The Story of Judah and Tamar

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Ironically, today is Father's Day and our message today, not planned, is all about what makes men fathers—SEX. And this chapter covers every angle, so to speak.

Genesis 38: A Sidebar Story

Genesis 38.1-15 June 18th 2023

So, last week we were introduced to Joseph as a teenager, his brothers, and them feigning to their father Israel that he was dead when in reality they sold him to some Midianites and ripped up his fancy coat and dipped it in blood. That sets the stage for the story that will continue in chapter 39 all the way out to the last verse of the last chapter of Genesis, which will tell us about Joseph dying.

Here in chapter 38, however, we are given a sidebar story of Herculean honesty—so let's read it in full and try and cover it the best we can.

Verse 1
Genesis 38:1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.
8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

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.
13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

Judah's Anachronistic Story

Alright, back to verse 1

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.

It is believed that this story happened well before Joseph was sold into Egypt, so it is highly probable that it is completely anachronistic—but this does not lessen its veracity. We could go into what winds up being a very long explanation as to what proves that it is anachronistic but I have read it all, and if you want to test the conclusion you can—I am only going to say that it is and leave it at that.

The Setting of Adullam

An Adullamite is a person who lived in and/or came from Adullam, which was a city of Canaan and according to Joshua 15 it was given to the sons or tribe of Judah. In reference to this story, it seems that this Adullamite had kept a kind of lodging house where Shuah the Canaanite and his family lived as well as Judah on his visits.

Now there was a Canaanite named Shua who had a daughter whose name we do not know and Judah, even though he had clear examples as to why he should not lie with this Canaanite woman—well, he lied with her. And what we are about to read takes place over minimally 18 months but more likely years of time. (Verse 2) 2 And Judah saw

Story of Judah and His Sons

There a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.

3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he (Judah) called his name Er. 4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she (Shuah) called his name Onan. 5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.

So old Judah impregnates Shua the Canaanite three times. The last line tells us that Shua gave birth to this last son in a town that would also be given to the Tribe of Judah later and was called, Achzib. This Hebrew name means, a lie, and is believed to be purposefully named and in reference to the lies Judah was living while visiting Shua and impregnating her. Could be wrong here but that seems to be why it was called this – and this view caused Micah to write in 1:14 that “the houses of Achizib shall be a lie to the Kings of Israel.”

The Issue of Wickedness

Now the plot thickens and again, a number of years have passed since Shuah bore Judah Er, Onan and Shelah. (Verse 6)

6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.

We aren’t really sure how Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord but the phrase “sight of the Lord” appears to have been added to this passage which suggests that someone was let into how Er was wicked and that the extent of the wickedness was grievous. What is really fascinating is some linguists suggest that the Hebrew word for evil is the name Er is given but spelled backward suggesting that he was incomprehensibly wicked. What I don’t fully understand is how these names give so much meaning to people in that day but they are given to them when they are born? How would Judah know to name the child evil backward? Whatever the answer it remains elusive to me at the moment but Er was slain by the Lord (how, we aren’t told).

Verse 8

Levirate Marriage

8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. Now, Moses will introduce what is called Levirate law to the Nation much later but it seems like that is what Judah is trying to have his second son through Shuah, Onan, practice. And as you are probably aware, Levirate marriage is when one brother takes a wife but dies before they have a son. The Levirate law would have the unmarried brother next in line take her and if they bore a son, that son would be seen as the child of the deceased brother. This has nothing to do with Levi or his tribe but refers to the Hebrew word, levir, which means, “a husband's brother.”

9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; So, let me stop and make this easier as the KJV writes should not be his here but a clearer way is, “and Onan knew that the seed would not be his.” And so Onan takes matters into his own hand and we read and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. (And then verse 10)

10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.

Misunderstandings of Onan's Act

The Lord is just slaying people right and left, right? First Er for being wicked and now Onan. And here we get all sorts of insights – most of them wrong in my estimation. Here is the deal – Onan appears to have been instructed to inseminate his dead brother's wife to produce offspring for that brother’s line. He was told to do this by his own Dad who appears to be complying with a known precept adopted by the Nation because it certainly was not from Moses' words in Deuteronomy. When I was LDS and read one of their apostles dictionaries, he labeled the sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. of masturbation as onanism and tied Onan’s crime of spilling his seed in the tent to God killing him and appealing to this as a law, tied masturbation to a sin worthy of deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. in God’s eyes. In my era of being an LDS teen, there was a LOT – I mean a LOT of focus on

Biblical Context of Masturbation

The practice. Now, the Bible does not anywhere directly prohibit masturbation but if there are passages that are interpreted to be speaking to the act. However, most of the verses that even touch on the seed of man speak to how it makes the man unclean, similar to a woman menstruating.

