Reference: Tamar (2)
Fausets
("a palm".) (See THAMAR.)
1. (See JUDAH.) Her importance in the narrative (Ge 38:6-30) lies in her being the instrument (though in an incestuous way) of saving from extinction the family and tribe from which Messiah was to spring. Er and Onan were dead; and Judah's wife Bathshun. Shelab alone remained; and Judah's parental fears for him, lest if joined to Tamar he too like his brothers should die, were preventing Judah from giving him as the tribe law required (De 25:5; Mt 22:24) to Tamar. She took the desperate measure of helping herself by incest. Pharez and Zarah were her sons by Judah; and a fruitful race followed, God not sanctioning but overruling evil to His own good purpose (Ro 3:5-8; Ru 4:12,22; Mt 1:3).
2. Daughter of David and Maacah; the handsome Absalom's beautiful sister; forced by Amnon at his bad friend Jonadab's abominable suggestion (2 Samuel 13; 1Ch 3:9). (See ABSALOM; AMNON; JONADAB.) Beauty is a snare unless grace accompany and guard it (Pr 31:30). Tamar excelled in baking palatable cakes (lebibah, "heartcakes," with spices as "cordials".) Amnon availed himself of this to effect his design, as if he wished to see the exquisite grace with which she baked before his eyes.
She remonstrated at his force, dwelling twice on such baseness being wrought "in Israel," where a higher law existed than in pagandom. Yet such was the low opinion she, in common with the rest of David's children, formed of the king's foolish fondness for his offspring that she believed it would outweigh his regard for the law of God against incest (Le 18:9,11). Amnon was his oldest, son, from whom he would not withhold even a half sister! Each prince, it appears, had his own establishment, and princesses were not above baking; the king's daughters in their virginity were distinguished by "garments of divers colours."
3. Absalom's sole surviving child, beautiful as her aunt and father; married Uriel of Gibeah, and bore Maachah, wife of Rehoboam king of Judah (1Ki 15:2; 2Ch 11:20-22; 13:2), and mother of Abijah (2Sa 14:7).
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For his first son Er, Judah got a wife whose name was Tamar. Er was an evil man. It displeased Jehovah. So Jehovah killed him. read more. Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan: Go sleep with your brother's widow. Fulfill your obligation to her as her husband's brother. That way your brother may have descendants. Onan knew that the children would not belong to him. So when he had intercourse with his brother's widow, he let the semen spill on the ground, assuring that there would be no children for his brother. What he did displeased Jehovah. So Jehovah killed him also. Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar: Return to your father's house and remain a widow until my son Shelah grows up. He said this because he was afraid that Shelah would be killed, as his brothers had been. So Tamar went back home. After some time Judah's wife died. When he finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah, where his sheep were being sheared. Tamar found out that her father-in-law Judah was going to Timnah to shear his sheep. She realized that Shelah was now a grown man. She had not been allowed to marry him. So she decided to dress in something other than her widow's clothes and to cover her face with a veil. Then she sat outside the town of Enaim on the road to Timnah. Judah came along. He did not recognize her because of the veil. He thought she was a prostitute, and asked her to sleep with him. She asked: What will you give me if I do? He answered: One of my young goats. Then she asked: What will you give me to keep until you send the goat? What do you want? he asked. The ring on that cord around your neck, she replied. I also want the special walking stick you have with you. So he gave them to her. They slept together and she became pregnant. After returning home, Tamar took off the veil and dressed in her widow's clothes again. Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand. But he did not find her. He asked the men: Where is the temple prostitute who was by the road at Enaim? They said: There has been no temple prostitute here. So he went back to Judah and said: I did not find her. Besides, the men who lived there said there has not been any temple prostitute here. Then Judah said: Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you did not find her. Three months later Judah was told: Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant. Judah said: Bring her out and have her burned to death! As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. I am pregnant by the man who owns these, she said. She added: See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are. Judah recognized them and said: She is more righteous than I, since I would not give her to my son Shelah. He did not sleep with her again. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand. The midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said: This one came out first. When he drew back his hand, his brother came out. She said: So this is how you have broken out! He was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah.
Never have sexual intercourse with your stepsister, whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter. It makes no difference whether or not she was born in your house.
Never have sexual intercourse with a daughter of your father and his wife. She is your own sister.
When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son the wife of the deceased shall not marry outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall marry her and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
May your family be like the family of Perez, the son whom Tamar gave to Judah, from the offspring that Jehovah may give you by this young woman.
And Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
All my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them. They want to kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope. They will leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive.
He ruled three years as king in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom.
All these were the sons of David, besides his sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain. But a woman who respects Jehovah will be praised.
Judah and Tamar were the father and mother of Perez and Zerah. Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,
Teacher, Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother should marry his wife, and bring up seed for his brother.
If our unrighteousness defines God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his anger is he? I speak in human terms. Not at all! For how will God judge the world? read more. But what if my untruth serves God's glory by making his truth stand out more clearly? Why should I be condemned as a sinner? Why not say, Let us do evil so that good may come? Some people have insulted me by accusing me of saying this very thing! They should be condemned and they will be.