Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

All human life -- whether conceived in a "planned" manner or not -- has value in God's sight. An example of this is provided by the genealogy of Jesus, as quoted in the passage cited in the question.

In Genesis 38, God judged the sin of Er and Onan, two of the sons of Judah (one of Jacob's twelve sons) by taking their lives. Er and Onan had successively been the husbands of Tamar, and she was now the widow of both of them. Judah then refused to allow another of his sons to marry Tamar (as the custom of the time required, and even though Tamar herself had done nothing wrong) because he was afraid that God would kill yet another of his sons.

Tamar subsequently tricked Judah by disguising herself as a harlot, with whom Judah had sexual relations (while not knowing that she was his own daughter-in-law). When Tamar was found to be pregnant (which Judah had definitely not planned), Judah ordered her to be killed for evidently having committed fornication -- not being aware that he himself had been the father of her unborn children. (Tamar had conceived twins.)

When Tamar provided proof that Judah himself was the father of her unborn babies, and said that she had done what she did because of Judah's refusal to allow another of his sons to marry her, Judah let her live, and conceded that he had been the one in the wrong.

The twins to whom Tamar gave birth were Perez and Zerah. Despite his unplanned birth, Perez later became an ancestor of both Joseph and Mary, and thus a member of the genealogy of Jesus, as indicated in Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33.

June 19 2018 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report