What an interesting chapter, much like the chapter with Dinah, this one involves Judah and Tamar. Judah, the fourth son in the lineage of Jacob, and the next in line to receive favor from his father after the eldest three severely disappointed him. His first son who was married to Tamar, died after the Lord struck him down due to his evilness which left the second one, Onan, to fulfill the brother's obligation to have offspring which would not be credited to him. He decided that since the offspring would be his - he practice birth control which was also wicked in the eyes of the Lord and he was struck down as well. The next in line was Shelah but given the past history of the other two, Tamar decided to live with her father. In the meantime, Judah's wife died. Tamar goes out of her widow's garb to get dressed up and lo and behold, she and Judah hook up. She decided that until she got her payment for her services she was going to get Judah's seal, cord and staff. She gets pregnant and ultimately charged with prostitution to which it is revealed to Judah that it was he who did the dirty deed and was not put to death as charged. The tale of twins is again replayed here as two sons, Perez and Zerah were born with Perez who was supposed to come out second came out first. I guess the ultimate significance was the establishment of Perez who would be the recorded lineage to Jesus.
Looking forward to this weekend and getting stuff done before T-giving. Weather looks decent for the weekend.
Praise for today: Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name. Ps 97:12
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