Genesis 38:11-30

¹¹ Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”- for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.

¹² In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. After Judah had grieved, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

¹³ So when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

¹⁴ she took off her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. Because she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face.

¹⁶ He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Hey, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you pay me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷ He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me something in pledge, until you send it-”

¹⁸ He said, “What pledge could I give you?” She answered, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹ Then she got up and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the clothes of her widowhood.

²⁰ But Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, and he did not find her.

²¹ And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the “holy woman”[1] who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No “holy woman” has been here.”

²² So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No “holy woman” has been here.'”

²³ And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. I really sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. What is more, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned up.”

²⁵ As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, ” I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong,.” And she said, “Recognize whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”

²⁶ Then Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he was not intimate with her again.

²⁷ When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her uterus.

²⁸ And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”

²⁹ But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a break-out you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez.[2]

³⁰ Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah. [3]

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revenge of the “holy woman”

Judah had promised his daughter-in-law that he would give her his third son, but then he had second thoughts. He thought of her as the reason his sons had died. So, he conveniently forgot his promise, and pawned her off to her father’s household, to live as a widow in her young age.

When it became obvious to Tamar that her father-in-law was not going to make good on his promise, she targeted him. She dressed up like a “holy woman” and presented herself in disguise to Judah. He took the bait. Later, when she was found to have been immoral, Judah was indignant. He demanded that she be destroyed by fire. His “righteous” indignation was his opportunity to get rid of an old problem. But when she showed him the pledge items, he realized that she had acted more righteously than he had – which was not saying much.

This passage is not prescriptive; it does not condone deception or sexual immorality. But it does describe the kind of thing that happens when people – even God’s people – fail to live by the faith they profess. Our commitment to God should make us people to whom commitment matters.

LORD, make up people who keep our promises – people with no secret sins to hide.

[1] Kadeshah= slang for female shrine prostitute.

[2] perets= break out.

[3] zerah = dawning.