluted the bloodline. They knew that they were not to commit adultery. They were not the only ones to know this, all those in the lineage of Jesus Christ were aware of it. In addition, Satan and the fallen angels (the nephilim) also knew these things and it was for that reason that the fallen angels seduced the daughters of Adam (which produced the giants of Genesis 6). Abraham knew of the prohibition against corrupting the bloodline.Gen. 24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.Gen. 24:2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:The King James translators may have been very cautious and polite here in their interpretation of this last verse. Some scholars say that Abraham's servant did not put his hand under the thigh at all but actually grasped the genitals (the source of the man's seed, or DNA), in preparation for swearing an oath. Don't be shocked. Whatever he did, it really was not unlike the customs of today so much. In the United States we lay the left hand on the Bible and raise the right hand to swear an oath. The customs may have changed with the times but the same old idea is still around, and that is: do something physical to produce a psychological commitment.Gen. 24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:Gen. 24:4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.As you can see from these verses, Abraham considered acquiring the proper wife for his son Isaac was of the utmost importance.Isaac and Jacob knew of the prohibition against intermarriage.Gen. 28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.Gen. 28:2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.Gen. 28:3 And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;Gen. 28:4 And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.Gen. 28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.Gen. 28:6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;Gen. 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;Rebecca and Esau knew of it. Rebecca knew of it, and so her son Esau had to know of it also, but apparently he did not care. It was for this reason she knew that Esau, even though he was the firstborn, would not be the one through whom the Messiah would come because he had intermarried with the Canaanites. The last two verses of Genesis 26 record that fact.Gen. 26:34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:Gen. 26:35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to RebekahDo you see the serious nature of the problem which Esau had created in this case? He did not let his parents have any say-so with regards to whom he was to marry, but he went off on his own and did it himself without their blessing. In so doing he made wrong choices that disqualified him from the birthright that would have been his, as well as having the honor of being an ancestor of Messiah. His parents literally grieved over it. Because of what he did here, his brother Jacob would take his place and receive the blessing. Esau lost the right to be a patriarchal ancestor of Messiah because of his adultery! The last two verses of Genesis 26 reveal Esau's sin, and the next chapter, Genesis 27, records how Jacob at the behest of his mother took the birthright blessing from Esau because he had polluted his bloodline. Go and read what happened in Genesis 27. It seems that Rebecca was determined that the Messiah would come with a pure semitic pedigree (descended from Shem) because she initiated the action to make sure that Jacob received the birthright. It is possible from the story line that Isaac was old, and blind, and feeble, and perhaps unable to resolve the problem. In other words, Rebecca may have been forced to take the initiative and do what she did.Yes, Esau was irresponsible for marrying a Canaanite and a Hittite, and so it would be from his fraternal twin brother Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God, that the Messiah would come. You can see from the verses quoted above from Genesis 28 that Jacob was required by Isaac (and Rebecca) to keep his bloodline pure. How does Judah play into all this? As it turns out, Messiah was to come through him also. Did he know this? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, he blew it.Judah makes the same serious mistake that his uncle Esau did.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.Gen. 38:2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.Gen. 38:3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.Gen. 38:4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.Gen. 38:5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.Judah 8:1 I had many cattle; I had Hiram the Adullamite as chief herdsman. Judah 8:2 When I approached him, I saw Barsaba, the king of Adullam. He conversed with us and held a drinking party for us. When I urged him, he gave me his daughter, Saba, as a wife. Judah 8:3 She bore me Er, Onan, and Shelom. The Lord took away two of them, but Shelom lived.Judah's wife is called Saba in Judah, Bedsuel in Jubilees, and the daughter of Shuah in the KJV.Judah 11:1 And I knew that the race of the Canaanites was evil, but youthful impulses blinded my reason,Judah 11:2 and when I saw her, I was led astray by the strong drink and had intercourse with her.Judah was under the influence of alcohol, his hormones, and possibly some other things when he decided to take Saba as wife. She was a Canaanite and Judah was aware that he should not marry her. She was probably