[0:00] Welcome back to this, the 28th in my series in the story of the family of Abraham. Today we're looking at Genesis chapter 38, which is the story of Judah and Tamar.
[0:13] Now, according to many biblical commentators, this chapter is an interpolation within the larger story of Jacob and Joseph. It doesn't really fit very well, and some redactor has forced this chapter into its current position, and it just interrupts the flow of the text.
[0:32] So if you read verse 26, 36 of chapter 37, Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
[0:44] And then, go to verse 1 of chapter 39, Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of God, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.
[0:56] It just seems as if everything that goes between those two is interrupting the flow of the text. So you've got this resumptive statement in 39 verse 1, but 38 just does not fit.
[1:11] And this has been suggested by a number of commentators. And I submit it's because many commentators are simply not good readers of the biblical text. If you look closely at this text, you will see it is profoundly well situated.
[1:27] It belongs exactly where it is. And when you read it carefully in its context, it will make sense why it is here. And I hope this will become clear as we go along.
[1:37] First of all, let's take stock of the context. When we look in the context, what has just happened? Joseph has been sold into Egypt. Judah was the leader of the brothers in this plot.
[1:49] Reuben's the oldest, but Reuben was really trying to have to work against the brothers. He wasn't able to share his plan to try and deliver Joseph. Whereas Judah was the one who instigated the plan to sell him to the Ishmaelites.
[2:03] It does not appear that they were the ones that sold him to the Ishmaelites. It seems as if it was the Midianites that did that. And then Reuben found out, being the first person to get to the pit, that that had happened in their absence.
[2:16] But Judah was the leader of the brothers. And presumably Judah, having sold Joseph into slavery, the idea was go back to the father. Tell the father that Joseph has been killed by some wild beast.
[2:32] Present him with the cloak and the blood stains upon it. And he will be none the wiser. And of course, it's a tragedy. He's going to struggle to deal with this.
[2:42] But give it time. Time heals all wounds. And give him the love of family and all these different his children rising up to console him. That will help him to get over it.
[2:54] And eventually, it might take a year or two even. But he'll be back to his old self. And we'll be able to move on. And Joseph will no longer be a problem. Now, of course, that plan does not work.
[3:07] What happens is that Jacob refuses to be comforted. And he says, I will descend to my son in the grave in mourning.
[3:18] He's going to go down in mourning to his son. And so there's a descent here. The descent of Jacob to the grave. Another thing to notice is that there is a deception of the father using a goat and coats.
[3:35] Or the tunic of Joseph. And a goat, the blood of a goat, presented upon that. And so there's a deception of the father using goats. Now, as we read the story of Jacob, we'll see that that harkens back to previous event.
[3:51] It harkens back to his deception of Isaac, his father. Where using goats, he presented himself as the loved, favoured son, the bekor, Esau.
[4:04] And he received a blessing instead of the firstborn. And there seems to be a continuation of that theme. As he is deceived concerning his beloved son, his favoured son, by his own sons.
[4:19] They're using, in many ways, the same ploy against him as he used against their grandfather. So we see that continual theme.
[4:30] And there's more of that within chapter 38. Other things to notice, there are three descents that take place.
[4:41] There's the descent of Jacob to the grave in mourning. And then there's the descent of Joseph into Egypt. And in chapter 38, verse 1, it came to pass that Judah went down from his brothers.
[4:58] Judah leaves the rest of his brothers. He goes down from them. Now, this is presumably a geographical descent, a descent from the high country. But it seems also that it's a descent in other ways, a descent in status.
[5:13] Judah was the leader of the brothers. He was the one who was really heading them up as a group. He was the one that suggested the plan concerning selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites.
[5:26] He was the one who seemed to be the leader of the group. And now he descends from the brothers. The plan has failed. Everything has gone wrong. And now it seems there's a threefold descent in the house of Jacob.
[5:40] The descent of the patriarch to the grave in mourning. The descent of the favoured son into Egypt and seeming death. And the descent of Judah, the leader of the brothers, the king of the brothers, as it were, into a state of exile, of being away from the rest of the brothers and losing his office.
[6:04] So this fits in with the surrounding themes on that front. But there's more to say about this. As we read the story of Judah, we'll see that the story of Judah is juxtaposed with the story of Joseph.
[6:18] These two characters play off each other. I've mentioned in the past the diptychs of the story of Genesis. That we have characters that are juxtaposed and play off against each other as two panels within a painting, as it were.
[6:31] So you have Cain and Abel, Lot and Abram. We have characters like Esau and Jacob, Ishmael and Isaac, Sarah and Hagar, Leah and Rachel, and now Judah and Joseph.
[6:44] And as we see these characters off against each other, we'll be able to understand them better as we place their characteristics in contrast and see them against the foil of the other character.
[6:59] Now, Judah's story has great similarities with the story of Joseph. There's a descent from the brothers. There is themes of death playing out.
[7:11] There's themes of wandering. And there's having two children at the end of the story. There's temptation by a woman. And to have sexual relations, illicit sexual relations.
[7:25] And there's being divested of personal items. And those things later on being presented as evidence. And so there's a very close parallel between this and the chapter that immediately follows it concerning Joseph and Potiphar's wife.
[7:41] In that chapter, a garment is taken from Joseph, once again presented as evidence against him. And in that case, he resists the temptation of illicit sexual relations with the woman.
[7:54] Whereas here, Judah falls into the trap that Tamar has set for him. And so there's a juxtaposition there. And there's a contrast between these two characters that helps us to see the righteousness of Joseph more clearly and the wickedness and unfaithfulness of Judah in a sharper manner as well.
