D25-10: The REAL REASON Why Judah Pronounced Tamar Righteous For Her Act Of Prostitution

Today I’m going to show you a perfect example from the Book of Genesis (chapter 38 to be specific) that demonstrates just how seriously the Lord takes Levirate marriage…

…AND…

…how this is NOT just some ancient superstitious custom that is no longer for today.  

This example also demonstrates again how Levirate marriage was a common thing among the Patriarchs way before it was ever codified as a law at Sinai.

And even after Sinai, we’ll find the commands concerning Levirate marriage further expanded on and brought to an even higher level in the Book of Judges.

Okay, so let’s jump right into it, shall we?

The story from Genesis I want to share is the incident of Judah and Tamar.

Recall that Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law but became widowed when her husband (Judah’s son) was killed by the Lord for wickedness and didn’t leave her any children.

According to the customs of the day, it was Judah’s next son Onan who was obligated to marry Tamar and provide her a child.

Well, Onan reluctantly agreed to marry her, but when it came to the physical act of impregnating her, he refused.

Let’s read that part of the Torah for ourselves.

“Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.’ But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother.  What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.”-Genesis 38:8-10

From God’s perspective, Onan refusing to give Tamar children was evil in His eyes.

In fact, it was so evil, the Lord ended Onan’s life.

In the text of Genesis, we’re not told exactly why what Onan did was evil.

One has to connect this portion of Torah with the custom and laws of Levirate marriage to really understand what’s going on here and this is something the church never does.

That’s why we’ll get all kinds of nonsensical and crazy ideas from the gentile Christian world on why the Lord killed Onan.

After God killed Onan, that meant Judah had just lost his second son, both of whom were married to Tamar (read all of Genesis 38 to get the full picture).

So understandably, Judah didn’t want to give his third son Shelah to Tamar in marriage.

He was afraid the Lord would also slay his third son leaving him childless.

This forced Tamar into taking the drastic measure to pretend to be a prostitute in order to get Judah to sleep with her so she would get pregnant by him.

Did she succeed?

Boy, did she ever.

Not only did she get pregnant, she ended up giving birth to not just one son BUT…

…twins, one who would become Yeshua’s ancestor.

Now here’s the thing.

Contrary to the nonsense teaching you’ll get from the Christian world on this topic, what Tamar did was NOT a selfish act.

Why?

Because it was common knowledge in those days that the women held they keys to the afterlife of their husbands.

If a man’s wife didn’t produce children, his very existence would be blotted out for all eternity after he died.

Therefore, Tamar undertook the extreme measure of doing something she probably found quite disgusting, namely acting as a whore in order to lure Judah to sleep with her so she could fulfill her duty to give birth to a son in her dead husband’s name to ensure his spirit would live on.

Tamar wasn’t being selfish.

Quite the opposite actually.

She went so far as to subject herself to prostitution to make sure her first husband’s soul would have a place secured in the afterlife.

In fact, note Judah’s final response to what Tamar did after he learned he was tricked into having sex with her.

 ^“As she was being brought out,
she sent a message to her father-in-law.
‘I am pregnant by the man who owns these,’
she said. And she added,
‘See if you recognize whose seal and
cord and staff these are.’
Judah recognized them and said,
‘She is more righteous than I,
since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’
And he did not sleep with her again.”

We see that the real selfish one here was Onan who refused to impregnate Tamar.

In fact, he was so selfish, the Lord ended up killing him.

Here’s the thing.

Onan knew very well what he was doing every time he pulled out his organ right before climaxing with Tamar during the sex act.

He was quite aware this action would terminate his brother’s very life essence ensuring there would be no place for him in the afterlife.

What Onan did was in a very real sense spiritual murder because he was putting an end to that most vital part of his brother, his very spirit.

The price Onan paid for the spiritual murder of his brother was his very life.