And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
In her travail Tamar bore twins, one of whom was Pharez, also called Perez. This account of Judah and his family comes after Joseph was sold into Egypt and before Joseph was bought by Potiphar in Egypt. The verse belongs among the chapters presenting the sad fruits of Jacob's having more than one wife, which led to partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. As part of the account of Judah's sin, the record exposes sin so that it may be shunned and points to God's love, mercy, and power as its remedy.
Perez is identified as an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh, and he was born to a harlot. Christ's human line came through this child with Jacob's selfish, crafty, and deceitful nature behind it in his sons, and it stands with Rahab the heathen, Solomon in weakness and idolatry, and the sinful kings of Judah as proof that the line from which Christ sprang was one that would tend to concentrate in Him all the weaknesses of humanity. Although His mother was pure and godly, His human nature was therefore more subject to the infirmities of the flesh and to the weaknesses and sinful tendencies of fallen human nature than if He had been born before the race had deteriorated physically and morally. This was not accidental but a necessary part of redemption, for only by being made like sinful man could death have power over Him and could He suffer being tempted in order to succor those who are tempted.
In her travail Tamar bore twins, one of whom was Pharez, also called Perez. This account of Judah and his family comes after Joseph was sold into Egypt and before Joseph was bought by Potiphar in Egypt. The verse belongs among the chapters presenting the sad fruits of Jacob's having more than one wife, which led to partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. As part of the account of Judah's sin, the record exposes sin so that it may be shunned and points to God's love, mercy, and power as its remedy.
Perez is identified as an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh, and he was born to a harlot. Christ's human line came through this child with Jacob's selfish, crafty, and deceitful nature behind it in his sons, and it stands with Rahab the heathen, Solomon in weakness and idolatry, and the sinful kings of Judah as proof that the line from which Christ sprang was one that would tend to concentrate in Him all the weaknesses of humanity. Although His mother was pure and godly, His human nature was therefore more subject to the infirmities of the flesh and to the weaknesses and sinful tendencies of fallen human nature than if He had been born before the race had deteriorated physically and morally. This was not accidental but a necessary part of redemption, for only by being made like sinful man could death have power over Him and could He suffer being tempted in order to succor those who are tempted.