And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.
The verse records the birth of a third son, Shelah, at Chezib, within the account of Judah's family and Tamar's marriage to his son. In the order of the narrative it falls after Joseph was sold into Egypt and before Joseph was bought by Potiphar in Egypt. It belongs to the account of Judah's sin and the sin of his family.
The chapter to which it belongs shows the sad fruits of Jacob's family life and the consequences of having more than one wife, including partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. Judah's sons were bound by the duty of a go'el to preserve a deceased brother's name and inheritance. The Lord's displeasure fell on the son who shirked that duty, while Tamar's later actions sought rights she had been fraudulently denied. The sons born from her union with Judah were counted as legitimate, and one was included in the ancestry of Christ.
The surrounding chapter identifies Pharez, born of a harlot mother, as an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh through Judah's family. Together with the crafty and deceitful character of Jacob and his sons, the heathen Rahab, and the sins of Solomon and the later kings of Judah, this ancestry proves the human line from which Christ sprang was one that would tend to concentrate in him all the weaknesses of humanity. Christ therefore took upon himself the flesh not of a sinless being but of sinful fallen man, with all its weaknesses and sinful tendencies, made more subject to infirmities of the flesh because the race had greatly deteriorated physically and morally. This was a necessary part of redemption so he could suffer death and sympathize with the tempted.
Tamar is one of the women named in Jesus' genealogy, so the story to which the verse belongs is part of the Bible's record of his ancestors and shows that the genealogy includes people with shameful histories, offering hope to the fallen. The account of Judah's sin to which the verse belongs exposes sin so that it may be shunned rather than excused, and points to God's love, mercy, and power as its remedy. As part of the history of Joseph, the verse illustrates that whatever God has intended a person for He will safely bring him to, leading him by a roundabout way yet guiding him rightly, so God may be safely trusted for guidance.
The verse records the birth of a third son, Shelah, at Chezib, within the account of Judah's family and Tamar's marriage to his son. In the order of the narrative it falls after Joseph was sold into Egypt and before Joseph was bought by Potiphar in Egypt. It belongs to the account of Judah's sin and the sin of his family.
The chapter to which it belongs shows the sad fruits of Jacob's family life and the consequences of having more than one wife, including partiality, jealousy, envy, low moral standards, and crime. Judah's sons were bound by the duty of a go'el to preserve a deceased brother's name and inheritance. The Lord's displeasure fell on the son who shirked that duty, while Tamar's later actions sought rights she had been fraudulently denied. The sons born from her union with Judah were counted as legitimate, and one was included in the ancestry of Christ.
The surrounding chapter identifies Pharez, born of a harlot mother, as an ancestor of Christ according to the flesh through Judah's family. Together with the crafty and deceitful character of Jacob and his sons, the heathen Rahab, and the sins of Solomon and the later kings of Judah, this ancestry proves the human line from which Christ sprang was one that would tend to concentrate in him all the weaknesses of humanity. Christ therefore took upon himself the flesh not of a sinless being but of sinful fallen man, with all its weaknesses and sinful tendencies, made more subject to infirmities of the flesh because the race had greatly deteriorated physically and morally. This was a necessary part of redemption so he could suffer death and sympathize with the tempted.
Tamar is one of the women named in Jesus' genealogy, so the story to which the verse belongs is part of the Bible's record of his ancestors and shows that the genealogy includes people with shameful histories, offering hope to the fallen. The account of Judah's sin to which the verse belongs exposes sin so that it may be shunned rather than excused, and points to God's love, mercy, and power as its remedy. As part of the history of Joseph, the verse illustrates that whatever God has intended a person for He will safely bring him to, leading him by a roundabout way yet guiding him rightly, so God may be safely trusted for guidance.