Bereshith (Genesis) 38

Lesson date: 09/../5858AA

A number of years ago I was reading in Exodus Chapter 1 and noticed that the names of the sons of Yisra’el were not in birth order and then it dawned on me that the Hebrew name for Exodus was Shemoth so, I began to wonder whether or not there was any particular meaning or significance for the names of the sons of Yisra’el being there. What else could I do but to translate the names to see if there was. Lo and behold, there was.

Chapter 38 of Bereshith is one of those chapters that if you do not look at the names of the “cast of characters” you miss the meaning or significance of the chapter. About 6 years ago, maybe longer, I was reading Chapter 38 and thought to myself, “This chapter is so out of place and has so little relevance to the story as a whole, why is it here, in this location”. That is when I remembered Shemoth 1. I know some people disagree with my breakdown of this chapter but I feel that if you do not translate the names of the characters and use this information to add to the story you truly do not understand the significance of Chapter 38. Let’s take a look.

Verse 1 – Yehudah “left” his brothers = yarad – H3381 – to go down or downwards. The same word used “to go down to Egypt”.

“And turned aside to a man” = natah – H5186 – to incline, bend, turn aside, spread out, stretch out.

“Adullamite” – resident of Adullam, was a town along the King’s Highway later called the Roman Road. There are numerous caves there and one in which David hid from King Sha’ul.

Both yarad and natah can be used to signify a spiritual or moral “going down” and “giving in” to lusts.

Exo 23:2 “Do not follow a crowd to do evil, nor bear witness in a strife so as to turn aside after many, to turn aside what is right.

Psa 125:5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways, יהוה shall lead them away With the workers of wickedness. Peace be upon Yisra’ĕl!

There is still one more component to explain the rash actions of Yehudah. His wife has no name but her father does: Shuwa – H7770 – wealth. Could it be that Yehudah desired to quit living in tents and live in the city and married the daughter of a wealthy man. He would no longer have to walk behind smelly herds and flocks. Adullam is located on the top of a hill and overlooks the Valley of Elah. It posesses hundreds of stone cisterns where the Eid al Mieh ((Derived from Aramaic and means the same thing in Arabic)) took place, “Celebration of Water.” It was the good life, or so he thought.

Or, you could sum it up this way, Yehudah left the way of his father/ YHVH’s Way and Right-rulings and followed the way of Adullami – H5726 “Justice for the people” and went down to follow the ways of lusts (King’s Highway) ((Mat. 7:13)) Just like today people follow man’s system of justice rather than YHVH’s Torah. Man follows man’s traditions to worship God and will not obey YHVH’s Way to worship Him in Truth.

Jdg 21:25 In those days there was no sovereign in Yisra’ĕl – everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Deu 12:8 “Do not do as we are doing here today – each one doing whatever is right in his own eyes.

Verse 2-5 – Yehudah sees a Kena’anite woman, for whom we have no name for but her father’s name was Shuwa. She has three sons for him Er – H6147 – watchful, awaken arouse; Onan – H209 – strong, vigorous; Shelah – H7956 – petition, at ease, prosperity. Yehudah was at Khezib – H3580 – falsified, when Shelah was born. Do you see the warning here?

Chasing wealth (Shuwa) will arouse (Er) the strong(Onan) desire to be at ease (Shelah) in our prosperity(Shelah) but it is the false(Khezib) way.

What caused Yehudah to reach this point in his journey? Remember it was Yehudah who wanted to sell Yoseph for silver. His eye(lamp) was on the teachings of the world. His lamp was filled with man’s desire not YHVH’s desire for us. Yah’s Word is True Oil for the lamp of the body.

Son 1:3 For fragrance your oils are good. Your name is oil poured forth, Therefore the maidens love you.

Mat 24:35 “The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall by no means pass away.

Mat 5:18 “For truly, I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.

Psa 1:1 Blessed is the man who shall not walk in the counsel of the wrong, And shall not stand in the path of sinners, And shall not sit in the seat of scoffers,

Psa 1:2 But his delight is in the Torah of יהוה, And he meditates in His Torah day and night.

Psa 1:3 For he shall be as a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That yields its fruit in its season, And whose leaf does not wither, And whatever he does prospers.

2Co 2:17 For we are not, as so many, adulterating the Word of Elohim for gain – but as of sincerity, but as from Elohim, in the sight of Elohim, we speak in Messiah.

Verses 6-7 – Take Note Hebrew word play ahead!!! Yehudah took a wife(Tamar = palm tree) for Er (ער) = ayin resh. And Er was evil (רע). So, what made Er evil?

Verses 8-10 – There is a huge (or Yuge) lesson here. Let’s look at it: Yehudah instructs his son Onan to take Tamar as his wife and raise up a son for his brother. Onan has sex with Tamar but instead of raising up a son for Er he practices contraception and spills his seed (semen) on the ground. He had intercourse for the sake of satisfying his fleshly lusts rather than following his fathers instructions. Because of his sins he died. Object lesson here: when we refuse to follow our Father’s Instructions (Torah) our life(everlasting) will be taken.

