- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Jun 3, 2022 14:52:36 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 38:1-30
Haftara- Isaiah 37:21-37
D’rash: This week we come to what Walter Brueggemann, calls “The Judah Interpretation.” It is what at a casual reading is an inconsistent break in what we might call “the Joseph story.” But it’s not just about Joseph. We have this interruption with a story of Judah’s moral failure, not giving Tamar a son by Levirate Marriage (Deu 25:5-10). But how does this fit here?
Genesis 38:6-8,10-11 (redacted) And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked … and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife … and raise up offspring for your brother.” … And what he did was wicked … and he put him to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar … “Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. …
In Levirate Marriage, the brother of a man who died without heirs was obligated to marry his widow. Their firstborn son was considered to be as the offspring of the one deceased, so his line would continue. Yehudah was asked: “that he risk his son for the sake of the community, that he make his son, even his last son, available for the solidarity and future of the community now focused in the person of this defenseless widow. What is taken most seriously is not a violation of sexual convention, but damage to the community which includes a poor, diminished female.” (Walter Brueggemann, prof of Old Testament at Columbia University; Genesis Interpretation).
Yehudah’s first son died childless. Judah’s second son, Onan married Tamar but deliberately refused to produce a son for his dead brother, instead spilling his seed on the ground during his relations with Tamar, depriving her of pregnancy because if she had a son he would get the inheritance of the firstborn instead of Yehudah.
Yehudah’s story comes here seemingly with no reason. But Yehudah’s lack of trust in God fits well: Yitz’chaq was Avraham’s only son who he was willing to sacrifice to God. Yoseph was the youngest and most treasured son. Yehudah, who’d been part of a conspiracy to sell his brother Yoseph into slavery in Egypt had lost two sons after marriage to Tamar. He now knew what it was to love someone too much. He continually refused Tamar a Levirate marriage with his youngest son. Could she be cursed? Yehuda’s loss of two sons made him loath to give up the third, shadowing the pitiable circumstances of Ya’aqov who apparently lost Yoseph and Simeon. So he will be reluctant to surrender Ben’yamin as he must if the family is to survive.
Tamar now stages one of the most audacious turn of events in redemptive history:
Genesis 38:13-19 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
Tamar intended that her father-in-law’s treachery would not prevent her having children as part of this family. Pretending to be a prostitute she tricked Yehudah who, after a period of mourning sought comfort with a prostitute. By this artifice Tamar came to be pregnant by her father-in-law. Yehudah, on hearing about Tamar’s extra-marital pregnancy sentences her to death. Tamar’s offense is not prostitution, but adultery since she is still in a state of betrothal to Yehudah’s family. Her use of a disguise in achieving the will of God harkens back to Ya’aqov’s deceit in ch 11, and use of a kid echo’s preceding chapters where a kid was key in Yehuda’s deceiving Ya’aqov. Ironically, when Yehuda is presented with evidence of his maltreatment of Tamar, she will use the same phrase as he and his brothers used when they deceived their father concerning the “death” of his son, Yoseph:
Genesis 38:20-22,24-25 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute [Hebrew sacred woman; a woman who served a pagan deity by prostitution] who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” … About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral [has committed prostitution]. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality [prostitution].” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”
In my Interlinear the Hebrew reads הַכֶּר־נָ֗א hacher’na, ‘notice now,’ or ‘examine please’ (the signet and the cord and the staff.) These were the same words Yehuda and his brothers used when showing Ya’aqov Yoseph’s robe. Recognition נָכַר nâkar is and will be a major theme in our story of Yoseph. Those items were easily identifiable as belonging to Yehuda. His deception, coming back to him in his own words must have cut Yehuda deeply:
Genesis 38:26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
We see a foreshadowing of the redemption which would come into the world through the lineage being established here; that of the Moshiach Himself, Yeshua! And before that another man from this line, Melech (King) Dovid would commit great evil, yet when confronted with his crimes concerning Bath’sheva would immediately repent.
Later Ya’aqov will allow Yehuda to take Benyamin to Egypt in order that the family might buy grain. Probably one of the reasons he will reluctantly entrust the youngest and now most loved son of his old age to Yoseph is he has now gone through a similar experience. He knows and understands what it would mean if he were to lose Benyamin. He’d seen the bottomless grief of Ya’aqov when he was told of the (supposed) death of Yoseph. He too had lost sons, and he’d treasured the youngest more. He who had once betrayed his father’s trust concerning his own brother before would now step up and guard Benyamin with his own life.
Tamar would from this union be mother to Obed, father of Jesse, who would father Melech Dovid and eventually Yeshua ha’Moshiach Himself. The book of Ruth extols this as all part of God’s redemptive plan:
Ruth 4:11-12 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
Matthew 1:1-16 The Genealogy of Jesus Christ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Dr. Eli and Prof. Schaser of the IBC; JPS Study TNK: Dr. Stern; W Wiersbe; W Brueggemann; Green’s Interlinear Bible; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 39:1-23
Haftara- Is 52:3-53:12
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Gen 38:1-30
Haftara- Isaiah 37:21-37
D’rash: This week we come to what Walter Brueggemann, calls “The Judah Interpretation.” It is what at a casual reading is an inconsistent break in what we might call “the Joseph story.” But it’s not just about Joseph. We have this interruption with a story of Judah’s moral failure, not giving Tamar a son by Levirate Marriage (Deu 25:5-10). But how does this fit here?