beautiful and sexy and he was strongly attracted to her. In any case, he set himself up for future grief and tragedy.Tamar enters the picture.Gen. 38:6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. Judah 10:1 After this my son Er brought from Mesopotamia, Tamar, daughter of Aram, as a wife for himself.Jubilees 41:1 And in the forty-fifth jubilee, in the second week, in the second year, Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, from the daughters of Aram, and her name was Tamar.Judah had married a Canaanite and regreted it. He didn't want his sons to do the same so he chose a wife for Er from the land, and people of his heritage. Tamar was from the area of Aram or Mesopotamia. The area from which Isaac and Jacob took their wives. See Gen. 24:4 and 28:7 above. She was of the same basic stock of Shem (she had a semitic pedigree) from which Abraham sprang and obviously was acceptable to God as an ancestor of Jesus Christ.There was still a problem though because Er was half Canaanite and Judah wanted him to produce grandchildren by Tamar. Judah loved his children regardless of their origin and maybe he was trying to make the best the situation, but offspring of his Canaanite sons would not be acceptable to God to continue his bloodline from which the Messiah was to come. Judah may have thought that it was okay to continue with Er as long as his wife was semitic (descended from Shem).Gen. 38:7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.Was Er really that bad? I don't think so. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word ra (Strong's No. 7451) which is translated wicked in this verse can also be translated wrong in certain cases. It seems to me that this might be the better translation in this case. It is fitting to say that Er was wrong to be an ancestor of Christ and that is why he was removed. Ra is usually translated evil or wicked but can mean any number of adverse or sinister things. Was Er so evil or wicked that he had to be killed? I don't buy it. As a general rule God doesn't just go around killing people because they are wicked, especially individuals as young as Er. Besides Er was not really the problem here, it was Judah trying to force something contrary to God's will. Judah was the problem here but he apparently didn't know it and it cost him the life of his son. It is obvious from Genesis 38:6 and Jubilees 41:1 above that Judah picked Tamar for Er. But, in Jubilees we find that Er never wanted Tamar for his wife, he wanted one of the Canaanite women but Judah would not allow it. Judah himself verified this in his testament which he gave many years later after these events. Judah 10:2 Er was wicked, and a difficulty arose concerning Tamar, because she was not of the land of Canaan. An angel of the Lord took him away on the third night.So does the book of Jubilees. Jubilees 41:2 But he hated (her) and would not lie with her because his mother was from the daughters of Canaan. And he wanted to take a wife from his mother's people, but Judah, his father, did not permit him. Jubilees 41:3 He had not had intercourse with her, in keeping with his mother's treacherous scheme, because he did not want to have children by her.Wow, unbelievable! Er never had intercourse with Tamar. Now hold on a minute! Before you reject that idea totally, remember that we don't really know the nature of their customs back then. Let's just say that it is possible.There may have been other things that interplayed here. Perhaps she was also too plain-Jane and modest for Er. Maybe the Canaanite girls were sexier and more appealing to a young man. Judah was obviously impressed by them because he married one.Additionally, it is clear from the above verses that Er's mother, Saba, did not like Tamar and turned her sons against having children by her because she was not of Canaan.Er was now dead but Judah still didn't understand what he was trying to do was wrong. In any case, if something didn't happen to change the situation, Judah would have no suitable offspring to carry on his lineage. It almost seems that Judah was somehow mentally disconnected from the idea of keeping his bloodline purely semitic (descended from Shem). Perhaps he thought that he was the only one that mattered, and that who, or what, his wife happened to be was not critical. Gen. 38:8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.This was a common custom in those days and was later included by God in His law that he gave to Moses. See Deuteronomy 25:5 But even so, Judah was not thinking straight and he committed another serious faux pas.Gen. 38:9 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.What an interesting verse! Onan knew that the seed should not be his and he took positive action. There could be one or more reasons why he did. 1) He was honoring a request of his mother not to have children by Tamar.2) He didn't want to have children for his brother.3) He may have realized it was against God's will for him to have children by Tamar.4) Maybe he knew that the Messiah could not come through him because he was half Canaanite.5) He did not want to die like his brother Er. 6) Any or all of the above.Consider items 3 and 4 above very carefully. Remember that Israel (Jacob) was his grandfather and Leah was his grandmother. They were a clan with Israel as the patriarch and Leah as the prime matriarch. Surely Onan received instructions in righteousness from his elders, especially