[8:17] So there's a juxtaposition. But there's also an entanglement. Judah's story is entangled with what he has done to Joseph, his brother. What he led the brothers in doing.
[8:29] And so his story is going to have to play out against the story of Joseph. And in parallel with that, he's going to have to work out his destiny.
[8:40] We'll see Judah and Judah coming to the fore later on in the story of Joseph. Judah was the leader of the brothers. Then he has to lead them again in the redemptive cycle.
[8:50] So Judah's story and Joseph's stories are both juxtaposed and entangled. There are three dissents then. Jacob, Joseph and Judah.
[9:03] And these dissents are of different characters. Jacob's dissent is one of mourning. Judah's dissent is one of loss of office.
[9:14] And Joseph's dissent is into slavery and into exile, the foreign land. The story of Judah begins with him marrying the daughter of Shua.
[9:26] He marries a Canaanite and he seems to be playing out patterns that are very similar perhaps to Esau. He's an Esau type character in this and we'll see him despising his birthright later on.
[9:41] But he marries a Canaanite woman, Bath-Shua, the daughter of Shua. And he has a friend called Hira the Adolamite. He goes to see him. Now, the character of Hira the Adolamite is just a weird presence within this text.
[9:56] I mean, why have Hira the Adolamite? He's mentioned at the beginning as the one that Judah goes down to see Hira the Adolamite. Then he's mentioned later as someone who goes up with Judah to the sheep cheering festival celebrations.
[10:12] And then he's mentioned as the one that's sent out with the goat. So he's a presence in three different stages of this story. But he doesn't seem to...
[10:24] His identity, the particularity of who he is, doesn't seem to be relevant. And so his presence within the story raises questions. What is he doing here? And I really don't know.
[10:35] We have reason to believe that his presence is significant. But why he's mentioned, if you have any ideas, please mention them in the comments.
[10:46] Maybe some association with Hiram, some have suggested. Hiram, David's friend throughout his reign. And so Judah, the ancestor of David, has a friend called Hira.
[11:00] And so Hira, Hiram... I'm not sure about that. I don't find that very convincing. I don't know what you think. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. The story is one of descent from his brothers.
[11:13] But it's not just descent from his brothers. It's descent into death. Judah has three sons. Er, Onan and Shelah. And his oldest son, Er, marries a woman called Tamar.
[11:29] And Tamar is the wife of Er. Er dies. He's killed by the Lord because he's wicked. His wickedness plays off his name.
[11:41] His name reversed. So he might say Er Erd. There's a playing off the name there. And so he's killed by the Lord. And then there's the performance of Ebum, the Leveret marriage rite.
[11:56] And so Tamar is given to the next brother down, Onan. Now Onan does not want to ruin his own inheritance. And so he has relations with...
[12:09] He seems to have relations with Tamar. But he ejaculates outside of her to ensure that there's no children that were born.
[12:22] And so he's violating her. And also he's acting against his brother's interest, his dead brother. And so there's a twofold violation here.
[12:35] He's violating the widow and he's violating his brother and his inheritance. And so he's not doing his duty of love to his brother. And he's dishonouring the widow of his brother as well in a very powerful way.
[12:51] And God kills him too. Now at this point it seems that Tamar is bad news. We don't know, or no one else in the story knows, apart from the reader, the reader knows that Tamar is not the one to blame here.
[13:05] That the one who is at fault is, well, Err and then Onan, both of them. Independently wicked children. And they've both been killed as a result of their sin.
[13:17] But what does Judah see? What do other people in this story see? They see this woman and what's the common... She's a sort of widow, black widow character.
[13:28] The people who marry her or have relations with her seem to meet messy ends. And so what's going on there? Maybe we want to keep the rest of the family away from this Tamar woman.
[13:41] This woman who seems to spell doom. And so Judah is reluctant to give his son Shelah to Tamar. And tell Shelah to go to her father's house and remain there until Shelah is grown.
[13:54] But of course, even when Shelah is grown, he does not give Shelah to Tamar. Now his wife dies. Judas' wife dies. And when Judah's wife dies, he's consoled as a result of this.
[14:11] And he goes up to his sheep shearers at Timna. Now it seems that sheep shearing was an important festival. It was a time of celebration. It was a time where you went away for a while and enjoyed some festivities.
[14:24] We see sheep shearing mentioned on a few occasions in scripture associated with feasts or associated with significant events. And we'll get to that in a moment.
[14:36] But Jeffrey Gagan has a very good article on this. I might link to that in the show notes. But something at this point changes. He's consoled.
[14:46] And there seems to be a change or a juxtaposition between this and his father. Judah is consoled very shortly after the death of his wife.
[14:58] And he's lost two sons as well. On the other hand, Jacob is going down to his grave in mourning as a result of the death of Joseph. And so the father who's easily consoled concerning the death of his two sons and the death of his wife contrasts with the father who cannot be consoled.
[15:19] These two characters play off against each other then. As he goes to Timna, Tamar hears that her father-in-law is going to Timna.
[15:31] She's told, look, your father-in-law is going up to Timna to shear his sheep. So she takes off her widow's garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself and sat in an open place or enaim, which means two springs or two eyes.
[15:49] And those words, it means the same thing, which was on the way to Timna. For she saw that Sheila was grown and she was not given to him as a wife.
[15:59] So she's on the way to somewhere and she's at this place called Enaim, two springs. In the previous chapter, we've seen a place called Dothan, two wells.
[16:12] Could these places be related? Particularly as we see that Joseph is told that his brothers have gone to Shechem to shear their sheep. And he's first of all sent to, goes to Shechem and then on the way he meets someone and then he's sent to Dothan.
