Robert Alter on Genesis 38

Genesis 38 (describing the Judah-Tamar incident) is set between the story of Joseph being sold as a slave into Egypt (Genesis 37) and the account of Joseph in the house of Potiphar (Genesis 39).

‘Critical’ scholarship has generally seen the chapter as an independent unit, having little connection with the wider Joseph saga. Kinder interpretations say that it builds an element of suspense into the story of Joseph, but it is still taken as something of an aside, perhaps even the result of poor editing.

Robert Alter, however, begins his The Art of Biblical Narrative (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981) with a delightful treatment of Genesis 38, showing how the final form of the text demonstrates an intricately interconnected literary unity.

Joseph’s brothers dip his cloak into goat’s blood (37:31). They bring it to Jacob, and ask him to recognise it (37:32). As Alter notes, they are careful to let the object itself do the lying for them, and they refer to Joseph as ‘your son’ (4). Jacob, for his part, improvises wonderfully… he recognises it (37:33, same verb as 37:32) and immediately falls for the trick. The remainder of the chapter describes Jacob’s elaborate mourning rituals (37:34-36).

Then in chapter 38, the narrative leaves Joseph behind and moves straight into the story of Tamar and Judah. However, connections are made with the surrounding narrative, with parallels and contrasts.

The story begins in 38:1-11 with Judah parting from his brothers (literally, ‘he went down’) a reference which may connect his separation from the brothers with Joseph’s separation from the brothers (the same root is used of Joseph in 39:1) (6).

The preceding narrative ended with a father mourning the loss of a son; this section begins with a father fathering three sons. The whole process is narrated in a matter-of-fact manner: ‘Judah sees, takes, lies with a woman; and she, responding appropriately, conceives, bears, and… gives the son a name’ (6). Then, in 38:7, without any indication of time-gap, we read of Er’s death. Onan, the second son, ‘makes the mistake of rebelling… against the legal obligations of the system of primogeniture, refusing to act as his dead brother’s proxy by impregnating the widow in his brother’s name, and so he, too, dies’ (6-7). Though we had a lavish description of Jacob’s mourning for Joseph, Judah’s mourning for his sons is passed over in silence.

In 38:11, we move to direct speech, and the narrator also explains Judah’s motive (he’s concerned about his youngest son), but Tamar says nothing.

38:12 begins with a time indicator (‘After a long time…’), which marks the next stage of the narrative in which the tempo of the action slows down (7). Tamar has been without a husband for a long time (in fact, in 38:14, her own perception, according to the narrator, appears to be that she has been neglected). Judah is widowed, and the period of mourning is over (he is ‘consoled’ [38;12] in contrast to Jacob who refuses to be consoled [37:35]).

Then Tamar begins her plan (38:13-23). Until this point, she has been passive in the plot; now she moves into rapid and purposeful action. In 38:14, a series of verbs describes her as taking off, covering, wrapping herself, sitting down at a strategic place, and in 38:19, another set of verbs show her resuming her former role and attire (8).

Judah falls for it. As Alter notes, ‘his sexual appetite will not tolerate postponement though he has been content to let Tamar languish as a childless widow indefinitely’ (8). 38:16-18 give us the only extended dialogue in the chapter, and it’s rather brisk and business-like. She takes a pledge of Judah’s credit cards (according to Alter, his seal and cord and staff are a kind of legal surrogate) (9). 38:18 concludes quickly with three verbs – he gave, he lay, she conceived. Tamar has become the channel of the seed of Judah.

When Judah sends the kid by his friend Hirah, of course, there is no prostitute to be seen, nor has there been one in that area (38:20-23)…

38:24 then brings us towards the climax of the story. The words are strong and brutal, but in 38:25-26 she reveals all. In these verses, we have the re-occurrence of the verbs ‘to recognise’. Again, it is used here at the climax of this episode as a formula of recognition. (Alter [10] points out that the same verb will be used in the dénouement of the Joseph story, with Joseph recognising his brothers in Egypt, and them not recognising him.)

