Many members of the three Religions of the Book use the Bible as a source of guidance for matters of character formation and decision-making.\u00a0\u00a0 Employment of biblical passages for ethical purposes is not without its complications, however.\u00a0 One such complication occurs in Genesis 38, in the story of Judah\u2019s seduction by his daughter-in-law, Tamar.<\/p>\n
Judah\u2019s misconduct is part of a larger picture of good and bad behavior in Jacob\u2019s family.\u00a0 Reuben\u2019s dalliance with his father\u2019s concubine results in a rebuke (Gen 49:3-4).\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s fidelity to his employer initially leads to a temporary setback.\u00a0 (Readers might wonder, however, if Potiphar really believes his wife\u2019s tale since he has Joseph jailed instead of executed.) In the end, Joseph\u2019s incarceration is but a stepping stone to better things (Genesis 39).\u00a0 These stories cohere reasonably well with contemporary sexual ethics since continence is rewarded and incontinence is punished.\u00a0 Judah\u2019s tale, however, is a bit more complicated.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tamar was married to Judah\u2019s two older sons, both of whom died before they fathered children.\u00a0 Judah declined to give Tamar to his third son, fearing that the boy might meet the same fate as his brothers.\u00a0 When Tamar discovered Judah\u2019s failure to meet his obligation to her, and that his wife had died, she disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced Judah while he was traveling.\u00a0 When her pregnancy was reported to Judah he initially ordered her death.\u00a0 However, after she presented strong evidence of his paternity he backed down and admitted her superior moral standing by saying \u201cShe is more right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah\u201d (Gen 38:26).<\/p>\n
So far, so good!\u00a0 Judah\u2019s sexual incontinence has cost him a good deal of \u201cface\u201d in front of his clan and company.\u00a0 But what about Tamar?\u00a0 How will God punish her? Ahhhh\u2026.here\u2019s the fly in the ointment, then.\u00a0 Rather than punishment, Tamar is rewarded by the birth of twin sons (Gen 38:27).\u00a0 As these things go, Tamar is one very, very fortunate woman!<\/p>\n
(I can tell you for a fact that this story does not always go over well with nineteen year old students, who do not always appreciate moral ambiguity.)<\/p>\n
So what to make of all this?\u00a0 I think this story warns us to go a bit more slowly and carefully when using the Bible for ethical purposes.\u00a0 We live in a society where sexual sin has little public tolerance but this has not always been the case.\u00a0 Judah\u2019s evaluation of his own failure mentions his responsibilities to his clan, that is, that he should have given Tamar to Shelah, not his personal sexual morality.\u00a0 Likewise, Joseph\u2019s protestations indicate that his concern is with Potiphar\u2019s wife as Potiphar\u2019s property, not sexual purity.\u00a0 In both cases the interest is in honoring commitments but the commitments in question are not directed solely toward personal chastity.<\/p>\n
And Tamar?\u00a0 Tamar is simply one of those shrewd characters like Ehud or Jonathan who are much admired for their courage and wit, and who are very hard to dislike precisely because of what they\u2019re willing and able to do.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t expect to see her extolled as a role model for the YW anytime soon, even if I\u2019d do it in a heartbeat!<\/p>\n
Poor Rustic<\/p>\n
(Yes, I know this comes from Lesson 11 and everybody but me is on Lesson 12.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do a another piece tomorrow\u2026)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many members of the three Religions of the Book use the Bible as a source of guidance for matters of character formation and decision-making.\u00a0\u00a0 Employment of biblical passages for ethical purposes is not without its complications, however.\u00a0 One such complication occurs in Genesis 38, in the story of Judah\u2019s seduction by his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Judah\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n