How do Juda’s pledges lead him to acknowledge his failure toward Thamar?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Thamar obtains Juda’s ring, bracelet and staff as a pledge when he does not recognise her. When he orders her execution after learning she is pregnant, she sends those objects to identify the father. Juda recognises them and says she is juster than he because he did not give her to Sela.

Chapter breakdown

Juda goes down from his brothers and turns in to Hiras, an Odollamite. There he sees the daughter of Sue, a man of Chanaan, and marries her. She gives birth to Her, then Onan, and then Sela. After Sela she has no more children. Juda takes Thamar as a wife for Her, his firstborn.

Her is wicked in the Lord’s sight, and the Lord kills him. Juda tells Onan to marry his brother’s wife and have children in his brother’s name. Onan knows the children would not be his. When he has intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spills his seed on the ground to prevent children being born in his brother’s name. The Lord kills him because he has done a detestable thing. The passage states that reason for Onan’s action but does not specify Her’s wicked act.

Juda tells his daughter-in-law Thamar to remain a widow in her father’s house until his son Sela grows up. He fears that Sela may die like his brothers. Thamar goes to live in her father’s house. Many days later, Juda’s wife, the daughter of Sue, dies. After he takes comfort following his mourning, he goes to Thamnas, where his sheep are being shorn. Hiras the Odollamite, the shepherd of his flock, goes with him. Thamar is told that her father-in-law has gone to Thamnas for the shearing.

Sela has grown up, but Thamar has not been married to him. She removes her widow’s clothes, changes her dress, takes a veil and sits at the crossroads leading to Thamnas. She covers her face so she will not be recognised. Juda thinks she is a prostitute and asks to sleep with her, not knowing she is his daughter-in-law. She asks what he will give her. He promises a young goat from the flock. She agrees on condition that he leave a pledge until he sends it. Asked what pledge she wants, she names his ring, bracelet and the staff in his hand. She conceives from that single act of intercourse. She then leaves, removes the clothes she had taken and puts her widow’s clothes back on.

Juda sends the young goat through his Odollamite shepherd to recover the pledge he gave the woman. The shepherd cannot find her. He asks the men there where the woman who sat at the crossroads is, but they all say there was no prostitute in that place. He returns and reports both his failure to find her and their answer. Juda says to let her keep the pledge: she cannot charge them with a lie, since he sent the promised goat and the shepherd did not find her.

After three months, Juda is told that his daughter-in-law Thamar has acted as a prostitute and appears to be pregnant. He orders her brought out to be burned. As she is led to execution, she sends him a message: she is pregnant by the man to whom these things belong, and he should identify the ring, bracelet and staff. Juda recognises the objects and says, “She is juster than I: because I did not give her to Sela, my son.” He has no further sexual relations with her.

At the birth, Thamar has twins. One puts out a hand, and the midwife ties a scarlet thread to it, saying that this one will come out first. He draws back his hand, and the other child is born. The woman asks why the partition has been divided for him and names him Phares.

Challoner’s note explains Phares as a breach or division.

Afterward the brother with the scarlet thread on his hand is born, and she names him Zara.

The story inside

The pledge changes its role between the roadside encounter and the threatened execution. At first Thamar asks for the ring, bracelet and staff to hold until Juda sends the promised goat. He does not recognise her because her face is covered. His shepherd’s failed search leaves the pledge with her, and Juda tells him to let her keep it because he has sent what he promised. Three months later, Juda hears the accusation against Thamar and orders her burned. She answers by sending the objects and asking him to identify their owner. Recognition leads him to acknowledge his own failure: he did not give her to Sela. This chain of events shows how objects left as a pledge become the evidence behind Juda’s admission. It does not require an invented public trial, a claim that the tokens could never be forged, or an unstated reason for his earlier fear.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The chapter gives different information about Her and Onan. Her is called wicked without a specific act being named. Onan’s action and reason are stated: he prevents children from being born in his brother’s name. Keeping that difference avoids inventing a particular sin for Her or losing Onan’s stated purpose.
2
Juda first tells Thamar to wait until Sela grows up because he fears losing another son. Later the account says Sela is grown and she has not been married to him. Juda’s final admission names that failure directly. These separate stages matter; the later failure should not be turned into an invented earlier declaration of bad faith.
3
The ring, bracelet and staff give Thamar’s message a basis Juda can recognise. His acknowledgement follows his identification of the objects and includes a specific reason for calling her juster than himself. The chapter records that admission and his ending sexual relations with her, then the births of Phares and Zara.

