Genesis 38:24-26 -- On Harlots and Hypocrisy

"And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.
And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more."
Genesis 38:24-26


This is part of a crazy story (at least from a modern perspective) where Judah's oldest son dies, and he gives the wife to his second son, and he dies too, and so he says wait, and I'll give you to my third son when he grows up a little. (The whole passing-on-the wife thing was traditional then, it seems.)

So, he doesn't give her to his third son, because he apparently thinks that she is the reason his sons keep dying, and Tamar is left alone.  So, one day Tamar hears that Judah is going to a place nearby... so she dresses up like a prostitute and waits in the road.  Sure enough, he approaches the supposed prostitute and she asks for a pledge from him (the ring, bracelets, and staff mentioned above).  That's when these verses come in, where Judah orders her burnt, and she is able to talk him out of it by showing that he is the father.

The conclusion "she hath been more righteous than I" isn't a given for us because we're outside of the cultural context, but it seems like he was responsible to make sure she had the opportunity to have children even after her husband died, and so she had essentially tricked him into making it right, despite his refusal to do it the traditional way.

For us, I'm not sure any of the actions here are ones that we want to emulate, but perhaps a good lesson for today is don't be a hypocrite.  Let's not order other people to be burnt or condemned for things that we are also participating in.  ... I mean, staying away from burning other people entirely is actually better, but you know... symbolically, let's take a step back and apply commandments to ourselves rather than others, and let God make those drastic decisions about who is still capable of repenting and changing and who isn't, and whose actions are justified in every bizarre situation.  We have enough to worry about trying to perfect our own lives.