Genesis 38: Tamar’s desperate cry for an heir
Judah’s wife bears three sons in the course of their marriage; Er, Onan and Shelah. Judah then takes a wife for his firstborn son Er, and her name is Tamar. Er sins in the sight of God and the Lord takes his life because of that sin. By custom, Judah has to give his second son Onan the right of kinsman redeemer; to marry Tamar and raise up a seed (an heir) for Er so that his portion of the inheritance does not pass on to another but remains under his family name. It is for a similar reason (the seed) that Abraham cried to God and said, “…Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.” Genesis 15:3 KJV. The thought of leaving his inheritance to Eliezer, his Syrian slave, was too hard to bear.
Unfortunately, Onan breaks the covenant and does not fulfil the duty of kinsman redeemer to Tamar. He knows the children born will not be called by his own name, so even if he himself has the power to give seed to this woman and fulfil the righteous requirement of God, he wilfully withholds the seed and hinders the fruitfulness of Tamar by spilling the seed on the ground. He keeps Tamar around himself by false pretences, getting her busy performing the duties of a wife but denying her the one thing that would keep her in Judah’s family – an heir. The promise of God was that from Judah would come the Heir of Salvation, but this was simply not happening. God took Onan’s life for his wickedness and Tamar finds herself a widow for the second time.
Although Judah has a third son, Shelah, who could perform the duty of kinsman redeemer to Tamar, he withholds that right from Tamar for fear that his son would die like his other two brothers. Judah sends the widowed Tamar back to her father’s house with nothing. He denies her the right to partake of the Kingdom by bearing an heir. Tamar’s inheritance is in Judah’s house, sending her back to her father’s house is gross injustice. She has no protection, no inheritance, no livelihood outside Judah’s family – Who shall plead for her?
Jesus comes on the scene to address this injustice in the gospel of Matthew as he admonishes the Scribes and Pharisees who were the custodians of the law at that time.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one [a proselyte], you make him doubly as much a child of hell (Gehenna) as you are.” Matthew 23:15 AMPC
In this case Judah visited a city of Canaan and took Tamar as wife for his son. On the death of his sons he moved in fear and denied Tamar her true inheritance, he sent her back to her father’s house. Are we guilty of the same in our day, rising early and flying across the globe on missions that don’t really preach Christ to people. What gospel are we carrying in our evangelism missions, will it empower the sinner to righteousness or just allow them to live comfortably in their sin while they prosper only in the things of this earthly life? Are we guilty of inviting people to the marriage feast of the lamb and failing to inform them about the wedding garment of righteousness!
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so.” Matthew 23:13 AMPC
Er died in wickedness, he preached to Tamar but left her no seed of righteousness. Onan did worse, he wanted the benefits and fame of being kinsman redeemer to Tamar but deliberately deceived Tamar with an empty gospel, there was no redemption or salvation in his message. He denied Tamar the seed of redemption as a kinsman redeemer.
For Tamar, this was a day of sadness, of reproach and of blasphemy. The time for intimacy had come, but the power to conceive was denied her. This is the cry of everyone who is trying hard to achieve righteousness by their own works. It was as the days of Hezekiah, when his worst enemy Sennacherib, the Assyrian, was threatening the safety of his kingdom and he cried out to the prophet Isaiah:
“And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.” Isaiah 37:3 NKJV
The Lord had to find another way to execute justice and judgement for Tamar. God had to put an end to Judah’s first marriage (the Old Covenant) so Judah himself would be free to perform the duty of kinsman redeemer under a ‘new’ covenant: “When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.” Hebrews 8:13 NLT
Judah’s first wife, the daughter of Shuah, died; freeing Judah to enter into a New Covenant and bring forth the promised Seed.
Further reading:
Genesis 15:1-6
Genesis 49:8-12
2 Samuel 7:12-16