[16:32] It seems to be a significant location. Is there something that connects these two places? I think there probably is. And she sits in an open place and Judah sees her, thinks that she's a harlot because she had covered her face, turned to her by the way and said, please let me come into you.
[16:53] For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, what will you give me that you may come into me? Now let's take a step back. We've seen that Judah has descended from his brothers.
[17:06] Judah has left the rest of his brothers. He's no longer the leader of the crew. He's the guy who's off by himself with Hyrule the Dolomite and now he's married, forming his own family.
[17:17] But his family is dying. And so he's descended from his brothers and his family is dying off. He's lost his two oldest sons. He's got one son left and that son is, he's marked out for Tamar, but he doesn't want to give that son to Tamar because he knows that that seems to spell doom.
[17:39] And so his family does not seem to be in a good state at all. He's in a position where his family is marked out by death, seems to be marked out for death.
[17:51] And there's a crisis looming here, but he does not seem that worried about it. And Tamar is the one that's taking action to try and rectify the situation.
[18:03] She seems to know that her father-in-law is someone who would go into a prostitute. She doesn't actually seem to instigate these things at all.
[18:13] She goes there, puts herself in the way of Judah, but Judah instigates the negotiations. So he's a pretty disreputable character, we would think at this point.
[18:25] She said, what will you give me that you may come into me? Now, think for a moment. If we're having a story in the book of Genesis, would we expect a number of verses devoted to negotiations with a prostitute concerning payment?
[18:43] It just seems unnecessary. It seems to be, what does it add to the story? And why is this unseemly negotiation taking pride of place within this chapter?
[18:57] I mean, it's the very centre of the chapter. Your attention is drawn to this. But yet it just seems, it seems as if it should not really belong here. He said, I will send you a young goat from my flock, from the flock.
[19:12] And she said, will you give me a pledge till you send it? Then he said, what pledge shall I give you? So she said, your signet and cord and your staff that is in your hand. Then he gave them to her and went into her and she conceived by him.
[19:26] So she arose and went away and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. So there's a two-stage negotiation here.
[19:38] He does not give her money. She, she, he says he will give her a young goat from the flock. And then she asked for a pledge until he gives that to her.
[19:52] Notice what's happening here. She's offered a kid from the flock. What has she been looking for? What has she been waiting for? She's been waiting for Judah to give her his kid, his kid, Sheila, his son.
[20:09] And we've seen the association between sons and goats elsewhere in the story. In the story of Judah, in the story of Jacob and Esau, we have two goats associated with the two sons.
[20:21] In the story of Ishmael and Isaac, we have the ram associated with the son. And these two stories of these children being sent out that brings to mind these two kids being sent out.
[20:35] So when we get to this story here, we should see that there is a play upon the meaning of the kid. That the kid is associated with Sheila. But the kid is also absent.
[20:48] There is no kid. In the previous chapter, we saw a kid. A kid's blood was presented on the tunic of Joseph to the father Jacob. There's no kid here.
[21:00] The kid, as it were, has been killed. And the kid has to be brought. The kid has to be given to Tamar. Maybe there's some sort of theme playing out here.
[21:14] That there is, once again, a story involving someone being divested of personal items. And of identifying personal items.
[21:26] And then someone using a goat within these proceedings. I believe there's a connection here that really helps us to understand what's going on.
[21:37] As we look at this story then, I think we'll see that Judah gives something very significant to Tamar. Some have suggested that the cord referenced here actually refers to a garment.
[21:48] I'm not convinced. I think it probably refers just to a cord. And he gives his signet or seal in his cord and the staff that is in his hand.
[21:58] These are important items to give. It's like giving your passport and your credit card. But for Judah it's more significant.
[22:09] The staff is associated with rule. And the signet is also associated with office. He's giving up the signs of his office. We've already seen him depart and descend from his brothers.
[22:22] And now he's giving these signs of his office. He's divesting himself of his very identity. These identifying items that are part of his rule. And he's giving those over to this unknown prostitute.
[22:38] Now we've read earlier on in the story of Genesis about Esau who despises his birthright. Who gives up his birthright for a meal of pottage.
[22:48] For just a bit of lentil stew. And here we see something very similar in what Judah is doing. Judah is giving up the signs of his authority.
[23:01] These very tokens of his identity. To this unknown prostitute. It's a crazy thing to do. And once again there are themes of deception here.
[23:12] What we might suggest here is this is a further descent into death. He's going down from his brothers. He's lost the glory of the group around him.
[23:24] His family is dying off. And now he's giving up his very identity. As you read the story of Genesis 38. Pay attention to how much time is passing.
[23:35] We've already had him. Goes down. He goes down from his brothers. He goes with Hiram. Hiram the Adolamite. Then he sees the daughter of Shur.
[23:47] Marries her. Then has three children with her. They come of age. The oldest marries Tamar. Then he dies. Then the next marries Tamar. He dies. And then the next still comes of age.
[23:59] He could marry Tamar. But he's withheld from Tamar. And then his wife dies. All that passage of time. This is at least 30 years or so. And so this. Although it's placed here.
[24:10] It seems to burst the banks of the original. Of the initial context. So it extends far beyond this initial. This initial scope between chapters 37 and 39.
[24:25] In the story of Joseph. It extends far out into the future. After they would have descended into Egypt perhaps. But there's a long period of time that passes here.
[24:37] And Judah is still on his descent. He's falling. He's fallen from his brothers. His house is falling into decay. And ruin. And now he's giving up his identity to a prostitute.