Deu 25:5 “When brothers dwell together, and one of them has died, and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not become a stranger’s outside. Her husband’s brother does go in to her, and shall take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

Deu 25:6 “And it shall be that the first-born son which she bears does rise up for the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not blotted out of Yisra’ĕl.

Instead, what should he have done?

Deu 25:7 “But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Yisra’ĕl, he does not agree to perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’

Deu 25:8 “The elders of his city shall then call him and speak to him, and he shall stand and say, ‘I have no desire to take her,’

Deu 25:9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and remove his sandal from his foot, and shall spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’

Deu 25:10 “And in Yisra’ĕl his name shall be called, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

In other words, he is out of covenant!!!

What happened to Naomi, Ruth and Boaz?

Rth 4:5 And Boʽaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naʽomi, you shall also acquire Ruth the Mo’abitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”

Rth 4:6 And the redeemer said, “I am not able to redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I am not able to redeem it.”

Rth 4:7 And this was formerly done in Yisra’ĕl concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm every word: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a witness in Yisra’ĕl.

Rth 4:8 So the redeemer said to Boʽaz, “Buy it for yourself.” Then he took off his sandal.

The one taking his brothers wife could have either muddied his inheritance or forfeited it altogether depending on the line of succession. It would have certainly caused some problems for his own heirs by another wife which may or may have have already been born. Here is an important point to remember; Onan was probably not married yet and taking Tamar, in his brothers name but, still as his wife would have given Tamar’s children priority over his own and the station of his wife may be lowered to that of concubine and the son of a concubine has the name of the master of the house but not the inheritance.

Gen 21:10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this female servant and her son, for the son of this female servant shall not inherit with my son, with Yitsḥaq.”

It appears that Yehudah’s son may have been motivated by the same incentive as Yehudah, wealth, prosperity.

Verses 11-16 – Yehudah instructs Tamar to remain a widow in her father’s house until such time that Shelah is grown. Probably out of the fear of losing his son Shelah ,Yehudah did not fulfil his vow. When Tamar hears about her father-in-law coming to the sheep shearing she changes from her widow’s garments to that of a prostitute. Please note; he reckoned her as a prostitute or whore because her face was covered, not uncovered.

Words to take note of: Enayim – H5879 – עינם / עינים – ‛êynayim / ‛êynâm – BDB Definition:Enam = “double spring”

Timnah – H8553 – תּמנה – timnâh – BDB Definition: portion

natah – H5186 – turned aside (once again, turning aside gets Yehudah in trouble)

way = H1870 – דּרך – derek – BDB Definition: 1) way, road, distance, journey, manner, course of life, moral character.

Verses 17-20 – “What do you give me?” Notice the simplicity of the question; “What will you pay me?” Look at the response: “Let me send you a young goat”. What is happening here? Lev 16:8 “And Aharon shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for יהוה and the other lot for Azazel.

Lev 16:9 “And Aharon shall bring the goat on which the lot for יהוה fell, and shall prepare it as a sin offering. Yehudah is paying the acceptable price of his sin for having intercourse with a pagan prostitute:

Num 25:7 And when Pineḥas, son of Elʽazar, son of Aharon the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand,

Num 25:8 and he went after the man of Yisra’ĕl into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Yisra’ĕl, and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague among the children of Yisra’ĕl came to a stop.

“Do you give me a pledge” Pledge = H6162 – ערבון – ‛ărâbôn – BDB Definition: 1) pledge, security. Now look at the Greek – G728 – ἀῤῥαβών – arrhabōn – ar-hrab-ohn’ – Of Hebrew origin [H6162]; a pledge. The Greeks did not have a comparable word so they transliterated it from the Hebrew. This in itself is interesting but look at some of the other usage. ((The first thing to note is that H6162 is only used 3 times in Scripture and only in this chapter.))

2Co 1:21 But He who establishes us with you in Messiah and has anointed us is Elohim,

2Co 1:22 who also sealed us, and gave the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

2Co 5:5 Now He who has prepared us for this same purpose is Elohim, who has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.

Eph 1:13 in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your deliverance, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Set-apart Spirit of promise,

Eph 1:14 who is the pledge of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His esteem.

Just like Yehudah, giving Tamar a pledge to prove that he will pay her what he says he will we see Sha’ul use the identical word in the B’rit Hadasha to show that the Holy Spirit is Yeshua’s pledge or deposit to prove that He will give us our inheritance in YHVH’s Kingdom.

Your seal, your chord and your staff.

H2368 –חֹתָם חוֹתָם – chôthâm chôthâm – kho-thawm’, kho-thawm’ – From H2856; a signature ring: – seal, signet.

H6616 – פָּתִיל – pâthı̂yl – paw-theel’ – From H6617; twine: – bracelet, lace, line, ribband, thread, wire.

H4294 – מַטָּה מַטֶּה – maṭṭeh maṭṭâh – mat-teh’, mat-taw’ – From H5186; a branch (as extending); figuratively a tribe; also a rod, sceptre.