Take Leviticus 22:4-5 for example where it says:

What man soever of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a running issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso toucheth any thing that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goeth from him; Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath.

Then we also read in Leviticus:

And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.

Onan and Seed Spilling

So, again, the seed under the law of a man spilled made whatever it touched unclean and necessitating washing of water. This is the context of the seed making someone or something unclean, the substance and no words are EVER given to suggest that male masturbation is prohibited. I say male masturbation because anytime the scripture even remotely APPEARS to speaks of masturbation it is in reference to men – and never women.

Now, I worked through a whole bunch of resources from Christian places online relative to the subject of masturbation and seed spilling. Boy they get downright obsessed with the act. For instance they take passages like Leviticus 26:15-16 and use it to support the notion that Onan was put to death for seed-spilling. Listen to what that passage says:

And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain . . . And that line has caused several ministries to prove that God is against male seed spilling.

What they ignore is the line that comes after this. So let me read it without a pause: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain . . .for your enemies shall eat it. Now, doesn’t reason and context suggest here that the seed referred to are seeds of produce and fruit? You’d think so.

Biblical Viewpoints on the Act

So, we literally have no passage that speaks directly to masturbation – none for females and only one instance of masturbation is explicitly described – our text for today. But we do have, under the Law – which has been fulfilled – the teaching that semen in contact with people or things would deem the thing or person unclean.

Paul, to believers in his day, will say in 1st Corinthians 6:9-10:

. . . be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future..

Before we speak to Onan and what really went on here, let’s speak to the biblical facts relative to sin, Jesus, uncleanliness and the Kingdom. Reason alone tells us that to be clean before God without Christ people would naturally avoid masturbation for the simple reason it’s sort of difficult to spill one’s seed without some form of coveting, honoring father and mother and adultery as Jesus defines it.

My point is why the Law nor the scripture does not prohibit masturbation it does prohibit lasciviousness, lust, and uncleanliness. That said, Yeshua came and fulfilled the law completely, took care of everything that stands in our way to a relationship with God and paid for it all through His life and death.

So right there – masturbation is off the table and should never be a focus of a pastor or church. It’s between God and the individual involved. Well what about

Scriptural Examination of Liberty and Choice

The Apostolic Record and Paul's descriptions of the believers needing to be holy and without spot or wrinkle, pure clean and the like? I would agree and submit to you that she did have to be all those things and the Holy Spirit and Apostles worked very hard to make sure she was. So, does this mean masturbation gets a go go go? It depends on . . . each individual?

Let me appeal to scripture, remembering that

1. the Law is fulfilled so our flesh is paid for in full, and

2. the holy pure Bride has been taken.

1st Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

That is a principle worthy of great consideration, isn’t it? God wants his children to be free, and masturbation is something that can easily put us in bondage to the flesh. How about another? Consider

1st Corinthians 10:23 where he says,

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

Fleshly Pleasures and Personal Boundaries

Masturbation is fleshly – providing the body with pleasures like eating candy, drinking alcohol, having sex or whatever pleasures these body’s give us. Does it consume? Does it control? Are you edified? It is NOT a matter of right or wrong folks. Its all paid. It’s a matter of what serves you and the Lord all things considered? Most adults need sex. That is our body. Fine. Whatever. However. But is the Spirit in control? Are you edified outside of the pleasures or amidst them? Praise God almighty for His Son who overcame it all and leave us with the choice to walk as He directs.

Will God permit masturbation? If he doesn’t then 99% of this world is going to hell. No, God knew and knows what our carnal lives are composed of – and that is why He sent His Son. And His Son took a Bride that was incomprehensibly pure. We, believers today are all part of that marriage, we are the product of it, and we are absolutely in possession of choices.

Biblical References and Personal Examples

Let me give you an example. I used to drink alcohol. I do not any longer because I get immediate vertigo when I do – but when I did I believed for me it was okay – and it did not overwhelm my liberty. I have dealt with masturbation and will still do it. But if I think it is removing my liberty, or taking away edification, I rethink my choices. I used to eat tons of sugar. I still would except it makes me sick.

My point – all things are lawful but not everything is expedient. Consider something else that Paul makes clear in Romans 14 when he writes

Romans 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

I allow things in my life that I have no issue with that others might cringe at. I cringe at things others may allow. The point (again) back off policing others and try and give insight relative to the biblically established principles of liberty, choice and edification.

