Preserving the Line: Tamar and Judah

In chapter 38, Judah seems to take a detour.  In verse one, it is recorded that he went down from his brethren and started hanging out with a Canaanite named Hirah. He even married a Canaanite (Uh-oh!) and she bore him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. In what sounds like a soap opera, two of the sons died and left Shelah, the only one to redeem Tamar, Er's wife, by providing an offspring (remember Genesis is all about 'seed':Genesis 3:15) to perpetuate the family line. Shelah was too young at the time, so Judah sent Tamar back to her father's house to wait for him to grow up. Judah had already lost two sons and maybe he was tentative about the union of Tamar and Shelah, so this union did not come to pass.

Tamar realized what had happened and she posed as a harlot. She seduced Judah after the death of his wife. She was veiled so that he wouldn't recognize her. He promised her a lamb from his flock. As a pledge for the lamb, Tamar asked for some collateral and Judah gave her his signet, bracelets and his staff. These were valuable items to a tribal leader. Tamar disappeared after that and Judah tried to find the 'harlot'  through his buddy, Mirah, to exchange the lamb for his items, but could not find her.

Three months after the incident Tamar was rumored to be pregnant. Judah upon hearing the news,  condemned her to be burned for whoredoms not realizing he was the father. Face to face she presented him with the signet, bracelets and staff. Oops! Tamar ends up having twins Pharez and Zarah whose names appear in the genealogy of Matthew 1 of the royal Christ line. Both names appear interestingly enough with the addition of another name:

³ And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar (Tamar); and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; Matthew 1:3

Tamar is mentioned also with the names of the twins. The Christ line involved  the offspring of Pharez, but Zarah is also mentioned. Four other women have mentions in this genealogy: Rahab, Ruth, 'her of Urias' (Bathsheba) and Mary.

Ruth was a Moabite descendent of Lot. Lot's daughters were impregnated by their father  to preserve their line. Bathsheba was the woman David became involved with after sending her husband off to the front lines. Mary was found to be pregnant with the Messiah before her marriage to Joseph. Rahab was an innkeeper who housed and hid Joshua's spies of the promised land.  Tamar had to disguise herself as a harlot to Judah in order to conceive. All the women except Mary were gentiles.  None of this is what one would expect. One might be tempted to think God needed a PR agent. How did all these things happen this way?

God so loved the 'world'! The 'world' stands for humanity! All these people were bonifide human beings.  God worked with what he had! Rahab believed the God of Israel so much so she endangered her life to become a part of them (Joshua 2:9-13). Tamar was interested in preserving the seed of Judah. Ruth chose to follow Niaomi's God (Ruth 1:16). Her story is a story of redemption. 'Her of Urias' raised Solomon who wrote the book of Proverbs. Mary helped change the course of spiritual history!