What Am I Missing – Lesson 4 – Why Does Genesis Interrupt Josephs Story?

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WHAT AM I MISSING?   |   LESSON 4   |   GENESIS 37–44

Why Does Genesis Stop Joseph’s Story for Judah and Tamar?

This series looks at how the Bible tells its stories. Bible writers used literary devices, which are deliberate ways of writing that connect one event to another. These devices point us to what a passage means, and most of us read right past them.

Genesis 37 through 44 gives us a clear example. Genesis 37 ends with Joseph sold as a slave. Genesis 39 picks up with Joseph in Egypt. In between, Genesis stops for a whole chapter to tell a story about his older brother Judah. Joseph is absent from the entire chapter.

Why stop Joseph’s story at its most tense moment to tell us about Judah?

Genesis answers with four literary devices that tie Judah’s story to Joseph’s: the same event reported twice, two matching stories, the same Hebrew phrase used in two places, and a word that comes back years later. Each one shows us something about Judah that a quick reading misses.

Jacob’s Family

Jacob is the father of the family. He was the grandson of Abraham. His twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, and he loved Rachel more (29:30). Judah was Leah’s son. Joseph and Benjamin were Rachel’s sons.

Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. Jacob gave him a special coat to show it (37:3). Joseph’s older brothers hated him for it.

The Brothers Sell Joseph (Genesis 37)

One day the brothers saw Joseph coming and planned to kill him. Then a group of merchants on their way to Egypt came by, and Judah had another idea.

Genesis 37:26–27 26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

 

Judah’s question was simple: what do we gain by killing him? They could make money off him instead. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver (37:28). Then they killed a goat, dipped Joseph’s coat in its blood, and brought it to their father.

Genesis 37:32–33 32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. 33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

 

The brothers let the bloody coat tell the lie for them. Jacob decided for himself that an animal had killed Joseph. He grieved and refused to be comforted (37:34–35).

Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38)

Right after this, Judah moved away from his brothers (38:1). He married a local woman, and they had three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.

Judah found a wife for his oldest son, Er. Her name was Tamar. Genesis says Er “was wicked in the sight of the LORD.” Because of his wickedness, God killed him (38:7). That left Tamar a widow without any children.

In that culture, when a man died without children, his brother was expected to marry the widow. Their first son would carry on the deceased brother’s name and inherit his share of the family property. The widow gained a husband and a family to care for her. People already practiced this custom in Judah’s day. Centuries later, God made it part of the law He gave Israel through Moses (Deuteronomy 25:5–6).

Judah told his second son, Onan, to marry Tamar. Onan slept with Tamar and deliberately kept her from getting pregnant. Because of this sin, God killed Onan too (38:8–10).

Judah had one son left, Shelah. He told Tamar to go back to her father’s house and wait until Shelah was old enough to marry her. Genesis tells us what Judah was really thinking: “Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did” (38:11). Judah blamed Tamar for his sons’ deaths instead of blaming his sons for their own sins.

Shelah grew up, and Judah kept him from Tamar (38:14). She was still bound to Judah’s family, and Judah was ready to leave her a widow for the rest of her life.

Later, Judah’s wife died. After his time of mourning, he traveled to shear his sheep. Tamar heard he was coming her way, and she made a plan to get pregnant by Judah himself. She took off her widow’s clothes and sat by the road where Judah would pass, the way a prostitute would. A veil hid her face so Judah would fail to recognize her.

Her plan worked. Judah thought she was a prostitute. He stopped and asked her for sex, and she asked what he would pay.

Genesis 38:17–18 17 And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.

 

Judah offered a young goat. Tamar wanted a deposit until the goat arrived. The Bible calls it a pledge. The signet was Judah’s personal seal for signing agreements, and it hung on a cord (the “bracelets”). The staff was his walking stick. Anyone who saw those items would know they belonged to Judah. It was like handing over your driver’s license.

Later, Judah sent a friend back with the goat to get his pledge. The woman was gone, and his seal and staff went with her (38:20–23).

About three months later, someone told Judah that Tamar was pregnant. Judah said, “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt” (38:24). The man who had slept with a woman he took for a prostitute ordered his daughter-in-law burned for sexual sin. As they brought her out, Tamar sent Judah a message.

Genesis 38:25–26 25 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. 26 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.

