Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 72
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
38:10-24
belong to his brother. But the Lord considered it evil for Onan to deny a
child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Onan’s life, too.
Then Judah said to Tamar, his d aughter-in-law, “Go back to your parents’ home and remain a widow until my son Shelah is old enough to
marry you.” (But Judah didn’t really intend to do this because he was afraid
Shelah would also die, like his two brothers.) So Tamar went back to live
in her father’s home.
Some years later Judah’s wife died. After the time of mourning was over,
Judah and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to supervise
the shearing of his sheep. Someone told Tamar, “Look, your father-in-law
is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
Tamar was aware that Shelah had grown up, but no arrangements had
been made for her to come and marry him. So she changed out of her
widow’s clothing and covered herself with a veil to disguise herself. Then
she sat beside the road at the entrance to the village of Enaim, which is
on the road to Timnah. Judah noticed her and thought she was a prostitute, since she had covered her face. So he stopped and propositioned
her. “Let me have sex with you,” he said, not realizing that she was his own
daughter-in-law.
“How much will you pay to have sex with me?” Tamar asked.
“I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah promised.
“But what will you give me to guarantee that you will send the goat?”
she asked.
“What kind of guarantee do you want?” he replied.
She answered, “Leave me your identification seal and its cord and the
walking stick you are carrying.” So Judah gave them to her. Then he had
intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. Afterward she went back
home, took off her veil, and put on her widow’s clothing as usual.
Later Judah asked his friend Hirah the Adullamite to take the young
goat to the woman and to pick up the things he had given her as his guarantee. But Hirah couldn’t find her. So he asked the men who lived there,
“Where can I find the shrine prostitute who was sitting beside the road at
the entrance to Enaim?”
“We’ve never had a shrine prostitute here,” they replied.
So Hirah returned to Judah and told him, “I couldn’t find her anywhere,
and the men of the village claim they’ve never had a shrine prostitute
there.”
“Then let her keep the things I gave her,” Judah said. “I sent the young
goat as we agreed, but you couldn’t find her. We’d be the laughingstock of
the village if we went back again to look for her.”
About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law,
has acted like a prostitute. And now, because of this, she’s pregnant.”
