Reading Genesis 37-40
Most Christians are familiar with the story of Joseph. In fact, I will give a brief summary of Genesis 37, 39-40 here. Joseph was Israel (Jacob’s new name) favourite son of the 12. As a result, Joseph was pretty cocky about it. He had 2 dreams, each along the lines of his other brothers, and parents, bowing down to him. Because of this, his brothers plotted to kill him. In a turn of events, they decided not to kill him, but instead sell him to the Midian travelers, who are the middle man, and in turn sold him to Potiphar, an Egyptian. He was seduced by Potiphar’s wife and was thrown in prison. In prison he met 2 guys who, each had dreams, Joseph correctly interprets both dreams.
Curiously, sandwiched between this account of Joseph’s early life and Joseph in Egypt is the story of Judah’s family in Chapter 38. This account is rarely talked about, and honestly, I didn’t know tis passage existed until I read it for the first time for BSF. And so, allow me to summarise for those who have not read it, though you should really do it yourself to have the full favour of the account for yourself.
The passage starts with Judah leaving the family. Following which he has 3 sons with his wife: Er, who marries Tamar, Onan, and Shelah. We are told that Er was evil in the eyes of God and was struck dead, no other explanation. By tradition, Onan is to then marry Tamar so that any offspring that he has with Tamar will be the offspring of his brother. Onan, instead decides to not perform this duty, which, again, was evil in the eyes of God, so he was struck dead as well. Jacob, not wanting his third son to also face the same fate, dismissed Tamar and instructed her to return to her father’s household, effectively living the rest of her life as a widow.
As things would turn out, Judah’s wife died. Judah thus decided to keep himself occupied with some friends. When Tamar heard of this, she changed out of her widow clothes and put on a veil, this is often associated with the veil put on by a prostitute. Judah, upon seeing a prostitute (not knowing that this was Tamar) and approached her and slept with her and she became pregnant with twins. Some time later, Judah found out that Tamar was pregnant, and was furious as he saw that this was immoral. But once he found out that he was the one who got her pregnant, he confessed that he was the immoral one. Tamar gave birth to two sons, their names were Perez and Zerah.
Huh? Why is this story so important for the writer of Genesis to put a pause on Joseph’s cool story? Here is how I interpret this. Sure, Joseph’s story is about remaining faithful to God. The story of Joseph is about having moral fibre. The story in Egypt is about God being our protector. These are all true, and they are definitely part of the story, but they are not the crux of the story. The crux of Chapters 37 onwards is about the continuity of God’s covenant with Abraham in Chapter 12 and God’s judgement of the serpent in Chapter 3. Genesis seeks to track for us God’s game plan in carrying out His promises.
Judah is not Israel’s favourite son, neither is he the firstborn, yet the writer of Genesis decided to take the detour to tell us Judah’s story. Why? Honestly, it will not be clear until we enter the New Testament. Remember at the very start, I mentioned that Genesis points to Jesus. Genesis 38 connects us to Jesus. Matthew and Luke’s account of the genealogy of Jesus follows the line of Abraham to Isaac to Jacob (Israel) to Judah to Perez.
The Lion of Judah – Jesus Christ is from the line of Judah through this sinful act of deceit by Tamar and adultery by Judah. God’s will will be done. It is another reminder by the writer of Genesis that God does not choose anyone based on their own merit. God chose a idolatrous old man in Abraham to begin a nation of chosen people. And God chose a jealous, brother-selling, adulterer to be the ancestor of King Jesus.
Genesis 38 is an important reminder that we are Christians and saved, not because of our own doing but because of God’s will being exercised at every point of Biblical history. Genesis 38 is a reminder of how depraved we are, and how we have prostituted ourselves to sin or how we crave sinful living. Yet, Genesis 38 is also a reminder of how completely gracious God is.
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