 

Judah admitted the truth, and Tamar’s life was spared. That was the only time Judah slept with her (38:26). Months later, Tamar had twin boys. The first one born was named Pharez (38:27–30).

Device 1: The Sale of Joseph Reported Twice

The first device is an event reported twice. Hebrew writers used it when they paused one story to tell another. They told a fact, paused for the other story, and then told the same fact again to pick the first story back up. Scholars call this resumptive repetition.

Look at the verse just before Judah’s story and the verse just after it.

Genesis 37:36; 39:1 37:36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard. 39:1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.

 

Both verses tell us the same thing: Joseph was sold to Potiphar in Egypt. Genesis tells us, pauses for Judah’s story, and tells us again. That repeat places Judah’s story in the middle of Joseph’s so we will compare the two brothers. While Joseph is a slave in Egypt, we watch how Judah lives back home.

To catch this: when a story stops for another story, look at the verses on both sides of the break. If the same event is reported on both sides, the Bible placed the second story there on purpose, and the two stories are meant to be read together.

Device 2: Two Matching Stories in Chapters 38 and 39

The second device is two matching stories. Bible writers sometimes place two stories side by side that are alike in many ways. What the stories share makes the differences easy to see. Genesis does this with chapters 38 and 39.

Chapter 39 tells what happened to Joseph in Egypt. His master’s wife wanted to sleep with him. She asked him day after day (39:7, 10). Joseph answered her:

Genesis 39:9 9 . . . how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

 

One day she grabbed him. Joseph left his garment in her hand and ran (39:12). She lied about him, and he went to prison.

The two stories share a lot. Each has a man, a woman, and sex. In each, the woman ends up holding something that belongs to the man and uses it as evidence. Tamar used Judah’s seal and staff to expose him. Potiphar’s wife used Joseph’s garment to accuse him.

The differences are what Genesis wants us to see. Judah is a free man in his own country. He sees a woman by the road and asks for sex. Joseph is a young slave far from home. A powerful woman keeps asking him for sex, and he runs. In chapter 37, Judah asked what profit there was in killing his brother. In chapter 39, Joseph asks, “How can I sin against God?”

Genesis also shows where God is in each story. In Judah’s story, God shows up only to judge Er and Onan (38:7, 10). In Joseph’s story, Genesis says four times that the LORD was with Joseph (39:2, 3, 21, 23). Side by side, Joseph is the faithful brother, and Judah is the brother caught in sin.

To catch this: when the Bible puts two stories back to back, look for what they have in common, such as the same kind of situation, the same kind of temptation, or the same object. Then look at how each person acts. The difference between them is what the Bible wants us to notice.

Device 3: The Same Hebrew Phrase Used on Jacob and on Judah

The third device is the same Hebrew phrase used in two places. Bible writers sometimes use the exact same words in two places so we will connect the two scenes. Genesis does this to show Judah getting the same treatment he gave his father.

The brothers said to Jacob, “know now whether it be thy son’s coat” (37:32). Tamar said to Judah, “Discern, I pray thee, whose are these” (38:25). In Hebrew they are the same two words, meaning “please recognize.” Both times, the speaker hands over an object and asks whose it is. Genesis uses those exact words only in these two places.

The first time, Judah and his brothers hand their father evidence to make him believe a lie. The second time, Tamar hands Judah evidence to make him face the truth. By using the exact same words, Genesis shows that what Judah did to his father came back on him.

Both men answer with the same word too. Jacob “knew it” (37:33). Judah “acknowledged them” (38:26). In Hebrew, “knew” and “acknowledged” are the same word, meaning “recognize.” Jacob recognized the coat and believed a lie. Judah recognized his seal and staff and admitted the truth.

Judah said, “She hath been more righteous than I.” Many Hebrew scholars read it as, “She is in the right, and I am in the wrong.” Then he named what he did wrong: he kept his son from her. What Tamar did was still sin. God’s law later forbids a man to sleep with his daughter-in-law (Leviticus 18:15). Judah was admitting that he had cheated her out of what she was owed.

This is the first sign that Judah is changing. The brother who helped fool his father now admits his own sin in plain words.

To catch this: when the Bible repeats the exact words of an earlier scene, read the two scenes together. The second scene is built to answer the first, sometimes by reversing the roles, so that a person receives the same treatment he gave someone else. These links matter because they show us how one event explains another. Sometimes the same Hebrew words are translated differently in English, so an English reader can miss a link like this one.

