GENESIS 38

I am going to start out by letting you play movie critics. I want you to consider two pairs of movies and vote each time on which one you would recommend a fellow Christian to view.

1. This is an x-rated movie denounced by many Christian groups. There is not one likeable character in it. The so-called hero beats up defenseless people, rapes, tortures and kills. The movie is filled with scenes of graphic violence and an orgy involving underage girls. At the end of the film, the “hero” is just as evil as at the start, but the director makes the audience root for him anyway.

2. The second film is a G-rated Disney cartoon with catchy songs, funny animal characters, and clever dialogue that appeals to both adults and children.

Next, consider this pair of movies:

3. This film, which has a beautiful classical music score, concerns a minister fighting for the soul of a man while society attempts to cure him using psychiatric techniques and tells him that he isn't at all responsible for his own actions. The theme of the movie is that science, the arts, and the government are all powerless to change human nature. The only salvation is found by turning to God in repentance. This movie was denounced by the Communist press in Russia as being blatant Christian propaganda.

4. The last film stars a hero who is a professional thief and liar who receives help from a demonic power to seduce a young, naive girl to gain money and social position. The moral of the movie is that the best way to get ahead in the world is to disobey society's rules.

If you voted as I suspect, you chose 2 and 3 as the preferred films over their respective alternatives. In fact, Film 1 is the same as Film 3 (i.e., A Clockwork Orange), and Film 2 is the same as Film 4 (i.e., Aladdin). Why were you misled by my descriptions? Both movies can be seen in a totally different light depending upon whether you judge them by their external attributes or their underlying theme.

We run into the same situation in Genesis 38. One can concentrate on the seamy plot involving deception, prostitution and incest, or one can look beyond those externals to see what spiritual message may have been intended. First, read through the story and we will approach it from several angles, starting with a few technical explanations to help in understanding the background.

Genesis 38:1-6

Verse 1: The text says they “went down” from Hebron to the Philistine hill country. This journey was thus to both a lower altitude and religious environment. By contrast, whenever people travel to Jerusalem, it is said that they “go up,” no matter what elevation they began their journey from.

Verse 6: Judah marries a Canaanite. And Tamar is probably a Canaanite also.

Genesis 38:7-11

Verse 7: Er is the first person in the Bible of whom it is said that God killed. We don't know what his sin was, but it must have been great. Over and over in OT stories, the oldest son is bypassed by God.

Verse 8: Literally, it says “to levirate her.” The custom alluded to by this term was that when a man died without leaving an heir, one of his brothers was to marry the widow and have a child by her, which would legally be considered as his dead brother's child, not his own.

Verse 11: The fact that she is described as “his daughter-in-law” is really not needed since we already had that information. But it does serve to remind us of Judah's responsibility in the matter. I wonder if the Sadducees had this story in mind when they questioned Jesus in Matthew 22 about the women who ended up marrying seven brothers in turn.

Verse 12: Sheep shearing time was a time for celebration. Literally it reads: “Judah was consoled.”

This indicates that his time of mourning for his dead wife was over. Contrast Judah with Jacob in who 

refused to be consoled for his son's death (Genesis 37:35).

Genesis 38:12-23

Verse 15: Judah thinks that Tamar is a zona (common prostitute). However, in verses 21 and 23, his Canaanite friend calls the woman he is looking for a qedesa (cult prostitute). Judah doesn't correct this misunderstanding, perhaps because he wishes to appear in a better light with his pagan friend. But in doing so, he is actually lowering his religious image.

Verse 18: Seals functioned in an important way in the ancient world. They were sort of like credit cards today. In a way, Jacob was saying, “I don't have any cash on me. Do you take plastic?”

The word usually translated as “staff” may actually refer to a decorative pin instead.

Genesis 38:24-30

Verse 24: Burning was reserved for only the most serious offenses (Leviticus 20:14). Stoning was the more usual practice.

Verses 29-30: Peres = he who breaks through. The name Zerah is roughly related to the word for scarlet.

Position of the Story in Genesis

This is probably the most puzzling thing about this story. Speiser (Genesis, Anchor Bible): “The narrative is a completely independent unit. It has no connection with the drama of Joseph, which it interrupts.” Other commentators disagree with this assessment, and for good reason. For one thing, this story serves the literary purpose to act as a pause in the action to build up suspense in the reader as to what will happen next to Joseph, who has just been sold into slavery. Other explanations for the inclusion of this story at this particular point have been given:

1. One reason it is here is because it fits chronologically. Joseph is 17 in Genesis 37:2 and 30 years old in 41:46. Judah is still working for his father in Chapter 37, but by Chapter 38 he is married with some grown sons.

2. The effect of ignoring Joseph temporarily is to duplicate the absence that Jacob's family felt during the time when he was gone.

3. Barnhouse feels it is here to show us that the family of Jacob had been contaminated by Canaanite 

influences and needed to be moved to Egypt. This contamination is seen in the behavior of Judah's

 sons.

In addition, Robert Alter (The Art of Biblical Narrative) feels that Chapter 38 is perfectly positioned within the story of Joseph to cover the whole period from the sale of Joseph to the trip to Egypt in 42:1. Kalman Bland (Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives) similarly states, “To read this chapter is to review the past and to preview the future. He offers as proof of this statement the facts that (a) Chapter 37 shows a younger brother supposedly removed from the picture; Chapter 38 shows that a missing brother may re-gain status; and subsequent chapters show that Joseph does just that.