[24:50] This is crisis time. This is the one who's supposed to be the tribe that leads. And yet he's giving everything up. And so he gives the tokens to Tamar.
[25:05] Unbeknownst to him it's Tamar. And then she puts aside her veil. Puts on the garments of widowhood again. And Judah sends the young goat by the hand of his friend the Adolamite. By Hira.
[25:16] To receive his pledge from the woman's hand. But he did not find her. He goes and asks the men of the place. Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside? And they said there was no harlot in this place.
[25:29] And he returned to Judah and said I cannot find her. Also the men of the place said that there was no harlot in this place. Then Judah said let her take them for herself.
[25:40] Lest we be shamed. For I sent this young goat and you have not found her. So he's concerned that there will be a scandal. That he will be shamed in the sight of the people around.
[25:52] But he sends this person to do his errand for him. He doesn't do it himself. And as he does that. We see that the goat doesn't get to its destination.
[26:04] It fails to reach the one that it's supposed to be given to. Three months pass. And Judah is told Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot.
[26:15] Furthermore she is with child by harlotry. So Judah said bring her out and let her be burned. When she was brought out she sent to her father-in-law saying By the man to whom these belong I am with child.
[26:28] And she said please determine whose these are. The signet and cord and staff. So Judah acknowledged them. And said she has been more righteous than I.
[26:41] Because I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he never knew her again. There is a transition that takes place here. Something changes.
[26:53] The action that Judah takes is again a rash one. He says let's send her out to be burned. And going to burn Tamar.
[27:05] And as she's being brought out she brings forth the tokens. And what could he do at this point? He could deny they were his. He could hide the whole matter up. And maybe take them back.
[27:17] Or bury them. Or whatever. He could cover it up somehow. But he confesses. And as he confesses. He realises.
[27:29] The things are changed. And she is not sent to her death. He admits that she is more righteous than he was. And there is a change in the whole situation.
[27:42] He never knows her again. But he gets back his tokens of identity. As he receives back his tokens of identity. He acknowledges them. They're found to him.
[27:54] And then he acknowledges them. Now those are the same words that we see in the previous chapter. That are used as the tokens of Joseph's identity. Are presented to Jacob.
[28:08] And Jacob says. He's told. Found these things. And then they're presented to him. Acknowledge. Please. And he acknowledges. These are the things of my son.
[28:20] And here we see. Judah. The same thing happened to him. There is a disguise. And then he's put in a position. Where he has to acknowledge. What he has done.
[28:31] As we read this story. It might remind us of. Again. Something like. The story of David. You are the man. This moment of recognition.
[28:42] Where he casts judgment. But that matter in which he casts judgment. He himself is implicated. And maybe there's a relationship between Bathsheba.
[28:53] The daughter of Shua. And Bathsheba. Maybe there's something going on there. But we might look at that in a few moments. Or. And. Or Tamar rather.
[29:04] Rather than the daughter of Shua. And he recognizes. That he has not given her Sheila his son. And that failure. The goat that was not given.
[29:15] To the person to whom it was owed. Then he recognizes. That. He was in. She was in the right. Or. She was more righteous than he.
[29:25] It comes to pass. At the time for giving birth. That behold. Twins were in her womb. And so it was. When she was giving birth. That the one. Put out his hand. And the midwife. Took a scarlet thread.
[29:36] And bound it on his hand. Saying. This one came out first. Then it happened. As he drew back his hand. That his brother came out unexpectedly. And she said. How did you break through? This breach be upon you.
[29:48] Therefore. His name was called Perez. Afterward. His brother came out. Who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called. Zerah. Looking at this story more generally.
[30:01] There are a lot. Of deep themes here. Deep themes that connect it. Not just with the immediate context. Of the Jacob and Joseph story.
[30:12] But the wider context. Of scripture. And the story of David and his family. For instance. The story of the great. Women of the history of the Old Testament.
[30:22] Many of them find parallels. Here. Tamar is a sort of scapegoat. Within this story. Just as she's about to be judged. It's revealed. That she is the scapegoat character.
[30:34] And Judah. Recognizes. Acknowledges. His part. And there's a sense of confession. Confession is associated. With Judah's name. To confess.
[30:44] And to praise. Are both. Playing off Judah's name. And so he confesses. What he has done. And he realizes. The meaning of his name. In that time. And then he receives back.
[30:56] His identity. He receives back. The tokens of his rule. And he's established. With two more children. He's lost two children. Now he gets two children back. And so as he.
[31:07] Sends. As it were. That goat. To. The masked woman. He receives back. The two sons. That he has lost. And there is a restoration.
[31:18] Of two sons. At the end. There's a loss. Of two sons. At the beginning. And so this chapter. Has again. Bookends to it. There is. Near death.
[31:29] Of Tamar. And then. Maybe associated. With. The death. Of Shua. And all these other events. That connect. With each other. And at the heart. You have. The negotiation.
[31:40] Between Tamar. And Judah. Now what else. Is taking place here. We've seen the contrast. Between Joseph. And Judah. And the way that Joseph.
[31:50] Acts in relation. To Potiphar's wife. And the way that Judah. Acts in relationship. To Tamar. We've seen the contrast. Between Judah. And his father. Jacob. But also.
[32:01] The similarities. It's another goat. And personal items. Story. Personal items. Being brought forward. As evidence. And goats. Playing part. In the story. There's another story.
[32:12] Of giving collateral. And we'll see that. Coming out. Later on. That there is collateral. Given in the story. Of Joseph. At various points. Two wells. And two wells.
[32:24] Associated with Dothan. Two wells. Associated with Enaim. And that might also. Connect with the two children. That we see. Peres. And Zerah. At the end.
