Tamar: Part 2
Is she the Key to the Joseph Cycle?
Hello again! Thanks for joining me for part two of this exploration of Tamar’s role in the Joseph cycle. You can find the previous newsletter here if you’d like to catch up on part 1!
In the moring prayer lectionary we’ve nearly reached the end of Genesis - what a marathon! I wonder whether the attention we paid to Tamar last week has had any impact on how you’ve read the last portion of Genesis?
In Tamar Part 1 we thought about Tamar’s story in some detail, looking in particular at the way in which the theme of clothing links Genesis 38 to other parts of the Joseph cycle.
In this newsletter, we’ll be looking at two more themes which run through the cycle - sexuality and deception - before asking what impact this has on the character of Judah.
Sexuality
Horace Vernet, Judah and Tamar, 1840 wikimediacommons.org
After clothing, which we looked at last week, the second significant parallel between Genesis 38 and 39 is the way in which both have a focus on sexuality and exploitation. While Joseph was harassed and pressured by Potiphar’s wife, Tamar uses her sexuality to gain security for herself in the form of bearing sons.
Joseph does not want to be sexualised by Potiphar’s wife, because he is concerned about his position in the household, and it is likely that Tamar didn’t want to be sexualised by Judah.
But - she had no choice. She had been sidelined by the family and kept from what the law in Deuteronomy 25 says she was entitled to as a childless widow. On this basis she used what leverage she had - her body - in order to get what her father-in-law was refusing to give her.
The theme of sexuality in these passages is another parallel which shows how closely related they are.
Deception
Judah and Tamar, by Arent de Gelder, 1681 wikimediacommons.org
The third major parallel between the narratives is deception. We’ve already noted that Joseph’s brothers deceived their father into thinking that he was dead. Further to this, Potiphar’s wife deceived her husband into throwing Joseph out of the house.
As the narrative goes on, we find Joseph deceiving his brothers about his identity in chapters 42-45. When the brothers came to Egypt during the famine to buy food, we read that ‘although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him’ (v 8) and he proceeds on the basis that they do not know each other until the beginning of chapter 45.
There are all sorts of other deceits that occur in these chapters, including Joseph hiding various things in the sacks of his brothers and his threats to detain Benjamin as a slave in chapter 44. Here we see how the themes of deception and recognition are bound up closely together.
Similarly, Tamar is deceived by Judah in regard to marriage to his third son. In 38:11 he says to her ‘remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up’ but the narrator states that he does not intend to fulfill this promise.
In 38:16 after Tamar disguises herself, we read that Judah approached her to solicit her services because ‘he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law’. Tamar disguises herself and is not recognised by a member of her own family - just like Joseph.
In both cases, Tamar and Joesph are both deceived and deceivers. This makes the morality of the two stories complex and emphasises the ways in which people will go to extreme lengths of deception to ensure their own wellbeing.
What does this mean for Judah?
We have established that there are lots of links between these passages, but what about the overarching narrative? Do the events of Gen 38 actually change anything?
When we look at the character of Judah, it seems that the answer is yes.
In 37:26-27, when the brothers are discussing what to do with Joseph (having decided that murder might be a bit much…) Judah is the first to suggest that they sell him. He says ‘“What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.”.
At the beginning of Gen 38, when we met him again, he lies to Tamar about her possible future with Shelah and leaves her to languish in her father’s house. He solicits sex from someone he takes to be a regular prostitute but then demands that Tamar be burned when it is discovered that she is pregnant by what he assumes is illicit sex.
Overall, the portrait of Judah is not flattering. He is hypocritical, cruel and dishonest.
When we get to the end of chapter 38, however, he seems to have changed. He declares that Tamar is more righteous than he is, which reflects a significant character development.
In chapter 44, Joesph threatens to detain Benjamin in Egypt Judah pleads with him, saying in v 33 ‘please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers’.
Who is the self-sacrificing man we see before us? The very same Judah!
Would this have been possible for him without the development he experienced in chapter 38? Did Tamar teach him how to relate well to others? Did she show him the importance of being fair and compassionate?
I’ll let you decide for yourself, but I hope that you can see the importance of Genesis 38 and why we should always read it when we’re looking at the Joseph cycle!