Judah and Tamar

Samson also meets a woman of questionable status in ​Timnah. What is it about Timnah that makes it an appropriate choice for such stories?

The story of Joseph as a young man (Genesis 37-40) is full of contradictions and doublets, and is interrupted by the story of Tamar and Judah (Genesis 38). Beyond that, hovering in the background is the question: how can the spoiled youth, his father’s favorite, become the prudent leader and savior of his family?

By withholding his son Shelah from Tamar, Judah sins against her. Powerless to oppose him legally, Tamar must resort to subterfuge to achieve what is justly hers, the possibility of children from her deceased’s husband’s stock.

The history and geography of the Judahite clan of Shelah as portrayed in the Bible and in the extra-biblical Sources.