Tamar’s Determination

“And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.” Genesis‬ ‭38‬:‭6‬-‭10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

A lot of people overlook the story of Tamar in the Bible, but her story is a powerful story about being persistent when things are working against you and trusting in the Lord. Tamar’s story begins when she is married to Judah‘s first son Er and is given to him to wife. When Er does not fulfill what he is supposed to do, which is to produce children for the Lord, the Lord slew him because he was doing wicked things. The Bible does not specify what wicked things that he was doing, but it was bad enough that the Lord took him out. It is also tradition that if a man passes away that the brothers will take the widowed wife in his household, taking her on as a wife. It is his duty to have children for the deceased brother if he did not have any children when he was alive. But Onan did not want to have children unto his brother because that would mean that they would not be his. So he also did wickedly before the Lord and he was also slain. This put Tamar in a very difficult situation because now she has two deceased men that has passed suddenly. even Judah did not want to give her to his third son, Shelah, who is also his last son. so Judah told Tamar to go to her father‘s house and stay there until Shelah was grown. Tamar wanted to have children for the Lord and this is probably because it is extremely important and honorable for a woman to have children for the Lord. it also solidifies your position in the family when you have children by the man that you married. When we have children we do not realize that all of our children actually do belong to the Lord. Yahusha even stated that the kingdom of heaven is made for little ones such as these, and he was referring to the children that was being brought to him to be blessed.

“When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.” Genesis‬ ‭38‬:‭15‬-‭19‬ ‭KJV‬‬

As I said, Judah did not want to give Tamar to his third and last son Shelah. When Tamar saw that she was not given to him to wife and bring up seed to his brothers, she decided to do something very drastic. Tamar took off her widow clothes and put on clothing that was for a harlot. If you do not know what a harlot is, it is a woman who sells herself to other men. She did this because she found out that Judah was going to sheer his sheep in Timnath, and she decided to meet him on the side of the road offering her services. This idea played out very well and she was very smart to receive collateral because they did not have proper payment. Judah gave the harlot woman his signet, bracelet, and staff to hold until he could bring her proper payment. So after Judah and Tamar had relations with one another, Tamar went back to her home and put back on her widows clothing. To us this might seem extreme to go as far as to act like a harlot, and then to meet your father-in-law in the streets so that he will have children under his sons. but we forget that the Lord is the writer of our stories, and he guides our lives in the direction that he would like for us to go. The Lord probably saw Tamar‘s distress and how she was unfairly being seen as the problem. Tamar’s determination to bring children unto to the Lord is a honorable and respectful plight, and the Lord probably saw the heart of Tamar and saw her pure intentions.

“And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.” Genesis‬ ‭38‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

After a while, Tamar began to show that she was pregnant, and it was actually a problem for her. No one knew what she had done and they did not know who she had children by because she was supposed to be a widowed women. So everyone came to the conclusion that she had played the harlot and committed adultery. In these days Moses’s law was in action, and if you committed adultery you were to be killed. This is why I believe that Tamar was extremely smart in retrieving the signet, bracelet, and staff of Judah, because she had those items to show and prove who she had been pregnant by. And it also showed that she was more righteous in her dealings, and was doing things for the right reason. Judah was going to leave her in a very bad situation and leave her as a widow. He was not going to honor what he said to her and give her to Shelah to wife. This is why Tamar approached Judah and not Shelah. It is known that the Lord brings people up and raises people high, and he can bring people back down and bring them very low. The Heavenly Father was with Tamar the entire time, he was with his daughter to protect her from shame and death. And Tamar had two twin boys, Pharez and Zarah. And the Messiah‘s lineage went through Pharez. So who was Tamar in the bible? She was a great grandmother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you enjoyed reading about Tamar‘s determination, then perhaps you will enjoy listening to the podcast episode. Just click the link and listen to THE MESSAGE: Tamar’s Determination