Chapter Overview
Judah decides it’s time to have some kids, and he does. God promptly kills two of them, the first for completely unknown and likely arbitrarily stupid reasons. Judah then does the wife of his dead sons without knowing it. When he finds out that she has been whoring it around, he goes to kill her. He only stops because she has his children.
Additional Notes
This is an atrocious chapter. What lessons are we supposed to take from this? God will personally kill you? Trying to be a moral person will have god kill you? Burning whores is ok, but only if they aren’t pregnant with your children?
Chapter 38: A Senseless Tale
AKA: God Personally Kills Some People
- And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
- And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
- And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
- And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
- And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
- And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
- And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him.
- And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
- And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
- And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also.
- Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.
- And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
- And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.
- And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
- When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.
- And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?
- And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
- And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
- And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
- And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not.
- Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
- And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
- And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
- And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
- When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
- And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
- And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
- And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
- And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
- And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.
- This is one of Jacob’s sons in case you’ve forgotten.
- Did she consent to it? Presumably this is different from when Jacob’s daughter was raped… but we’re not shown how.
- This better not start another dadgum genealogy again.
- It seems like another small genealogy yet again.
- Thankfully this genealogy is a very short one. Don’t get too attached to any of these kids though.
- Did this woman consent to becoming someone’s wife as well?
- But why? We’re never told why. We haven’t received many rules yet.
- Did she consent to this as well? Look at the bible… turning women into objects. Women had no rights at the time period.
- Onan decides that doing the wife of his deceased brother is probably not the best idea. Perhaps she didn’t consent to anything after all? Maybe she actually killed Er and claimed god did it.
- God punishes Onan too because Onan decided it wasn’t right? That’s silly.
- Let’s get this straight: 2 of Judah’s children have died due to things related to this woman. To be fair, maybe they deserved it. He’s going to send this woman to another of his children and hope the same thing doesn’t happen?
- Why was he comforted by his wife dying?
- Sounds like plot development
- Does she want to be wife to Shelah then?
- Prostitution… it’s in the bible.
- It sounds like she gets a chance to consent to this one at least.
- Is this a worthwhile trade? I suppose it’s not bestiality like in Genesis chapter 2.
- Apparently this is a good trade for a sheep as well.
- Sounds like she just wanted to get laid. Nothing wrong with that.
- Oh no, the random mystery woman has vanished.
- Apparently she never existed! If only he stopped searching now and claimed it was some spiritual thing, this would be hilarious.
- He’s really hung up on this for some reason. Is it because he wants to have his staff back?
- How many people has he asked about this now?
- What sort of demented logic is this?
- AKA: Figure out whose these are and that’s whose kid I’m carrying.
- This is very demented. Judah was going to hill her, and the only reason he didn’t is because he found out she has his kid. He would have killed her if it was another’s son
- She had twins. Alright.
- This kiddo is the first of the twins. How did they know there were twins?
- Pharez is the first kid.
- Zarah is second.