The brevity of the passage examined this week is balanced by the sheer magnitude of dickery contained therein. It is a section that beautifully highlights the arbitrariness of god’s judgment while also demonstrating some of the abhorrent behavior that he apparently condones. Let’s take a look at Genesis 38.

In the beginning of this chapter, Judah, son of Jacob (Israel), goes to stay with a man named Hirah in Adullam. There he meets and marries a Canaanite woman who is not important enough for the Bible to provide her name. She bares three sons, all of whose names were worth recording. They are Er, Onan and Shelah, in that order. Er grows up quickly (3 verses), and Judah finds him a wife named Tamar.

But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death. (GEN 38:7 NIV)

Uh… OK. Forget Er. We’re not told what he did wrong, but if I were god, I might kill him just for having the name Er.

Then Judah said to Onan, “Lie with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so he put him to death also. (GEN 38:8-10 NIV)

Crap. That’s two out of three. God must be in a really bad mood. Now, the question that has come down through the ages is what is Onan’s sin? Is spilling semen a sin? If so, is there a real risk that god will kill you if you masturbate? Or, is the sin failing to impregnate your dead brother’s wife? It is, after all, his “duty to her as a brother-in-law.” I don’t have the answer, but I’m glad I’m an only child.

As an aside, would anyone in his right mind sleep with Tamar at this point given her track record?

It is well-established after god takes out Er and Onan that he is in no mood for any kind of shenanigans, so I think it’s safe to assume that anything else that happens in this chapter for which god doesn’t carry out a death sentence is OK with him. Let’s see what’s less serious to god than the withdrawal method.

After the death of Onan, Tamar goes to live as a widow in her father’s house. She is told to wait there until Shelah grows up, and then she can have him. Years pass, and the nameless wife of Judah dies. After the grieving period is over, Judah travels to Timnah to see the men who are shearing his sheep. Tamar, upon hearing about Judah’s upcoming trip, and knowing that Shelah, though grown, has not been sent to her, decides to take action. She waits by the side of the road to Timnah with her face covered like a prostitute.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” (GEN 38:15-16 NIV)

They negotiate the price as one young goat to be sent later. Tamar requires collateral, and Judah leaves her his seal and staff. The now-pregnant Tamar puts her widow’s clothes back on and disappears with Judah’s credentials, making her guilty of one of the first recorded cases of identity theft.

When Judah tries to send the goat to ransom his things, his messenger is told that no prostitute has been there. He understandably decides to drop the matter and keep it quiet. However, three months later, when he is told that Tamar is pregnant, and therefore guilty of prostitution, he orders her to be burned to death. She sends a messenger to Judah with his seal and staff, and all is suddenly forgiven. In fact…

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again. (GEN 38:26 NIV)

So ends a story with no good guys whatsoever, except possibly the nameless wife of Judah.

Let’s review. Judah has three sons. God kills one because he doesn’t like his face, or some such thing. When the second son refuses to impregnate the first son’s wife, god kills him, too. Judah sleeps with a prostitute. God’s cool with that. Tamar becomes a prostitute. God’s down with that, too. In fact, Tamar isn’t punished for what she did because it’s worse to withold your third son from a woman who may have been responsible for the deaths of the first two than to trick your father-in-law into paying you for sex. God, who has been so quick to kill other sinners, has no problem with any of this. Dick.

~I AM~