from a loving grandfather and grandmother. Perhaps he knew that the seed, or Messiah, could not come through him. In any case, what Onan did in this situation has been totally misunderstood. The birth control practice called onanism has two meanings. Look it up for yourself, you can find it in any good dictionary.According to Judah he never had intercourse with Tamar even though he was with her for a year.Judah 10:4 In the days designated for the bridal chamber, I assigned Onan to fulfill the marital role with her.Again, we don't really know what their marital customs were like in those days. Just like with Er, it is also possible that Onan did not couple with Tamar, but for a different reason.Gen. 38:10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.This verse 10 has also been grossly misunderstood and mistaught.He who? The first he is Judah, not Onan! Onan did nothing wrong. The second he is the LORD, and the him is Onan. God didn't take Onan for bad sexual conduct. He took him for the same reason he took Er, Judah was trying to produce unacceptable heirs through him.If Onan was with Tamar for a year as has been stated, then God was very patient with Judah with respect to the life of his second son. Finally the situation reached critical mass and resulted in the removal of Onan also. Under continued pressure from Judah, Onan may have decided to comply with his father's wishes to couple with Tamar, so God prevented it from ever happening in the most effective way. Why Tamar was so important to God in this case is not clear, but it seems that she was. Regardless, that doesn't change the fact that Judah was the problem. He had not produced a suitable heir for the line to continue. Many times Satan had attempted to corrupt the bloodline of Christ and never succeeded, and here is Judah playing right into his hands. Even if he wasn't directly involved how he must have enjoyed all this.Gen 38:11 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.Judah is finally awakening to the fact that there just might be a problem, after two of his sons are dead. Sadly, most of us also require a good bang on the ear before we repent.It has been said that experience is the best teacher. Friends, that is wrong! Example is the best teacher and experience is the worst, however experience can be the most profound. Therefore, choose the best and learn from the examples provided in the scriptures.Judah's Canaanite wife dies.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.But before she died she had Shelom marry a Canaanite wife which apparently enraged Judah. Judah ll:3 While I was absent, she went off and brought from Canaan a wife for Shelom.Judah 11:4 When I realized what she had done, I pronounced a curse on her in the anguish of my soul,Judah 11:5 and she died in her wickedness, together with her children.If Judah actually voiced these words in his testament, then how he must have grown to despise her. He also was embittered concerning his children through her.Jubilees 41:7 And he (Shelom) grew up, but Bedsuel, Judah's wife, did not permit Selah (Shelom), her son, to marry (Tamar). And Bedsuel, Judah's wife, died in the fifth year of that week.Take another look at Gen. 38:12. What does it mean, and Judah was comforted? Does it mean that he received comforting condolences and support from others, or is it possible that Judah came to dislike his Canaanite wife so much that he may have drawn comfort from her death? Judah may never have married again after his unfortunate experience with this Canaanite woman. As a matter of fact, to my knowledge, he never married again. How then would our Lord spring from Judah? What a sad state of affairs. And you thought that you had problems!It is very possible that Shelom, Judah's third and only remaining son, married and went on to have grandchildren for him, but they wouldn't have been acceptable as ancestors of Christ. What happened to Shelom after this is not recorded in the Bible.Tamar decides to act.Gen. 38:13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.Poor Tamar! How she must have suffered through these times. Now everyone in Judah's family was dead except her, Judah, and Shelom. After waiting all these years, trusting Judah, she finally realized that Shelom would never be her husband. Saba had not approved of her and Judah had lied to her. How sad for her.What she did next seems bizarre, but I firmly believe that Tamar was a fine woman, in full control of her senses, and was led to do what she did by God's direct intervention because Judah was drifting spiritually.Some might say that God doesn't do things the way this happened because what Tamar did was a sin. By whose definition of sin? 1 John 3:4 defines sin.1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.Whose law? God's law! He sets the guidelines for sin, not man. The law was not codified until Israel left Egypt well over two hundred years after these events took place. As conditions change, God makes changes.Example: Men who descended from Adam were apparently allowed to marry their sisters in the beginning. Today, that would be incest and is prohibited by God's law, but not then. When the gene pool became sufficiently weak God disallowed it further.Always remember, and never forget, that God is in control. Full and total control. The old saying, "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform", is true. They are a mystery to us because we can't see clearly. God will never perform an unrighteous act based on the standards He has set forth for us to live by. Unrighteous and ignorant men accuse him of doing so because they judge by the rules of men, which in some cases come from the devil himself, the master deceiver.Gen. 38:14 And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, 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. 