Covenant Treachery and the Kinsman Redeemer Text: Genesis 38:6-11
Introduction: The Gritty Realism of Grace
We come now to a chapter in Genesis that many modern readers, and more than a few pastors, would prefer to skip over. It is an interruption in the grand and inspiring story of Joseph. We leave the courts of Egypt and are dropped unceremoniously into the messy, carnal, and deeply dysfunctional family life of Judah. This is not a felt-needs story. It is a raw, earthy account of sin, duty, deception, and divine judgment. And it is absolutely essential.
Our therapeutic age wants a sanitized faith. We want a God who is more like a celestial guidance counselor and a Bible that reads like an inspirational coffee table book. We want the glorious mountaintop experiences, but we want to ignore the muddy, and sometimes sordid, valleys through which the path of redemption runs. But the Bible is not that kind of book, and our God is not that kind of God. He is a God who plunges His hands into the muck of human history, into the grime of our sin, to accomplish His sovereign purposes. This story is here to remind us that the line of the Messiah, the line from which our Savior comes, was not a pristine lineage of perfect saints. It was a line of sinners, saved and used by a God of shocking and scandalous grace.
This chapter is a stark confrontation to our pride. It forces us to see that God's covenant does not advance because of the goodness of men, but often in spite of their wickedness. Judah, the patriarch, fails. His sons are overtly evil. And yet, God's purpose to bring forth the Lion of the tribe of Judah will not be thwarted. This is a story about covenant obligation, the deadliness of selfish rebellion, and the failure of men, which only serves to highlight the need for a true and better Kinsman Redeemer. What we see here is a series of profound covenant failures that God, in His inscrutable wisdom, will use to preserve the promised seed.
The Text
Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a seed for your brother.” And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it happened that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted it on the ground in order not to give seed to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of Yahweh; so He put him to death also. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up”; for he thought, “I am afraid lest he also die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
(Genesis 38:6-11 LSB)
The Wicked Son and the Sovereign Executioner (v. 6-7)
We begin with Judah acting in his patriarchal role, arranging a marriage for his firstborn.
"Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so Yahweh put him to death." (Genesis 38:6-7)
Judah is doing what a father in his position was supposed to do. He is securing the future of his line by finding a wife for his heir. The continuity of the family, the name, and the inheritance depended on this. But we are immediately confronted with a brutal reality. The text does not tell us what Er did. It simply says he "was evil in the sight of Yahweh."
This is a terrifying and instructive silence. We are not given a list of his infractions. We are not told the specifics because the specifics are, in one sense, irrelevant. What matters is God's verdict. The standard of evil is not a human court or public opinion; it is the sight of Yahweh. And the consequence is not a drawn out illness or a tragic accident. The text is stark and direct: "so Yahweh put him to death." This is a divine execution. God is not a passive observer of human affairs. He is an active and righteous judge who intervenes directly and lethally when His holiness is affronted, particularly within the covenant line.
This establishes the gravity of the situation. We are not dealing with minor social faux pas. We are dealing with high-handed wickedness that invites the direct, judicial wrath of God. This is the backdrop for all that follows. The problem is not with Tamar, and it is not some vague family curse. The problem is sin.
The Covenant Duty of the Brother-in-Law (v. 8)
With the heir dead and childless, a crucial covenant obligation comes into play.
"Then Judah said to Onan, 'Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a seed for your brother.'" (Genesis 38:8)
This is the first explicit mention in Scripture of what would later be codified in the Mosaic law as levirate marriage (from the Latin levir, meaning "husband's brother"). This was not some bizarre tribal custom. It was a vital social and theological provision. For the widow, it was a safety net, protecting her from poverty and abandonment in a world where a woman's security was tied to her husband and sons. For the deceased, it was a way to preserve his name and his inheritance within the family. His line would not be blotted out. His portion of the promised land would not be lost to his clan.
Judah instructs his second son, Onan, to fulfill this duty. Notice the language: "perform your duty." This was not an optional act of charity. It was a solemn responsibility. Onan's task was to act as a proxy for his dead brother, to sire a son who would legally be considered Er's son, not his own. This was an act of profound selflessness, required for the good of the family and the honor of his brother's name.