I have had countless people – male and female – talk about masturbation with me. Some of them are overcome by the act, and lose the liberty God wants them to have in Him. Others were riddled with guilt given them by parents and religion. Break free from these things, take all of scripture into account and review your lives not in terms of sin and evil, but in terms of all sins of the flesh are over, you are free in Christ, but all things are not expedient and not everything edifies.

My point is also NOT to promote masturbation (or drinking or drugs or whatever it is you choose to do) but to put all of it in proper context. And before we get back to Onan’s crime let me present you with on last verse, where James wrote in James 4:17

“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Isn’t that wild? He flips all the “don’ts, don’ts, don’ts” and put it right back on his reader as, “do what you know is good, adding, “because if you don’t do the good that is sin.”

Faith and Love

The apostolic record, put plainly and extracted from all the directives to the people of that day, can be summarized as FAITH and LOVE. If or when anything infringes on your faith in God through Christ and your love for Him and others, then re-evaluate – everything else is between you and your Maker.

Getting back to Onan, the issue with him was that he had no problem going in and making a visit to his brother's wife – but it was not to execute the reasons he was told to do it – it was for lust, pure and simple and lust acted out with Tamar, but when the moment arrived to inseminate her, he backed out. The spilling of the seed was nothing new then and it's nothing new now. Males almost always spill their seed – get over it. God so loved this world, all the seed spilling is fixed. But acts like Onan took could never be seen as loving – not toward his Father, not toward God, and certainly not toward Tamar – and God killed him.

Religious Teachings and Onan's Story

Unfortunately, unfortunately – this topic in the hands of religion has become fixed on the menu of weekly focus. And many a Preacher, Priest, Pastor, and Bishop have glommed onto it in an effort to help males and females alike perfect their flesh. I thought I would read the following excerpt from a Christian commentary I consult from the early 20th Century. This spirit of the message is what I was raised on in my religious experience. Speaking of this passage on Onan, this is what the commentator said: On what is generally reputed to be the sin of Onan, something very pointed should be spoken. But who dares and will do it, and in such language that it may neither pollute the ear by describing the evil as it is, nor fail of its effect by a language so refined and so laboriously delicate as to cover the sin which it professes to disclose?

The Sin of "Self-Pollution"

Elaborate treatises on the subject will never be read by those who need them most, and anonymous pamphlets are not likely to be regarded. The sin of “self-pollution,” which is generally considered to be that of Onan, is one of the most destructive evils ever practiced by fallen man. In many respects, it is several degrees worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful consequences, though practiced by numbers who would shudder at the thought of criminal connections with a prostitute. It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital principle and energy; hence the muscles become flaccid and feeble, the tone and natural action of the nerves relaxed and impeded, the understanding confused, the memory oblivious, the judgment perverted, the will indeterminate and wholly without energy to resist; the eyes appear languishing and without expression, and the countenance vacant; the appetite ceases, for the stomach is incapable of performing its proper office; nutrition fails, tremors, fears, and terrors are generated; and thus the wretched victim drags out a most miserable existence, till, superannuated even before he had time to arrive at man's estate, with a mind often debilitated even to a state of idiotism, his worthless body tumbles into the grave, and his guilty soul (guilty of self-murder) is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge!

From rhetoric like this, I would suggest that millions of people have lived in shame, guilt, and fear for acting on a private drive or impulse that is far less egregious to faith and love than what they readily allow in judging others, being unkind or mercilessness, or whatever other crime of the heart that abides in them. Let’s appeal to the scripture, the context, reason, and the finished work of our King to reprioritize our shame and guilt, all the while seeking to grow in liberty and freedom through Him.

Okay – sorry- it’s a subject. So two of the sons are dead now from Judah and Tamar's relationship – one is left (verse 11).

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.

I would fail as a teacher if I neglected to mention that some Hebrew Midrashim (which are their commentaries) on Judah suggest that what Judah …

Pain and Consequences in Judah's Story

The get even more explicit by suggesting that even though Judah saved his brother Joseph from being killed by the others, he did not go all the way to the point where he returned Joseph to his dad. This notion of “not going all the way to do what he should have done,” they say, is played out in the lives of his first two sons, Er and Onan, and they state (with some conjecture) that Er’s crime with Tamar was to lie with her but do whatever was necessary so that she wouldn’t conceive (where they get this information I do not know) and then Onan lied with her but did whatever he could so that his brother would not have a son through him!

