A Lineage of Grace: Tamar Trivia Quiz

Answer: Because he was wicked

Genesis 38: 7 (NIV) states that Er, Judah's oldest son "was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death." We aren't told why he was regarded as wicked, but he must have been a pretty nasty piece of work if the Lord decided to put him to death.

Answer: Er's brother Onan

The custom (which later became part of Jewish law) was that if a man died childless, his brother (if he had one) was to marry the widow and have children for his dead brother. Therefore once Er died it was the duty of his younger brother Onan to marry Tamar. (Genesis 38:8)

Er and Onan also had another somewhat younger brother, Shelah. Shua was Judah's father-in-law and Hirah was Judah's friend from Adullam.

Answer: Give her a child

Onan was presumably a selfish man and didn't fancy the idea that he was to be used to preserve his brother's bloodline before he was able to build his own, so he refused to give Tamar children. The Bible is quite graphic in its account of Onan's contraceptive methods! (Genesis 38:9)

Answer: To wait until his third son was old enough to marry her

After Onan was also killed by the Lord because of his wickedness, Judah told Tamar to return to her father's house to live as a widow until Judah's youngest son, Shelah, was of marriageable age.

Judah probably wanted a break. He'd seen his two older sons die childless and didn't relish the thought that this might happen to his youngest son too. Tamar may have appreciated a break too after being married to two very wicked men! (Genesis 38:11)

Answer: By the roadside

Tamar had heard that her father-in-law and his friend Hirah the Adullamite were on their way to Timna to see how the sheep shearing was going. She also knew that Shelah had now grown up but she hadn't been sent for to be his wife. She decided that the best way to fulfill her duty to preserve Judah's bloodline was to trick Judah himself into giving her a child.

Shrine prostitutes were a common sight at that time as part of the Canaanite religion. Sleeping with them was all tied in with fertility, crops and harvest. Judah wouldn't have been surprised to encounter a shrine prostitute by the roadside so it was a good place for Tamar to wait for him.

Answer: Ring

Judah didn't have any money with him to pay Tamar for her "services" so promised to send her a young goat from his flock. She wanted a pledge from him to make sure that he would fulfill his promise. She knew that he wasn't too good at keeping promises!

Giving Tamar his seal was probably the equivalent of giving someone your bankcard pin number today. The seal would have been unique to Judah, a stone carving, and he would have worn it around his neck (presumably on the cord mentioned) at all times. It was used to authenticate legal documents. Tamar would have known that having Judah's seal would prove beyond all doubt that he had been with her.

Answer: He wanted her burnt to death

Although it was perfectly acceptable for men to use the services of a prostitute, to be guilty of prostitution was about the worst crime that a woman could commit! Because the bloodline was preserved through the woman it was essential for the woman to stay faithful to her husband. A man didn't want his inheritance going to children that weren't his. Any woman who committed adultery could be executed.

When Judah heard therefore that his daughter-in-law, who was to preserve his family line, was pregnant as a result of prostitution he wanted to get rid of her and the child she was carrying.

Answer: She is more righteous than I am

When Judah realised that he was the father of Tamar's child and why she had tricked him, he understood that Tamar had been more interested in preserving his family line than he himself had. Although acting as a prostitute was not the most morally upright way of achieving the desired result, Tamar had wanted to fulfill her duty and was therefore more righteous than her father-in-law who had ignored his.

Answer: Perez and Zerah

Perez means "breaking out" and Zerah means "scarlet". During the birth Zerah put a hand out and so the midwife tied a scarlet thread onto his wrist to mark that he was the first-born. He then however pulled his hand back in and his brother "broke out" and was born first. It is Perez who is mentioned in Jesus' family tree. (Matthew 1:3)

Uz and Buz were Abraham's nephews (Genesis 22:21). Hophni and Phineas were the sons of Eli, the priest who trained Samuel. (You can read about what happened to them in 1 Samuel 4:1-11.)

Answer: We aren't told in Genesis

The story of Tamar finishes at the end of Genesis 38 with the birth of her twin sons. We aren't told what happened to her after that. I personally don't think that she became Judah's wife as verse 26 states that he didn't sleep with her again. I imagine that she would have lived in his household though, bringing up their sons.