The Original Prodigal Son

“Judah: The Original Prodigal Son”

Genesis 38

Seemingly right in the middle of the story of Joseph, Genesis 38 introduces readers to the sordid tale of Judah and Tamar. In our series of posts, we have been considering the life of Joseph, but this unexpected intrusion into the story is certainly worth considering. Genesis 38 would probably be rated “MA” —for mature audiences—if it had to be submitted for a rating today.

“It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went into her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go into your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went into his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house. In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come into you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come into me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’” And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.” About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again. When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.” (Genesis 38:1–30, ESV)

This is the kind of passage that raises a lot of questions in family worship and a lot of questions for us today. One of the first questions that comes to mind when you read this chapter is, why was this passage written? It is an understandable question, but you have to keep in mind the entire context of the book of Genesis. One of the major themes of the book of Genesis is the promise of the MESSIANIC SEED/OFFSPRING (Gen 3:15). Even though Joseph will play a major part in the unfolding of this plot line, he is not the promised son and the line of the promised son will not continue through this family. Additionally, Israel’s three oldest sons have all disqualified themselves from consideration (cf., Gen 49:2-7), which leaves Judah as the next in line to continue the Abrahamic Covenant.  As Israel’s fourth son, it is left to him to be the one who will continue the messianic line (cf. Gen 49:8-10). The problem is that at this point Judah does not seem to be taking this role very seriously.

As you read this chapter, another question that comes to mind is, how? How in the world could Rueben, Simeon, and Levi be disqualified, but Judah is not disqualified by what he does? Judah has moved away from his father and the covenant people; he is living on his own among the gentile people. All of Judah’s sons are dying off because of their sin, and no one in the family seems interested in providing a son. How could Judah be the one to continue the promise of an offspring from Genesis 3:15? Genesis 38 tells the sordid story of Judah to address this question and to show readers how God miraculously preserved the line of Christ despite the sin of Judah. In order to preserve the line of Christ, God had to deal with the sin of Judah. As we study this passage, I want you to see the unfolding manner in which God dealt with Judah’s sin.

First, God allowed Judah to run from the consequences of his sin.

Judah had just sold his brother into slavery and lied to his mourning father about what had happened (37:31-36). He was a man whose life had become a disappointment and whose conscience must have been shipwrecked. In fact, Judah decided that rather than deal with the ongoing guilt of his sin, he was simply going to run away from home. Why is it so tempting to run away from sin rather than to deal with it? God makes his grace available in the Gospel, and there are so many warnings about running from sin in the Bible, and yet we are still tempted to run from sin rather than deal with it. This is what Judah did…

Judah was a man on the run who was trying to distance himself from his family and the covenant as much as possible. He did this not only by moving away, but also by taking a Canaanite wife. This is one of the ways that the sons of Abraham rebel against their family (cf. Gen 36:2). In that marriage, he had three sons who completely disappear from the records after this because of their sin and rebellion. Here is the point: Judah started a new life apart from his family and, notably, apart from the Abrahamic covenant. In this way, he was the original prodigal son, who ran away from his father, ran away from YHWH, and was trying to run away from the consequences of his sin.

Judah’s life illustrates the sometimes God allows a person to run from their sin for a time…

• Sometimes God does this as a judgment—he removes restraint and lets them run into sin that will destroy them.

• Sometimes God does this simply for his glory—he lets a person run so he gets the glory for dealing with their sin.

• Sometimes God does this as a grace—he lets a person hit “rock bottom” because it’s the only way they will repent.

One of the things that we see in Judah’s life is that sometimes God allows us to temporarily run away from the consequences of our sin, but running or concealing sin is never actually effective in dealing with sin. When Judah had three sons, he probably thought that his past was behind him and that he would never have to think about it again. However, just because God temporarily allows you to run from your sins does not mean that you will never have to face the consequences of your sin.

Second, God allowed Judah to REAP the consequences of his sin.

Judah had three sons who were coming of age, which might have tempted him to think that his decision to run away was working. However, Judah learned the hard way that eventually “your sins will find you out” when he begins to see his budding family empire begin to crumble before it starts. There is a biblical principle that eventually you will sow whatever you reap (Gal 6:7-8). The timing of when you reap the consequences of your sin is entirely up to the hidden will of God, but the fact that you will reap the consequences of sin is a revealed fact. This is why it is so important to deal with your sins according to the grace of the GOSPEL. If you don’t repent and believe, you will have to bear the consequences of sin for all of eternity. 

