JUDAH AND TAMAR As the Lord Christ was to come from the seed of Judah, the Holy Bible had to present the succession of the descendants of Judah, in order to be able to follow the genealogy of the Lord. Indeed - with his love for money - Judas counseled his brothers to sell Joseph. But God transformed his bad counsel to realize his divine purposes. And now, Judas set forth to marry a Canaanite. But the exalted grace of God transformed, even this action to proclaim the salvation ordainment of God. 1- Sons of Judah 1-5. 2- Er and Tamar 6-11. 3- Judah and Tamar 12-26. 4- Birth of Perez and Zerah 27-30. 1- SONS OF JUDAH “It came to pass at that time that Judas departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. And Judas saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her, so she conceived and bore him a son, and he called him Er” (Gen. 38:1-3) Judas separated himself from his brothers and joined Hirah the Adullamite, who was probably his friend; and there he married a daughter of a Canaanite whose name was Shua, meaning ‘rich;’ as though he represents the Jewish nation that denied the true Joseph, and set forth, through its love for the world riches, to marry the pagan girl, namely the unbelief The daughter of Shua conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan; and conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib, meaning ‘a liar’ when she bore him; as the nation carries false fruits through its attachment to denial. Adullam, to which Hhrah father of Shua, was one of the great cities of Canaan, meaning ‘a resort or refuge;’ very close to the famous cave of David in the valley of Elah, that extends from Hebron to Palestine, two or three miles south of Shokoh, and about fifteen miles north-west of Hebron. Chezib, also called Achzib in the book of Micah (Micah 1:14-15), was located close to Ein-Chezbah north of Adullam. 2- ER AND TAMAR “Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar” (Gen. 38:6). If Judah did wrong by his marriage to a Canaanite woman, the fruit of that fault was reflected on his sons; the Bible tells us that his firstborn son died before having children, to serve as a lesson for Judah and his other sons; but that lesson proved to have no effect on their lives. When Judas ordered his son Onan to marry Tamar, to raise an heir to his deceased brother, Er behaved inhumanely, emitting on the ground, lest Tamar would conceive; probably because he wanted his father’s inheritance to be confined to him and his younger brother Shelah, and not to be shared by the deceased brother Er. Thus because of greed for a larger share, he refused to raise an heir to his deceased brother, so God killed him as well (Gen. 38:10). It was fit for Judas to reconsider his accounts, and to realize that he failed in raising his children; he has lost Er and Onan, and now, he has only Shelah... Instead of 4 guiding Shelah to walk according to the spirit of his fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he said to Tamar his daughter-in-law to remain a widow in her father’s house, under the pretense of the young age of his third son; saying in his heart, “lest he also dies as his brothers did” (Gen. 38:11). How much we need in dealing with our lives, to go deeper, and seek the real cause of corruption, to root it out, instead of acting in a superficial outer way. If Judah had rooted sin out of his family, there would not have been any need for the fears that filled his heart and mind, nor need to send Tamar back to her father’s house. 3- JUDAH AND TAMAR Shelah was grown, and Judas did not fulfill his promise to give Tamar to him as his wife. And as Judas was on his way to Timnah to sheer his sheep, Tamar took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil, and sat in an open place at the entrance of Tinaim on the way to Timnah. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, and came to her after giving her his signet and cord and his staff, as pledge, until he sends her a young goat from the flock. When he did send it to get back his pledge, his messenger did not find her there, and gave it back to Judas. It came to pass, about three months after, when Judah was told that Tamar was with a child, he said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned” (Gen. 38:24). As to Tamar, she revealed the signet, cord, and staff to Judah,, when he acknowledged them, he said: “She has been more righteous than I; because I did not give her to Shelah my son” (Gen. 38:26). In this story we notice the following: (1) ‘Timnah,’ in Hebrew means ‘designated portion1.’ There are more than one place with that name, but the one here, is seven miles from Adullam, where Judas and Hirah used to live; close to Bethlehem, and called nowadays Tibnah. Judah set forth to Timnah, namely to his own portion, having been comforted after his wife, the daughter of Shua, died. He did not care about the portions of others. He did not care about the widow Tamar, his daughter-in-law. He was right in saying: “She has been more righteous than I.” (2) Tamar, as any other Hebrew woman, wishing to have the Savior Messiah come from her seed, ventured to risk her own life; took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil, and was not ashamed to appear as a harlot, not out of lust of body, but for the sake of having children; she attached herself to her father-in-law, who was an old man. Her purity was apparent, in that after revealing the fact, she did not seek to be married to the brother of her deceased husband, but lived with her father-in-law, who was said, “he never knew her again” (Gen. 38:26). Because of her faith, she desired to have children, while Judah, in his old age, committed adultery. That is why he said: “She has been more righteous than I” (Gen. 38:26). Tamar became a living example that keeps us from judgment, even if the evidence of sin seems obvious. St. Ambrose often comments on that phrase “She has been more righteous than I” in his talk about repentance, asking everyone - even the Bishop - to refrain from judging anybody, but to have compassion on sinners; saying: [O God, Let the falls of everyone be before me, so that I bear them with him. Let me not arrogantly rebuke him, but grief and cry; as in my crying for others I cry for myself, saying, “She has been more righteous than I.” Let us assume that a certain girl has fallen, moved and deceived by certain circumstances. Well, we, who are much 1 New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, p. 948. 