Day 10: Tamar

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” — Genesis 38:26

Surely, she cannot be counted among the matriarchs and, by extension, cannot participate in God’s redemptive plan. Not only was she a foreigner, likely of Canaanite descent, but God also seemed notably absent from her story – except for His intervention in the deaths of her first husband, Er, who left her childless, and Onan, his brother and her second husband, who refused his levirate duty to preserve both the family line and a widow’s future. Judah also failed to act honourably, neglecting the cause of his vulnerable daughter-in-law and deceased son. He sent Tamar back to her father’s house under the pretense that he would give her his youngest son when he came of age, thus binding her to remain unmarried while having no real intention to fulfil his promise. Unmarried yet no longer a virgin daughter, she didn’t belong in her father’s household. And as a childless widow, she had no legal claim to her deceased husband’s inheritance. As a result, Tamar was left in a state of profound social vulnerability and humiliation, a misfit within the established structures of her world.(1)

Yet cultural expectations and the deceit of her father-in-law did not stop Tamar from taking a bold, life-risking stand against injustice. Aware that, according to Ancient Near Eastern customs, the father-in-law could assume the role of the levir in the absence of a brother-in-law, she seized her opportunity. (2) When she heard that Judah would attend a festival after mourning the death of his wife, she disguised herself and sat in the roadway. Not recognizing her and mistaking her for a prostitute, Judah asked to sleep with her. Later, when it was discovered that she was pregnant, Judah ordered that she be brought out to be burned. However, when she confronted him with his involvement in her situation, he publicly acknowledged, “She is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26). His confession affirmed that Tamar had acted justly not only on her own behalf but also for the sake of the family line, including Judah himself.

In her determination to see justice done, Tamar embodied the very character of God, who delights in kindness, justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24) and calls His people to stand with the vulnerable and oppressed (Isaiah 1:17). Tamar’s brave action transformed a story marked by death and oppression into one of life and renewed hope. And she was afforded a rare and remarkable designation, given in Genesis only to Noah and Abraham: righteous. Moreover, Tamar became one of the matriarchs, playing a pivotal role in Israel’s history and the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan, and secured her place in the genealogy of Jesus.

By introducing Jesus with the long history of Israel’s God with His people, Matthew highlighted that the decisive climax of this history – the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven – had broken in in the person of Jesus. His mission to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind and to release the oppressed (Luke 4:18–19) revealed what this kingdom looks like.

Tamar embodies the unjust suffering of many in the Middle East and serves as an inspiration to those tempted to surrender to social injustice as though a fate decreed by God. Simultaneously, her story should awaken the conscience of oppressors, like Judah, to stand against unfair social norms and acknowledge the rights of those they have wronged. Through the refusal of the oppressed to surrender and the admission of guilt by the oppressor the kingdom of God is made manifest on earth.

Indeed, God has brought His kingdom on earth through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, yet its full and final consummation is still to come. Until then, the church is called to make God’s kingdom visible by embodying Christ’s heart for justice, reconciliation and liberation from all forms of oppression.

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1 Susan Niditch, “The Wronged Woman Righted: An Analysis of Genesis 38,” HTR 72 (1950): 143–49.

2 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis ‎בראשית, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 264.