Chapter 10 Chapter 9 Tamar Becomes a Prostitute—and Becomes a Jew

At that time Judah left his brothers and went to the house of an Adullamite named Hela. There Judah saw a Canaanite daughter named Shuah, and he took her as his wife, and had sex with her.She conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.She conceived again and gave birth to a son, whom the mother named Onan.Later she gave birth to a son and named him Shelah... Judah took a wife for his eldest son Er, and her name was Tamar.But the eldest son of Judah was evil in the sight of God, so he let him die. Judah said to Onan, "Go to bed with your brother's wife, and do your duty as a brother to her, so that you can have a son for your brother!"

But Onan knew that the child would not belong to him, so Yan Yi left the human race on the ground when he was in the same room, so that his brother would not have an offspring.What Onan did was evil in the eyes of God, and God let him die. Judah thought to himself, "I'm afraid Shelah will die like his two older brothers!" So he told his daughter-in-law Tamar that you go back to your father's house and be a widow until my son Shelah grows up. " Tamar went back to live with her father.lived for a long time. Then Shuah's daughter, Judah's wife, died. After Judah was hurt, he followed his friend Hierah the Adullamite, and went up to the booth to his shearers.

Seeing that Shelah had grown up, but she had not married her, Tamar took off her widow's clothes, covered her face with a veil, and covered her body with a cloth, and sat down in Judah at the gate of Enaiim on the way to Timnah. When they saw her, they thought it was a prostitute, because she covered her face. He turned to the side of the road, went up to her and said to her, "Come! Let me sleep with you." He didn't know that this was his daughter-in-law Tamar. Tamar said, "Sleep with me, what will you give me?" Judas said, "I will give you a lamb from the flock."

Tamar said, "You have to give me some collateral first, and you can get it back when the sheep are brought." He said, "What kind of collateral?" Tamar said, "Your seal, your belt, and the staff you hold in your hand." He gave her the things and slept with her, and she conceived Judas' child.When she was done, Tamar left, still putting on her widow's clothes. Afterwards, when friends of Judah Toya Duran sent the lamb in exchange for the pledge, they could not find her. He asked the local people, "Where is the prostitute by the way of Inaiim?"

"There are no whores here!" said the locals. So he went back and told Judas, "I can't find her, and the locals say there are no prostitutes there!" Judah said: "Then just give her those things, so that we won't be ridiculed. Anyway, I have already sent the lamb, but you can't find anyone." After about three months, the friend told Judah, "Your wife Tamar has become a prostitute and is pregnant because of her fornication." Judas said, "Drag her out and burn the harlot!" When Judah sent someone to arrest her, Tamar sent someone to her father-in-law and said to him, "The owner of these things is the father of the child in my womb. Please recognize this seal, belt and walking stick. who?"

Judah admitted, "She is more righteous than I! I should have failed to give her to my son Shelah!" Judah never slept with her again. Genesis Chapter Thirty-eight Verses 1-26 In previous stories, we've seen women treated as sex commodities, manipulators, and recalcitrants.And now we are presented with a different woman, and a great figure of the Bible will be descended from her descendants. The most prominent part of the role of Tamar in "Genesis" lies in the absurd plot similar to the eight-point series: Judah whores prostitutes and actually finds his own wife丨This episode interspersed in the story of Joseph, Several levels of content are tightly compressed, and each level invites many interpretations.

First of all, this story can be used as a biblical basis for the mysterious practice called "sister-in-law marriage". 'Sister-in-law marriage' (further developed in later chapters of the Bible) required the younger brother to be responsible for impregnating the widowed sister-in-law if the deceased brother did not bear any children. The purpose of this system was to perpetuate the death of the older brother Therefore, the male offspring produced by "his surname will not be cut off", although genetically belong to the younger brother, but the legal status belongs to the deceased, so the elder brother's surname must be continued and his property shall be inherited.