[32:36] Tamar almost killed. This. Might. Recall. Two other events. Where there is a rash statement. Made. That someone should be put to death.
[32:47] We see it in the story of Rachel. Where Jacob. Pursued by Laban. Says that the person with whom. The teraphim are found. Should be put to death. And we see it also. In the story of Benjamin.
[32:59] When pursued. By the Egyptians. And. Trying to recover the. Cup of divination. Joseph's cup of divination. The brothers declare.
[33:10] The brothers declare. That the person. Whose possession. It is found. Will be put to death. Again. We have. Three rash vows. Made concerning. Someone being put to death.
[33:21] In the first case. It's Rachel. In the second case. It's Tamar. And in the third case. It's the son of Rachel. Benjamin. And I wonder. If there's not. Some connection here.
[33:31] At the end. Of the Joseph story. I suggested. That there were. Connections. With that Rachel story. The. The tearing.
[33:42] Of Joseph. Connected. With the. Teraphim. And the way. That the bloodied garments. Beneath. Rachel. Are associated. With the bloodied garments.
[33:52] Presented. To. To Jacob. And so. The camels. Coming from Gilead. All these themes. That hearken back. To the story. Of. The pursuit.
[34:04] By Laban. And the story. Of the teraphim. Now maybe there's something. Going on here again. Jacob. Is put in a position. By his sons. And particularly. By Judah.
[34:14] Now Judah. Finds himself. In the same position. What will he do? Can he redeem. The situation? Can he make atonement. For what he has done? Can he recover.
[34:25] The status. That he has lost? Can he recover. The items. That he has divested himself of? Can he restore. To himself. These things? And that's the question.
[34:37] That you have. Within this passage. But then also. In the story. Concerning Benjamin. Will he intercede. For Benjamin. In a way. That recovers. The lost child.
[34:48] Or the near lost child. Of. Of Rachel. And notice again. In that story. We have. A similar. Set of themes.
[34:59] You have. A son. That is lost. Joseph. Is lost. Then they go down to Egypt. To get food. Simeon. Has to be left behind. As collateral.
[35:11] And then. Jacob. Has lost two sons. He's lost Joseph. And he's lost Simeon. And he's told. He must give. Benjamin. The one son. He does not want to give.
[35:21] He's reluctant. To give this Benjamin. To the unknown man. The unknown man. Who turns out. To be Joseph. And. As he gives Benjamin. He receives back.
[35:31] All the sons. And so. There's a similar theme. Playing out here. In the story. Of chapter 38. Two sons lost. At the beginning. Receiving back. Two sons.
[35:42] At the end. As that goat. Is given. As that goat. Is given. In this case. It's Judah himself. Bearing children. With Tamar. And it's taken from him.
[35:53] In some sense. He's not really. Wittingly doing it. But there is a restoration. Of all that he has lost. And I think we're seeing that. In the Jacob story as well.
[36:04] There's a parallel. The recognize please. That he tells. His father Jacob. Is now said to him. Recognize please.
[36:15] Who do these belong to? They belong to you. Judah. You are the man. Will you confess? Will you own up? Will you follow your name? And confess.
[36:26] That this is yours. And as he confesses. He's restored. Everything is given back to him. There's the use of disguise. We see the use of disguise. In the story.
[36:37] Of Joseph. As well. And the. Story of collateral. I think is important. There. And confession. Is needed. In order to redeem.
[36:47] The collateral. We see that again. In the story. Of Joseph. The brothers are lost. And then they're restored. Through confession.
[36:58] There's a parallel. Between the. Brothers. And the switching. Of. The two children. At the end. We have. The story.
[37:09] Of. Jacob. And Esau. And two twins. Wrestling in the womb. Beginning this story. And now. At the end. We have. Two. Twins.
[37:20] That switch. In order. The one that's associated. With the scarlet cord. With the color red. The Esau type figure. Does not. In fact. Come out first. It seems. As if he's going to come out first.
[37:32] But the other child. Makes it out. Before him. This is. A theme. Of. Jacob himself. Triumphing. Ultimately. Over his brother. And we've seen. That story. Of the birth.
[37:42] Of Jacob. Played out. On three occasions. This is another occasion. In which it plays out. In the next generation. And we'll see it play out. Once more. In the story. Of. Joseph.
[37:53] Joseph. Who has two sons. Manasseh. And Ephraim. And those sons. Manasseh being the first born. Ephraim the second born. Are switched in order. By Jacob.
[38:05] And so. Ephraim. Triumphs. Over his brother. Manasseh. Just as Jacob. Ultimately. Triumphed over Esau. So the red cord. Associated with Esau. At this point.
[38:16] We might also see. Some parallels. Between. The story of. Moab. And Judah. The daughters. Who sleep. With their father.
[38:28] Who's. In a dissolute state. And. Presumably. Judah is drunk. In the festivities. Around. Around.
[38:39] Sheep shearing. And then. His daughter-in-law. Sleeps with him. This might recall. The story of Lot. And his daughters. And here we have it. Played out in a. More redemptive tone.
[38:50] But. There's something. Taking place here. That connects these figures. And bear that in mind. Because later on. We'll see those figures. Brought more closely together. The names of the children.
[39:02] At the end. Are interesting. We see. Perez. Perez. Is the name of the child. That comes out. Ultimately. Comes out first. The one who makes the breach. As we read through.
[39:13] The story of Jacob. And the story of David. We'll see this. Word. Perez. Come up. At key points. Or parats. Parats. Is. Associated with breaking out.
[39:25] Or with. Breaking away. Or pressing. These sorts of things. And it appears. At key moments. So. We're told. That. Jacob. Has broke forth.
