Genesis 38.27-30-Tamar Gives Birth to Twins-Perez and Zerah
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 38:27-30-Tamar Gives Birth to Twins-Perez and Zerah
Lesson # 242
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 38:1.
This evening we will complete our study of Genesis 38.
By way of review, we have noted the following:
In Genesis 38:1, we read where Judah left his brothers in Dothan and headed back home to Hebron to see his father Jacob but instead turned aside and came into contact with a man named Hirah who lived in the city of Adullam.
In Genesis 38:2-5, we read where Judah marries a Canaanite woman who bears him three sons named Er, Onan and Shelah.
In Genesis 38:6-10, we read where the Lord kills two of Judah’s sons, Er and Onan because of their involvement with evil.
In Genesis 38:11-14, we read that after realizing that Judah had no intention of fulfilling his obligations under the levirate marriage customs, Tamar disguises herself as a temple prostitute in order that she might become pregnant through him.
In Genesis 38:15-19, we noted that Tamar successfully deceived Judah into thinking that she was a prostitute, thus enabling her to get pregnant through him.
In Genesis 38:20-26, we saw Judah discovering that Tamar had deceived him into thinking she was a temple prostitute and that he had gotten her pregnant.
This evening we will study Genesis 38:27-30, which records Tamar giving birth to twins who she names Perez and Zerah.
Genesis 38:1, “And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.”
Genesis 38:2, “Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her and went in to her.”
Genesis 38:3, “So she conceived and bore a son and he named him Er.”
Genesis 38:4, “Then she conceived again and bore a son and named him Onan.”
Genesis 38:5, “She bore still another son and named him Shelah; and it was at Chezib that she bore him.”
Genesis 38:6, “Now Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.”
Genesis 38:7, “But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life.”
Genesis 38:8, “Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother's wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.’”
Genesis 38:9, “Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother.”
Genesis 38:10, “But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; so He took his life also.”
Genesis 38:11, “Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Remain a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up’; for he thought, ‘I am afraid that he too may die like his brothers.’ So Tamar went and lived in her father's house.”
Genesis 38:12, “Now after a considerable time Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.”
Genesis 38:13, “It was told to Tamar, ‘Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.’”
Genesis 38:14, “So she removed her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife.”
Genesis 38:15, “When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face.”
Genesis 38:16, “So he turned aside to her by the road, and said, ‘Here now, let me come in to you’; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, ‘What will you give me, that you may come in to me?’”
Genesis 38:17, “He said, therefore, ‘I will send you a young goat from the flock.’ She said, moreover, ‘Will you give a pledge until you send it?’”
Genesis 38:18, “He said, ‘What pledge shall I give you?’ And she said, ‘Your seal 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.”
Genesis 38:19, “Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments.”
Genesis 38:20, “When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her.”
Genesis 38:21, “He asked the men of her place, saying, ‘Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim?’ But they said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’”
Genesis 38:22, “So he returned to Judah, and said, "I did not find her; and furthermore, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no temple prostitute here.’”
Genesis 38:23, “Then Judah said, ‘Let her keep them, otherwise we will become a laughingstock. After all, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.’”
Genesis 38:24, “Now it was about three months later that Judah was informed, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is also with child by harlotry.’ Then Judah said, ‘Bring her out and let her be burned!’”
Genesis 38:25, “It was while she was being brought out that she sent to her father-in-law, saying, ‘I am with child by the man to whom these things belong.’ And she said, ‘Please examine and see, whose signet ring and cords and staff are these?’”
Genesis 38:26, “Judah recognized them, and said, ‘She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not have relations with her again.”
Genesis 38:27-30 would be of great interest to the descendants of Judah since it records the birth of Judah’s sons through Tamar.
This final section of Genesis 38 provides the significance of the entire chapter, namely that the line of Judah continued because God gave Tamar twins by Judah.
God enabled and permitted Judah to unknowingly impregnate Tamar.
Remember, the human nature of Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah.
Hebrews 7:14, “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah.”
Revelation 5:5, “And one of the elders said to me (apostle John), ‘Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.’”
Genesis 38:27, “It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb.”