In the story of Tamar, Jacob's fourth son Judah (whose name would later become the Jewish family name) married a Canaanite woman and bore him three sons.Judah married Tamar for his eldest son Er, but Tamar is not mentioned in the Bible, so she should not be a Jew.Interpreters have gone to great lengths to prove that Tamar was Jewish, inventing imaginative stories about her origin simply because she was the source of several important Jewish leaders: "Even God couldn't do that, King David And the messiah, the messiah, should come from the cursed seed of the Canaanites." In any case, God thought Deer was a villain, so he had him killed, and commentators are left guessing how bad Deer was.Rashi believed that Er had committed the same crime as his brother Onan.That was the cause of Onan's immortal death, spilling the seed on the earth, lest Tamar be impregnated.According to Rashi, Er's selfish idea was that she didn't want Tamar to ruin her beauty by having a baby.No matter what the reason was, it just left Tamar with no husband and no children.Therefore, Judah asked Onan to fulfill his duty of "marriage between uncle and sister-in-law" and impregnate his sister-in-law.

Onan now faced a conflict of interest. If Onan did what the custom required him to do and let his sister-in-law bear a son, he (and his future son) would lose his right to inherit Judah's status and property.At this time, Onan had become the eldest son of Judah, and he was also the heir of Judah. ​​If Tamar gave birth to a male, the child was Er's heir in name, and he would have everything alone, because Er's branch would Rely on that boy to carry on. In this way, it is no wonder that Onan, he knew that "if there is a seed in the future, it will not be his", so he always pulled it out at the last moment, deliberately venting the seed on the ground, and refused to lend the seed to his brother.Rashi graciously described Onan's practice as "thunder, but no rain." Another wise man, Ben Tamin Hami Mizrachi, was outspoken about his use of anal sex to avoid her mother. Pregnant. A certain chapter of "Midash" uses a more euphemistic expression - "he sows seeds on the roof" to describe his "unnatural way of copulation".

It's nonsense to make Eben Azlie angry at this point.Heaven forbid the holy race to be defiled by such obscenities.Whatever the gesture, God was not pleased with Onan's evasion of the responsibility of his uncle's marriage so blatantly, and took his life too.This left poor Tamar with two sexual partners, but nothing left in her womb. Before returning to Tamar's predicament, we must again talk about Onan, a name that has a very bad connotation in modern preaching. The Onan-like evil of "spreading the race of man to the earth" has always been condemned by rabbis, priests, and pastors throughout the ages. "Masturbate and you'll be struck by lightning" or at least go blind or bald, or grow hair on the palm of the hand you masturbate.The humorous twentieth-century American writer Dorothy Panker named her parrot "Onan" to mock this Puritanical view, because it also spreads the "seed" (but it refers to the bird that is used as fodder). "seed)

