Till Shiloh Comes (19 page)

“Get away from me! You're a witch, and you'll never have my last son!”

As Judah strode away, Tamar watched him go with a determination in her heart to have what she desired. Her goal to be in the line of the Redeemer had never faltered. She had made it her business to serve Jacob faithfully and had listened earnestly to his stories, soaking up his words about the Redeemer who was to come. It had become the focus of her life, and as Judah disappeared from her sight, she whispered, “I gave you every opportunity to keep your word, Judah. Now I will find another way!”

****

To Judah's relief, Tamar did not press her argument, nor did she remind him again of his promise. He felt badly about it, for he
was
a man of honor, but to give another son to this woman who seemed to devour his sons—this he could not do! He waited for three months, and gradually came to believe that she had put the foolish idea out of her head. She was too old for Shelah anyway.

For a time he thought that Tamar might go to Jacob to plead her case, for he also had given his word that Tamar would have Shelah as a husband. But Jacob never mentioned the matter, and Judah breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, she's gotten that wild idea out of her head. I'm sorry for her, but I can't let her have my last son.”

****

“Where are you going, Judah?” Reuben asked. The two had eaten an early meal together, and Reuben wondered at Judah's restlessness as he got up to leave.

“I'm going up to Timnah to work with the flocks there,” Judah said.

“Maybe it'll be good for you to get away for a while.”

“I think it will,” Judah said with a nod, leaving at once.

Neither brother noticed that Tamar was nearby cooking over a fire. Her back was to them, but she was within hearing distance of their conversation. As soon as Judah left, she rose at once and went to her tent.

On arriving in Timnah, Judah sought out his friend Hirah, who was glad to see him. The two men were close friends, and all that day they enjoyed each other's company, and Hirah invited Judah to stay with him that night.

When Judah arose the next morning, he decided to go into the small village close by.

“Shall I go with you?” Hirah asked.

“No. I'm only going to buy a few things. I'll be back soon.”

“All right. Tonight we'll fix a special feast for your welcome.”

Judah went to the village and bought his items in the small marketplace, including some special foods to share at the feast that night. On his way back, he had no more gotten to the outskirts of the village than his eyes caught sight of a woman sitting beside the road in front of a small tent. Her dress indicated she was a harlot, and her face was veiled. She called out to him. “Good morning, master.”

Judah's wife had been dead for over a year, and during that time he had had nothing to do with women. Ordinarily he would not have touched a prostitute, but he found himself drawn to this woman and began to speak to her. He noticed her beautiful eyes peeking out from her veil, and could see that she was a shapely woman. For reasons he could not fully understand, he was overcome with desire for her.

The woman saw this desire and quickly said, “Come. We will take our fill of love.”

Judah hesitated momentarily, but then said with a nod, “All right. So be it.”

“What will you give me?” the woman asked.

“I will give you a goat from my flock.”

“You have no goat that I can see.”

“I have many. I promise you will have a goat.”

“Men are generous before love, but afterward they forget. I must have a pledge.”

“A pledge?” Judah asked. “What sort of pledge?”

“You must leave something with me. Later when you bring the goat, you can have it back.”

“What do you want, woman?”

“I want your signet with its cord and the staff in your hand.”

“All right,” Judah said impatiently, taking the cord off from around his neck. “You shall have them.”

He gave the woman the items and followed her into her tent.

****

Judah sent his friend Hirah to take the goat to the prostitute, but he returned shortly. “I could not find any harlot on the road where you said she would be.”

Judah looked up. “You must have gone to the wrong place, then.”

“No, I asked several men of the area, and they all said there is no harlot in their village.”

Judah rose and scratched his head. “You must be wrong, Hirah.”

“I asked everybody I could find, and they all said the same thing. So I've brought the goat back.”

“Well, she must have changed her mind and gone somewhere else. Perhaps she thought the signet ring was worth more than a goat.”