Test your recall

Why does Thamar still have Juda’s pledge when her pregnancy is reported, how does she use it in her message, and what failure does Juda acknowledge after recognising it?

Show answer

Juda’s shepherd cannot find the woman when he brings the promised kid, so the ring, bracelet, and staff remain with Thamar. When she is accused and threatened with execution, she sends the objects to Juda and says that her child’s father owns them. Juda recognizes his property and admits that she is more just than he is because he did not give her to his son Sela.

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 4357–4377
Genesis Chapter 38 The sons of Juda: the death of Her and Onan: the birth of Phares and Zara. 38:1. At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Odollamite, named Hiras. 38:2. And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her. 38:3. And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her. 38:4. And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan. 38:5. She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. After whose birth, she ceased to bear any more. 38:6. And Juda took a wife for Her, his first born, whose name was Thamar.
Lines 4378–4390
38:7. And Her, the first born of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him. 38:8. Juda, therefore, said to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother’s wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother. 38:9. He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother’s name. 38:10. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing:
Lines 4391–4403
38:11. Wherefore Juda said to Thamar his daughter-in-law: Remain a widow in thy father’s house, till Sela my son grow up: for he was afraid lest he also might die, as his brethren did. She went her way, and dwelt in her father’s house. 38:12. And after many days were past: the daughter of Sue the wife of Juda died: and when he had taken comfort after his mourning, he went up to Thamnas, to the shearers of his sheep, he and Hiras the Odollamite, the shepherd of his flock. 38:13. And it was told Thamar that her father-in-law was come up to Thamnas to shear his sheep.
Lines 4404–4425
38:14. And she put off the garments of her widowhood, and took a veil: and changing her dress, sat in the cross way, that leadeth to Thamnas: because Sela was grown up, and she had not been married to him. 38:15. When Juda saw her, he thought she was a harlot: for she had covered her face, lest she should be known. 38:16. And going to her, he said: Suffer me to lie with thee: for he knew her not to be his daughter-in-law. And she answered: What wilt thou give me to enjoy my company? 38:17. He said: I will send thee a kid out of the flock. And when she said again: I will suffer what thou wilt, if thou give me a pledge, till thou send what thou promisest. 38:18. Juda said: What wilt thou have for a pledge? She answered: Thy ring and bracelet, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. The woman therefore at one copulation conceived. 38:19. And she arose and went her way: and putting off the apparel which she had taken, put on the garments of her widowhood.
Lines 4426–4441
38:20. And Juda sent a kid by his shepherd, the Odollamite, that he might receive the pledge again, which he had given to the woman: but he, not finding her, 38:21. Asked the men of that place: Where is the woman that sat in the cross way? And when they all made answer: There was no harlot in this place, 38:22. He returned to Juda, and said to him: I have not found her; moreover, the men of that place said to me, that there never sat a harlot there. 38:23. Juda said: Let her take it to herself, surely she cannot charge us with a lie, I sent the kid which I promised: and thou didst not find her.
Lines 4442–4453
38:24. And behold, after three months, they told Juda, saying: Thamar, thy daughter-in-law, hath played the harlot, and she appeareth to have a big belly. And Juda said: Bring her out that she may be burnt. 38:25. But when she was led to execution, she sent to her father in law, saying: By the man, to whom these things belong, I am with child. See whose ring, and bracelet, and staff this is. 38:26. But he acknowledging the gifts, said: She is juster than I: because I did not give her to Sela, my son. However he knew her no more.
Lines 4454–4463
38:27. And when she was ready to be brought to bed, there appeared twins in her womb: and in the very delivery of the infants, one put forth a hand, whereon the midwife tied a scarlet thread, saying: 38:28. This shall come forth the first. 38:29. But he drawing back his hand, the other came forth: and the woman said: Why is the partition divided for thee? and therefore called his name Phares.
Lines 4464–4465
Phares.... That is, a breach or division.
Lines 4466–4469
38:30. Afterwards his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread: and she called his name Zara.