As some examples of Chapter 38 echoing a number of earlier themes in Genesis, consider the following table:

incest carried out in an attempt to carry on the line Lot and his daughters (Genesis 17)

patriarch fooled into blessing someone Isaac blessing Jacob (Genesis 27)

intercourse with the wrong woman Jacob and Leah's wedding (Genesis 29)
kid goat involved in deception Jacob and Esau story (Genesis 27:9)

birth of twins Jacob and Esau born (Genesis 25:24)

crimson thread Esau was red (25:25)

Considering the immediate context of this chapter, one can see many additional parallels:

Genesis 38                                                                             Genesis 37

kid from flock                                                                      goat killed

“recognize” in the imperative and perfect tense     “recognize” in the same two tenses

A midrash from about 400 BC reads as follows: God said to Judah, “You deceived your father with a kid. By your life, Tamar will deceive you with a kid. You said to your father, “recognize!” By your life, Tamar will say to you, “recognize!”

Genesis 38                                                                                     Genesis 39

begins with Judah going down from his brothers         begins with Joseph taken down to Egypt

association with foreign women                                      separation from foreign woman

God's judgment                                                                         God's blessing

initiates sexual immorality                                              flees from sexual immorality

victimizer                                                                                  victimized

true accusation                                                                      false accusation

confession of sin                                                                      rejection of sin

Judah's First Test (ch. 38)                                         Judah's Second Test (chs. 43-49)

brothers die                                                                      brothers reunited

Tamar's deception                                                          Joseph's deception

Judah's pledge                                                                 Judah as surety

false accusation                                                             false accusation

Tamar reveals herself                                             Joseph reveals himself

Judah's confession                                                     Joseph's confession

Judah tries to save his son's life by fraud     Judah tries to save his brother's life by self-sacrifice

line continued through younger son line continued through younger son

It is this last set of parallels that are the strongest to my mind, and the ones intended for stress by the author. This can also be seen in considering the literary structure of the Joseph story, shown below.

Structure of the Joseph Cycle: Genesis 37-50

A. Jacob’s family dwells in Canaan (37:1-2a)

B. Joseph’s favored status (special garment) (37:2b-3)

C. Separation from brothers (37:4-36)

1. Joseph dreams

                                                2. The pit–threatened death, slavery in Egypt

                                                3. Jacob deceived by Joseph’s brothers

D. Judah’s first test (ch. 38)

E. Joseph as a slave (39:1-20)

1. The Lord is with Joseph

                                                                                    2. Overseer of house

                                                                                    3. Potiphar prospers

                                                                                    4. Joseph’s first test

                                                                                    5. Thrown into prison

E'. Joseph as a prisoner (39:21-41:36)

                                                                                    1. The Lord is with Joseph

                                                                                    2. Overseer of prisoners

                                                                                    3. Work prospers

                                                                                    4. Joseph’s second test

                                                                                    5. Released from prison

B'. Joseph’s favored status (special garment) (41:37-44)

C'. Reunion with brothers (41:45-42:38)

                                        1. Joseph’s dream fulfilled

                                        2. Prison–threatened death and slavery in Egypt

                                        3. Jacob told the truth by Joseph’s brothers

D'. Judah’s second test (43:1-44:34)

A'. Jacob's family dwells in Egypt; Promise of return to Canaan (45:1-50:26)

Character Studies

What can we learn from the actions of the people who figure in Genesis 38?

1. Onan is an example of those who satisfy their own sexual desires without responsibility and without considering the consequences to others.

2. Tamar uses deception to gain her legal rights, not to avoid them. She is mentioned only in a positive light in the OT, NT and early Jewish commentaries. She must be judged by the standards of the day, not ours. Keep in mind that Judah was not married at the time, and in other Mideast cultures it was the father-in-law who was responsible for performing the levirate duties if no son was available.

3. Judah up to this time is not shown in a very favorable light: he wants to sell Joseph; he left his family, perhaps in search of better pasture land; he married a Canaanite woman; was deceitful toward Tamar, acting out of fear; and acted hypocritically in desiring her death for the same offense he had committed. But ultimately, he repented of his sins and began to act responsibly toward Tamar. And we will see in his second major test (Genesis 43-44) that he is a totally changed man for the better.

4. Where is God in all this? He does not appear to be overtly involved in these affairs, but He certainly initiates the action by judging the unrighteous husbands of Tamar. In this respect, God does what He does at the start of the Book of Ruth also.

As to which of God's attributes we can see in these events, first of all is His exercising earthly judgment on the unrighteous. But also, it shows God's patience in allowing Judah to experience circumstances that will bring him to repentance, letting the natural consequences of Judah's actions convict him.

Finally, what can we see that God accomplished through the events of Genesis 38? Basically, it was one more step toward the eventual birth of Jesus, Savior of the world. If we look at Matthew's genealogy, it has the unusual characteristic (for the time) of including four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. There are three common factors between these women.

1. All (except Mary) are non-Jewish. Luther points out that it is appropriate that Jesus be related to Gentiles as well as Jews.

2. All were sinners, or suspected of being a sinner (according to St. Jerome).

3. All four were involved in irregular or unusual sexual unions.

So by concentrating on the underlying themes of this story, we shouldn't be distracted by the R-rated plot.