In fact, neither Parker nor these commentators have faithfully interpreted the scriptures, because Onan's sin was not masturbation, but failure to fulfill the responsibility of "uncle and sister-in-law marriage"; For purposes other than reproduction, though, the similarities end there.According to a contemporary commentator: Onan's name is associated with masturbation, not just because Victorian British preachers felt the evil of masturbation was really lingering in their hearts, so they deliberately misrepresented the biblical story.In addition, another reason is that moralists in the 19th century were eager to appeal to the authority of the Bible to condemn masturbation, so they found Onan as a scapegoat to make an example of others, so that everyone could see the fate of "indulging oneself". Now back to Tamar.Since Judah's eldest son and second son could not conceive Tamar, Judah was obliged to promise that she would get the race of his younger son Shelah, and he may have made a promise, but he had no intention of fulfilling it, because Judah was worried that Tamar was a human being. Kefu's black widow, if she had sex with her, she might be killed.Given what happened to his first two sons, it's no wonder Judas would think so.So Judah (the Bible describes him as a bit ruthless and calculating, we never see him hurt by the death of his son) asked Tamar to go back to her mother's house first, and wait for Shira to grow up. Judah hoped that the distance would allow her It is impossible to ask him to fulfill the agreement.The dutiful daughter-in-law obeyed Judah's command and returned to her village. Later she finds out that she has been tricked, and Shelah has grown up, but he has not fulfilled his brother's duty to his dead brother's wife, so in the end she will end up childless and widowed, and have nothing to do with Judah's wealth. Claimed power also had no place in Judah's family. Since we already know where this story is going, knowing that this woman is the source of a future King David, the prophet Isaiah, and even the Savior, we know it's not going to end like this.True enough, Tamar was Judah's best and last hope for a male heir, as both his eldest and second sons were condemned before leaving any males, and the younger son disappeared from this story , did not seem to have given birth to any males.The future of the Jewish people (which began with the line of Judas) is now at stake, and it all depends on the performance of Tamar (or rather her unimplanted womb).Tamar had to use the race of Judah to produce a son. According to the commentary in "Midash," Tamar was born with the gift of a prophet, knowing that she was destined to be "the source of the royal family of King David and the ancestors of Isaiah." Foretelling the future without acting, she must push fate in the right direction.And her actions push us into a second layer of meaning in this complex story. Knowing that Judah had no intention of allowing Shela to impregnate her, Tamar decided to take advantage of two circumstances: first, Judah was recently widowed, and second, he would be traveling not far from her village.Once again, we see that Judas doesn't seem to be very sad. He hastily passed his wife's mourning and went to the sheep-shearing festival.We also know from other places in the Bible that "the festival of sheep-shearing was a rich celebration, with feasts and wine." Tamar was determined to conceive the seed of Judah's family, and if she could not get his son's, she would get him himself of!So Tamar put on the clothes of a prostitute, covered her face with a veil, and sat by the roadside to wait.When Judas met her, he negotiated with her and agreed to exchange a lamb for her sex. There is a chapter in "Mi Dashi" that thinks that this is not a common way of paying for sex, and thinks that a loaf of bread is enough to buy a prostitute for a night.Some commentators see the lamb as a symbol because "it is reminiscent of the way the brothers of Judah deceived Jacob by killing the lamb for its blood (just as Jacob deceived his father Isaac by the skin of the lamb). ) Tamar defrauded Judah with a harlot's veil, just as Judah defrauded Jacob of Joseph's multicolored cloak." Tamar agreed to Judah's price, but demanded a collateral to ensure that Judah would send the sheep afterwards.Judas gave her the seal and the staff, and after they did that, she became pregnant. When Judah returned home, he asked someone to send the lamb to pay the prostitute for the prostitution, so as to get back the clues that would reveal his prostitution.However, the runners did not find a trace of the prostitute at the place where Judah met the masked girl.At the same time, Judah heard that his widowed daughter-in-law was pregnant, and thought it was okay that she had obviously messed with so many wild people and ruined the family's reputation?Judah was so angry that he wanted to send his disobedient daughter-in-law to the stake and burn her alive.However, the cunning Tamar took out her seal and walking stick, and announced, "The owner of these things is the person who grows jade in Lantian." Bible commentators emphasize that Tamar did not directly name her father-in-law, but asked him to stand up and take responsibility.They believed that even if Judas denied the charge, the filial daughter-in-law would not report him because she did not want to embarrass him.This seems impossible, because Tamar asked Judah for his seal and staff, obviously for the purpose of confrontation.In fact, as long as you read the words engraved on the seal, you can know who its owner is, because the seal was like a modern credit card or driver's license in ancient times.We should be able to infer that Tamar had expected to be accused of such a long time ago, so she first