Judah’s sins found him! He raised his family apart from the truth and apart from the means of grace, and the consequences were tragic. His firstborn, Er, was so wicked that God executed him, and Judah’s secondborn was no better. Tamar was given to Onan as a wife, and together, they were supposed to continue the line of Judah’s oldest son (remember how important this is to the promise). Of course, Onan refused to fulfill his duties in the marriage because he did not want to share his father’s inheritance with his firstborn son, who would have taken Er’s place in the family inheritance. He refused to honor the promise made by Judah and the responsibility that he took upon himself. The worst part about it is that when you step back and consider it theologically, he despised the promise of God … he didn’t care about the promise, the Abrahamic covenant, or Christ! Onan was deceitful, manipulative, cruel, and had no regard for the promises of God or his Father’s authority. As a result, he died.

Notice that Judah shows no remorse for the whole situation. Not only does Judah show no remorse, he seems to blame the entirety of the situation on Tamar, not his boys. He hated his father’s favoritism for Joseph, so apparently he treated his boys as if they could do no wrong. He sent Tamar back to her father under the guise that she could marry his youngest when he came of age. What Judah does here is pretty nasty. He wouldn’t care for Tamar in his own household, he wouldn’t free her to remarry, and he had no intention of giving her another husband. By the way, her father likely couldn’t pay back the dowry that Judah had given for Tamar, so he probably felt like he had to comply with the more powerful Judah, who was trying to blame his awful situation on Tamar rather than take any responsibility for it. Most important to the story, there is NO GRANDSON to serve as the heir to the Abrahamic promise!!!

Third, God allowed Judah to REMAIN in his sin.

Judah’s family, his soul, and his participation in the covenant promises of God are all teetering on the precipice of irreparable disaster. And yet, Judah shows no signs of repentance; he continues to follow the same path of rebellion and disregard for YHWH. His family is falling apart, and his wife has died, and in his bereavement, he sought comfort in sin, not God. When unrepentant sinners get into trouble, they always run right back to what got them in trouble in the first place—sin. It is insane at every level—practically, morally, spiritually—and yet we have all seen it happen. Judah’s depravity demonstrates sin’s hold over his life…

• He was predictably sinful - Tamar knew his character well enough to know what he would do after the sheep shearing.

• He was lustfully sinful - He was so driven by lust that he gave the equivalent of an I.D. and a credit card to a veiled prostitute.

• He was shamefully sinful - He tried to get his friend to clean up his mess, but even then, he didn’t give the full, shameful details.

  
  

Judah is so fully enslaved to the sin that he is now trying to cover it up, and there is still no son to continue the line of the promise. To top it all off, Judah doesn’t seem to care. In fact, in her own admittedly sinful way, Tamar is the only one trying to continue the family line and inadvertently preserve the Abrahamic Covenant. This doesn’t absolve her of sin, but it does condemn Judah even more that she cares about providing a son and he does not. Judah is a real-life prodigal whose situation is best described by what Luke 15:13 says about the Prodigal Son, “the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there squandered his property in reckless living.”

Fourth, God RESCUED Judah from the consequences of his sin.

Tamar’s plan worked and she became pregnant through the incestuous encounter she had with her father-in-law. Judah’s initial response to this was WICKED, especially since this was probably the kind of opportunity he’d be looking for so that he could get rid of Tamar. He was ready to add murder to his list of sins when Tamar exposed his hypocrisy. The interesting thing is that Judah’s response is completely out of character. He had the power to cover it up, deny it, and impose his will upon the situation. But he didn’t. He was caught but he could have still “gotten rid” of Tamar. Only he and his friend really knew the story about the missing prostitute. Instead, he admits his own guilt. By the way, a change of heart always begins with owning your own sin and running away from it.  God forgives those who confess their sins and come to him in faith, and I believe this is what happened in Judah’s life (1 Jn 1:9-10). This is like the moment when the Prodigal Son realizes how foolish his life decisions had been! From this point on Judah seems to be a changed man.

Judah’s transformation…

• Judah took care of Tamar and never sinned with her again… total change from the man dominated by lust.

• Judah apparently moved back home because when the famine hit, he was with his father and his brothers.

• Judah demonstrated himself to be a totally changed man when he was tested by Joseph (Gen 44:30-34).

  
  

  “For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”” (Genesis 44:32–34, ESV)

  
  

What you see in Genesis 38 is the initial repentance of the first prodigal son, and it reminds us that God graciously saves and radically transforms even the most sordid of sinners. More than that, it shows how God continued the messianic line through Judah. Despite Judah’s sin, God preserved the line of Christ by providing two sons for Judah. It is very interesting to note not only the unusual way that Perez and Zerah were born, but also that they are the only set of brothers that are found together in the genealogy of Christ. All this goes to show that God sovereignly keeps his promises despite our sin. Think about it, just as the Prodigal Son’s father ran to him when he was still far off and embraced him, God poured out his sovereign grace on the most unlikely sinner of all—Judah.