‘This precise recurrence of the verb in identical forms at the ends of Genesis 37 and 38 respectively is manifestly the result not of some automatic mechanism of interpolating traditional materials but of careful splicing of sources by a brilliant literary artist. The first use of the formula was for an act of deception; the second use is for an act of unmasking. Judah with Tamar after Judah and his brothers is an exemplary narrative instance of the deceiver deceived… He is taken in by a piece of attire, as his father was’ (10).

Judah is taken in by his pledge for a kid, just as Jacob was taken in by the garment which had been dipped in the blood of a goat. Alter points out that the Midrash on Genesis noted this more than 1,500 years ago:

‘The Holy One Praised be He said to Judah, “You deceived your father with a kid. By your life, Tamar will deceive you with a kid”… The Holy One Praised be He said to Judah, “You said to your father, haker-na. By your life, Tamar will say to you, haker-na”’ (Bereshit Rabba 84:11-12, cited in Alter, 11).

The chapter then concludes with the birth of twin boys. As in other places in the Book of Genesis, the one who is about to be born first suddenly takes second place (38:27-30).

But there is more…

‘When we return from Judah to the Joseph story (Genesis 39), we move in pointed contrast from a tale of exposure through sexual incontinence to a tale of seeming defeat and ultimate triumph through sexual continence – Joseph and Potiphar’s wife’ (10).

Genesis 39 is framed by references to Joseph and the Lord being with him and bringing him success in two different situations (39:1-6, 21-23). In between, we have the story of Potiphar’s wife and her attempted seduction of Joseph (39:7-20). 39:7 gives us the first dialogue in this episode. There are no preliminaries, no explanations – just a direct sexual proposition. It seemed as if these were the only words she ever spoke to Joseph (39:10), until one day she grabs him (39:12). In contrast to her few words, Joseph’s refusal is an outpouring of language (39:8-9) (108-109). The key word ‘all’ is used by Joseph and is found in the frames at the beginning and end of the chapter, as is the word ‘house’ which appears five times in the frame verses, and is used twice by Joseph here (109).

Joseph eventually flees and leaves his robe in her hand (39:12). 39:13 virtually repeats 39:12, and serves to emphasise the robe in her hand. Again, we should note that Joseph is ‘linked with the misleading evidence of a garment, as he was when his brothers brought the blood-soaked tunic to his father’ (110).

She lies, of course, and now she too shows she can say a lot when it is necessary to do so (39:14-18); and, of course, Potiphar responds by throwing Joseph into prison (39:19-20). Then we conclude with the final three verses of the chapter which close the story balancing the verses at the opening of the story.

Overall, then, there are parallels between chapter 37 and chapter 38. Mourning features in both chapters, as does shepherding and sheep. At the climax of each narrative is a symbolic action (37:31-36; 38:25-26) – the Hebrew is identical in all cases (‘do you recognise this?’) – and also the act of recognising. But there are also parallels between Genesis 38 and 39, with both chapters involving chastity and unchastity, and punishment (or not) for sexual offenses.

Set within the larger narrative framework of Genesis, the saving of lives is important, so that the promised seed of Abraham can continue through the generations. Genesis 38 is thus not at all out of place in the larger narrative framework. The seed of the chosen people of God continues even though Judah doesn’t really want it to. Even Joseph’s being sold down to Egypt and prison incident works towards this end (cf. 45:3-8; 50:15-20). God provides for Jacob’s sons and keeps them alive, so that his promise of blessing to Abraham, recapitulating his original blessing to all humankind, may be fulfilled.

And then, within the ongoing story line of the Bible, Tamar’s son is Perez, from whom comes Jesse, from whom comes David… from whom comes the Christ. Thus, not only is Genesis 38 an integral part of the book of Genesis, it’s an integral part of Scripture as a whole.