Genesis 38:28, “Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, ‘This one came out first.’”
Genesis 38:29, “But it came about as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, ‘What a breach you have made for yourself!’ So he was named Perez.”
Genesis 38:30, “Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.”
The phrase “it came about at the time she was giving birth” refers to the ninth month of Tamar’s pregnancy, six months after Judah discovers that he has gotten Tamar pregnant since Genesis 38:24 records that three months after Tamar conceived by Judah, that it became known that she was pregnant out of wedlock.
Unlike Rebekah who received revelation from the Lord regarding her pregnancy that she would have twins, Tamar does “not” receive divine revelation regarding her pregnancy and was therefore, not anticipating having twins.
However, in both pregnancies, there is a great conflict between the twins at birth with both fighting to be born first and in both instances, the older twin eventually takes second place to the younger (See Genesis 25:24-26).
The reader is told that Tamar is carrying twins but she is never told unlike Rebekah who was told by God that she was carrying twins.
It is interesting that Judah lost his first two sons, Er and Onan because of their involvement with evil and attempting to hinder God’s plan for the family of Jacob and His plan to bring in the Savior of the world.
Therefore, the fact that Tamar is carrying twins would be a sign to Judah that God has forgiven him as a result of his confession of guilt in his unjust treatment of Tamar and is being gracious by giving him two sons to replace the two he lost.
Also, the fact that Tamar is carrying twins would be a sign to her that God was being gracious to her by compensating her for the lack of children from her first two husbands, Er and Onan.
God is treating both Judah and Tamar according to His grace policy since both have failed miserably.
Grace is all that God is free to do for human beings in imparting unmerited blessings to them based upon their faith in the merits of the Person and Work of Christ on the Cross whose arrival was still yet in the future in the days of the patriarchs.
Tamar’s actions in disguising herself as a prostitute in order to deceive Judah into having sex with her so that she might get pregnant by him was totally against the will of God since God prohibits deception and prostitution.
Though Tamar’s motive for her actions was commendable, the means that she employed to accomplish her purpose, namely, deception and prostitution, were totally wrong and against the will of God.
Though she was denied justice by Judah, she was “not” justified in deceiving him into thinking that she was a temple prostitute and then soliciting him to have sex with her since deception and prostitution are against the will of God.
The ends does “not” justify the means!
On the other hand, Judah’s actions were obviously not according to the will of God since he did “not” fulfill his contractual obligations to Tamar by withholding his youngest son Shelah from perpetuating the name of Tamar’s husband and his oldest son, Er.
Furthermore, his actions in soliciting who he thought was a temple prostitute was in essence taking part in the Canaanite religion and idolatry, which was against the will of God.
In His omniscience, God figured into His plan, the bad decisions of Judah and Tamar, which were against His will in order to manifest His grace, and forgiveness.
Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
God treated Judah and Tamar according to His grace policy meaning He treated both of them in a manner that they did not deserve by forgiving them their sins of deception, involvement in prostitution and idolatry by blessing them with twins so that the Savior could come into the world and fulfill the Father’s plan of salvation.
God treated Judah and Tamar in grace in the sense that He gave them the distinct honor and privilege of being in the line of Christ.
Genesis 38:27, “It came about at the time she was giving birth, that behold, there were twins in her womb.”
Genesis 38:28, “Moreover, it took place while she was giving birth, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, ‘This one came out first.’”
Genesis 38:29, “But it came about as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out. Then she said, ‘What a breach you have made for yourself!’ So he was named Perez.”
Genesis 38:30, “Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.”
“Scarlet thread” is the adjective shani (yn!v*) (shaw-nee), which refers to the vivid crimson or scarlet dye used to color thread in the ancient world and was made from the eggs of the shield louse, which attaches itself to the leaves and twigs of the oak tree.
This scarlet thread does “not” indicate that the child was in the line of Christ but rather was used by Tamar’s midwife to identify her firstborn, to whom the rights and honors of primogeniture would belong.
But surprisingly, the child with the scarlet thread tied to his hand did not emerge first since he drew his hand back and the head of the other child forged ahead and came out first.