[39:36] In a multitude. In Genesis chapter 30. Around the time. Of sheep shearing. When he leaves. The house of Laban. In that chapter. Again.
[39:46] It's a significant thing. That's taking place here. In that chapter. In the succeeding chapter. He breaks. Forth. Into a multitude. And then. He. Breaks away.
[39:57] From his. Master. And father-in-law. At the time. Of sheep shearing. At Nabal. Nabal. In the story of David. Says that many men. Break away. From their masters.
[40:08] In 1st Samuel 25. And again. That's at the time. Of sheep shearing. That this story. Takes place. In 1st Kings. Or 2nd Samuel.
[40:20] Chapter 13. Absalom. Presses. Again. It's the same verb. David. To go to the sheep shearing. Festival. And then. David.
[40:30] When David. Declines. To let Amnon go. And so. What we're seeing here. Is this term. Perez. It's being played upon. It's a significant term.
[40:40] We need to pay attention to that. Jeffrey. Gagan. Has. As I mentioned. Written a significant article. On. Some of these themes. Is. I disagree. With a number of the conclusion.
[40:51] Conclusions he makes. But some of these connections. Are very helpful. Jacob is the one. Who breaks through. And then David. Is the one. Who breaks through. And this. Name.
[41:02] Perez. I think is. Again. It's one of those. Names like. Esau. Or. Edom. Or. Laban. Or. Something like.
[41:12] Isaac. That we have a lot of word play upon. You're supposed to notice the word. And see the way that that. Word is played upon. Over the history. To give some sense of the significance.
[41:24] Of this character. Now there are a lot of interesting details. Within this chapter. That I simply do not know. What to make of. I've mentioned Harer the Adullamite. Why mention him at so many points.
[41:35] It just seems unnecessary. Other things like. The fact he's an Adullamite. We don't see. Adullam mentioned elsewhere. In scripture really. Apart from the cave of Adullam.
[41:46] Which is associated. Very strongly. With David. And there are other things. About this chapter. That associate. With David. We'll get to that. In a moment. So. These details are interesting.
[41:58] Hira. Hiram. The Adullamite. Cave of Adullam. These are associations. That maybe. Recall David. I'm not sure. But. Some. For some reason or other.
[42:09] Hira seems to have a significance. Within this story. Sheila. We're told. Is conceived at. Kezib. Now. Why mention that? Again. It seems like a superfluous detail.
[42:20] Is it. Suggested. That it's associated. With falsehood. Maybe. I'm not sure. Again. If you have any suggestions. On these. Please share them in the comments.
[42:31] Because I'm at a loss. As we read through this story. The story of Tamar and Judah. It plays upon some. Continual themes. That we find throughout scripture.
[42:42] The woman deceiving the serpent type figure. We see. That story played out. In. Jael and Sisera. In Rahab and the men of Jericho. In Michael and Saul.
[42:52] In all these different stories. We see. Esther and Haman. We see. People being deceived. By. By the woman.
[43:03] Now. I wonder whether there's some sort of. A number of these figures. Might be associated with Esau. See Saul associated with Esau. At particular points. Being deceived.
[43:14] By Michael. His daughter. Or. The character of. Judah. I've mentioned here. Is associated with Esau. He's someone who despises. His birthright. And he's someone who.
[43:25] Has similar characteristics. At points. To Esau. We might see it also as. Maybe. Rahab and the men of Jericho. I'm not sure.
[43:37] Anyway. Think about some of the connections. Between Tamar. And the other stories of women. In scripture. Think about her connections. With the story of Rahab. Tamar plays the prostitute.
[43:50] Rahab is a prostitute. In the city of Jericho. What is Jericho known for? Jericho is the city of palms. Tamar means palm. She's rescued.
[44:01] From being burned with fire. The city of Jericho is burned with fire. And Tamar is rescued. From being burned with fire. At the end of the story. We find a scarlet thread.
[44:13] And in the story of Rahab. Of course. There's a scarlet thread. That's very prominent. Within the story. In the story of Rahab. There's two spies. That are delivered. Through the window.
[44:25] And there's two. And that window is associated. With the scarlet thread. There are two children. That come out of the womb. Of Tamar. The two children. That are delivered.
[44:36] And maybe there's a connection. There as well. That last one. Might be a stretch. But. Some interesting connections there. Think about the story of Ruth.
[44:47] As well. Stuart Fleming has written some notes on this. Which I'll leave a link to below. Again. Worth paying attention to. The story of Ruth.
[44:57] There's two dead sons. And a dead spouse. In this story. There's two dead sons. And a dead spouse. Bathshewer is dead. Although there's a switching of the genders here.
[45:08] So it's returning to father's house. And returning to mother's house. Orpah is told to. Orpah and Ruth are told to return to their mother's house. And Tamar is told to return to her father's house.
[45:23] In both cases however. There are faithful daughters-in-law. Who fulfill. Eber more deliberate. To restore a house. That's being brought down into death.
[45:34] The young woman. Ruth. Takes the place of the older woman. Naomi. To raise up seed. And in this one. It's the different way around. The old man. Judah. Takes the place of the younger man.
[45:46] Sheila. To raise up seed. And in both cases. It's the unlikely person. Who performs Eber. In both cases. The children of the older generation.
[45:57] Are too young. The children of the parents. Of the older generation. Are too young. So we're told that. Naomi is not going to bear any more children. And it's no point.
[46:09] In Ruth waiting around. For her children to be. Come of age. She's not going to have another child. At that point. Ruth. And even if she did. Ruth would be waiting around for too long.