asked for these things as a magic weapon for self-protection. When Judah saw these evidences, he annulled the death sentence and declared with regret that Tamar was more righteous than he was because he had broken his promise to give her his son Shelah.At this point in the story, there is a strange ending, that is, Judas no longer "had sex with her" ("Genesis" Chapter 38, Section 26) Why does the Bible fork out of the original development, specifically stating that Judah did not have sex with Tamar again?The reader naturally assumes that now that he knows that the slut by the side of the road is his own daughter-in-law, he dares not to touch the taboo of incest, which is later found in Leviticus 18, chapter 15. section is expressly prohibited.Besides, now that she is pregnant with his (nominally regarded as his dead son's) son, she naturally no longer has the responsibility of "uncle-sister-in-law marriage".Perhaps the reason for specifically raising this matter is to emphasize that it is inappropriate for an informed wife to commit adultery, even if both parties are widowed, or even to fulfill the responsibility of the "uncle-sister-in-law marriage system". Looking at it from a broader perspective, Tamar’s story tells us quite clearly what the position of women was in biblical times; moreover, the author seems to intend to praise Tamar’s resourcefulness: she did not fail but Still get what we deserve.This social system puts heavy oppression on women in general, especially those who have not given birth to children (in fact, have not given birth to sons).Knowing that she was not entitled to claim her rights, Tamar resorted to methods familiar from Genesis—scheming and deceit. Yes, if later passages of the Bible praise resorting to violence, then we can also say that Genesis sees deceit as a legitimate means to gain one's legal rights or fulfill one's destiny.Tamar certainly qualifies to join the following: Abraham (who deceived Pharaoh and Abimelech king of Gerar), Isaac (who deceived Abimelech), Jacob (who deceived Esau twice and his father Isaac), Rebekah (who helped Jacob deceive Isaac), Laban (who deceived Jacob), Rachel (who deceived Laban), Jacob's older sons (who deceived Jacob each) and Joseph (who deceived his brothers) Tamar's trick is a link in a cycle of deceit that is so common in Genesis.This is the retribution of Judah who tricked her into believing that he would teach the third son the responsibility of marrying his uncle for her, and Onan who tricked her into committing adultery while making her think that there was hope for her.But Tamar herself was not a victim of deceit, nor was she criticized for seducing Judah for her seed.To be honest, even Judas, who was mistaken for her, praised her for her righteousness, and had the honor of giving birth to twins, who later became the ancestors of the Jews, as well as the great heroes and saviors of the Jews. This story, like several others in Genesis, reflects that in biblical times, the rules of status were often good and bad. Praised for consolidating her own rights and destiny, Tamar is also lauded for her determination and wisdom in a society that treats childless widows like dung. The Bible seems to show the "need" principle of general law. Under this principle, you can do things that are illegal under normal circumstances in order to avoid more serious consequences. ships can enter the private port to avoid sinking.Cheating is wrong, as is sex outside of marriage, especially with your father-in-law; but it can also be seen as right if it's to defend your reproductive rights.If there is a need to conceive, especially if you are pregnant with the leader of the Bible, there is nothing wrong with even committing the taboo of incest, just like Lot's daughters who raped their old father in order to save mankind. In addition to foretelling the "need" of a future legal defense, Tamar's story presents the first trial of a criminal in the Bible.The act of Judas ordering the arrest and sentence, though only in general terms, was already a legal procedure.Honestly, it was an Alice-in-Wonderland trial, where the death penalty was imposed without evidence; however, Tamar was eventually allowed to make her own version of the case and turn the case around. Judas was lawgiver, prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.Fortunately for Tamar, Judah was a benevolent dictator who was willing to admit his mistakes.The reason why Judah can rule the whole family is not because of his noble personality, nor because of the election of the people, but because he is the head of the family.In a primitive world without real laws, status dictated rights.In such a world, deception is necessary to overcome the injustices of status. Some people think that these stories of deceit, more than the stories of military conquest and violence that followed, reflect how the Jews survived in the cracks for most of their history.Their force is not enough to fight against the forces of isolation and dwarfing, so they resort to wisdom and means as a way to save themselves. Although they also follow the rules set by local forces and Christianity or Islam, they learn how to use these rules to protect themselves. Profit-making, such as not lending money to others.From this perspective, these stories of cunning and deceit become a double-edged sword with mixed benefits. From a positive point of view, they reflect how to survive in a dangerous environment; but at the same time, they stereotype Jews as tricksters and deceitful people.Shakespeare's Sherlock is clearly the embodiment of this negative image, and this idea is still alive in some places. In 1990, I was involved in an argument.Because I object to the nomination of a very incompetent politician to succeed a