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December 7

Genesis 38: 11 – 16

¹¹ Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

¹² After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

¹³ When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴ she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Not realizingthat she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked. ¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked. ¹⁸ He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

Remember a few days ago,  I mentioned the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel?  If you read it carefully you will spot some interesting names in there,  particularly for such a patriarchal society.  Very carefully woven into the narrative are four women’s names and over the next four days we will look briefly at them as part of the journey to the birth of Christ.

The first is Tamar,  and we’ve just read her story, the story of a woman who slept with her father-in-law.  It would be very easy from our modern perspective to see Tamar’s actions as provocative,  but we really need to understand what drove her to those actions.  See had been married to Judah’s son, who died.  In accordance with Jewish law,  that meant that she then married his brother, but he died too.  The men’s father, Judah began to think that Tamar was a kinx so feared for his youngest son who was still a child,  so he told Tamar she would just have to live under his protection until the boy was deemed old enough,  but it became apparent over time that Judah had no intention of allowing his youngest and now only son to marry her.  In the meantime,  Judah’s wife had died.

Tamar seized her chance – dressing in such a way that Judah didn’t recognise her and thought she was a prostitute and slept with her.  He promised her a goat and left his signet ring, cord and staff as pledges,  sending his servant to offer the lamb and redeem the pledges but Tamar was nowhere to be found.  When she discovered she was pregnant,  the family was horrified,  Judah was scandalised and was all for having her stoned to death for her immorality,  until she produced the pledges belonging to the father.  

It's a story of power and of powerlessness,  of seizing opportunity.  It’s a story of double standards – not a very savoury story at all – and the son  born from their relationship was Perez an ancestor of David,  a forebear of the Christ.

We all have skeletons in the family cupboards.  Some we are terrified they become public knowledge,  but you know,  those scandals were there,  even in the background of the Messiah,  transformed from the unacceptable into the opportunity for a miracle.