Sex, Sin, and The Sanctuary
From the Garden to Golgotha God is Gracious
Judah is a Lion's Whelp
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall dwell in his Holy Place?
Judah - Earmarked for Greatness
​The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a law giver from between his feet until Shiloh comes.
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This story is found in Gen.38:6-26. Judah the Son of Jacob took a wife for his Eldest son Er. But Er was wicked and the Lord slew him. As the custom was Judah gave Tamar his second son Onan to bring up seed in his brothers stead. Onan did not want that, so he spilled his seed. God was also unhappy with that, and the Lord slew him too. Judah in an attempt to protect his third son he told her Shelah was too young and she should wait till Shelah was grown. Tamar was eyeing the young boy and noticed that he was grown and Judah had not given him to her, Well, that is where bachannal start. Tamar decide to set him up. She pretended to be a Harlot. She must have known that Judah was a promiscuous man. After all that's her Father in Law. This was not arbitrary. There are family secrets here she is going to use. She pretended to be a Harlot and positioned her self where Judah won't miss her. So said so done. Judah fell for the bait. Let's have sex. He suggested. He didn't have his wallet, no money, in those days they traded in goods and stocks so he promised to send her a kid. But Tamar not stupid, She asked for security to make sure he sent the kid, She asked for his signet, bracelet and staff. Seems like the pledge worth more than the kid. Next thing you know. Tamar got pregnant. So Judah didnt know he had to use a condomn or make sure she took her pills. (LOL) I mean they dont have sex the way we do. We do it naked. But her face was covered with a veil. Any way Judah decided Tamar his daughterinlaw must be burnt. I dont have to tell you the rest. Most times the man gets away because we do not know who is the impregnator. And they didnt have DNA in those days but Tamar had the evidence. Then Judah confessed and admitted she was more righteous than he? And he stopped having sex with her.
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It is interesting to note how man's plans do not railroad God's intentions. Well did the wise man say "there are many devices in a man's heart nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand". Both Reuben and Judah were children of Leah, who was the unfavoured wife and became the wife of Jacob through stealth and subtle maneuvering. Where Laban, driven by custom and culture, had less to do with that which is honourable and more to do with his own selfish greed. But God still managed to fulfill his design through the lineage of Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar, Judah himself being a son of Leah, the unloved wife of Jacob.
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Judah's Wife: A Shadow in Chezib
The story opens with Judah separating from his brothers and taking a Canaanite woman, unnamed except for her father, Shuah. She bears him three sons—Er, Onan, and Shelah—but the text is strangely silent about their relationship. Only after she bears the third son does Scripture finally call her "Judah's wife." And when she dies, the text adds that she was "in Chezib" when she bore Shelah.
Chezib means "falsehood" or "disappointment." That’s no accident. Whether emotional, spiritual, or physical, this naming hints that something in the household was broken. Judah and his wife seemed distant, disconnected. It’s not hard to imagine that she had withdrawn, or been pushed away. The mention of her death is brief, followed immediately by Judah being "comforted" and then heading to the sheep-shearing festival—a time known for revelry and indulgence. From a modern cultural lens, especially ours in the Caribbean, you might say, "Oh gosh, de man wife just dead and he gone with a next woman!"
Judah's Impulse, Tamar’s Insight
Then enters Tamar. This is no ordinary woman. She had been Er’s wife, then was given to Onan. After both brothers died, she was promised to Shelah—but Judah reneged. She waited. She watched. She learned. Living in that household, she had a front-row seat to Judah's impulses, his weaknesses, his grief, and perhaps his moral compromises.
When she dressed as a prostitute and sat by the road to Timnah, this wasn’t a gamble. It was a calculated act. Tamar knew the man. She knew that Judah—freshly widowed, emotionally untethered, spiritually compromised—would stop for her. A righteous man might have passed by. But Judah was not yet that man.
And still, grace was at work.
When Confronted, Judah Changes
When Tamar is found pregnant and Judah is ready to have her burned, she doesn’t plead. She doesn’t scream. She simply sends his own pledge items—his staff, his cord, his seal—back to him. She knew something else about Judah: he was still reachable. Still redeemable. And when Judah sees them, the truth hits him like fire.
"She is more righteous than I..."
This is a turning point. Tamar, a woman nearly erased from the family line, becomes the one through whom Judah’s house is restored. From this union comes Perez—the ancestor of David, and eventually, of Christ. The woman Judah almost discarded becomes the vessel of God’s messianic promise.
Grace Beyond Merit
In the end, Reuben—Judah’s older brother—is cursed: "Thou shalt not excel" (Genesis 49:4). But Judah, flawed and failing, is given the promise:
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come..." (Genesis 49:10)
How does this happen? Because God's grace doesn’t move along the straightest human lines. It flows through broken roads, like the one Tamar sat beside. It moves through women history tried to forget, and men who don’t get it right until they’re forced to face themselves.
Tamar didn’t just trap Judah. She exposed him to himself—and in doing so, became an agent of covenantal grace.
Conclusion: When Silence Speaks
There’s power in what the text doesn’t say. In the silence around Judah’s wife. In the silence of Tamar’s boldness. In the silence of a woman by the road who had every reason to disappear, but instead became the key to redemption.
Grace is messy. But it never misses. And God still writes holy stories in unholy places.