Joseph and Judah
by
Philip du Nard
Chapter 36 of Genesis gives the generations of Esau. In chapter 37, we are introduced more fully to Joseph, one of Jacob's sons, and his relationship with his brothers. In chapter 38, we learn more about Judah, another son. I daresay most Christians are more familiar with the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors than what transpired in the life of Judah and its signficance. It may be because the story of Joseph is easier to present to young children than the sordid events that happened in chapter 38 and people remember what they learned in Sunday school but not much beyond that. But we will briefly consider Joseph first.
Joseph
Though Joseph was the second youngest of Jacob's twelve sons, he was the elder of the two sons of Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife, Benjamin being the younger of the two sons. With respect to the other sons, in verses 2-4, we learn that "Joseph brought unto his father their evil report" meaning he would tell on them to Jacob when they did wrong. We also learn that Joseph was Jacob's favorite and Jacob did not try to hide that fact but the coat of many colors which he gave Joseph was a manifest token of that favoritism. This could only lead to trouble and it did. Verse 4 says his brothers "hated him" for this.
Yet God Himself chose to favor Joseph as well. It might have been better for young Joseph if he had not divulged to his family the special revelation God gave him concerning his future as this added to the tension but that, of course, led to its fulfillment. In any case, God gave him a promise as a young man and just as father Jacob must have spent many a cold night shepherding sheep thinking on how the Lord had told him He would not forsake him and would bring Him back to his own land, so when Joseph later endured a seemingly hopeless situation in Egypt, he must have thought many times on what God had assured him of. God gives a promise and then makes us wait for its fulfillment and lets the Word do its cleansing work in our lives.
The symbols were different but the unmistakeable theme in each of the two dreams God gave to Joseph was that he would, in some fashion, be exalted over his brethren. The reaction of his brothers was negative. Verse 7 states, "And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words," But it is interesting how verse 11 characterizes their reaction to the dreams : "And his brethren envied him". They might have all sorts of mean thoughts about Joseph because of this as they plainly did but if they believed that the dreams were simply a product of his youthful imagination and without substance or a reflection of a kind of arrogance on his part, why would they envy him unless they had a nagging suspicion that the dreams were indeed of future significance? The verse continues, "But his father observed the saying." Jacob too, despite his initial rebuke of Joseph, evidently filed this away in the back of his mind. Most likely he remembered his own vision when he was younger and he knew how God had chosen Isaac over Ishmael and himself over Esau and perhaps a pattern was beginning to emerge in his mind that confirmed to him that God indeed had a special purpose for Joseph. Thus, upon learning of Joseph's supposed death from his other sons whose evil actions ultimately led to Joseph ending up in Egypt, Jacob must not only have experienced the great grief that is brought out in the Scriptures, but very likely great perplexity as well, the same type of perplexity that certain disciples had when, thinking Christ was still in the grave after his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection said, "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel."
Maybe some of us have had a similar experience where a series of events took place that had the hand of God written all over it which seemed to be pointing in a particular direction and then something else happened that seemed to negate all of that. And years must pass until we see that it was of God afterall. What awe this would inspire!
Bible students are, of course, familiar with the remainder of the story of how Joseph was sold into Egyptian bondage and after tests and trials, became Pharoah's prime minister and administered the nation's food supply enabling the nation to survive a grievous famine and that it was under these circumstances that the dreams had their fulfillment as the brothers bowed before Joseph seeking his favor in their time of need. The famine must have seemed like the worst thing that could have happened to Jacob and his family but we can see how God used the force of unpleasant circumstances to lead them in the direction He was taking them, in this case, to Egypt, where Jacob would be reunited with Joseph and they would be fed and taken care of. If a similar thing happened to us or to our nation, would we see the hand of God? Would we consider such troubles to be God benevolently driving us to something better and to take a direction we would not otherwise take or would we decide that God had forsaken us and our nation in His wrath? The position we take on this as it applies to the nation may be partly determined by where we believe the descendants of Joseph and his brothers to be in the world today. I would venture to say many Christians have more hope for the future of the Israeli state in the Middle-East than they do for the United States.