Hirah stared at him strangely. “I've never known you to go to a harlot before, Judah.”

“I never have,” Judah said gloomily, shaking his head. “I thought I was a better man than that.”

“Well, it's over now,” Hirah said. “Forget it.”

“I'll try, my friend, but when a man fails, it's hard to forget.”

****

As usual, it was Reuben who had to perform the unpleasant task. His shoulders were bowed, and his lips were turned down in a moody frown as he approached Judah's tent. “I'd give anything not to have to do this. Poor Judah's had enough to bear without this.”

He found Judah butchering a goat, his hands bloody and the carcass before him in pieces. He looked up. “Why, hello, Reuben. Have some of this goat. It's a nice fat one.”

“Judah, I've got something to tell you.”

“You look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?”

“I hate to be the bearer of evil tidings.”

Judah stood up and wiped his hands on a rag. “It would be best if you just told me.”

“It's Tamar.”

“What about her?”

Reuben gnawed his lip, but there was no way he could put it easily. “She is with child.”

Judah stared at Reuben, and his face grew red. “She's with child by whom?”

“She will not say. I've talked to her myself. She won't say a word about the man.”

“I've always known that woman had a streak of evil in her,” Judah said slowly, his lips growing into a tight line.

“But she's had a hard life losing two husbands,” Reuben said in her defense.

“That's no excuse!” Judah spat. “She'll have to pay the penalty.”

Reuben was startled at Judah's harshness. “Surely you don't mean to have her stoned!”

“She will burn for her offense!”

Reuben was horrified. “You can't mean that, Judah!”

“It's the tradition of our people to put to death any woman caught in harlotry. You know that as well as I do. Remember the woman five years ago over in the camp next to ours? She was stoned for the same offense.”

“She was nothing but a common woman, but Tamar is your daughter-in-law.”

“My sons are dead,” Judah said flatly. “She will die as she deserves.”

Reuben pleaded with him, and when Judah would not listen, Reuben appealed to his brothers to dissuade him. But Judah remained firm in his resolve. He refused to see Tamar and insisted that the sentence be carried out at once.

When Jacob heard the news, he too was startled and went to Judah to try to persuade him to show mercy, but Judah would have none of it.

“You've always been one to keep strict rules, Father. If we allow women to behave like this, what will become of us?”

Jacob could not answer, and Judah left to carry out the punishment. He called his friend Hirah, who was visiting the camp of Jacob's tribe, and commanded him to go bring the woman to be executed. Hirah stared oddly at Judah but shrugged and went to carry out Judah's orders.

Judah waited, and when Hirah returned shortly, he straightened up. Hirah held a staff in one hand and a signet ring on a cord in the other. “What are those?” Judah demanded.

“The woman says that the father of the child is the owner of these.” He extended them, but Judah drew back as if the man held deadly snakes in his hands. He stared at the items, unable to speak. Finally he reached out and took the signet ring and staff. “These are mine,” he admitted.

“I know. I recognized them,” Hirah said simply.

Judah stared at his friend and his legs went limp. He slumped to the ground, holding the items as tears began to flow. Judah's shoulders shook as he sobbed, and when he looked up, his red eyes were inflamed with grief. “She has been more righteous than I!” he cried. “Go and tell her that—” But then he stopped. “No. I will tell her myself.”

He lumbered out of the tent and went at once to Tamar's tent on the edge of the camp. She was sitting in front of it, and when he stood before her, she looked up at him with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

“I have been evil, and I grieve over what kind of man I am.” Judah waited for her to speak, but she did not. He nodded and said, “I will acknowledge your child as my own.” Then he stumbled blindly away.

As Tamar watched him go she smiled with satisfaction, laying her hands on her abdomen. Her purpose had been accomplished.

****

Jacob ordered that Tamar's tent be moved back to the center of the camp to await the arrival of her child. Everyone there came to accept her condition, even though they all knew the child was Judah's. Judah in the meantime could not face the humiliation, and he left to stay in Timnah with his friend Hirah.

