When the sons of Jacob saw how inconsolable their father was, they went
to Judah, and said to him, "This great misfortune is thy fault." Judah
replied: "It was I that asked you, What profit is it if we slay our
brother and conceal his blood? and now you say the sin lies at my
door." The brethren continued to argue: "But it was thou that didst
say, Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and we followed thy
advice. Hadst thou said, Let us restore him to his father, we had
heeded these words of thine as well."
The brethren hereupon deprived Judah of his dignity, for hitherto he
had been their king, and they also excluded him from their fellowship,
and he had to seek his fortune alone.[74] Through the mediation of his
chief shepherd Hirah, he became acquainted with the Canaanitish king of
Adullam, Barsan by name. Though he was well aware of the corruption of
the generations of Canaan, he permitted passion to get the better of
him, and took a Canaanite to wife. The Adullamite king gave a banquet
in his honor, at which his daughter Bath-shua poured the wine, and
intoxicated by wine and passion Judah took her and married her.[75]
Judah's action may be compared to that of the lion who passes a carrion
and eats of it, though a cur preceding him on the way had refused to
touch it. Even Esau came in time to acknowledge that the daughters of
Canaan were wicked, and the lion Judah must needs take one of them to
wife.[76] The holy spirit cried out against Judah when he married the
Canaanite woman of Adullam, saying, "The glory of Israel went down in
Adullam."[77]
The first-born son of Judah from this marriage was named Er, "the
childless," a suitable name for him that died without begetting any
issue.[78] At Judah's desire, Er married Tamar, a daughter of Aram, the
son of Shem, but because she was not a Canaanitish woman, his mother
used artifices against her, and he did not know her, and an angel of
the Lord killed him on the third day after his wedding. Then Judah gave
Tamar to his second son Onan, the marriage taking place before the week
of the wedding festivities for Er had elapsed. A whole year Onan lived
with Tamar without knowing her, and when, finally, Judah uttered
threats against him on that account, he did, indeed, have intercourse
with her, but, giving heed to the injunctions of his mother, he took
care not to beget any children with her.[79] He, too, died on account
of his iniquity, and his name Onan "mourning," was well chosen, for
very soon was his father called upon to mourn for him.[80] Now Judah
conceived the plan of marrying Tamar to his youngest son Shelah, but
his wife would not permit it. She hated Tamar because she was not of
the daughters of Canaan like herself, and while Judah was away from
home, Bath-shua chose a wife for her son Shelah from the daughters of
Canaan. Judah was very angry at Bath-shua for what she had done, and
also God poured out His wrath upon her, for on account of her
wickedness she had to die,[81] and her death happened a year after that
of her two sons.
Now that Bath-shua was dead, Judah might have carried out his wish and
married Tamar to his youngest son. But he waited for Shelah to grow up,
because he feared for his life, seeing that Tamar had brought death to
two husbands before him. So she remained a widow in her father's house
for two years. Endowed with the gift of prophecy, Tamar knew that she
was appointed to be the ancestress of David and of the Messiah, and she
determined to venture upon an extreme measure in order to make sure of
fulfilling her destiny.[82] Accordingly, when the holy spirit revealed
to her that Judah was going up to Timnah,[83] she put off from her the
garments of her widowhood, and sat in the gate of Abraham's tent, and
there she encountered Judah.[84] All the time she lived in the house of
her father-in-law, he had never seen her face, for in her virtue and
chastity she had always kept it covered, and now when Judah met her, he
did not recognize her. It was as a reward for her modesty that God made
her to become the mother of the royal line of David, and the ancestress
of Isaiah, and his father Amoz as well, both of whom were prophets and
of royal blood.[85]
Judah passed Tamar by without paying any attention to her, and she
raised her eyes heavenward, and said, "O Lord of the world, shall I go
forth empty from the house of this pious man?" Then God sent the angel
that is appointed over the passion of love, and he compelled Judah to
turn back.[86] With prophetic caution, Tamar demanded that, as a pledge
for the reward he promised her, he leave with her his signet, his
mantle, and his staff, the symbols of royalty, judgeship, and
Messiahship, the three distinctions of the descendants of Tamar from
her union with Judah. When Judah sent her the promised reward, a kid of
the goats, by the hand of his friend, in order to receive the pledges
from her hand, Tamar could not be found, and he feared to make further
search for her, lest he be put to shame. But Tamar, who soon discerned
that she was with child, felt very happy and proud, for she knew that
she would be the mother of kings and redeemers.[87]
When her state became known, she was forcibly dragged before the court,
in which Isaac, Jacob, and Judah sat as judges. Judah, being the
youngest of the judges and the least considerable in dignity, was the
first to give a decision, for thus it is prescribed in criminal cases,
that the prominent judges overawe not the lesser and influence their
decisions unduly. It was the opinion of Judah that the woman was liable
to the penalty of death by burning, for she was the daughter of the
high priest Shem, and death by fire is the punishment ordained by the
law for a high priest's daughter that leads an unchaste life.[88]
The preparations for her execution were begun. In vain Tamar searched
for the three pledges she had received from Judah, she could not find
them, and almost she lost hope that she would be able to wring a
confession from her father-in-law. She raised her eyes to God, and
prayed: "I supplicate Thy grace, O God, Thou who givest ear to the cry
of the distressed in the hour of his need, answer me, that I may be
spared to bring forth the three holy children, who will be ready to
suffer death by fire, for the sake of the glory of Thy Name." And God
granted her petition, and sent the angel Michael down to succor her. He
put the pledges in a place in which Tamar could not fail to see them,
and she took them, and threw them before the feet of the judges, with
the words: "By the man whose these are am I with child, but though I
perish in the flames, I will not betray him. I hope in the Lord of the
world, that He will turn the heart of the man, so that he will make
confession thereof." Then Judah rose up, and said: "With your
permission, my brethren, and ye men of my father's house, I make it
known that with what measure a man metes, it shall be measured unto
him, be it for good or for evil, but happy the man that acknowledgeth
his sins. Because I took the coat of Joseph, and colored it with the
blood of a kid, and then laid it at the feet of my father, saying, Know
now whether it be thy son's coat or not, therefore must I now confess,
before the court, unto whom belongeth this signet, this mantle, and
this staff. But it is better that I be put to shame in this world than
I should be put to shame in the other world, before the face of my
pious father. It is better that I should perish in a fire that can be
extinguished than I should be cast into hell fire, which devoureth
other fires. Now, then, I acknowledge that Tamar is innocent. By me is
she with child, not because she indulged in illicit passion, but
because I held back her marriage with my son Shelah." Then a heavenly
voice was heard to say: "Ye are both innocent! It was the will of God
that it should happen!"[89]
The open confession of Judah induced his oldest brother Reuben to make
public acknowledgment of the sin he had committed against his father,
for he had kept it a secret until then.[90]
Tamar gave birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, both resembling their
father in bravery and piety.[91] She called the first Perez, "mighty,"
because she said, "Thou didst show thyself of great power, and it is
meet and proper that thou shouldst be strong, for thou art destined to
possess the kingdom."[92] The second son was called Zerah, because he
appeared from out of the womb before his brother, but he was forced
back again to make way for Perez.[93] These two, Perez and Zerah. were
sent out as spies by Joshua, and the line that Rahab bound in the
window of her house as a token to the army of the Israelites, she
received from Zerah. It was the scarlet thread that the midwife had
bound upon his hand, to mark him as the child that appeared first and
withdrew.[94]