Let’s begin this chapter with a long and utterly bizarre story.
Genesis 38:
At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. 2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.
11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.
12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”
“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?”
“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again….
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”
25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
*******
WEIRDEST. STORY. EVER. A woman is widowed twice. Then she dresses as a prostitute and sleeps with her father-in-law. And at the end of the story, when her father-in-law discovers what precisely happened, he declares that “she is more righteous than I.” She lies, deceives, and engages in illicit sex, and she is judged as the righteous one. This is clearly a very different world morally and ethically than our own.
Perhaps no story in the Bible better illustrates the Biblical illiteracy and loss of perspective of both conservatives and liberals than this one! In the conservative church, the tendency has often been to take this story as an admonition against masturbation. In some conservative circles the term “Onanism” has actually become a euphamism for masterbation. Drawing this conclusion requires only reading part of the story, but that is neither here nor there.
However, liberal responses have not been much better. When I was in seminary, I took an Ethics class with a very liberal adjunct professor. At one point, in a discussion about the Bible and sexuality, he said (with great cynical fervor), “The Bible says if you masterbate God will kill you.” In essence, he was accepting the conservative interpretation of this passage and using it to highlight how the Bible has antiquated and impractical views on sexuality (and thus, we should take them with a grain of salt).
I’ve always felt like this text and its interpretations are a pretty illustrative microcosm of our entire cultural milieu. Conservative Evangelicals come up with an oversimplified, culturally conditioned interpretation. Liberals, in response, fail to go back to the text to find an interpretation with more historical and literary integrity. Instead, they simply create an interpretation in reaction to the conservative interpretation, establishing a false dichotomy. And all the while the text is sitting there waving it’s hands going, “Hey guys. I’m actually about something else altogether. And its kind of good. But you have to actually look at me instead of looking at each other in order to see it!”
This text is not really about sexual ethics at all (at least not the way we think of them), and it is certainly not about masterbation! It’s about community, justice, and prioritizing the needs of the society over the needs of the individual.
This text revolves around a practice known as levirate marriage. In the ancient world, if a man married a woman but died before fathering a child, it was the responsibility of the man’s younger brother to marry his widow and give her children. And significantly, the first child born was considered the child of the deceased brother, thus continuing on his line and legacy.
This seems bizarre through a modern, individualistic lens, but we need to try to see it through ancient eyes. First, in the ancient world, life expectancy was much shorter, infant mortality rates much higher, and populations much smaller. Procreation was central to the survival of families, tribes, and people groups. Thus, fertility was seen as a divine blessing, and dying childless was an immeasurable tragedy.
Second, in that world, identity and significance was not derived through the individual (this was an Enlightenment innovation). Instead it was derived from the family and community. Your significance was not determined by what you alone did in life but by what your children and their children did. This is why God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky was so significant. (A modern westerner would respond, “Yeah, but what about me?”)
Third, in the world of Genesis, widows were an extremely vulnerable population. The safety and well-being of women was always tied to the men in their lives. First their fathers, then their husbands, and eventually their sons. Thus, for a woman to be a childless widow was not only an emotional tragedy, it was a social and economic one as well. It left the women as a social outcast and economically vulnerable.
In this context, levirate marriage was meant to be an act of love, respect, and justice for both the widow and for the dead brother. By marrying the widow, the younger brother performs a sacred duty to the family and the community. He ensures the brother’s name and line does not end, that he remains a spiritual part of his family and community. And he ensures that the woman, who presumably his brother loved, is always cared for. She stays within the umbrella of the family and is never alone. And, finally, he ensures that the community continues to grow and maintain continuity with the past and future.
Thus, when Tamar poses as a prostitute in order to be impregnated by her father-in-law, she is not engaging is some twisted sex fantasy. What she is doing is taking justice, for herself and her deceased husband, into her own hands. Judah, fearing that his third son might die too (because, you know, blame the woman), conveniently forgets to carry out his duty to his family and community, so Tamar uses her ingenuity and resourcefulness to get the family Judah was denying her. This is why Judah declares her to be “more righteous than I.”
Likewise, Onan “spilling his seed on the ground” was not about sex or masturbation at all. It was about him placing his own selfish needs and desires above his family and community. As mentioned, the first child born to Tamar would not be Onan’s but Er’s, which would reduce Onan’s inheritance and place in the family. With Er gone, Onan is the eldest son, in line for privilege and a larger inheritance. The continuation of Er’s line would transfer Er’s status and inheritance to that child. In other words, the real “Onanism” is placing your personal desire and needs over the needs of your community. It is seeking your own advancement at the expense of the community you are a part of. (In a way, I guess it kind of is about masterbation, because Onan was trying to gratify himself independent of any relationships. So perhaps everyone was right all along!)
