NIV, Faithlife Study Bible | Page 125

Genesis 38:29 | 75
“ Live as a wid ow in your fa ther ’ s house hold un til my son She lah grows up .” For he thought , “ He may die too , just like his broth ers .” So Ta mar went to live in her fa ther ’ s house hold .
12
Af ter a long time Ju dah ’ s wife , the daugh ter of Shua , died . When Ju dah had re cov ered from his grief , he went up to Tim nah , to the men who were shear ing his sheep , and his friend Hi rah the Adul lam ite went with him .
13
When Ta mar was told , “ Your fa ther-in-law is on his way to Tim nah to shear his sheep ,” 14 she took off her wid ow ’ s clothes , cov ered her self with a veil to dis guise her self , and then sat down at the en trance to Ena im , which is on the road to Tim nah . For she saw that , though She lah had now grown up , she had not been giv en to him as his wife .
15
When Ju dah saw her , he thought she was a pros ti tute , for she had cov ered her face . 16 Not real iz ing that she was his daugh ter-in-law , he went over to her by the road side and said , “ Come now , let me sleep with you .”
“ And what will you give me to sleep with you ?” she asked .
17
“ I ’ ll send you a young goat from my flock ,” he said .
“ Will you give me some thing as a pledge un til you send it ?” she asked .
18
He said , “ What pledge should I give you ?”
“ Your seal and its cord , and the staff in your hand ,” she an swered . So he gave them to her and slept with her , and she be came preg nant by him .
19
Af ter she left , she took off her veil and put on her wid ow ’ s clothes again .
20
Mean while Ju dah sent the young goat by his friend the Adul lam ite in or der to get his pledge back from the wom an , but he did not find her .
21
He asked the men who lived there , “ Where is the shrine pros ti tute who was be side the road at Ena im ?”
“ There hasn ’ t been any shrine pros ti tute here ,” they said .
22
So he went back to Ju dah and said , “ I didn ’ t find her . Be sides , the men who lived there said , ‘ There hasn ’ t been any shrine pros ti tute here .’ ”
23
Then Ju dah said , “ Let her keep what she has , or we will be come a laugh ing stock . Af ter all , I did send her this young goat , but you didn ’ t find her .”
24
About three months lat er Ju dah was told , “ Your daugh ter-in-law Ta mar is guilty of prosti tu tion , and as a re sult she is now preg nant .”
Ju dah said , “ Bring her out and have her burned to death !”
25
As she was be ing brought out , she sent a message to her fa ther-in-law . “ I am preg nant by the man who owns these ,” she said . And she add ed , “ See if you rec og nize whose seal and cord and staff these are .”
26
Ju dah rec og nized them and said , “ She is more righ teous than I , since I wouldn ’ t give her to my son She lah .” And he did not sleep with her again .
27
When the time came for her to give birth , there were twin boys in her womb . 28 As she was giv ing birth , one of them put out his hand ; so the mid wife took a scar let thread and tied it on his wrist and said , “ This one came out first .” 29 But when he drew back his hand , his broth er came out , and she said , “ So this is how you have bro ken this creates a wordplay . Er ’ s offense or precisely how he died is unknown . 38:8 fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law With the death of Er , his brother , Onan , became responsible for providing children to Onan ’ s wife . This custom is known as levirate marriage and is described in Dt 25 . The custom , however , certainly predated Deuteronomy , as suggested by parallel ancient Near Eastern sources ( e . g ., the laws of Nuzi ; Hittite laws ). The purpose of the obligation is to ensure that widows were cared for and did not marry outside the clan . In a patriarchal culture , a widow needed sons to provide for her material needs and keep the property of her deceased husband within the family ; sons also ensured that the name of the deceased husband would not be forgotten ( see Dt 25:5 – 6 ). 38:9 the child would not be his This comment reveals the motives for Onan ’ s selfish actions ( compare note on Ge 38:8 ). 38:11 Live as a widow It is unclear whether Judah knew the nature of Er ’ s offense , but he may have known why Yahweh killed Onan . The two deaths seem to discourage him from pursuing another partner for Tamar . This put Tamar in a desperate situation , as her livelihood would have depended on a husband or sons . 38:12 men who were shearing his sheep The springtime shearing of the sheep included feasting and celebration ( 1Sa 25:11,36 ; 2Sa 13:23 ). 38:15 she had covered her face The narrator conveys that had Judah known the identity of the woman , he would not have had sexual relations with her ( Ge 38:16 ; compare v . 26 ). 38:18 Your seal Likely a cylinder seal . A cylinder seal is a small , oval-shaped object upon which a personal sign or name was engraved . When rolled over clay , an impression was created . They were often hollowed out in the center , which enabled them to be carried on a cord around the neck . Tens of thousands of cylinder seals are known from archeological excavations . 38:21 shrine prostitute The Hebrew term used here is typically used of a woman in the ser vice of a deity or temple . 38:24 burned to death Since Tamar was waiting for someone to fulfill the obligation of levirate marriage ( see note on v . 8 ), any willful preempting of that obligation on her part was viewed as adultery — ​a capital offense ( see Lev 20:10 ; Dt 22:22 ). 38:26 She is more righ teous than I Judah knows he is the guilty party and confesses — ​sparing Tamar ’ s life . She gives birth to twins , one of whom ( Perez ) appears in the lineage of Jesus ( Mt 1:3 ; Lk 3:33 ). See the people diagram “ Jesus ’ Family Tree According to Matthew ” on p . 1528 . 38:29 you have broken out The Hebrew word used here , perets , often translated is a pun on the baby ’ s name Perez ( perets ). See the table “ Symbolic Names of People in Hebrew ” on p . 1388 .