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.Judah 12 and Jubilees 41 record that she put her bridal array back on, made herself beautiful and put a veil on her face. If the events recorded in Judah and Jubilees are correct, her marriages had never been consumated and she was still a virgin, so her bridal clothes were not inappropriate.Tamar had decided to use Judah to impregnate her, that much is evident. It was not really unthinkable because Judah no longer had a wife and she was childless. This was about to be corrected. Judah was finally going to be outsmarted and humbled. What a plot for a movie! Hollywood, wake up!Judah is taken in by Tamar.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.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?Gen. 38:17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?Gen. 38:18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. 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 kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not.Gen. 38:21 Then 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.I know in my heart that no female ancestor of our Lord was ever a harlot, acted like a harlot, or dressed like a harlot. No, not Rahab, nor Ruth, nor Tamar.Tamar's name.An ancient wise man (perhaps Socrates or one of his ilk, I can't recall) once avered that in the meaning of names there is wisdom. Let us now consider the name Tamar and what it means. It means palm tree, specifically the date palm. Following are selected exerpts describing the date palm taken from Smiths Bible Dictionary (Thomas Nelson Publishers), Revised and edited by F. N. and M. A. Peloubet. The language (and presumably the punctuation) is of the last century. Sir William Smith, L.L.D, lived from 1813 to 1893."It's trunk is straight, tall and unbroken, terminating in a crown of emerald-green plumes, like a diadem of gigantic ostrich-feathers; these leaves are frequently twenty feet in length, droop slightly at the ends, and whisper musically in the breeze. The palm is, in truth, a beautiful and most useful tree. Its fruit is the daily food of millions; its sap furnishes an agreeable wine; the fibres of the base of its leaves are woven in ropes and rigging; its tall stem supplies a valuable timber; its leaves are manufactured into brushes, mats, bags, couches and baskets. This one tree supplies almost all the wants of the Arab or Egyptian.-- Bible Plants.""Perhaps no point is more worthy of mention, if we wish to pursue the comparison, than the elasticity of the fibre of the palm, and its determined growth upward even when loaded with weights.""To these points of comparison may be added, its principle of growth: it is an endogen, and grows from within; its usefulness: the Syrians enumerating 360 different uses to which it may be put; and the statement that it bears its best fruit in old age."What a fitting description for this woman, Tamar. It could also be a model for the faithful throughout all ages. A couple of other things also come to mind. The palm tree thrives in the hottest and driest places (persecution and adverse conditions), and is perpetually green (always spiritually alive and productive).I personally believe Tamar lived up to her name.Judah searches for the harlot.Judah had given Tamar some very important and incriminating things for her to keep as guarantee that he would send the kid. Some say that they were symbols of his position and heritage, and thus were very important. He was very anxious to reclaim them.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 in this place.Gen. 38:23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.Gen. 38:24 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 also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.Why Judah acted this way shows the state of his heart at this particular time. He demanded the harshest penalty be imposed on Tamar.Jubilees 41:17 And Judah went to her father's house and said to her father and her brothers, bring her out and let them burn her because she has caused a defilement in Israel. Jubilees 41:18 And it came to pass when they brought her out to burn her that she sent to her father-in-law the signet ring and the necklace and the staff. And she said, recognize whose these are because I am pregnant by him. Judah finally wakes up.Jubilees 41:19 And Judah recognized (them) and said, Tamar was more righteous than I. And therefore let them not burn her.Jubilees 41:20 And on account of that she was not given to Selah. And therefore he did not approach her again.Jubilees 41:21 And after this she bore two children, Perez and Zerah, in the seventh year of this second week.Jubilees 41:22 And after this the seven years of full harvest which Joseph told Pharaoh (about) were completed. Gen. 38:25 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 bracelets, and staff.Gen. 38:26 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.The humiliation and sadness that Judah must have felt here is unspeakable. The books of Judah and Jubilees indicate that Judah repented bitterly