*******
Genesis 38 offers us an illustration of the interpretive deficiencies of modern, polarized, American culture, but it also provides an important lesson for Christians trying to live out their faith in the political realm. The story of Judah and Tamar reminds us that, in a Biblical worldview, the needs and health of the community always take precedence over the desires and personal ambitions of the individual.
This is a lesson of which our culture is in desperate need. Increasingly, on both sides of the aisle, people are living their lives in pursuit of personal advancement and prosperity without consideration for the communities (local, regional, and national) they are a part of. This is to some extent an inevitable by-product of the Enlightenment’s emphasis on Individualism and Progress. When Individualism and Darwinian Evolution meet, Social Darwinism is born, and individuals cease to see themselves as part of and accountable to larger communities. However, we must remember that this is the “wisdom” of Locke and Voltaire, not Moses or Jesus. The Scriptures do not enable such convenient (and illusory) autonomy.
The Bible is a book about a community, a people. God chose a people to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The Torah taught them how to live together to be a community that represented God. When Jesus came along, he did not transform this into an individualistic exercise. He chose 12 disciples (like the 12 tribes of Israel) to demonstrate that he too was forming a community in the world. Later Paul uses the metaphor of a body to show the church how inextricable their lives have become!
The wisdom of Scripture always calls us to prioritize the collective over the individual, to seek the well-being of the whole over personal prosperity! From guns to abortion to economic debates, our culture is littered with examples of people arguing solely from a perspective of personal rights without any consideration for the collective body they are a part of.
In a sense, Tamar’s act in this story is one of great humility and sacrifice. I doubt she wanted to pose as a prostitute. I doubt even more that she saw her father-in-law as an object of sexual interest. Though it seems oddly perverse upon first reading, it was a remarkable sacrifice for her to do what she did to seek justice and redemption for her husband, her family, and her community. This is something we need to reclaim if we are to ever create a more whole (and more Christian) society. We must remember that justice and integrity for our community/nation will require humble sacrifice, each of us willing to give something away for the benefit of others!
The shrill, incessant demand that no one infringe upon “my rights,” though occasionally necessary, misses the point of both civil society and Christianity. To be a part of something bigger than ourselves, we must recognize that we are only a part of a body, integrated with and supporting others. As Paul pointed out to the Corinthians, to ignore this and simply promote the interests of a single part is the epitome of foolishness! If we are to even attempt to be Christian and/or “Biblical” in our political engagement, we must first and foremost remember that our lives are bound up with others in a community, and the moment we leave concern for all in our community behind, we have also left behind our faith.
Genesis 38:
At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. 2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.
11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.
12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”
“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.
“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.
18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?”
“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again….
24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”
Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”
25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.
*******
WEIRDEST. STORY. EVER. A woman is widowed twice. Then she dresses as a prostitute and sleeps with her father-in-law. And at the end of the story, when her father-in-law discovers what precisely happened, he declares that “she is more righteous than I.” She lies, deceives, and engages in illicit sex, and she is judged as the righteous one. This is clearly a very different world morally and ethically than our own.
Perhaps no story in the Bible better illustrates the Biblical illiteracy and loss of perspective of both conservatives and liberals than this one! In the conservative church, the tendency has often been to take this story as an admonition against masturbation. In some conservative circles the term “Onanism” has actually become a euphamism for masterbation. Drawing this conclusion requires only reading part of the story, but that is neither here nor there.
However, liberal responses have not been much better. When I was in seminary, I took an Ethics class with a very liberal adjunct professor. At one point, in a discussion about the Bible and sexuality, he said (with great cynical fervor), “The Bible says if you masterbate God will kill you.” In essence, he was accepting the conservative interpretation of this passage and using it to highlight how the Bible has antiquated and impractical views on sexuality (and thus, we should take them with a grain of salt).
I’ve always felt like this text and its interpretations are a pretty illustrative microcosm of our entire cultural milieu. Conservative Evangelicals come up with an oversimplified, culturally conditioned interpretation. Liberals, in response, fail to go back to the text to find an interpretation with more historical and literary integrity. Instead, they simply create an interpretation in reaction to the conservative interpretation, establishing a false dichotomy. And all the while the text is sitting there waving it’s hands going, “Hey guys. I’m actually about something else altogether. And its kind of good. But you have to actually look at me instead of looking at each other in order to see it!”
This text is not really about sexual ethics at all (at least not the way we think of them), and it is certainly not about masterbation! It’s about community, justice, and prioritizing the needs of the society over the needs of the individual.
This text revolves around a practice known as levirate marriage. In the ancient world, if a man married a woman but died before fathering a child, it was the responsibility of the man’s younger brother to marry his widow and give her children. And significantly, the first child born was considered the child of the deceased brother, thus continuing on his line and legacy.
This seems bizarre through a modern, individualistic lens, but we need to try to see it through ancient eyes. First, in the ancient world, life expectancy was much shorter, infant mortality rates much higher, and populations much smaller. Procreation was central to the survival of families, tribes, and people groups. Thus, fertility was seen as a divine blessing, and dying childless was an immeasurable tragedy.