[46:20] And again. We have similar themes. Associated with Sheila. The leveret. That is fulfilled. By the daughter-in-law. Whose work. Works to secure. The future of the family.
[46:31] A pledge. That is given. By Judah. And his descendants. So Judah gives. And his descendants. So we have Judah giving a pledge here. Of the tokens of his rule.
[46:42] And Boaz gives. As a token. He gives seed. He gives. Something that's associated. With the promise of seed. Being given. Nearer kinsman.
[46:54] Does not perform the leveret. Onan fails to do his duty. And we see again. In the story of Ruth. The nearer kinsman. Does not perform. The leveret.
[47:05] He. Lest he impair. His own inheritance. Again. There are Moabite themes. Ruth. Is the Moabite S. She's the one. Who is associated.
[47:15] With the ancestress. Who slept. With Lot. When he was. Not completely aware. Of what was taking place. And. Sexual relations.
[47:26] At. The time of. Sheep shearing. Again. That sort of. Illicit sexual encounter. At a particular. Agricultural festival.
[47:37] It connects. With the story. Of Boaz and Ruth. Their meeting. On the threshing floor. Is one that's charged. With sexual. Symbolism. Now. I don't believe. There's actual. Sexual congress there.
[47:48] But it's charged. With sexual symbolism. And it reminds you. Of the story. Of. The mother. Of the Moabites. Going into. Her father.
[47:58] Lot. And so. We have a meeting. Of two characters here. But what the meeting. Of the two characters is. Is a descendant. Of Tamar. And a descendant.
[48:09] Of the Moabites. And both of those. Two groups of people. Had a judgment. Proclaimed upon them. One. Because of the. Illegitimate son. Could not enter into the congregation.
[48:21] Could not enter into full rule. For ten generations. The same was true. Of the Moabites. And. In the book of Ruth. We have the Moabites. And the descendants of Tamar.
[48:32] Being brought together. And at the very end of. The book of Ruth. We have. Tamar. Her story. Being presented. As prominent. So the very end of the book of Ruth.
[48:44] We read. Now this is the genealogy of Perez. Or. Earlier on. Just a bit. Back. May your house.
[48:54] Be like the house of Perez. Whom Tamar. Bore to Judah. Because of the offspring. Which the Lord. Will give you. From this young woman. And then it. Begins with the.
[49:05] Genealogy of Perez. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab. Amminadab begot Nashon. Nashon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz. Boaz begot Obed.
[49:16] Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David. And so in the line of David. We have these themes. These themes of. The woman. Who. Intervenes.
[49:28] To restore the fate. Of a dying family. It happens in the story of Judah. And it happens in the story. Of. Ruth. And Boaz.
[49:39] It's a death and resurrection story. The story begins. With the father. And the two sons. Dying in a land. That goes away from their heritage. We see the same thing.
[49:51] In the story of Judah and Tamar. The death of Ur. And Onan. And Bashur. And then we have the restoration. Through the faithful daughter-in-law. There are other connections here.
[50:03] We might think. Of the story. Of David. There's another character. Called Tamar. In the story of David. The daughter of David. David is a.
[50:14] Judah type character. He's also associated. With Jacob. Tamar is associated. With a multicolored cloak. She's the one other character. In scripture. Who wears such a coat.
[50:26] Obviously. Reminding us. Of. Of Joseph. She suffers. A terrible fate. That has consequences. For the family. She's raped. By her brother Amnon.
[50:37] And at the time. Of sheep shearing. Her brother. Absalom. Kills Amnon. And. Again. There's. Other themes. Like remaining in the house.
[50:47] She remains in the house. Of Absalom. And Absalom. Eventually avenges her. Much as Tamar. Remains in the house. Of her father. Absalom.
[50:58] Has three sons. And a daughter. Named Tamar. Again. Similar themes. And all these things. Happening at the time. Of sheep shearing. What else.
[51:09] Can we see as a connection. Set of connections. Perhaps the most. Interesting connections. Of all. And I simply do not know. What to make of these. But. I'll give you some of the pieces. And see if you can put them together.
[51:21] I have some reflections. But. Let me throw these out there. The story of the day of atonement. The story of the day of atonement. Begins in Leviticus chapter 16.
[51:33] With the story. Of. The death of two sons. The death of the two sons of Aaron. When they offered profane fire. Before the Lord. Then.
[51:45] It involves. Sending a goat. By the hand of a suitable man. In the story of. Genesis chapter 38. We have a goat.
[51:55] Sent by the hand of a suitable man. We have mourning. This is a day of deep mourning. And distress. And afflicting yourself. And the story of Judah.
[52:07] Is a story that's. Just marked by. Mourning. By death. Death. Afflicting this house. And the house. Descending into the depths. The depths of the grave.
[52:18] All these children dying. And then. Also. Judah losing all the signs of his rule. He's losing his status. Judah having. To be divested of his vestments.
[52:29] He's not wearing his glorious vestments anymore. He's not wearing signs of his rule. In the same way. The high priest. Wears. Linen garments. He didn't have the. Garments of gold.
[52:40] On the day of atonement. He didn't use those. For the. Atonement ritual. There are twin goats. And these goats. According to Jewish tradition. Going back a long way.
[52:52] Are distinguished. By the fact that one of them. Has a scarlet cord. On it. You'll see that in. The. Painting by William Holman Hunt.
[53:02] The scapegoat. The. Goat has scarlet cord. Wrapped around. It's. Wrapped around. Its horns. And the point is. To distinguish.
[53:12] These two goats. That look very similar. From each other. One of them has to be distinguished. From the other. And they're distinguished. Using. Scarlet cord. As we read through.
