TAMAR OF GENESIS 38

PART ONE — Tamar’s First Two Marriages — Includes Historical Background

From the beginning of time men have controlled women. They make decisions for them and about them. They are stronger physically, for the most part, and most societies give them this control. Because God designed the male/female relationship that way it is not wrong in and of itself. However, men are not perfect, and many times they abuse their authority. Women, out of a need to strike back, have learned to use their bodies as a means of achieving what they want. The story of Tamar of Genesis 38 demonstrates just this sort of situation.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

Judah, the male character in the Genesis 38 account of Tamar, descended directly from Abraham. Through Abraham God developed the priest nation of Israel to be the proclaimer of the one true God. Israel would produce the Messiah who would redeem mankind. From the study of Rachel and Leah we saw that the lineage of Christ would come through Judah. Genesis Chapter 38 is a parenthetical chapter of the Bible. God apparently inserted this chapter to show Judah’s shame as progenitor of the promised Messiah. It is amazing the Spirit of God would recount this sordid story. But God’s Word deals realistically with sin even in preserved family registers of the line of Messianic succession.

Since Jacob and his sons were living in Canaan Jacob’s son took Canaanite wives. The Bible doesn’t specifically state, but from all indications Tamar was a Canaanite. During her early years the Canaanite worship of their gods probably influenced her thinking and morality. The OT gives hints of a Canaanite pantheon (temple of the gods), which is now known to have been extensive. The senior deity was El to whom matters were referred by other gods. For practical purposes, however, Baal was more significant. He is known in the OT in his various local manifestations as the fertility god par excellence and is to be equated with Hadad the storm god. The god Attar was Baal’s substitute during his absence in the underworld. He was the son of Aterat, the consort of El. Among the goddesses were Anath, Asherah, and Astarte (Ashtaroth), goddesses of sex and war. Anath was important in agricultural rituals. She is associated with Attarat, the Canaanite Astarte deliberately mis-vocalized by Jewish scribes as Ashtoreth. The third goddess, Asherah (Aterat) was consort of El though confused with Astarte in Palestine.[i]

Tamar, having been brought up in the above religions, would have had little opportunity to learn the morality and standards, which God set for mankind. Her only opportunity would come through her marriage to Judah’s sons, and from the scripture text we will see that apparently they were not good teachers. Therefore, we will not be focusing on the sin, but rather the use Tamar makes of her sexuality to achieve what she believed she wanted.

To get the setting we need to look at the first five verses of Genesis 38:

GENESIS 38:1–5

1. And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her.

3. So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er.

4. Then she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan.

5. And she bore still another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him.

BIBLICAL TEXT STUDY:

GENESIS 38:6–10

6. Now Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar.

7. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life.

8. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.”

9. And Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so it came about that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground, in order not to give offspring to his brother.

10. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He took his life also.

Imagine Tamar’s first experience with marriage was to a man so evil that God took his life. Scripture tells us that God is a long-suffering God, but He will not wait forever. We can draw a conclusion that since God waited until after Er was married to take his life, that the taking of Er’s life was a protection for Tamar. Er didn’t just become evil after marrying Tamar. How very amazing to comprehend that we, as women, have a special protection. When we forget this we should remember Tamar. Please understand, Tamar didn’t earn this protection. God gives this protection automatically to women because they have been placed in subjection to a human authority. God knew when He designed the male/female relationship that the males would have an old sin nature from which women would need a special protection.

There are probably some women out there who are thinking that God isn’t protecting them from the abuse of their husbands. Those who think this are wrong. Why are there battered wives then? God judges the intents and the thoughts of the hearts, not what we see. Remember this — the complete Word of God is so available to the women of our society. If they are not into it, the abuse may be permitted to bring them to a place of humility to receive it. Some abuse may be discipline brought on by the woman herself. God will judge each case on its own merits, and it is not for us to decide. Our responsibility will be for us to decide that we have a fair and just God, and claim by faith His protection for us as women. Tamar did not have the written Word available to her, yet we see how God protected her.

Notice, in the second marriage, that God did not remove Onan because he was evil even though what he did was wrong. Onan’s actions of preventing Tamar from having a child were a form of abuse to Tamar. Tamar first married the first­born son, Er, and consequently her child would have the rights of a first-born. This practice was called a Levirate marriage and was meant to insure the succession of a heritage.[ii] To us this practice doesn’t sound drastic enough for God to remove Onan, yet it was enough for God to take action. Once again we realize how unable we are to discern when and why God should take action in our behalf? Probably no woman reading this would decide that God should remove a man for this type of abuse. Yet none of us had any trouble accepting the justice of God in removing Er. How very important for us to quit believing that we know what God should do. We can only look at life and people from a human viewpoint. We do not know the hearts of others. Again, God did not do this because Tamar deserved anything or had earned favor. God removed Onan because of His justice.

Women should learn and believe in the justice of God from just these few verses. Once we accept the justice of God then we should realize that only God should be the One to punish men. Only someone in authority can punish, and ladies, like it or not, we have not been given authority over our husbands. Paul puts this plainly in I Corinthians:

I Corinthians 11:3 — But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.

This verse plainly states the lines of authority, and authority decides on punishment, if any. The Word of God establishes this authority, not some mortal man that wants to lord it over women.

GOD THE FATHER

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CHRIST THE SON

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MAN

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WOMAN

This authority protects us whether we realize it or not. Think about this. If any man abuses his authority with us to whom does he answer? He must answer to a perfect God who knows everything. We, as women, must answer only to men who do not know our inner thoughts. If they did they probably wouldn’t consent to live with us. This same protection God gave to Tamar whether she understood it or not. And, this protection is there for us, whether we understand it or not. Our God does not change

Continue to Part Two here____

Also See “Understanding Sex from God’s Word” click here

[i] The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 1, Canaanite, Religion, pg. 706.

[ii] See Deut. 25:5–10 where this practice was later incorporated into God’s law given by Moses.