We can run but we cannot hide. After the horrible mistreatment of Joseph, Judah moved away from family to start a new life. But the pain and shame of his choices lived on in the next generation. His first two sons were wicked. What Judah had done to Joseph was wicked. In this case, the acorns had not fallen far from the acorn tree. I do not know whether they knew what their father Judah had done to Joseph. But Judah knew. His tell-tale heart kept reminding him in his quiet moments.
How much do we love our siblings? I only ask because in the ancient world, love for a brother assumed providing for his widow if he died. The law of levirate marriage meant that one would marry his brother’s childless widow to ensure she had children to care for her in her old age (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Widows in the ancient world were often vulnerable with no one to provide for or protect them. In a family, a brother-in-law accepted his responsibility.
As the father of the family, Judah assumed responsibility for his sons and their families. When his oldest son married and died, Judah asked his second son to assume his brother’s place to care for his brother’s wife. (This is strange to us, I know). His second son did not accept responsibility to help her conceive a child. He also died prematurely because he was evil. Why didn’t Judah correct his sons and teach them to love their family better? Mistreatment of family ran in the family. Judah may have thought he had surrendered his credibility when he sold his younger brother into slavery.
But Judah still had one more son. By the law he should have let his daughter-in-law Tamar marry his third boy. But the boy was young, and Judah was beginning to believe she was bad luck. Then he sent Tamar back to her family with a promise he would not forget her. Judah kept repeating his sin. Sending a daughter-in-law away could not have been as hard as sending Joseph away. Scholars say this was cruel and unusual domestic conduct. Judah had welcomed Tamar into his family, and now he sent her home, childless. Tamar was out of sight, and out of mind for Judah, until she wasn’t. Who has been cut off from your family tree? How is that working? What does God want you to do about it? We can run, but we cannot hide.
