Judah's Dysfunctional Family

Genesis 38

Genesis 38: 6-7, NIV Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.

What?!?! Genesis 38 apparently jumps in time, leaving Joseph’s journey into slavery to learn about his brother Judah’s marriage and children. Judah apparently left his brothers shortly after Joseph was sold into slavery, and married a Canaanite woman, having many children.

Judah finds a wife for Er, but in the very next sentence, given above, he is killed because God found him wicked. No reason is given.

I took a look at the Torah to see how it compared.

Genesis 38, 607, JPS Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the Lord, and the Lord took his life.

This is almost worse. Er simply displeased God, and was put to death for it.

After Er’s death, Judah asks Onan to sleep with Tamar, to fulfill his duty as brother-in-law by producing offspring for his now-deceased brother. This is known as Levirate Law.

In ancient Israelite society, a man was forbidden from marrying his brother’s wife, with one exception. If his brother died without having a son, then that man would be obligated to impregnate his widowed sister-in-law. If a son is born, that child would be the deceased brother’s heir. This is the Levirate Law.

Onan refused, and “whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother” (Gen: 38:9). God viewed this action as wicked, and put Onan to death. Randomly, many religious conservatives have used this story to support their reasons for believing that masturbation is a sin.

Time passes, and we find Tamar casting off her widow’s clothes to pull a trick on Judah. She dresses up as a prostitute, with her face covered, and he sleeps with her. When, three months later, Judah is told that Tamar is guilty of prostitution, he orders her to be burnt to death. Why is it okay for a man to sleep with a prostitute, but the woman is the only one of the pair that must be killed?

Luckily for Tamar, she kept evidence of who she slept with, and Judah relents, recognizing, “she is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” Odd logic. She goes on to give birth to twins.

This is one messed up family tree. And, as we will find out in the New Testament, one of these twins, born via incest and prostitutions, has a well-known descendant. Named Jesus.

Genesis 37

Here we have one of the most popular stories in the Bible. Young Josepeh, who is a tad spoiled and clearly his father’s favorite son, does a great job of annoying his older brothers. One day, his father sends Joseph to check on his brothers, who are tending the flock, he chases them for miles and miles until finally catching up with them near Dothan. When his brother’s see him in the distance, they plot to kill him.

Genesis 37: 19-20, JPS, They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer!” Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we can say, ‘A savage beast devoured him.’ We shall see what comes of his dreams!”

Joseph’s brothers are certainly a nasty lot, with the exception of Reuben, who tried to rescue Joseph. Of course, a few of these are the same brothers who laid waste to the town where Dinah was abducted. And Reuben was the son that slept with his father’s concubine, so this may have been an attempt to regain his father’s favor.

In the end, they decide to sell him to a caravan of Ishmaelites that is passing by, on the way to Egypt. In a trick that resembles one that Jacob pulled on his father Isaac, the brothers return home with Joseph’s richly ornamented robe, which they deceivingly dipped in goat’s blood. Jacob sees the coat and assumes that Joseph has been killed by a wild animal.

This is our first introduction to Joseph, and we find him a wily, spoiled teenager. So far, all of the other patriarchs have not lived up to the saintly stories I heard in my childhood. I look forward to reading Joseph’s stories from an adult perspective, and hopefully coming across at least one patriarch that I can actually like.

Genesis 36

This chapter is mostly genealogy, so I’d like to take a moment to look at the different ways Judaism views the story of Jacob, a story which will take us to the end of Bereishit (Genesis). Kabbalistic traditions are definitely in the minority amongst Jews, but I found the Kabbalah perspective interesting, and included it here.

From the point of view of the Jewish tradition, it is not the historical Jacob (if there is one) that matters most, but Jacob as he appears in Genesis as the progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. It is believed to be a moot point whether or not the narrator(s) of Genesis approve of Jacob’s actions and behavior. There is certainly much Jewish commentary that disapproves of Jacob’s deceptions, and his claim to birthright. However, in rabbinic literature, Jacob is made to represent the Jewish people as a whole, and the conflict between Jacob and Esau has been interpreted as the love-hate relationship between Rome and the Jews. Later in history, this relationship is seen as a symbol of the relationship between Christianity (Esau) and Judaism (Jacob).

In Kabbalistic doctrine of the Sefirot, and the Zohar text, each of the patriarchs represent one of the ten Sefirot. Abraham is the “pillar of loving-kindness”; Isaac, “the pillar of judgement”; and Jacob the “pillar of truth”, since truth is arrived at when apparently contradictory principles are reconciled.

The Kabbalah Sefirot.

Biblical Geneaology

Going back to the genealogy, we find that Esau’s wives don’t match up with previous chapters. In Genesis 26, Esau marries Judith and Basemath. In Genesis 28 he marries Ishmael’s daughter Mahalath.

Now, in Genesis 36, the order of the names of the wives is Adah, Aholibamah, and Basemath. Basemath is stated to be the daughter of Ishmael, whereas in Genesis 28, Basemath was a Hittite, and Mahalath was a daughter of Ishmael.

Confused? Yep, me too.

Many Christian commentators hold the view that yes, there are variations that are not easily accounted for, but they are not important enough to waste time thinking about. In other words, just sweep these inconsistencies under the rug and forget about it.

One aspect of the genealogy that stands out is Amalek, one of the chiefs of Edom descended from Eliphaz, firstborn son of Esau. If we recall, back in Genesis 14, the Amalekites were destroyed back during the time of Abraham. But here, turns out the founder of the Amalekites is Abraham’s great-grandson, who was not alive all those years ago! Quite a conundrum.

Genesis 35

I have to admit, I’m growing weary of Genesis. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

Genesis 35:1, NIV Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”

When times get tough, Jacob’s response always seems to flee the scene. And here, you see him doing it again. His sons just pillaged an entire town, murdering all of the men and kidnapping the women and children. Instead of rebuking this behavior, God conveniently “commands” Jacob to flee to Bethel.

Genesis 35:5, NIV Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

So…God is using terrorism to strike fear in the hearts of all the citizens of the towns around Jacob’s family. And this is okay, why?

For the second time, Jacob is re-named Israel. This chapter, like many others, is filled with repeated and/or contradictory information. The naming of Bethel and Jacob, that happens on more than one occasion, would lead you to believe that this is not a book written by one person, but cobbled together from multiple authors, each with their own agenda.

Rachel dies giving birth to Ben. With her last dying breath, she names her son Ben-Oni, which means “son of my sorrow”. However, Jacob—kind, caring Jacob—immediately renames him Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand.”

In keeping with the dysfunctionality of previous chapters, Jacob’s eldest son Reuben sleeps with the concubine Bilhah, and Isaac finally breathes his last breath.