The Malice of a Selfish Heart (v. 9-10)
Onan's response reveals a heart full of greed and contempt for his duty.
"And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it happened that when he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted it on the ground in order not to give seed to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of Yahweh; so He put him to death also." (Genesis 38:9-10)
Let us be very clear about the nature of Onan's sin. For centuries, this passage has been twisted to be about the evils of masturbation or certain forms of birth control. That is to completely miss the point and trivialize the wickedness described here. Onan's sin was not fundamentally sexual; it was covenantal. It was a sin of malice, greed, and profound disrespect for his family, his father, his dead brother, and his brother's wife.
He knew the child would not be his. If Er had no heir, then Onan, as the next in line, would inherit the firstborn's double portion. His motive was purely financial. He wanted the property. So he engaged in a wicked deception. He went through the motions of fulfilling his duty. He used Tamar for his own sexual gratification, but he deliberately and repeatedly ensured that she would not conceive. He was simultaneously enjoying the privileges of the union while maliciously denying its purpose. He was defrauding his brother of a name and an heir, and treating Tamar not as a sister-in-law to be cared for, but as a thing to be used.
His action was a physical manifestation of a deep spiritual rebellion. He was saying, "My pleasure and my inheritance matter more than my brother's name and my covenant duty." And God's response is the same as it was with Er. What he did was "displeasing in the sight of Yahweh." The Hebrew is stronger; it was "evil." And so God executes him as well. God takes the preservation of the covenant line with deadly seriousness.
The Fearful Failure of a Patriarch (v. 11)
Faced with the deaths of two sons, Judah's faith falters and he fails in his duty as a father and patriarch.
"Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, 'Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up'; for he thought, 'I am afraid lest he also die like his brothers.' So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house." (Genesis 38:11)
Judah sees a pattern: one wife, two dead sons. Instead of recognizing the specific, judged wickedness of Er and Onan, he reacts with superstitious fear. He begins to see Tamar as the problem, as a source of bad luck or a curse. He is more interested in preserving his last son, Shelah, than in providing for his daughter-in-law or honoring the levirate custom.
His instruction to Tamar is a lie. He tells her to wait for Shelah, but the text reveals his true thoughts: "lest he also die like his brothers." He has no intention of giving Shelah to her. He is putting her on a shelf, sending her away to a life of perpetual widowhood and childlessness, effectively cutting her off from the family and its inheritance. This is a profound failure of leadership. Instead of dealing with the sin in his house, he punishes the victim and shirks his responsibility. He is acting out of fear of man and circumstance, not faith in God. This failure will set the stage for the desperate and deceptive measures Tamar will later take to secure the justice Judah has denied her.
Our True Kinsman Redeemer
This entire sordid episode is a backdrop of profound failure. Er was wicked. Onan was a malicious cheat. Judah was a fearful and faithless patriarch. The line of the Messiah is hanging by a thread, and the men responsible for its preservation are failing at every turn. And this is precisely the point. The promise does not depend on them. It depends on God.
This story is designed to make us long for a better brother, a better kinsman. Onan was commanded to raise up a seed for his dead brother and refused out of selfishness. He would not take a temporary loss of status for his brother's sake. He would not humble himself to give his brother a name.
But we have a Kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did what Onan refused to do. We were the ones who were dead in our trespasses and sins, without a name, without an inheritance, without hope. Jesus, our elder brother, was not ashamed to call us brethren (Hebrews 2:11). He did not refuse His duty. He did not spill His life on the ground to save Himself. No, He poured out His own blood on the ground of Golgotha. He gave His own life in order to raise up a seed for His Father. He went into death itself to bring many sons to glory.
Unlike Onan, who sought to keep the inheritance for himself, Christ secured an inheritance for us, making us co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17). He did not use His bride for His own pleasure and then cast her aside; He loved the church and gave Himself up for her, to make her holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27). Where Onan failed in his duty, Christ fulfilled His perfectly. The failures of Judah's house show us just how desperately we needed a Savior to come from that very line, one who would not fail.