magistrate.My colleague Harvey Silver Gray joined me in declaring against the appointment.Bulger, then chairman of the Massachusetts General Assembly and one of those who pushed for the appointment, had some criticisms of us, as quoted in the Boston Globe: Bulger thinks that Dershowitz and Silver Gray are very "manipulative" and "scheming" lawyers... Bulger also quoted the story of Jacob and Esau in the Old Testament, accusing Dershowitz of being a traitor A clever and cunning person. Bulger also said to colleagues, "Look at the way they look" as if to emphasize that we are Jewish. Both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald described his comments as racially stereotyped and anti-Semitic.Judging from this story, it appears that some people still use the Old Testament as the basis for their stereotypes. Nevertheless, the story of Tamar's deception is also part of a literary tradition, most famously represented by Oedipus, that is, the use of ignorance as a cover for sexual immorality.This kind of thing happened earlier in Genesis. Didn't Abraham and Isaac ask their wives to pretend to be their unmarried sisters? To illustrate the biblical book of Ecclesiastes there is nothing "new" under the sun look at this news article from 1996: NASHVILLE, Tennessee — "Dreamman" Mitchell undressed and had blindfolded sex by tricking them into believing he was their lover, according to two women.The "dream man" was found guilty of seducing and raping on Tuesday. Police believe Mitchell, 45, has called hundreds of women over the past few years.Most women hang up on him.Thirty reported to the police, however, that they encountered the "dream man" and eight said they had sex with the caller. Each time, prosecutors said, the situation began with an early-morning phone call while the woman was still bleary-eyed.He whispered, tricked them into believing that he was their boyfriend, and begged them to fulfill his sexual fantasies of having sex with blindfolded women. A woman said that she had sex with him twice a week for two months in 1992, and didn't realize it wasn't her boyfriend until the blindfold slipped off. Tamar's content also raises the issue of sex for property, but this is not the only such story in Genesis.There is also a curious little story about mandrakes, which has puzzled Bible commentators for thousands of years. In that story, although both Leah and Rachel were married to Jacob, Jacob obviously liked Rachel more. In order to marry Rachel, Jacob had to work for seven more years.Leah had borne many children to Jacob, but Rachel had none.One of Leah's children found an exotic flower called "mandrake" (diidaim in Hebrew) in the wild one day and brought it back to show to his mother.Rachel coveted these plants, and commentators point out that they were believed to promote conception.Leah didn't intend to be so generous to her sister, reminding her that "men are always occupied by you"!Rachel offered to exchange Jacob's night for mandrakes, and Leah readily agreed.When Jacob came home from his day's work and wanted to share the bed with Rachel, Leah asked Jacob to come to her room, since she had "bought" him for the night with mandrakes.Jacob complied and impregnated Leah, who soon after was pregnant with Rachel, who later gave birth to Joseph.Mandrakes obviously work. Traditional commentators have endorsed both sex transactions because that is what women must do in order to fulfill their vocation to bear children, not to mention they are destined to be the ancestors of God's chosen people and their chosen leaders.As the sixteenth-century Italian scripture commentator Stefano said: "To some people, the mandrake incident may seem blatant. However, the gist of the story is that the motive of these female ancestors was only to conceive and give birth to children. A people who can serve God." The same goes for Tamar's episode. Since Tamar was deceitful in order to fulfill her destiny, she was not wrong, but one of the following passages from the Midrash absolves even Judas of paying for prostitutes: "He wanted to go on, but the Holy Spirit, thank God, sent the angel of lust to him and said to him where are you going, Judas? Where is the source of the king and where is the source of the redeemer? So Judas turned Go to Tamar, even if you can't help it and don't want to." Some of my clients just want to cite the "angels of lust made me do it!" as a defense.Maimonides offered a more accessible defense of Judas: Prostitution was an acceptable behavior in that era, just as before the promulgation of the book of the law, the food recognized as unclean by Judaism was not forbidden to eat.Although the patriarchs, and of course their families, enforced the law before it was issued, it was a matter of personal preference, so we can understand that, when necessary, they acted according to the laws that were obligatory at the time .So, if it was God's will that Judas sleep with a "harlot," there is nothing wrong with him doing so. It’s true how you say it: the patriarchs are credited for obeying the book of the law, but not for violating it! The stories in the time of "Genesis" all happened before the law was clearly established (except for the simple Noah's law). Making a sad choice, the lesser of two evils.The story of Tamar, like the stories of the daughters of Lot, the wives of Abraham and Isaac, Rachel and Leah, and other characters, presents the idea of ​​a so-called "necessary evil."When perfect alternatives do not exist, some modest deception is acceptable in the face of greater harm. With Tamar's deceitful technique as a forerunner, the story in the next chapter will have a series of more intriguing plots.The story of Joseph is a prelude to Mount Sinai, and then leads to the birth of the written code.