Genesis 38:12 - Meaning and Application

It is a very ugly story about Judah, and no one would have expected such foolishness in Israel. Judah had buried his wife, and widowers need to guard themselves very carefully against fleshly lusts, that is, sinful bodily desires. He was unfair to his daughter-in-law, Tamar, whether through carelessness or on purpose, because he did not give her his surviving son. That left her exposed to temptation.

Tamar wickedly sold herself as a harlot to Judah, hoping that if the son would not, the father might raise up offspring for the dead man. Some try to excuse her by saying that, although she was a Canaanite, she had accepted the true religion and believed God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants, especially the promise of the Messiah, who was to come from Judah’s family. If that was her desire, it did succeed, since she is one of the four women named in Christ’s family line (Matthew 1:3). Her sinful act was forgiven, and her good intention was accepted, which shows God’s great grace. Still, that can never be used to excuse or encourage anyone else to do the same.

Bishop Patrick thought it likely that Tamar hoped Shelah, who was rightly her husband, might come with his father, and that she might draw him to herself. Her sin involved a lot of planning. She chose her chance when Judah was in a time of celebration and feasting with his sheep shearers. Times of joy often become times of temptation, especially for sexual sin, because when people are full and careless, restraint weakens.

She also sat in an open place like a harlot (Genesis 38:14). Women who are chaste, and want to remain chaste, should keep to their homes (Titus 2:5). It seems that harlots in those days covered their faces, so that, though they were not ashamed, they could at least appear to be. Sexual sin was not as openly shameless then as it is now.

Judah fell into the trap, and although he sinned without knowing that Tamar was his daughter-in-law, he was still willingly guilty of fornication, that is, sexual sin outside marriage. Whoever she was, he knew she was not his wife, so he had no right to touch her. His sin cannot be softened by any kind excuse, as some try to do for Tamar by saying her action may have had a good purpose. Judah’s sin started with his eyes, because he saw her (Genesis 38:15). Those whose hearts are full of adultery, as Peter says, catch at every bait that appears before them and are ready to burn at every spark (2 Peter 2:14). We need to make a covenant with our eyes and turn them away from worthless sights, so the eye does not poison the heart.

It made the shame worse that the price of a harlot was demanded, offered, and accepted, a kid from the flock. What a poor price to put on chastity and honor. Even if the payment had been thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil, it still would not have been worth it. God’s favor, a pure soul, a clear conscience, and the hope of heaven are too precious to sell at any price. No jewel from Ethiopia can match them. What good does it do a person to gain the world and lose his soul?

Judah also shamed himself by leaving his signet and bracelets as a pledge for a kid. Fleshly lusts are not only brutish, they are foolish and destructive to a man’s worldly affairs. Whoredom, like wine and new wine, takes away the heart first, and then it takes away the signet and bracelets too.

He lost his jewels in the bargain. He sent the kid, as promised, to redeem his pledge, but the supposed harlot could not be found. He sent it by his friend, the Adullamite, who was really helping him in evil, so he was more of a back-friend than a friend. The report they brought back, that there was no harlot in that place, was actually a good report if it was true. Such sinners are a disgrace and a plague to any place. Judah was content to lose his signet and bracelets, and he told his friend not to keep looking for them, saying, “Let us not be shamed” (Genesis 38:23).

He may have meant one of two things. Either he feared that his sin would become public and people would talk about it, since sexual sin has always been seen as shameful in those convicted of it. Or he feared people would laugh at him for being so foolish as to trust a prostitute with his signet and bracelets. He did not seem troubled by the sin itself, only by the shame. Many people care more about keeping up their reputation before others than about keeping God’s favor and a good conscience. For them, “let us not be shamed” matters more than “let us not be condemned.”