5 older than she is, could also fall; as in us, as well, the law of our flesh is warring against that of our minds, and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin, that we do what we do not want to do (Romans 7:23); her young age might be an excuse for her, but what is my excuse? She will have to learn, but I will have to know that “She has been more righteous than I.” We could accuse others for greed; Yet, let us contemplate whether we have never been as greedy; and that greed, namely the love for wealth, is the origin of all evils, that works in our bodies as a vicious serpent; That is why we should say, “She has been more righteous than I.” As a Bishop gets unfairly aggressive against a certain member of the congregation, The Bishop should contemplate and say to himself, that the one whom he came against, could be more righteous than he is. When we all do that, we would be keeping ourselves from what the Lord Christ warned us against, as He said: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye... Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matt. 7:3-5). Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of admitting that our fault is worse than this of the one, whom we are accusing; That was what Judah has done, as he rebuked Tamar; remembering his own sin, he said: “She has been more righteous than I.” He condemned himself, before others would condemn him1.] (3) By that work of faith, Tamar became qualified to become a grandmother to Christ the Lord; to have her blood run in His veins; that Matthew, the Evangelist included her name in the genealogy of the Lord Christ (Matthew 1:23); while not including the names of Sarah, Rebecca, or any other of the blessed mothers. Tamar has been a symbol of the Gentile nations, who became a holy Church of the Lord; that has been before fruitless like Tamar, like a desolate widow, with nobody to support or to help. Her first near kinsman ‘Shelah’ did not marry her; so she attached herself to the second near kinsman, namely Judah. In the same way, the Gentile nations did not attach themselves to their first kinsman, namely to the Mosaic Law, nor committed themselves to circumcision or Judaism, but attached themselves to the second near kinsman, namely to the true Judah, our Lord Jesus Christ, who came from the tribe of Judas. Actually, the actions of Tamar carried many symbols that are analogue to those enjoyed by the Church of the Gentiles of which are: a- Tamar took off her widow’s garments, to attach herself to Judas. Likewise, the nations of the Gentiles took off the garments of the old man, to put on those of new man, that would fit her union with the eternal Groom; Christ Himself has even become her new Garment. b- Tamar covered her face with a veil. Likewise, the nations of the Gentiles, having received faith, are living here in a mystery, until the time comes, when they encounter the Groom, face to face, to behold Him in the perfection of His glory, and the greatness of His splendor; they would then be able to recognize His exalted secrets. c- Tamar sat at the entrance of Enaim (Gen. 38:14 NIV), meaning that of the ‘two springs;’ as though she is the Church of the Gentiles, that did not enjoy the spring of the Old Testament alone, but that of the New Testament as well. d- Tamar enjoyed Judah’s signet, cord, and staff; namely the signet of sonship .٦١ ¡ 1 ترفقوا بالخطاة!!... للقديس أمبروسيوس ١٩٦٨ ، ص ٦٠ 6 to God, the heavenly crown, and the life-giving cross. e- The signs of pregnancy appeared after three months; as though it is the Church of the Gentiles, that carried spiritual fruits, through her belief in the Holy Trinity (three months), and her enjoyment of life resurrected in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was risen in the third day. (4) Some scholars believe that a regular harlot did not cover her face with a veil; but who used to do that, was a woman who vowed herself to harlotry, for the sake of gods, especially ‘Ashteroth,’ goddess of the moon, to collect from every man the skin of one goat, to offer to the temple of the goddess. That is why the word ‘harlot,’ in the Hebrew text, came as ‘Kadsha,’ namely a ‘saint’ or a ‘Nazirite’ to the goddesses. By so doing, Tamar occupied the position of a Gentile girl, a worshipper of idols, to represent the nations of the Gentiles, that, after being connected to defilements, attached themselves to faith in the New Judas, in order to enjoy the holy pure life, and to have a portion in the Lord. 4- BIRTH OF PEREZ AND ZERAH And so it was, when Tamar was giving birth, that Perez put out his hand, and the midwife bound a scarlet thread on his hand; yet he drew back his hand, that his brother Zerah came out first, before Perez did. Some fathers see in Zerah a representative of the Jewish people, who was supposed to be the firstborn; put out his hand to receive the Law, that centralized around the sacrifice (the scarlet blood); Yet, through unbelief, Zareh, representative of the Gentiles, came out first; those who came to have the birthright of the spirit, instead of Zerah, (the Jews)1.
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