Genesis 38:6-8,10-11 (redacted) And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked … and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother's wife … and raise up offspring for your brother.” … And what he did was wicked … and he put him to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar … “Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. …
In Levirate Marriage, the brother of a man who died without heirs was obligated to marry his widow. Their firstborn son was considered to be as the offspring of the one deceased, so his line would continue. Yehudah was asked: “that he risk his son for the sake of the community, that he make his son, even his last son, available for the solidarity and future of the community now focused in the person of this defenseless widow. What is taken most seriously is not a violation of sexual convention, but damage to the community which includes a poor, diminished female.” (Walter Brueggemann, prof of Old Testament at Columbia University; Genesis Interpretation).
Yehudah’s first son died childless. Judah’s second son, Onan married Tamar but deliberately refused to produce a son for his dead brother, instead spilling his seed on the ground during his relations with Tamar, depriving her of pregnancy because if she had a son he would get the inheritance of the firstborn instead of Yehudah.
Yehudah’s story comes here seemingly with no reason. But Yehudah’s lack of trust in God fits well: Yitz’chaq was Avraham’s only son who he was willing to sacrifice to God. Yoseph was the youngest and most treasured son. Yehudah, who’d been part of a conspiracy to sell his brother Yoseph into slavery in Egypt had lost two sons after marriage to Tamar. He now knew what it was to love someone too much. He continually refused Tamar a Levirate marriage with his youngest son. Could she be cursed? Yehuda’s loss of two sons made him loath to give up the third, shadowing the pitiable circumstances of Ya’aqov who apparently lost Yoseph and Simeon. So he will be reluctant to surrender Ben’yamin as he must if the family is to survive.
Tamar now stages one of the most audacious turn of events in redemptive history:
Genesis 38:13-19 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
Tamar intended that her father-in-law’s treachery would not prevent her having children as part of this family. Pretending to be a prostitute she tricked Yehudah who, after a period of mourning sought comfort with a prostitute. By this artifice Tamar came to be pregnant by her father-in-law. Yehudah, on hearing about Tamar’s extra-marital pregnancy sentences her to death. Tamar’s offense is not prostitution, but adultery since she is still in a state of betrothal to Yehudah’s family. Her use of a disguise in achieving the will of God harkens back to Ya’aqov’s deceit in ch 11, and use of a kid echo’s preceding chapters where a kid was key in Yehuda’s deceiving Ya’aqov. Ironically, when Yehuda is presented with evidence of his maltreatment of Tamar, she will use the same phrase as he and his brothers used when they deceived their father concerning the “death” of his son, Yoseph:
Genesis 38:20-22,24-25 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute [Hebrew sacred woman; a woman who served a pagan deity by prostitution] who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” … About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral [has committed prostitution]. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality [prostitution].” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”
In my Interlinear the Hebrew reads הַכֶּר־נָ֗א hacher’na, ‘notice now,’ or ‘examine please’ (the signet and the cord and the staff.) These were the same words Yehuda and his brothers used when showing Ya’aqov Yoseph’s robe. Recognition נָכַר nâkar is and will be a major theme in our story of Yoseph. Those items were easily identifiable as belonging to Yehuda. His deception, coming back to him in his own words must have cut Yehuda deeply:
Genesis 38:26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
We see a foreshadowing of the redemption which would come into the world through the lineage being established here; that of the Moshiach Himself, Yeshua! And before that another man from this line, Melech (King) Dovid would commit great evil, yet when confronted with his crimes concerning Bath’sheva would immediately repent.
Later Ya’aqov will allow Yehuda to take Benyamin to Egypt in order that the family might buy grain. Probably one of the reasons he will reluctantly entrust the youngest and now most loved son of his old age to Yoseph is he has now gone through a similar experience. He knows and understands what it would mean if he were to lose Benyamin. He’d seen the bottomless grief of Ya’aqov when he was told of the (supposed) death of Yoseph. He too had lost sons, and he’d treasured the youngest more. He who had once betrayed his father’s trust concerning his own brother before would now step up and guard Benyamin with his own life.
Tamar would from this union be mother to Obed, father of Jesse, who would father Melech Dovid and eventually Yeshua ha’Moshiach Himself. The book of Ruth extols this as all part of God’s redemptive plan:
Ruth 4:11-12 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
Matthew 1:1-16 The Genealogy of Jesus Christ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; Dr. Eli and Prof. Schaser of the IBC; JPS Study TNK: Dr. Stern; W Wiersbe; W Brueggemann; Green’s Interlinear Bible; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Gen 39:1-23
Haftara- Is 52:3-53:12
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
