(And yet, at this point I cannot help but wonder if this plan of Tamar’s wasn’t hatched in the fear of the Lord, thoughtfully and purposefully under the leading of the Spirit, as she shares the Heart of God in being driven to raise up an heir for the line of Judah; a pathway unto the throne of the Lord Jesus Himself 😃) “When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. (A custom associated with the profession at the time; yet also a perfectly aligned tool in the hand of the Lord to conceal Tamar’s identity for the appointed time.) Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. (It is interesting to note that Judah’s proclivity to dally with a “lady of the night” is not explicitly condemned in the Scriptures here, as it becomes clear that this adulterous tendency of his is wielded perfectly by God either way, making all things work together beautifully for Good.) So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.” (Notice how thoughtfully and with great care Tamar’s plan is wrought; it is important to understand that she is by no means interested in material gain, but is seeking only to procure a means of collateral that will serve to prove the identity of her child and heir to the line of Judah. Whether or not Tamar was wise to the fact that Judah would not have any other means of payment upon his person or whether the Lord divinely orchestrated it this way is not clear, but the Divine Result wielded nevertheless served our Kingdom purposes perfectly.) So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?  “Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” (Here Tamar is handed the perfect God-ordained opportunity to name those items most closely associated with personal identity in that time, and Judah’s lust serves her well in that it literally urges him from a place of the flesh to give her whatever she names. I doubt in his haste Judah even paused to consider perhaps the oddity of her request.) Then he gave them to her (1), and went in to her (2), and she conceived by him (3). (Literally as simple as 1, 2, 3 and an heir to the line of Judah, to the throne of God Incarnate Himself is produced 😃, and this despite several failings on the part of first, Er’s wickedness, then Onan’s wickedness then Judah’s forgetfulness [read: several carefully construed plots of the enemy – and these are only the ones we know of!], and yet always, always, always: God’s Will Be Done 😌. It also becomes starkly apparent to us as reader that Tamar was very specifically chosen by God Himself to be the mother to this heir – we must never forget the critically important part played by the mother as an equal in the provision of genetic material unto an heir; as a matter of fact, it is often here that God chooses to make things interesting right under our very noses – let us remember that Tamar came from a tribe of people we know absolutely nothing about.) So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil (the appearance of a harlot fully laid aside, it only ever being an undignified means to a very Holy end) and put on the garments of her widowhood (a disguise / the effectual relinquishing of her widowhood temporarily only for a very select God-ordained purpose).”

“¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶Then he turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

¹⁷And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.”

So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?”

¹⁸Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?”

So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood.”

– Genesis 38:15-19 (NKJV)