Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah. ” And he did not sleep with her again. – Genesis 38:26

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 7, 2012): Genesis 38

We love, or love to hate, comparisons. At least we seem to continuously be absorbed by the task. As far as our sin is concerned, often our response when we are confronted with wrong doing is to play the comparison game and try to convince ourselves that our wrongs are not as great as someone else’s. The propensity of humans to make wrong choices, even when we know the right that we should do, helps us with the task. And we can usually find someone to whom we compare favorably.

Tamar had sinned. She had actively deceived and lied to her father-in-law. She had posed as a prostitute. She had committed adultery. And not only had she committed adultery, she had committed adultery with her father-in-law - knowing that he was her father-in-law. (Obviously Judah had also committed adultery with his daughter-in-law, but he didn’t know it at the time.) Tamar had also intended to get pregnant (if she had not gotten pregnant, her whole plan would not have worked.) All of this would have also purposely cause disgrace to the house of Judah. All of Tamar’s sins had some serious social repercussions.

Really, Judah’s sin was the commissioning of a prostitute, and in a male dominated culture with a double standard, the social effect of his sin would have been minimal. It would have been easy for Judah to play the comparison game. Yes, he had sinned. But his sin didn’t compare to the sins that Tamar had purposefully committed against him.

All this would have been true, except that Judah knew that it was his action that had caused all of Tamar’s sin. His action of withholding Shelah was not technically a sin (it was possibly a selfish act, but a selfish act motivated by his love for his son), but it was because of that act that caused Tamar to sin.

Our sin is not just found in our wrong acts, but in any act that causes someone else to sin. As much as we want our salvation to be a personal thing, repeatedly the Bible places our spiritual lives in the middle of the community. And again, the story of Judah and Tamar reminds us of our inescapable responsibility for each other.          

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 39

Personal Note: The Birthday month of May continues with my son’s birthday. Craig, have a great day!