Second, in that world, identity and significance was not derived through the individual (this was an Enlightenment innovation). Instead it was derived from the family and community. Your significance was not determined by what you alone did in life but by what your children and their children did. This is why God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky was so significant. (A modern westerner would respond, “Yeah, but what about me?”)
Third, in the world of Genesis, widows were an extremely vulnerable population. The safety and well-being of women was always tied to the men in their lives. First their fathers, then their husbands, and eventually their sons. Thus, for a woman to be a childless widow was not only an emotional tragedy, it was a social and economic one as well. It left the women as a social outcast and economically vulnerable.
In this context, levirate marriage was meant to be an act of love, respect, and justice for both the widow and for the dead brother. By marrying the widow, the younger brother performs a sacred duty to the family and the community. He ensures the brother’s name and line does not end, that he remains a spiritual part of his family and community. And he ensures that the woman, who presumably his brother loved, is always cared for. She stays within the umbrella of the family and is never alone. And, finally, he ensures that the community continues to grow and maintain continuity with the past and future.
Thus, when Tamar poses as a prostitute in order to be impregnated by her father-in-law, she is not engaging is some twisted sex fantasy. What she is doing is taking justice, for herself and her deceased husband, into her own hands. Judah, fearing that his third son might die too (because, you know, blame the woman), conveniently forgets to carry out his duty to his family and community, so Tamar uses her ingenuity and resourcefulness to get the family Judah was denying her. This is why Judah declares her to be “more righteous than I.”
Likewise, Onan “spilling his seed on the ground” was not about sex or masturbation at all. It was about him placing his own selfish needs and desires above his family and community. As mentioned, the first child born to Tamar would not be Onan’s but Er’s, which would reduce Onan’s inheritance and place in the family. With Er gone, Onan is the eldest son, in line for privilege and a larger inheritance. The continuation of Er’s line would transfer Er’s status and inheritance to that child. In other words, the real “Onanism” is placing your personal desire and needs over the needs of your community. It is seeking your own advancement at the expense of the community you are a part of. (In a way, I guess it kind of is about masterbation, because Onan was trying to gratify himself independent of any relationships. So perhaps everyone was right all along!)
*******
Genesis 38 offers us an illustration of the interpretive deficiencies of modern, polarized, American culture, but it also provides an important lesson for Christians trying to live out their faith in the political realm. The story of Judah and Tamar reminds us that, in a Biblical worldview, the needs and health of the community always take precedence over the desires and personal ambitions of the individual.
This is a lesson of which our culture is in desperate need. Increasingly, on both sides of the aisle, people are living their lives in pursuit of personal advancement and prosperity without consideration for the communities (local, regional, and national) they are a part of. This is to some extent an inevitable by-product of the Enlightenment’s emphasis on Individualism and Progress. When Individualism and Darwinian Evolution meet, Social Darwinism is born, and individuals cease to see themselves as part of and accountable to larger communities. However, we must remember that this is the “wisdom” of Locke and Voltaire, not Moses or Jesus. The Scriptures do not enable such convenient (and illusory) autonomy.
The Bible is a book about a community, a people. God chose a people to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The Torah taught them how to live together to be a community that represented God. When Jesus came along, he did not transform this into an individualistic exercise. He chose 12 disciples (like the 12 tribes of Israel) to demonstrate that he too was forming a community in the world. Later Paul uses the metaphor of a body to show the church how inextricable their lives have become!
The wisdom of Scripture always calls us to prioritize the collective over the individual, to seek the well-being of the whole over personal prosperity! From guns to abortion to economic debates, our culture is littered with examples of people arguing solely from a perspective of personal rights without any consideration for the collective body they are a part of.
In a sense, Tamar’s act in this story is one of great humility and sacrifice. I doubt she wanted to pose as a prostitute. I doubt even more that she saw her father-in-law as an object of sexual interest. Though it seems oddly perverse upon first reading, it was a remarkable sacrifice for her to do what she did to seek justice and redemption for her husband, her family, and her community. This is something we need to reclaim if we are to ever create a more whole (and more Christian) society. We must remember that justice and integrity for our community/nation will require humble sacrifice, each of us willing to give something away for the benefit of others!
The shrill, incessant demand that no one infringe upon “my rights,” though occasionally necessary, misses the point of both civil society and Christianity. To be a part of something bigger than ourselves, we must recognize that we are only a part of a body, integrated with and supporting others. As Paul pointed out to the Corinthians, to ignore this and simply promote the interests of a single part is the epitome of foolishness! If we are to even attempt to be Christian and/or “Biblical” in our political engagement, we must first and foremost remember that our lives are bound up with others in a community, and the moment we leave concern for all in our community behind, we have also left behind our faith.
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