Judah & Tamar 2 - Genesis 38:12-19

38:12-19 - With Tamar living at her father’s house, Judah is just living his best life, but at some point Judah’s wife, who is only referred to as “the daughter of Shuah,” dies. One of the sources that I listened to mentioned that this was noted in the record because it was meant to signify that Judah did not commit adultery, so what else was he supposed to do with no wife? Not have sex with prostitutes? I mean, come on, be reasonable. Judah goes “unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.” So Judah isn’t keeping to his own kind either, just like so many of his demonized kinfolk.

I don’t know if this was the turning point for Tamar, when she realized that Judah wasn’t going to honor his commitment to her as her father-in-law, maybe she thought that with Judah’s wife dead, that he would marry her instead, which is probably what he should have done by way of his culture. Shearing the sheep seems to play a big part of the story here because it is mentioned repeatedly, but isn’t explained so my guess is that it’s mentioned because it signifies that a certain amount of time had passed in which Judah should have married Tamar but because he hadn’t by the time the sheep were sheered, this is when Tamar figured what his true intentions were.

I was listening to some commentary on the Old Testament the other day and the lecturer spoke about widows and orphans and their only claim on social status or survival was based on their father or husband and his social dealings. It talked about how the wives and children were collateral for any business dealings and if the father or husband died, they had absolutely no way to support themselves, which I assume means that their only option was begging and homelessness. If that’s accurate, and I have no reason to think that it isn’t, Tamar looked at her options and knew that without any children that tied her to Judah forcing him to care for her, she was screwed.

She, therefore, took drastic measures, desperate times and all that, she took off her mandatory widow’s clothes, “covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself,” and sat by the city gates around where she knew Judah would be and “she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.” The veil plays a big part here because this was the indicator to Judah that “he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.”

This is where the story gets kind of weird for me, Judah propositions this veiled woman asking her to have sex with him, she says “what will you give me?” He answered “a kid from the flock,” she accepts his offer, but because he doesn’t have the kid with him at the time, she asked for an identifying marker from him as collateral that she’ll return when she gets the kid. This is a smart move because most men would return for their stuff back, but with out that incentive, they would probably just stiff her on payment. He agrees and gives her his “signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand.”

All it says about the actual act is “he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.” Here are some issues I have with the actual interaction, she must have worn her veil the whole time so he never saw her face, which with how personal the act of sex is, that would seem kind of disconnecting, but that’s probably what he wanted. I think it just makes it obvious what a non-personal encounter this was that he physically had sex with his daughter in law, such that she got pregnant, but was so disconnected from the act that he didn’t even recognize her. I mean it’s not like she was his cashier at the grocery store, he got her pregnant. That would be like your father in law being your dentist and they don’t realize that it’s you until you come back for your crown, it’s just wild, and degrading, I wonder how Jesus felt about this incident.