Righting and Rewriting Genesis 38: Tamar and Judah in the Pseudepigrapha

Abstract

Genesis 38 is a troubling text. On the face of it, Tamar, a local Canaanite woman, becomes in short order the widow of Judah's two eldest sons. Judah's response is to leave Tamar as a widow, and not allow his third son to marry her. When Tamar, in order to become pregnant, ignores established sexual taboos, Judah thinks that his problem has been solved; he calls for her execution. When the true facts come to light, including his part in this incestuous affair, he admits that she is more in the right than he for his failure to resolve the matter. In the late Second Temple period and beyond, the authors of the Pseudepigrapha feel compelled to right the perception of the characters involved by rewriting this disconcerting narrative. In so doing, depending on the source, they exonerate Judah of the worst aspects of his perfidy, seek to shift the blame to Tamar herself, or praise Tamar as a virtuous woman.