Lessons from the Lives of Er and Onan

In other words, both men went part of the way to do what was right, but both of the men failed to take it to a rightful end. Okay, now the next verse is cumbersome in the King James but let’s read it then talk

12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah (Judah's wife) died;

I want to point out that nowhere do we ever read of Judah marrying this daughter of the Canaanite man Shua, only that he desired to lay with her, did, and over the course of time produced three sons. I say this to reiterate the Old Testament principle of laying with another being the marriage. Anyway, verse 12 reads

“and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.”

Tamar's Deception

So, mourning his wife who was the daughter of Shua, he is comforted and then went up with his sheepherders to Timnath with a friend named “Hirah the Adullamite.” Now remember, Tamar was the wife of Er, then Onan, and she is now waiting for the third son of Judah, Shelah, to mature, so she can marry him. Verse 13

13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14 And she put her widow's garments off from her, (remember, she was mourning either Er, or Onan or both) 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.

Obviously, a number of years have passed here and Tamar is feeling like Judah is not living up to his bargain to supply her with this final son who is apparently ready for marriage.

15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

Pre-Mosaic Views on Adultery and Harlotry

Okay, because of time and space I am going to wrap our salacious teaching today up by attempting to address some particularly unusual things that seemed to exist prior to the Law of Moses. And one of them has to do with what they saw as adultery, then harlotry and finally as a prostitute particularly with connection to offering sacrifice.

Adultery, where a man or woman had sex with another was strongly frowned upon even before the law. That said, taking on a concubine was permitted but usually with the concubine belonging to the first wife along with her permission. It's like my wife has always said, Shawn can have as many wives as he likes as long as they do the cleaning.

However, and things get a bit weird here as pre-law of Moses, and this is an apparently, harlotry was permitted. The Hebrew word for Harlot is Zonah, and this word relates to when a man or the nation went “awhoring.” It appears that going a whoring was done, like it has been done ever since, when a man would find a harlot (a zonah) and have relations with her without any sort of binding contract or agreement. It was understood that this is a transaction where the zonah will not receive part of the mans inheritance or estate.

When verse 15 says that when Judah saw her he thought she was a harlot, the word used there is zonah – an allowable whore for him to make a visit to. What get’s sort of complicated is in verse 21, which we will cover next week, Judah sends a friend to go and find this zonah but then we read:

21

The Use of Different Terminologies for Harlotry in Scripture

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.

And both times where harlot is used another Hebrew term other than zonah is used – and its kedasha.

By going to Hosea 4:14 we get some help understanding this weird fact. It says:

Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom (zonah), nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores (zonah) and they sacrifice with harlots (kedasha), therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

Distinction Between Zonah and Kedasha

So, what gives? Why are these two different terms translated with “harlot” in Genesis 38 and translated with harlot and whoredoms in Hosea.

It seems that in Genesis and referring to Tamar and Judah, there was merely a suspicion of Tamar doing different things as a harlot (where she was not) but the Hosea reference is literally describing the difference between whoredoms and adultery (zonah) and kedasha, which best means temple prostitute. See, anciently and even today in places, there were basic harlotry or whoredoms, which were sex for pay and seem to have been far less agg-regeious than temple prostitution.

The Practice of Temple Prostitution

Why? One was heterosexual sex among consenting adults but the other was also existing, even in the time of Judah, the Canaanite practice of temple sex in the worship of the God Ashteroth. The word, kedasha, speaks directly to this, and it is seen as far more insidious because it literally includes not just sexual relations with female temple prostitute but that sex is tied into blood rites to a false god, sex with boys, males, and beasts.

Because the worship of Ashteroth existed in Judah’s day it is believed that in verse 21 there was an assumption that Tamar, who was in disguise, was one of these temple prostitutes. Some commentators speculate that this association was in error. However, by the time we get to Hoses, there was a marked difference between people who played the whore or harlot and those who sacrificed or serves with temple prostitutes. As we conclude, reread Hosea 4:14 again with me now that this has been explained where God says:

Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom (zonah), nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores (zonah) and they sacrifice with harlots (kedasha), therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

One is a crime of the flesh. The other is a crime of the worshipping heart through the flesh. Big difference.

And so we wrap up a nice day talking about seed spilling, masturbation, levirate marriage, harlotry, going a whoring and temple prostitution.

All, mind you, to show how our loving God worked in and through these people, this nation, then His law, to bring about their Messiah who would save us all from the ravages and bondage of our flesh.

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