Genesis · chapter 38 of 50
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Genesis 38 interrupts the story of Joseph to tell the story of Judah. Judah marries a Canaanite woman, and his sons Er and Onan die while married to Tamar. Judah does not give her his third son, and Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute to have a child by Judah. When her pregnancy is discovered, Judah admits that she is more righteous than he, and the twins Perez and Zerah are born.
Genesis 37 ended with Joseph sold into Egypt. Genesis 38 seems to interrupt the account, but it has a purpose: to show what Judah was like, the brother who proposed selling Joseph, and to prepare for his transformation in Genesis 44. It also introduces Perez, an ancestor of David and of Jesus, and shows that God carries out his plan even in the midst of murky actions.
Judah separates from his brothers, goes to Adullam and marries the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. They have three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah chooses a wife named Tamar for Er. Er is wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord puts him to death. Judah tells Onan to fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to Tamar and give offspring to Er, but Onan knows the child will not be his, and avoids giving her offspring. This displeases the Lord, who also puts him to death.
Judah tells Tamar to remain in her father's house until his son Shelah grows up, but he fears that he too will die and does not follow through. Time passes, Judah's wife dies, and when the mourning is over he goes up to shear his sheep at Timnah. Tamar, seeing that Shelah has grown up and she has not been given to him, takes off her widow's clothes, covers herself with a veil and sits by the road. Judah takes her for a prostitute and sleeps with her. She asks for his signet, cord and staff as a pledge. Judah sends his friend with a young goat to redeem the pledge, but he cannot find her.
Three months later Judah is told that Tamar is pregnant, and he orders that she be burned. She sends him the objects with the message that the owner of these things is the father. Judah acknowledges that she is more righteous than he, because he did not give her his son Shelah. Tamar gives birth to twins. During the delivery one puts out a hand but pulls it back, and the other is born first: Perez, and then Zerah.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Judah leaves his brothers and goes to live among the Canaanites. The text marks a distancing from the covenant family, and the story that follows shows the consequences of that distance.
Tamar takes off her widow's clothes, covers herself with a veil and sits by the road, because she sees that Shelah has grown up and she has not been given to him. Her plan is risky and morally uncomfortable, but it springs from an injustice Judah committed against her.
Judah acknowledges that Tamar is more righteous than he, because he had not given her his son Shelah. It is a moment of honest repentance, and prepares Judah for the role he will play in Genesis 44, when he offers his own life for Benjamin.
Perez is born, and his name recalls the verb to break through. Perez is an ancestor of David and, according to the genealogies of Matthew and Luke, of Jesus. God brings a line begun in disorder all the way to the Messiah.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Tamar, chosen by Judah for his son. — Genesis 38:6
Answer: Because they were wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put them to death. — Genesis 38:7-10
Answer: To give his son Shelah to Tamar as a husband when he grew up. — Genesis 38:11-14
Answer: His signet, his cord and his staff. — Genesis 38:18
Answer: That Tamar was more righteous than he, because he had not given her his son Shelah. — Genesis 38:26
Answer: Perez and Zerah. — Genesis 38:27-30
Genesis 38 teaches us to recognize our own sin when it is plainly put before us. Judah was harsh with Tamar until he saw that he himself had been unjust to her. In a small group, the chapter invites us to examine where we demand of others what we ourselves do not fulfill, and to admit fault with Judah's humility.
It also shows God's grace in the line of Jesus. Matthew includes Tamar in his genealogy, and God does not hide the messy stories of his people. Ask where you need to remember that God's grace works in the midst of complicated stories, without excusing sin.
Genesis 38 ends with the birth of Perez and Zerah, and leaves Judah changed. In Genesis 39 the story returns to Joseph, now a slave in Potiphar's house, where he will face a very different test.
It was the custom that the brother of a man who died without children would marry his widow to give offspring to the dead man. Later the law of Moses regulates it in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Onan used the custom but refused to fulfill its purpose.
The text neither approves nor condemns her plan directly. Judah says she is more righteous than he, because she sought the right to offspring that he denied her. The deception remains uncomfortable, and the story shows the failures of everyone involved.
It shows what Judah was like before being transformed, and builds the contrast with Joseph in chapter 39. It also introduces Perez and Zerah and explains the origin of the line of Judah, from which David and the Messiah would come.