Genesis 38:1-30
"Judah and Tamar"
Right here, we have the dysfunctional family atmosphere of Judah. Now, quickly, everything in this chapter occurs over the same period of time as does the rest of the Joseph story until the brothers meet again.
Judah's two older sons were married to Tamar and then killed by God for their evil (older first, then younger). After seeing this correlation, Judah dismisses her until his remaining son is older. A number of years pass and she realizes that Judah's not going to uphold his side of the deal, so she dresses as a prostitute, sleeps with Judah, and gets pregnant with twins.
We can see here the moral degeneration of Abraham's descendants. My Bible professor is of the mind that it is largely due to the corruptive influence of his Canaanite spouse. What can be pulled from the passage, though, I have no clue. It serves almost as a caution when choosing your or your son's wife - a caution to pick a woman who will respect and love God if she does not already.
No comments:
Post a Comment