Genesis 38: 1-10: “And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.”
Later in the history of Israel the Judah’s tribe became the kingly tribe but at this stage there is very little to recommend Judah or his children. The Adullamites were one of the local tribes living in Canaan. (We learn this from Joshua 12: 1, 15, “Now these are the kings of the land, which the children of Israel smote, and possessed their land on the other side Jordan toward the rising of the sun, from the river Arnon unto mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east:” ... “The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;” It seems as though Judah didn’t really feel the need to remain separate from the Canaanites as Isaac and Jacob had done, at their parents’ urging. Judah’s first two sons were evil, the first one was wicked and the second one refused to do his duty before the Lord. Judah had a third son but he decided that he didn’t want to risk his third son so he failed to satisfy this same obligation before the Lord. The other major person in this sorry episode is Tamar, she was innocent of any wrongdoing but suffered the serious consequences of other peoples’ sin. Tamar, however, is one of three women mentioned by name in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1: 3, 5 {Tamar, Rahab and Ruth} the ‘wife of Uriah’ is also mentioned.) until we get to the end of the genealogy where we discover that Joseph was the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born who is called Christ (Matt 1: 16). This illustrates a very important principle: we cannot help what other people do to us but we are in complete control of what we think and the attitudes that come from those thoughts.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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