SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 12

EVIDENCE

A SCARLET THREAD

From Genesis 38

Not long after Joseph had been sold, Judah moved away from his family and went to live with Hirah at Adullam. While there, he married a Canaanite girl named Shua and they made their home at Chezib, where they had three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. The mother named Onan and Shelah, while Judah named Er. When Er, who was the oldest son, grew up, he married a girl named Tamar. But he was such a wicked man that Adonai took his life away. It was the custom at that time for the next oldest son to take his brother’s widow as a wife and raise a family for him. Judah ordered Onan to do this, but Onan was not happy, for he realized that this family would really be Er’s, not his. So, Onan deliberately prevented Tamar from having a child. Adonai did not like what Onan did, for He thought it was wrong to keep Tamar from becoming a mother. Before long, Adonai took Onan’s life also. By this time, Judah was afraid to ask his third son, Shelah, to take Tamar as a wife and raise a family for Er, so he told Tamar to go back home to her parents until Shelah was older, pretending that she could marry him then. But Judah never planned that Shelah would marry her, for he was afraid that Adonai might take Shelah’s life also. Tamar obeyed Judah and went home to live with her parents. Time passed and Judah’s wife died. When the time of mourning had ended, Judah left for Timnah with his friend, Hirah the Adullamite, to watch the shearing of his sheep. By this time, Shelah was a grown man, but Judah had still not arranged for Tamar to marry him. Tamar had become certain by now that Judah would never permit her to have children through Shelah. When someone told Tamar that Judah had gone to Timnah to see that his sheep were sheared, Tamar worked out a plan. She put aside her widow’s clothing, put on a veil so that Judah would not recognize her, and sat near the gateway of the village of Enaim, on the road that led to Timnah. When Judah came along, he thought that she was a harlot and asked if he might come to her. [What will you give me?] she asked. [A young goat from my flock.] [Will you leave something with me until you send the young goat?] [Of course. What would you like?] [Your seal and the cord on which it hangs. Also, your walking stick.] Judah left his seal and cord and walking stick with Tamar. After he had gone away, Tamar took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothing and went away. When Judah’s friend Hirah the Adullamite came back with the young goat, he couldn’t find Tamar. Anxious to pick up Judah’s seal, which identified him, Hirah asked around town about this woman. [We don’t have a woman like that living around here,] the men of the town said. Adullam was a Canaanite city in the southern branch of the Elah Valley. After the Israelite conquest of Canaan, it became part of the territory assigned to Judah’s descendants. [She’s not there,] Hirah told Judah when he returned home. [Not only that, the men of the town say they don’t have a woman like that living there.] [Let her keep my things!] said Judah. [We can’t go looking for her anymore or people will laugh at us. You tried to find her and give her the young goat, but you couldn’t. Let us forget it.] About three months after this had happened, someone brought word to Judah that his daughter-in-law Tamar was expecting a child, even though she still was not married. [Bring her out and burn her to death!] Judah demanded. When Tamar was brought out to be burned, she sent word to her father-in-law, Judah. [The man who owns this seal, cord, and walking stick is the father of my child. Look carefully to see whose they are!] When Judah realized that they were his, he was ashamed. [She is right and I am wrong,] he said. [I refused to let her marry my son Shelah.] But even then, Judah did not marry Tamar. When her time came, Tamar had twins. During the birth, one boy’s wrist appeared first and the midwife tied a scarlet thread around it. But then he drew back his hand and the other boy was born first. [What a breach you made for yourself!] the midwife said to this baby boy. Thus, he was named Perez, [A Breach.] Later, the baby with the scarlet thread was born, and he was called Zerah.

COMMENTARY

SEALS AND RINGS

The seal, a personal signature symbol in stone, was a sure mark of identification in Bible times. It could be used as evidence for, or against, its possessor. In this story the seal of Israel’s son, Judah, proved to be the evidence of a broken pledge. Long before writing was invented, people had ways of signing things. They used seals. These were usually raised or engraved designs on a hard surface, which when pressed on wet clay left a mark. No two seals were alike; which meant that each left a distinctive signature. The very first seals, used more than two thousand years before Abraham, were stamp seals. An engraved small gem or bead was pressed or stamped into soft clay and left its impression. But as seals began to be used more often, cylinder seals appeared. A cylinder seal was shaped like a long spool, with a hole through the centre. Rolled across wet clay, it left a repeating picture behind. Such a cylinder seal, with a cord or chain threaded through, could conveniently be carried on the wrist or around the neck. Smaller seals were mounted on rings that could be worn on the hand. This was the favourite of the ancient Egyptians and of the Israelites as well. The Egyptians changed the shape to an oval that was slightly rounded and resembled a beetle. These were scarab rings or seals, and were most often made of ivory. The Egyptians found a way to use them with ink on papyrus, like a rubber stamp and inkpad. Seals could be made of almost any hard substance. The first ones were clay, but they were also made of wood, semiprecious stones, gold and silver. A poor person’s seal was almost always wood or clay. The first designs were simple geometric ones, but eventually they became very complicated and could include flowers, animals, whole hunting scenes, and writing. Seals were used to sign jewellery, pottery, contracts and all written communications. But their usefulness did not stop there. They were used to guarantee the quality and quantity of merchandise. Filled jars and containers would be covered with a cloth, which would be dampened and covered with clay. The clay was then impressed with a seal, usually a large stamp seal or a cylinder seal. As long as this was unbroken, the contents remained untouched, and thus their quantity and quality were assured.