Thursday, February 19, 2015

Black Widow, Sperm Donor, and the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, part 1

          
           
              Those three things did not seem to have any connection whatsoever, 
but in the Bible, they are appeared on Genesis 38 and Matthew 1. 
Not only that, but the black widow had the honor of having her named 
mentioned in genealogy of Jesus Christ. 
How she got the sperm donation was rather tricky and dramatically cunning. 
She almost got herself killed because of it. 
In the end we can say that all’s well that ends well, 
and glory to God who looks at humans’ hidden motives.
 
          It all began with Judah. Judah, the third son of Jacob 
married a Canaanite lady named Shua. They had three sons 
named Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah then got a wife for his first son, 
and her name was Tamar.

          I believe that Tamar had some positive qualities 
which made Judah picked her as a bride for his oldest son. 
She might be beautiful. She might be strong. 
She might come from a good, affluent family. 
I am sure that she was also smart. 
Definitely was not a weak woman who played victim, this Tamar.

          Regretfully, Er was not a good man. He was wicked in God’s sight. 
The Bible did not describe Er’s behavior in detail, 
but I guess they must be really bad because God put him to death. 
His sudden death, must left Tamar devastated. 
She had not got any chance to have kids with Er.

          As a childless widow, Tamar did not have any future. 
Judah asked Onan, his second son, to marry Tamar. 
Onan was willing to sleep with Tamar, 
but refused to have children with her. His reason was understandable. 
The first son born of him and Tamar, would inherit Er’s name and property. 
If there was no son, Onan would be the one who got Er’s inheritance.

          Onan used a traditional contraceptive method. 
Thus Onan was not obedient to his father and did injustice to his sister in law. 
He was willing to be a sperm donor through natural insemination 
but refused to donate his sperm.

           God punished Onan for that. He died young. 
Tamar was still a childless widow who had no future. 
She had married two men, but both died young when they were with her. 
Judah had a third son, a young boy named Shelah. He was her only hope. 

           Judah, on the other hand, was not willing to give Shelah to Tamar. 
He was afraid that Shelah would be dead like the older brothers 
if he married her. He sent Tamar back to her childhood home 
to wait for Shelah. 

           Anyway, if Tamar was out of mind, she was out of sigh.  
I think in Judah’s mind, Tamar was like a black widow, 
a poisonous spider which killed her husband after they mated.  
Judah would not want to risk Shelah, his only living son.

           He did not think that his sons were guilty. He blamed it on Tamar.  

( to be continued in two days )

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