Genesis 38

The story of Judah and Tamar is a carefully placed break in the larger story. It shows what was happening in Judah’s family. Judah would later become an important leader. The story also shows the early stages of the family mixing with the people of the land. This helps explain why God sent the family to Egypt (chapters 39–47).

The Egyptians kept themselves separate from other peoples (43:32). Because of that, the Israelites were more likely to keep their own identity in Egypt than in Canaan.

That Er was a wicked man is not surprising, since his mother was a Canaanite and his father a rebellious Israelite.

This story describes the Lord as the sovereign judge who ended the lives of Judah's wicked sons.

Perform your duty ... raise up offspring for your brother: This reflects the custom of levirate marriage (a practice where a man marries his dead brother’s wife).

In this custom, if a man died without children, his brother or nearest relative would marry the widow. The goal was to have a child who would carry on the dead man’s name and inherit his property. This practice was later included in God’s law for Israel (Deuteronomy 25:5–10).

A close relative could refuse this duty, but he would be publicly shamed in the family for not preserving his brother’s name.

Onan married Tamar, but he was not willing to provide an heir for his brother. He had sexual relations with Tamar, but he did not fulfill his duty to his dead brother (38:8).

Judah is now shown as the example for his sons' behavior. He also failed in his duty under levirate marriage toward Tamar, even though he was the next kinsman (see study note on 38:8). Judah and his sons acted too much like the Canaanites (see study note on 38:27–30; this contrasts with Boaz, who acted rightly in Ruth 3–4).

• Without a marriage, the family's future was at risk.

• Judah's wife … died: This made Judah available to fulfill the responsibility of providing an heir.

Tamar understood she needed to act to secure her family's future. Following the levirate custom (see study note on 38:8), she remained loyal to her dead husband. She had a legal right to have a child with Judah's son or Judah himself. So she tricked her father-in-law into having sexual relations with her. Again, Jacob’s family experiences deception, this time by a Canaanite daughter-in-law.

It would be normal for Tamar to ask for a pledge if the man did not have the money to pay. A woman in such a position would not trust anyone to send the money.

seal: A small cylinder made of stone or metal was carved with unique designs. People usually wore it on a cord around the neck. When it was rolled over soft clay or wax, it left a clear impression of the design.

Judah had gone to Tamar as a regular prostitute (Hebrew zonah, 38:15), whereas Hirah was mistakenly looking for a shrine prostitute (Hebrew qedeshah), of which there were none.

Judah acted hypocritically by condemning Tamar to death for adultery. When Tamar showed his seal, cord, and walking stick, it proved Judah was the father. He then withdrew the condemnation.

She is more righteous than I: Judah admitted he had failed to provide an heir. It was wrong for Judah to visit a prostitute, but Tamar had a legal right to have Judah's child and acted on it.

In the book of Ruth, the elders gave a similar blessing at the marriage of Boaz and Ruth. They prayed that God would make Ruth like Tamar (Ruth 4:12; compare Matthew 1:3, 5).

Judah’s family line continued through Tamar. The twins replaced Judah’s two sons who had died (38:7, 10). Their birth was similar to the birth of Jacob and Esau (25:21–26). As with Jacob and Esau, the expected order of birth was reversed. In both cases, the twin connected with the color red (scarlet) did not remain in the first place.

In a similar way, Jacob gained the right to rule over his older brother (27:29). This pattern seems to appear again in Judah’s family. The family line continued through Perez, not through the older son Shelah, whom Judah had tried hard to protect (38:11; see 1 Chronicles 4:21), and not through the older twin Zerah (see Ruth 4:13–22; Matthew 1:3).

Perez moved ahead of his brother, just like Joseph would soon do with his own brothers (chapters 39–47).