May the mumbling commence!
The deceivers are once again deceived. Oh, the irony! Read from Peterson’s The Message:
Time passed. Judah’s wife, Shua’s daughter, died. When
the time of mourning was over, Judah with his friend Hirah of
Adullam went to Timnah for the sheep shearing.
Tamar
was told, “Your father-in-law had gone to Timnah to shear his sheep.” She took off her widow’s clothes, put on a veil to disguise
herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the road to Timnah. She realized
by now that even though Shelah was grown up,
she wasn’t going to be married to him.
Judah
saw her and assumed she was a prostitute since
she had veiled
her face.
He left the
road and went over to her. He said, “Let me sleep with you.” He had no idea
that she was his daughter-in-law.
She said, “What will you
pay me?”
“I’ll
send you,” he said, “a kid goat from the flock.”
She
said, “Not unless you
give me a pledge until you send it.”
“So
what would you want
in the way of a pledge?”
She
said, “Your personal seal-and-cord and
the staff that you carry.”
He handed them over to her and slept with
her. And she got pregnant.
She
then left and went home. She removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothes back on.
Judah
sent the kid goat
by his friend Adullam to recover the pledge from the woman.
But he couldn’t find her. He
asked the men of that place, “Where’s the prostitute that
used to sit by the road here near Enaim?”
They
said, “There’s never been a prostitute here.”
He
went back to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. The
men there said there never has been a prostitute there.”
Judah
said, “Let her have it then. If we keep looking, everyone will be poking
fun at us. I kept my part of the bargain
– I sent the
kid goat but you couldn’t find her.” (Genesis
38:12-23)
Now read the same passage from the NIV translation:
After a long time Judah's wife,
the daughter
of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from
his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing
his sheep, and his friend Hirah
the Adullamite went with
him.
When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to
shear his sheep," she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a
veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.
For she saw that, though Shelah
had now grown up,
she had not been given to him as his wife.
When Judah saw her, he thought
she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the
roadside and said, "Come now, let me
sleep with you."
"And what will you give me to sleep with
you?" she asked.
"I'll send you a young goat from
my flock," he
said.
"Will you give me something as
a pledge until you send it?" she asked.
He said, "What pledge should I
give you?"
"Your seal and its cord, and
the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off
her veil and put on her widow's clothes again.
Meanwhile Judah sent the young
goat by his friend the
Adullamite in order to get his pledge
back from the woman,
but he did not find her. He
asked the men who lived there, "Where is the shrine prostitute
who was beside the
road at Enaim?"
"There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here," they said.
So he went back to Judah and said, "I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said,
'There hasn't
been any shrine prostitute
here.'"
Then Judah said, "Let her keep
what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young
goat, but you didn't
find her." (Genesis 38:12-23)
It seems that Peterson’s misnomer about Shua being the
name of Judah’s wife is now rectified.
It makes me wonder more about the reason for that ambiguous distinction
in the first place.
And Judah is fooled by Tamar’s dress. He thinks she’s a shrine prostitute. The “shrine”
designation is important. Five of the
nine translations that I looked at include that distinction in one form or
another. It shows clearly the
unrighteousness of Judah. He was
frequenting shrine prostitutes. He was
embracing other gods.
Judah should be more worried about how God will react to
his behaviors and attitudes than how other people will see him!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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