for how he had acted. He still didn't understand though. Look at verse 26 again and see his reasoning concerning Shelah.Gen. 38:27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.Gen. 38:28 And 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.Gen. 38:29 And 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.Gen. 38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.Conclusion to the story.In spite of all these things, rule breaking and wrongheadedness, our Lord would spring forth from the line of Judah and Tamar through Pharez over fifteen hundred years later.Judah and Jubilees record that Judah went with his father Israel and the rest of his family into Egypt because of the famine as recorded in the story of Joseph in Genesis, and that he then spent the next seventy years in Egypt until his death.What happened to Tamar after this? I'm certain that she went with Judah and Israel into Egypt because it was said of Judah that he went near her no more, which implies she was in close proximity to him. Furthermore, their son Pharez had to remain with the children of Israel because he was a link in the lineage of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.You can bet that Judah's brother Joseph, who was very powerful in Egypt then, ensured that they were all treated very well as long as he was alive. Our Father was always with them in Egypt also.God bless with understanding of His word.Jim Lisenbyemail: [email protected]
Judah And Tamar
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Excellent post and study, Kriss! I got your PM and was looking over this message early this morning, but I had commitments to attend to and wanted to read it though completely. I just got done now early this afternoon.First of all, this excellent study is more what we call the "meat" of the word. And even then, I can see a thousand side roads one can take to study this topic.I am going to be a bit sarcastic for a moment, not of your message or of you, but that I predict there will be few replies to this message. As Hebrews states, people are more interested in baptisms, salvation, resurrections, and basic baby stuff that should be resolved in the first year or two or their Christian walk, but yet they dwell on it. As a matter of fact, I don't think most would even know how to reply to this message. They might even be a bit critical claiming that you quoted from Jashar and that's not a canonical book, and at the same time clearly not knowing what they are talking about. I guess they want to conform to the baby-theology masses lest they stray and end of in hell or whatever their fear is.OK--- I got that off my chest. If there are replies, go to my profile and check out my friends. They are my friends because they know what they are talking about and I suspect that they know this subject at least well enough to make some intelligent comments.Now for an example of the side roads one can take---- I'm going to pick on Matthew's genealogy. The first thing one notices about this genealogy is that it is simply father-to-son. However, the Lord left some clues that I call "crossroads" and these can DEFINITELY be related to Genesis 38 as you mention. I won't take the time or space to elaborate but I will give a hint that we understand (and not the baby Christians worried about salvation yet).The first crossroad is Matthew 1:2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethrenOK---- the brethern are NOT in Christ's genealogy. Why mention them unless there is a reason? CLUE: One of those is the tribe of Joseph, the birthright tribe. Consider now the mention of Genesis 38 being between 37 and 39 regarding Joseph. Therefore, the birthright people would somehow be involved in this genealogy, ie. the benefits of it.The next crossroad is Matthew 1:3And Judas begat Phares and Zara of ThamarWhy mention Zarah unless there was a reason? CLUE: Again, Zarah was a great, great, great.... UNCLE of Jesus, not directly in his genealogy. Therefore, Zarah has importance in the ruling linage of Judah.The last cross road is Matthew 1:11:And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethrenAgain, Jesus' father Joseph came from the de jure lineage of the Kings thru Jechonias, not any of "his brethren". So why mention the brethren?CLUE: Remember King Zedekiah and his daughters.I know my friends will understand that. The rest may want you to repent to become as clueless as they are. But when it's in black and white in front of you for the reading, this in itself to me shows the perpetuation of the Davidic Throne today until "he's whose right it is" comes again and claims it.Praise God that we understand this, as I was once stupid and glossed over it. I can never fully comprehend God's grace and why He selects a few people to understand the meat, but that's the way it is.
tim_from_pa
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- Jul 11, 2007
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One other thing I forgot to mention. If anyone has lineages to royalty thru Judah, then their genealogy can be traced back to Adam. There are many people in the world today who can trace their genealogy back to Adam. I wish I could, but I have to find a royal link if that's the case.Special note: People quoting 1 Timothy 1:4 and Titus 3:9 need not reply. Your answer would be out of context and I doubt you know what you are talking about anyway.
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