Device 4: The Word “Pledge” in Chapters 38 and 44

The fourth device is a word that comes back years later. Bible writers sometimes use a rare word in one story and a closely related word in a later story. The link invites us to compare the two moments.

The Hebrew word for Judah’s pledge appears only three times in the Old Testament, and all three are in chapter 38 (38:17, 18, 20). Judah handed over his seal and staff to get sex, and they became the evidence against him.

Years later, a famine hit the whole region. Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain (42:1–3). He kept Benjamin at home. After losing Joseph, Jacob was afraid something would happen to Rachel’s other son too (42:4).

The man in charge of Egypt’s grain was Joseph. He was now a powerful ruler, and his brothers failed to recognize him (42:8). Joseph accused them of being spies. He kept one brother, Simeon, in prison and told the rest to come back with Benjamin to prove their story (42:17–24).

When they got home, Jacob refused to send Benjamin. He said that if anything happened to Benjamin, the grief would kill him (42:38). Then the family ran out of grain again (43:1–2), and Judah spoke up.

Genesis 43:9 9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

 

“I will be surety” means “I personally guarantee his safety.” In Hebrew, “surety” and “pledge” are closely related words. In chapter 38, Judah’s pledge was his seal and staff. Now Judah’s pledge is himself.

In Egypt, Joseph tested them. He had his silver cup hidden in Benjamin’s bag and said Benjamin would stay behind as his slave (44:1–17). The other brothers were free to go home. Judah stepped forward.

Genesis 44:32–33 32 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. 33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.

 

Look how far Judah has come. In chapter 37, Judah talked his brothers into selling Joseph as a slave. In chapter 44, he offers himself as a slave so Benjamin can go free. Benjamin was now Jacob’s favorite, the same place Joseph once held (44:20). The brother who once got rid of the favorite son now gives himself up to protect the favorite son. In chapter 37, Judah watched his father grieve and kept the secret. In chapter 44, he begs Joseph to spare his father that grief again (44:31). When Joseph heard Judah’s speech, he told his brothers who he was (45:1).

To catch this: when someone in the Bible fails, pay attention to the words used in that story. The Bible sometimes brings one of those words back later, when the same person faces a similar test. When the word comes back, compare the two moments. What did he do then, and what does he do now? That comparison shows how God has changed him. Here, Judah gave a pledge to get what he wanted. Years later, he made himself the pledge to protect his brother.

What Were We Missing?

A quick reading treats Genesis 38 as a detour. The four devices show it is the chapter where Judah’s change begins. That is why Genesis stops Joseph’s story for Judah.

Genesis uses Judah’s own words to bring him to admit his sin, and the man who handed over a pledge to use a woman becomes the man who hands over himself to save his brother.

Judah’s story reaches far past his own lifetime. God used Judah’s family to give Israel its kings, and later to bring Jesus into the world.

Remember Pharez, the twin born to Judah and Tamar. The book of Ruth traces his family line through ten generations to David, Israel’s greatest king (Ruth 4:18–22). Centuries later, Matthew opens his Gospel with the family tree of Jesus. He names Judah, Tamar, and Pharez in that list (Matthew 1:3). Jesus was born into the family of the brother who sold Joseph and slept with a woman he took for a prostitute. That is the man God changed and used.

Hebrews ties Jesus to Judah in another way. It says, “our Lord sprang out of Juda” (7:14). It also calls Jesus “a surety of a better testament” (7:22). A testament is a covenant, and a surety is the person who guarantees it. Jesus personally guarantees God’s covenant for everyone who trusts Him. Judah offered himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place. Jesus gave His life in ours.

When God Brings Our Sin into the Open

Judah’s change began the day his sin came into the open. He could have protected his name and let Tamar burn. He admitted the truth instead, and God used that moment to begin making him a different man.

That gives us a principle to live by: when God brings our sin into the open, admitting it plainly is where change begins.

Judah’s words in 38:26 show three parts of admitting sin plainly:

• Say who was right. “She hath been more righteous than I.” Judah quit defending himself.
• Name the exact wrong. “Because that I gave her not to Shelah my son.” Judah named exactly what he did.
• Stop the sin. “He knew her again no more.” Judah’s actions matched his words.

Judah’s confession in chapter 38 led to the man who offered his life for Benjamin in chapter 44. The moment our sin comes into the open can be the moment God starts changing us.