Click here to read Genesis 38
RUEBEN IS DISQUALIFIED FROM THE BIRTHRIGHT.- This chapter now shows us clearly that the short story of Rueben and his father's concubine has disqualified him from the birthright, because the narrative is now following Judah, who is in possession of the family staff and seal. The staff represented the birthright, and the seal the authority of the family.
The other two brothers fell out of father's favour because of the incident at Shechem. Joseph may have been considered by his father for the birthright, but is now presumed dead.
From notes on Genesis 35, posted October 27:
Israel's oldest son sleeps with his concubine. This is a huge slight culturally, and also really, really weird on several levels. Yup. It just gets more disturbing the more you think about it. Try not to.
As the firstborn, Rueben would have inherited his father's concubines. By sleeping with his concubine before death, it was like saying, "I'm top dog now". It was a grab at the authority at the head of the family. In a family with this many sons, a rivalry for who is next in line is probably to be expected. This is exactly what we see in the coming chapters, with Joseph. Jesus' 12 disciples acted the exact same way during his ministry.
There are twelve sons, but four are firstborn to four different mothers. Rueben is oldest, but Joseph is oldest of Rachel’s sons, the favourite wife. These twelve sons would have known the story of Grandpa Abraham and his firstborn son Ishmael, who was sent away. They would know that their own father, the younger son, tried to deceive his way into an inheritance. The birthright may not be entirely certain among them. At least four of them may expect to be the one special son who gets to carry on the family name. Rueben’s actions show a similar initiative to his father’s. He wants the birthright for himself. He’s trying to muscle his way in to top position.
The first born son of Israel dishonours his father with his concubine. The next two sons were the ones behind the pillaging of Shechem's family. The next oldest, Judah, is the father of Jesus.
This chapter needs to be understood in the larger Genesis context of birthright and covenant. Will the covenant continue? Who will inherit the covenant? All of the sons are included in the covenant of Abraham. Judah is the father of King David and of Jesus.
The text of the next generation follows Judah and Joseph the most. Jesus descends from Judah's line. Judah is now the heir of the birthright, since Joseph is presumed dead.
Judah married a Canaanite. Up until now, this has been avoided to keep the covenant. It may be that this is no longer prohibited, since the family line is now well established. The "nation" of Israel is large enough and rooted enough not to be lost into another family. But the text does not say.
Both of Judah's sons do evil before God and are put to death by God.
Judah's first son has a wife. She is widowed by him, and then by his brother.
His brother married her to keep the family line, since she had not had a son. This was normal tradition in this situation. At this time, it was a Hittite law, not Jewish, since there was no Jewish law at this time. At the time of Jesus, the tradition continued as codified in Mosaic Law and was used as a "gotcha question" premise by the Pharisees to trap Jesus. I wonder if they knew that his great great great grandma had actually experienced this very tradition.
The tradition flowed from brother to brother, and finally to the father in law, who in this case would be Judah.
The second son would be next in line for the family birthright if Tamar does not have a son. If she has a son, the birthright of Judah would go to him. By not allowing Tamar to become pregnant, the brother Onan is trying to steal the birthright.
This follows the family pattern, of course. It is also a condemnation of Judah. His treatment of Joseph is no different than his son's treatments of each other here.
Judah is afraid of losing his third son, so he sends his widowed daughter in law away before she marries him. He may think that the problem is with her somehow. Women who lose their husbands were suspected of witchcraft.
Judah is left without his wife or first two sons, but still with his youngest son.
He does not give his youngest son to his widowed daughter in law, though law requires it so that the family line continues and she is taken care of.
"After a long time" - the events of this story have to take as long as Joseph's entire story. By the time this story of Judah is wrapping up, they are moving to Egypt to live with Joseph.
Tamar tricks Judah into sleeping with her by pretending to be a prostitute, and becomes pregnant. Through her act comes the family line of Jesus. Through her act she takes from Judah's family what he kept back from her unjustly.
Judah calls her a temple prostitute, so sleeping with her may have also included idol worship. He visits her during sheep shearing season, which was the time of year that men would visit the temple of El or Baal and have sex with a prostitute in order to ensure a good crop. But the text doesn't say this for sure.
The seal and cord would have been his identification, like holding onto his driver's licence. The staff was Abraham's. It is the family genealogical staff, representing the birthright of the family. IF Tamar conceives a boy, these items would belong to that boy as his birthright. From Tamar’s perspective, she is not taking payment. She's taking what Judah has been trying to take from her.
Ironically, from Judah's perspective, he is leaving with a prostitute what he has been unwilling to give to his own daughter in law.
Judah giving up the sign of the birthright for a night with a prostitute reminds us of Esau and lentil soup.
When Judah finds out Tamar has prostituted herself, he immediately demands that she be burned to death.
Perhaps this confirms his suspicions that she is a witch.
Perhaps he was eager to be rid of her.
Perhaps her presence reminds him of his first two sons.
Perhaps he is a violent, hypocritical and judgmental jerk.
Clearly, he knows that prostitution is culturally shameful or wrong. He tried to hide the fact that he himself had done it. He immediately demanded punishment for Tamar when she was accused.
The last chapter ends with Judah and his brothers showing a sign of identity, Joseph's coat, to their father. At the end of this chapter, Judah is presented with a sign of his own identification and guilt.
When confronted with what he had done, he confessed that he had been wrong to hold his son back from Tamar. We presume that he took her into his home, but he did not marry her.
Tamar had twin boys, like Jacob and Esau two generations before.
In the story of Jacob and Esau, the older and redder twin, Esau, loses to the younger twin. In this story, the older and "red" twin (thread) loses to the younger again. This detail is foreshadowing the story of these two brothers - Judah and Joseph. Judah is older and currently at the top of the heap. By the end of this chapter he is being reunited with his brother, but in the narrative, Joseph is all but dead. He is a slave, and soon to be sent to jail. Yet, once again, the covenant promise will be revealed through the younger brother. Though Judah carries on the family name, it is Joseph who receives the blessing of Abraham. It is through Joseph that all the families of the earth are blessed, because of his wisdom as ruler of Egypt. And it is through Joseph that God brings his people into Egypt, as he told Abraham he would.
These two boys may have been considered the heirs of Judah's first two sons. The text doesn't say. In Jesus' genealogy, Judah is recognized as the father.
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