[53:23] The story of Genesis. I've suggested before. That there are points. Where we'll see parallels. With the. Ritual of the day of atonement. There are two sons.
[53:34] Sent out. In Genesis chapter. 21 and 22. There's the one. That's brought up. And offered. As a. An offering. To God. And the chapter.
[53:44] Beforehand. There's the. Child that sent out. The kid that sent out. By the hand. Of Hagar. Into the wilderness. And so you have.
[53:56] These two sons. And the fate. Of these two sons. Which involves. Their fate is entwined. And it's the fate. Of the house. Of Abraham. That's playing out.
[54:06] In both of these stories. Elsewhere. We see it. In the story. Of the two goats. The two kids. That are used. To. Set up. The deception.
[54:17] Of Isaac. To set up. That event. There's. The goat. Using the stew. Covering him with. The skin. Of the goat. And then.
[54:27] In that story. There are two. Sons. One sent away. From the fat. Of the land. And the other. Is. Goes to. The site. Of Bethel. The site. Where. He lays down.
[54:38] His head. And that becomes. The site. Of an altar. As it were. It's the site. Where God. As the ladder. Ascends. And descends. And so. I think.
[54:48] We're seeing. The ritual. Of the day of atonement. Being alluded to here. Tamar. We're told. She's going to be burnt. Again. That might.
[54:59] Recall. Some sort of. Burnt. Burning. The sacrificial themes. And the emphasis. On the day of atonement. Is confession. Confession. Leading to restoration.
[55:10] Restoring. The nation. In its true. State. Covering it. Once again. It receives. The tokens. Of its rule. And authority. These statements.
[55:21] These tokens. Of rule. And they receive them back. And their sin is forgiven. And they're restored. And I think. We're seeing something. Very similar. Play out.
[55:32] In the story. Of Genesis 38. There's a transition. There's a transition. From. Judah. Being defined. By his unfaithfulness. By this goat.
[55:42] That. He has. This child. That he's wronged. This. Kid. That. Joseph. That's represented. By the goat. The blood. That's put upon.
[55:53] The tunic. That's presented. To the father. And now. We see him. Giving back. The kid. And that's associated. With his own house. His own house. Suffers a similar fate.
[56:04] To the fate. Of his father's house. And he has to set things right. And there is a sort of. Unwitting atonement. Ritual. Being played out here. There's the goat. Sent by the hand.
[56:15] Of a suitable person. Hira the Adolamite. Into the wilderness. Sent. To. Sent. To Tamar. To. Provide.
[56:26] Some sort of. Recompense. For. What he has failed to do. And at that point. Then. He can be restored. And at that point. He confesses.
[56:37] His sin. And is he. In his confession. Of his sin. Yara. This. Confession. Of his sin. And the way. That that plays off. The meaning of his.
[56:48] Name. Judah. We see him. Fulfilling. His identity. And being restored. To who he truly is. I believe.
[56:58] Then. That this chapter. Really. Belongs. In its place. It helps us to understand. So many of the themes. That are playing out. It helps us to. It connects with the theme.
[57:09] Of. The rash. Statement. About the. Person being put to death. It connects with the theme. Of ghosts. And coats. Of deception. And disguise.
[57:20] It connects with the themes. Of tokens. Of identity. Being presented. As. As evidence. It. Connects with the theme. Of the woman.
[57:31] Deceiving. The serpent figure. Or the unfaithful. Figure. It connects with the themes. Of Esau. And Jacob. It connects with the themes. Of the house of David. And the destiny.
[57:41] Of the tribe of Judah. And in all these different ways. And many others. It shows the fact. That. In the story of Judah. At this point.
[57:52] We are seeing. A deeper insight. Into everything. That's going on in Genesis. We're seeing a deeper insight. Into how Joseph. Is as a character. Juxtaposed with this character.
[58:04] Judah. In his unfaithfulness. We're seeing. The way in which. Their stories play out. In a redemptive way. For both of them. So that at the very end. Of the book. Judah will be spoken of.
[58:14] Very positively. As one who has a similar status. To that. Of Joseph. And indeed. In chapter. Chapter 5. Of the book. Of 1st Chronicles.
[58:25] We see. That. We are told. Now the sons of Reuben. The firstborn of Israel. He was indeed. The firstborn. But because he defiled. His father's bed.
[58:36] His birthright. Was given to the sons. Of Joseph. The son of Israel. So that the genealogy. Is not listed. According to the birthright. Yet Judah prevailed. Over his brothers. And from him. Came a ruler.
[58:47] Although the birthright. Was Joseph's. And so we're seeing. The two tribes. Their identities. And their destinies. Being played out. In the very early stages. And at the end.
[58:58] Of this book. We'll see that. Judah is the one. The brothers will bow to. And that. Of course. Connects with the story. Of Joseph. Now.
[59:09] There is so much here. That I've brought out. That I haven't fully. Put together. The pieces of. Particularly the connections. With the day of atonement. Where there are. Several connections. But it's just hard.
[59:20] To see. How they all fit together. If you have any suggestions. On this. Or anything else. Please leave it in the comments. I'd love. To hear your thoughts. Thank you very much. For listening.
[59:30] Lord willing. I'll be back again tomorrow. With some thoughts. On chapter 39. And the story. Of Potiphar's wife. Potiphar. And of Joseph. In the house of Potiphar. And Potiphar's wife.
[59:42] If you have any questions. Leave them on my. Mercurish cat account. If you'd like to support this. And other videos like it. Please do so. Using my Patreon. Or PayPal accounts. God bless. And thank you for listening.