Focal verse: "And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah" (Genesis 38:1 NASB).
Through preparing for my Wednesday night Bible study lesson on Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Judah, I have been surprisingly enthralled with the story of Judah himself. Judah had a long period of rebellion, but overall my heart has been softened reading about the man whose descendants would include King David and Jesus Christ himself.
Looking at the opening verse of Genesis chapter 38, we see that Judah left his father and his brothers. The only clue we see of why he departed from his family is the timing: "at that time." Reflecting on chapter 37, you see the famous Bible story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. Although the eldest Reuben is most known for wanting to spare Joseph's life, Judah is just as determined to prevent Joseph's murder. For some reason Reuben departs from the brothers temporarily, and it is Judah who comes up with a plan to save Joseph's life. Now I'm not excusing Judah's plan to sell his brother to the Ishmaelites. This was most definitely wrong. But you see in his argument to the brothers that his desire was to spare Joseph's life: "Judah said to his brothers, 'What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.' And his brothers listened to him."
After this, Judah along with his brothers had to share the devastating news with their father. The brothers lied to him, telling him Joseph was dead. Then Judah and the brothers saw what their actions did to their father. I can only imagine all of the emotions young Judah felt. Matthew Henry suggests that he was only 15 or 16 at the time. He felt guilt for his role in the ruse to get rid of Joseph. He felt sorrow for his father, who only about a year after losing his beloved wife, he had to lose his favorite son. Yet, he also could have felt bitterness that Joseph was loved so much more than he and the rest of his brothers were. Judah had had enough. All of this was just too much for this young man to handle. So he had to get away.
Circumstances in life sometimes make us want to do the same. Sometimes we just want to go so far away and come back when life is better. Feeling a need to withdraw after intense stress is completely natural. Even Jesus did it. But the difference between Jesus Christ and his ancestor Judah was to whom they went when they felt the need to withdraw.
Jesus went to his Father. On the heels of the murder of John the Baptist, Jesus withdrew to pray. John the Baptist was not only Jesus's cousin, he was also his friend. He was the one person who knew Jesus the best at that time. He was his predecessor who had given his life to preparing the way for Jesus. The loss of John the Baptist hit Jesus hard. But what did he do? "When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place" (Matthew 14:13). Although this verse doesn't specify he went to the Father, you can look at another time he went to a "solitary place" and be assured that this is most likely exactly what he did: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" (Mark 1:35).
Whereas Jesus went to his Father when he needed to withdraw, Judah went the opposite direction. He went to Hirah, a Canaanite. This is the first mention of Hirah so we don't know where Judah first met him, but we assume they were friends. Going to our friends when tragedy strikes isn't a bad thing. It becomes a snare when those friends are not dedicated to God and can influence us in the wrong direction. According to the New American Standard Version, Judah "visited" his friend Hirah. This tells me that he didn't intend to settle there. He probably just wanted to take a "road trip" to get his head back on straight.
But something happened on his "visit." He met a woman and married her, and instead of taking her back to his family, he settled there. She birthed him 3 sons. The first one, Er, was so wicked the Lord "put him to death." This is the first account in Scripture of the Lord putting an individual to death for his sins. That tells me not only how evil Er was, but also that Judah didn't instill the fear of God into him. Then his second son, Onan, committed a wicked act, and the Lord put him to death as well. So much for one rebellious child. The fact that two of Judah's sons were so evil the Lord had to put them to death tells me that Judah - whose name meant "praise the Lord" -had strayed incredibly far from his God.
But God didn't forget him. After he refused to give his third son in marriage to Tamar, as was the custom, Tamar trapped him by disguising herself as a prostitute and slept with him. She became pregnant by him, and ultimately he repented for his actions and returned to his father's household, a respected leader among his brothers and blessed by his father on his father's deathbed.
The story of Judah is an amazing one to study. You see a hint of righteousness in the midst of bad decisions in his teen years. You see a long period of rebellion in a land away from his family. But then you see him return to his family and his God and ultimately be the father of the mighty tribe of Judah, from where the Messiah comes. Incidentally, the line of David and Jesus did not come from Judah's third son Shelah. It came from the son he bore through the incestuous tryst with Tamar. It is so amazing how God can and will still bring good out of our mistakes.
Judah's story and his weakness can be our example. Even if we just plan to "visit" somewhere that God isn't, we could easily be snared to "live" there a lot longer than we had ever anticipated. And although God is always there to rescue a repentant heart, we would save ourselves - and our Father - the grief not to go "visit" there in the first place.
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