Genesis 38 Study Notes

38:20-23 Keeping his promise, Judah sent Hirah (v. 1) to the supposed prostitute with a young goat to get back his possessions. When Hirah returned to Judah without recovering Judah’s possessions, Judah recognized he had been outwitted by her since his credentials represented his honor and were thus more valuable than a young goat. He attempted to minimize the humiliation by giving up on the search and thus telling no one else what had happened.

38:24-26 Three months after the fateful encounter Judah was informed that his daughter-in-law was pregnant. Since she had an obligation to remain chaste and available for marriage to Shelah, Shelah’s father ordered that she be burned to death—a penalty that in later times was reserved in the law of Moses for depraved sexual sins (Lv 20:14; 21:9). Before she could be executed, however, Tamar informed her would-be executioners that she was pregnant by the man whose “cylinder seal” (signet ring) she possessed. Confronted by indisputable evidence of his responsibility for Tamar’s pregnancy, Judah admitted that she was more . . . right than he; he had wronged her by denying her the right to marry his son Shelah.

38:27-30 Six months later it was discovered that Tamar was carrying twins in her womb; the language mirrors that of Jacob and Esau’s birth (25:24). The birth was a complicated one, as one of the babies stuck his hand—not his head, as is normal—out the birth canal. The child pulled his hand back inside the mother.

As it turned out, his brother actually came out first, earning himself not only the rights of the firstborn but also the name Perez (“Bursting Forth/Breach”). His brother, born belatedly with the scarlet thread still tied to his hand, received the name Zerah (“Dawning/Shining”). Perez would later be mentioned as an ancestor of both David (Ru 4:12,18) and Jesus (Mt 1:3).