Who is tamar

When Judah saw her he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. It is possible, though unlikely, that Judah perceived Tamar as one of the sacred prostitutes. The Hebrew words for a sacred prostitute kedeshah, sacred woman and a normal prostitute zonah are both used in this story.

In Israel, prostitutes were required to cover their faces at all times. This extraordinary picture by Kevin Rolly adds a new dimension to the story of Tamar and Judah; the recently widowed Judah, gripped by grief at the loss of his wife, still wears his wedding ring.

Tamar may have followed a version of this practice, but she also asked for payment from Judah. He promised to send her a kid from his flock, and in the meantime, as a guarantee, he left his seal, cord and staff, all of which were personal items that could be identified. Judah decided on the fee, Tamar on the pledge. Herodotus gives a description of the staff made specifically for each person, with a personal emblem carved on the top of it. It is even more astonishing that Judah gave up his staff.

This was not simply a length of wood used for walking. It had the lineage of the leader carved into it, the names of his forebears. He was not thinking clearly, or acting wisely. Tamar saw the cord, seal and staff in quite a different way: they symbolised the son she intended to have, the son who might succeed Judah.

This famous incident has been recorded by a number of painters; see Bible Art : Tamar for their work. Tamar had gone home, without telling anyone who she was. But through this one act of sexual intercourse with Judah she became pregnant, a fact that was soon evident to the people around her. Judah, who already blamed her for the deaths of his sons, thought the worst when he heard that she was pregnant. Read Genesis Judah, as head of the tribe, had the right to pass judgment on her, and to condemn her to death.

Judah pronounced that Tamar should be burnt to death, a particularly cruel way to die. But Tamar was not finished yet.

She sent the seal, cord and staff back to Judah, with the message that they belonged to the father of her child, and Judah, confronted by the evidence, had little choice but to acknowledge that she was in the right, that she had been acting according to the law.

When Tamar went into labor she was the center of a tight little band of kinswomen and villagers: a midwife, her relatives and her friends. She knew what to expect, having seen other village women giving birth.

Childbirth in ancient times. These twins were jostling for position even before they were born. The theme of a brother pushing ahead of his elder sibling is a common motif in Genesis.

She saved him from doing what was wrong, and was thus a pre-figure of Jesus, who was one of her descendents. Date palm, heavily loaded with clusters of dates; dates were a symbol of fertility. It reveals the redemptive and compassionate heart of God holding. She was not only a Gentile but a woman. Though we are made in His image, God does not play favorites, and Jesus came to save us all.

Our sinfulness is never a surprise to the Sovereign Father and Savior of the world. We live in a fallen world, and though we are far removed from Tamar and the ancient people in her story, we live through our own drama and bear deep scars from the consequences … some at our own hands and some at the hands of others. Jesus loves us regardless of our dysfunctional messes. We are always forgiven and never loved less. He could have chosen any family He wanted, but in a remarkable way He chose to know and understand humanity on every level, He came right into a dysfunctional family line.

God loves us. He created us. He made a way to rescue us. Tamar did not know the full significance of her life on earth, nor do we know ours. But there is a purpose, nothing is wasted, and everything will be made right when Jesus returns. Genesis ESV - 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. Now twice-widowed, Tamar was childless and alone. Here, Judah was expected to provide another one of his sons to marry and care for Tamar.

And then the story takes another odd turn. Three months later, when Judah learned that Tamar was pregnant, he insisted Tamar be punished. In doing so, she had tricked Judah into performing the duties his sons should have. In doing so, Judah became one of the first recorded examples of a public confession of personal sin.

Tamar and Judah later bore twin boys named Perez and Zerah. For even the most flawed and sinful of men can be used and blessed by God, not because of their merit, but because of His grace and the power of repentance. Advised by his shrewd and manipulative friend, Jonadab, Amnon pretended to be ill, asking for his sister to come and care for him. When Tamar arrived, Amnon proceeded to rape her 2 Samuel Scripture then says that.

Amon went on to treat Tamar as a used and unwanted outcast, a reputation she likely carried for the rest of her life. Understandably, when Absalom found out that Amnon had raped his sister, he was furious.