Exo 28:28 and they bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the shoulder garment, using a blue cord, so that it is above the embroidered band of the shoulder garment, so that the breastplate does not come loose from the shoulder garment.

Exo 39:31 And they put on it a blue cord, to fasten it above on the turban, as יהוה had commanded Mosheh.

Num 15:38 “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall say to them to make tzitziyot on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue cord in the tzitzit of the corners.

In essence Tamar told Yehudah to give her everything that defined who Yehudah was as an individual. The signet ring represented Yehudah’s name, his rod was his authority and his ribband was also a sign of whose household Yehudah was for, Yisra’el. In other words “I want to be your wife with your name.”

It was a very short time between giving the pledge and sending the payment because Yehudah could not even transact business without his signet ring, but upon sending the payment with his friend his friend could not find her.

Verses 21-22 – H6948 – קדשׁה – qedêshâh – BDB Definition: 1) female temple prostitute, harlot. Yes, the root word is qodesh, set-apart. Temple prostitutes were set apart to a pagan god and to sleep with one was an honor not a shame so, if Yehudah’s friend asked for the cult prostitute there would have not been any shame upon him or his friend.

Verse 23 – Yehudah is basically saying, “Let her keep them and cover the whole thing up.” He went whoring in the world and does not want anyone to know it. Wait, that is just like us. We went whoring after other gods but instead of us looking for our pledge Yeshua will come back to see if we are keeping His Pledge and what is His Pledge? Luk 18:8 “I say to you that He shall do right to them speedily. But when the Son of Aḏam comes, shall He find the belief on the earth?”

Exo 13:9 “And it shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, that the Torah of יהוה is to be in your mouth, for with a strong hand יהוה has brought you out of Mitsrayim.

Exo 31:13 “And you, speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘My Sabbaths you are to guard, by all means, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, to know that I, יהוה, am setting you apart.

Exo 31:17 ‘Between Me and the children of Yisra’ĕl it is a sign forever. For in six days יהוה made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ”

Deu 6:4 “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: יהוה our Elohim, יהוה is one!

Deu 6:5 “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your might.

Deu 6:6 “And these Words which I am commanding you today shall be in your heart,

Deu 6:7 and you shall impress them upon your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,

Deu 6:8 and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Deu 11:18 ‘And you shall lay up these Words of Mine in your heart and in your being, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

Is it any wonder that Yeshua asked “Would He find faith on the Earth?” The anitchrist has come and everyone thinks that he is Elohim(God). This in and of itself explains why people who see the sabbath as set-apart can understand what we say and teach. It is His sign that we are His people.

Rev 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those guarding the commands of Elohim and possessing the witness of יהושע Messiah.

Rev 14:12 Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones, here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.

Rev_22:14 “Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.

Verses 24-26 – Three months later Yehudah is informed that his daughter-in-law was pregnant for whoring. “Let her be burned”. Why not stoned?

Lev 21:9 ‘And when the daughter of any priest profanes herself by whoring, she profanes her father. She is burned with fire.

Here is the beauty of what happened: No one else would have recognized the “pledge” but Yehudah. It was of no value to anyone else but Yehudah. Tamar could not get money for it at the local pawn shop. It was worthless to everyone else but Yehudah. Now, the pledge that we have from our Master is worthless to everyone else. They can’t recognize it. We can’t take it somewhere and trade it for money because it doesn’t promise wealth and prosperity in this world. Have you ever heard, “What difference does a day make?” It is worthless to the world. It does not represent anything of this world. Only Yeshua can recognize His Pledge, His Spirit, His Father’s sign upon our hands and foreheads. His seal is His Shabbat,, His chord is His Tzitzit and His Staff is His Authority as the Good Shepherd of the lost sheep of the House of Yisra’el.

Verses 27-30 – Twins are born. One child’s hand comes out first and a red chord is tied around its hand to mark it as the first born but instead his brother exits the womb first.

H6557 – פּרץ – perets -BDB Definition: Perez or Pharez = “breach”

H2226 – זרח – zerach – BDB Definition: Zerah or Zarah = “rising”

Just like Tamar, who was “redeemed” by Yehudah because she possessed the “pledge” we see another who is redeemed and both Tamar and Ruth are in the lineage of our Messiah.

Rth 4:11 And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “Witnesses! יהוה make the woman who is coming to your house as Rahĕl and as Lĕ’ah, the two who built the house of Yisra’ĕl. And prove your worth in Ephrathah and proclaim the Name in Bĕyth Leḥem.

Rth 4:12 “And let your house be like the house of Perets, whom Tamar bore to Yehudah, of the seed which יהוה does give you from this young woman.”

Rth 4:13 And Boʽaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and יהוה granted her conception, and she bore a son.

Rth 4:14 And the women said to Naʽomi, “Blessed be יהוה, who has not left you this day without a redeemer. And let his Name be proclaimed in Yisra’ĕl!

And what about Zerah. He fathered a nation as well.

Lesson date: 09/29/5858AA