Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua and she gave him 3 sons: Er, Onan and Shelah (daughters hardly get a look in in the book of Genesis!). Years later Judah got a wife called Tamar for his first born Er, but he was wicked so God killed him. Thus in this chapter there ensued a battle for Tamar's right to be the mother of Judah's heir. Judah called on Er's brother Onan to perform the cultural duty of a brother-in-law producing offspring for his deceased brother, but he used to have sex with Tamar but ejaculated onto the ground. This displeased God so he killed Onan too. This left one brother-in-law Shelah but he was too young. Many years later Tamar dressed as a prostitute and put on a veil and tricked her father-in-law into having sex with her and she became pregnant without him realizing who she was. Tamar was given Judah's seal, cord and staff as part of her payment. 3 months later Judah found out that Tamar was pregnant and Judah wanted to burn her to death! However he soon changed his mind when Tamar produce his seal, cord and staff proving that he was the father of the child. Judah admitted that Tamar was within her rights as he had failed to send his son Shelah to be her husband. So Tamar gave birth to twins: Zerah and Perez.
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