Jacob managed to ignore the unpleasantness by acting as if nothing unusual had happened.

When Tamar's time to deliver came, the midwives helped her. They knew she was delivering twins, and during the process, one of them cried out, “Look, there's the hand of one of the infants!”

The other midwife quickly pulled a scarlet thread from her pocket and tied it around the tiny wrist that had emerged to mark the firstborn. But then the two women watched as the hand disappeared, and they both felt something mysterious was happening.

Finally the two babies were born, but it was the second-born who had the scarlet thread around his wrist.

Tamar had not uttered a single cry during the birth of the two infants. She took the firstborn and held him to her breast. She looked into his face and said, “I will call you Perez, for you have broken forth.” She stroked the red face of the infant and whispered to him, “You are the seed of Judah! God has touched you!”

Joseph had made a place for himself in prison exactly as he had at Potiphar's house. He had risen to the point where Rashidi entrusted most of his work to Joseph, leaving the governor free to devote his time to writing his poem that was going to change the world. What time was not given to his creative endeavor, he spent in speaking with Joseph, for he had learned to prize the young Hebrew above measure. It did not trouble Rashidi in the least that Joseph did all of the work of the prison, and neither did it trouble Joseph. The more he worked, the less time he had to think about his grievous past.

Several new prisoners had arrived during the night, and Joseph went to interview them in the morning, as was customary. His policy of lenient treatment for prisoners was working out well. It made sense to him that men who were healthy could do more work than men who were half starved and beaten. The other prison officials had come to agree when they saw the huge increase in work accomplished by the prisoners under Joseph's care.

This time there were eight prisoners, and as Joseph spoke to each of them, he was able to gain some insight as to where they might best be used. He was always interested in finding prisoners with the intelligence to be trained as overseers.

He was only halfway through the interviews when he overheard one of the prisoners speak in the Canaanite language. Joseph immediately turned and walked over to the man. The prisoner, misunderstanding Joseph's interest, flinched and ducked his head.

“Don't be afraid,” Joseph said in the man's own language. “I am Joseph, the overseer. What is your name?”

“I am Modach,” the prisoner murmured, his eyes wide with surprise. He was of average height, with thin, sharp features and skin weathered to the texture of leather. “You speak my language,” he whispered.

“Yes, Modach, I do. Which tribe do you descend from?”

“I am of the tribe of Shua.”

Joseph interrogated him for some time, and finally he asked off-handedly, “I don't suppose you've ever heard of the Hebrew Jacob.”

Modach's eyes brightened, and he nodded vigorously. “Oh yes, sir! I know the tribe of Jacob very well indeed.”

Joseph gave a start, for in all his years of captivity he had never encountered anyone who had even been in his part of the world, much less had known of his family.

“How is it that you know of the Hebrew tribe?”

“I know because one of the sons of Jacob married a girl from our tribe.”

“Which son?”

“His name is Judah, and he married the daughter of Shua.”

Joseph blinked, for he had often thought of Judah and his ill-fated marriage. He had once even asked Judah why he married a woman who was not a Hebrew, but Judah had glared at him and told him to mind his own business.

“Did you meet this man?”

“Why, yes, master. Shua was very fond of his daughter, and twice I took gifts to her after she married. I became very well acquainted with many of the tribe of Jacob.”

Joseph began to pepper Modach with questions and found that the man had a quick intelligence and a good memory.

Finally Modach shook his head. “It was a tragedy what happened to Judah.”

“A tragedy?” Joseph said fearfully. “Is he dead?”

“No, not that I know of. He and the daughter of Shua had three sons. But it was a tragic thing….” the prisoner said, shaking his head.

“What was tragic about it?” Joseph demanded impatiently, keeping his voice moderate despite the rapid beating of his heart. He had always had kind feelings for Judah and hated to hear that he had fallen on evil times.