As we examine the blessings that Jacob and Moses pronounced on the various tribes of Israel and see their fulfillment, we should see that the fulfillment of Joseph's dreams in the earthly lives of him and his brothers was not the final one but that there are also certain limited parallels that have transpired as their descendants developed into tribes and later into nations.
Judah
Jacob had twelve sons. Of six of those sons, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, and Issachar, we hear nothing in Genesis about anyone of them specifically until Jacob blesses his sons individually at the end of his life. There are a few references to Reuben, the eldest, and a brief account of one of his misdeeds and we have seen what Simeon and Levi did in putting the city of Shechem to the sword. All this figured into the blessings that they later received from Jacob. We read of Benjamin during the events surrounding the reunion Joseph had with his family. The most detail, by far, is accorded to Joseph.
But after Joseph, more detail is accorded to Judah and an incident in his life than any of the other brothers. When one reads what took place in Genesis 38, one might be tempted to wonder what place this has in the thread of Genesis. Seemingly, the only time this chapter is given any attention is when theologians and skeptics wrangle over the actions of Onan, one of Judah's sons, and the signficance of the Biblical fact that God slew him, the skeptics taking the position that this story makes God appear arbitrary and unreasonable in His judgments. But the actions of Onan, and any lessons we might learn from his example, are not the chief reason for the inclusion of these facts on the pages of Holy Writ. Rather, they set the stage for events later in the chapter which are of more farreaching significance.
Judah, like Esau, had married a Canaanite woman. We are not told what Jaoob thought about this but if he thought like Abraham, Isaac, and Rebekah, he would have disapproved. Judah had three sons by this woman: Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er was married to Tamar. We are not told the background on Tamar as to whether she was a Canaanite or a Hebrew. Er was wicked and "the Lord slew him." Judah told his son Onan to "go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother."This was the custom in those times and the reasoning behind it was primarily economic. The wickedness of Onan was not primarily in spilling his seed upon the ground but that in so doing, he was depriving Tamar of a son that would have entitled her and her offspring to an inheritance from Judah so that he, Onan, and his sons could inherit all instead. Thus, the Lord slew him also.
Judah disclaimed any further responsibility toward Tamar but promised her his son, Shelah, in marriage, when he was grown. It began to look like Judah was going to renege on this promise so Tamar tricked Judah into fulfilling certain responsibilities himself by pretending to be a harlot as chapter 38 describes.
From this union were born two sons, Pharez and Zarah, and there was an interesting incident that occurred during the birth process that is written for our learning that we shall examine. This is what the whole chapter is leading up to.
Again, why is so much detail accorded to Judah and how his sons came into the world? What harm would be done if this chapter were deleted from the Scriptures? Does all of this have no other purpose than to provide material for Bible trivia questions? What a thought!
One answer might be that it is because the Messianic line, that is, the ancestry of Christ, is traced through Judah and so we would expect there to be more attention given to Judah but the Messianic line could be settled with Judah begat Pharez and Pharez begat... and so on down the line. So that is probably only part of the answer.
Verses 27-30 of chapter 38 state, "And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah."
So we have yet another set of brothers with competing interests, a familiar theme in Genesis. Zarah stuck his hand out of the womb first and the scarlet thread that was placed around his hand was supposed to show that he was the firstborn. But his brother ended up coming out first instead. Depending on how one looked at the situation, each brother could have a case for being first and heir to whatever benefits that might confer.
Given the fact that we later see that the kingly line was to be traced through Judah, the stage is thus set for some interesting developments and this whole scenario is pregnant with future significance.
But this does not receive much attention from Bible students because the Scriptures seem to leave us hanging on this point and one is tempted to think that they do so indefinitely and that this remains an unfinished story. Nevertheless, there are clues later in the Scriptures which we shall take up later that point to the belief that it was indeed an example of divine precision that these facts were included and that, at a time of God's choosing, He honored the right of both lines.