The name of the child that was identified with the scarlet thread as the firstborn was zerach (jr^z#) (zeh-rakh), “Zerah,” which literally means, “he dawned” and whose descendants were later called “Zarhites.”
Even though the midwife used the scarlet thread to identify this child as the firstborn, God considered Perez the firstborn as demonstrated in that he always appears before Zerah in the genealogical lists (See Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:20-21; Matthew 1:3).
The name of the other child was perets (Jr#P#) (peh-rets), “Perez,” which means, “a bursting forth, a breach” signifying the abnormally violent manner in which this child was born.
The ancestral lines of both King David are traced back through Perez according to Ruth 4:18-22 as well as the human nature of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33.
Ruth 4:18-22, “Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.”
Matthew 1:1-2, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.”
Matthew 1:3a, “Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.”
So we see that Zerah stuck his hand out first, however, Perez emerged first, which took the midwife by surprise.
There is a fascinating parallel between the birth of Rebekah’s twin boys and those of Tamar.
In the case of Rebekah’s twins, the firstborn, Esau, came out with a reddish color, which along with the red lintel soup for which he sold his birthright was the occasion for his nickname, Edom.
Esau’s twin brother Jacob held on to his heel as he emerged from the womb and even though he was not firstborn, he was to continue the line of Christ.
In the case of Tamar’s twins, Zerah whose hand appeared first was likewise marked with a scarlet or red color thread but he was “not” in the line of Christ but rather Perez who actually did come out first was selected by God.
So we see that Tamar had the great distinction of being one of the few women whose names are listed in the official genealogy of Jesus Christ (See Matthew 1:3).
The others were Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite (See Matthew 1:5-6).
The fact that each of these four women were Gentiles or “non” Jews who had accepted the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their Savior and God was a tribute to the grace of God.
Tamar and Rahab were Canaanites, Ruth was a Moabite, and Bathsheba was a Hittite, which was a branch of the Canaanites.
Each of these four women came into the family of Judah by immoral means or were involved in some sort of immorality before becoming a believer or after becoming a believer.
Rahab was involved in prostitution when she became a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and hid the spies of Israel.
Ruth was a descendant of Moab who was the son of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his oldest daughter.
She persuaded Boaz to marry her by spending the night with him as he slept drunk on the threshing floor.
Bathsheba was a Hittite (either by marriage with Uriah or by birth) and became David’s wife through adultery and after David had Uriah killed on the battlefield.
As we saw, Tamar posed as a prostitute in order to become pregnant by Judah.
Despite the immoral means by which they became a part of God’s covenant people, Israel, each one of these women became a faithful believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, God rewarded the faith of these women by giving them the great honor of being in the genealogical line of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Also, Rahab who was the most immoral of them all because her profession was prostitution was actually included in God’s Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11 (See Hebrews 11:31).
So not only was Judah the recipient of the grace of God and a trophy of the grace of God but also these four women are trophies of the grace of God and is a testimony to the truth that God rewards faith in Christ by forgiving past sins and giving eternal life!
The story of Judah and Tamar emphasizes the need for God to temporarily relocate Jacob’s family to Egypt.
Spiritual purity was essential for the purposes of God to be realized.
Judah, the son through whom the Messiah would be born (Genesis 49:8 12), was so cosmic and immoral that he was willing to marry a Canaanite woman, to have a Canaanite as his best friend and to become involved with prostitutes, leading to idolatry.
The Lord had to do some¬thing drastic and the exile in Egypt was God’s remedy since the Egyptians detested Hebrew shepherds (See Genesis 43:32; 46:34), even if the Hebrews were to become involved with these people, the Egyptians would not even consider such a thing.
The racial bigotry of the Egyptians towards Hebrew shepherds would serve to maintain the Israelites as a separate people.
Even though the Israelites exile in Egypt was in many respects a bitter experience for them, it was a gracious act on the part of God.
When the Israelites read the account of Judah in Genesis 38 it would humble them since their roots were far from admirable but in fact were disgraceful.
They could never look back at their ancestry with any feelings of superiority and racial pride since they had too many skeletons in their closet but rather would have to acknowledge that the existence of their nation was the direct result of the grace of God.