Vayeishev describes the lives of Jacob's family in the Promised Land and Joseph's exile to Egypt. There is a strange insertion into the story of Joseph:
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Now after a considerable time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and when the time of mourning was ended, Judah went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. It was told to Tamar, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. (Ge 38:12-15)
The area where Tamar would have waited for Judah is a ways north of Jerusalem in the hills around Shechem and Shiloh. Shiloh is in the area of Tapuach and Enaim. The location of Timnah, however, is odd. There are guesses, but there is no Timnah there today, perhaps lost in history. The most probable location where Judah went to shear his sheep is in the general vicinity of Shechem, the area where Joseph was kidnapped and sold. The absence of a Timnah in that area...and the fact that the location is given twice...forces us to look to a Timnah for which we DO know the location.
Timnah is in the extreme south of Israel, intersecting Edom. It was a place of copper mines from which the bronze was made. Bronze denotes fire. The brazen/copper altar was where sacrifices were burned in the wilderness. Tamar was nearly burned until her righteousness was revealed. The road to Timnah is NOT a place of much sheepshearing today. It is abandoned copper mines, red rock, and sand.
Timnah comes from
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mânaʻ; a primitive root; to debar (negatively or positively) from benefit or injury:—deny, keep (back), refrain, restrain, withhold.
The First Mention of manah is a similar context:
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“Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has withheld [H4513] from you the fruit of the womb?'” (Ge 30:2)
“Timnah” may be a way of emphasizing a message. Judah and his sons had WITHHELD children from righteous Tamar. She was thought to be noble, a descendant of Shem, Malkhi-tzedek, the priest of Shalem.
Tamar = palm tree, a symbol of righteousness
There is a “Tamar” on the road to Timnah. It fits the Biblical description, which suggests a “crossroad.” Biblical Tamar is on the ancient Spice Route. To the east is Petra and Moab; the road to the north goes to Judea; the road west goes to Be’er Sheva and Egypt; and to the south the road goes to Edom and the Timnah copper mines.
Ezekiel 47:19 and 48:28 mention Tamar as marking the southern border of Israel:
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“The south side (negev) toward the south (temanah) shall extend from Tamar as far as the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt and to the Great Sea. This is the south side (temanah) toward the south (negbah). (Eze 47:19)
Notice the pattern of the words describing Tamar’s location:
- Negev
- Temanah
- Temanah
- Negbah
In a chiasm, the axis, or middle of the mirror describes the essence of the embedded message. In the case of Tamar, her essence is “toward Teman,” or Timnah. This may be a subtle pointer. Timnah is in the territory of Edom, the Red One, or Esau. Symbolically, the identity of Edom has transformed over the centuries. At first, the Edomites were simply the descendants of Esau, a literal brother to Israel. Later, Edom was thought to have given rise to Rome, and even the Romans have a tradition of Romulus and Remus, twins, and the founding of Rome by Romulus. This is reminiscent of the Jacob/Esau story. Later, the identity of Edom morphed into the Roman Church, which was the continuation of the Roman Empire. Without pursuing a long prophecy trail, we might loosely define Edom as an aspect of the nations:
Who is this who comes from Edom,
With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah,
This One who is majestic in His apparel,
Marching in the greatness of His strength?
“It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?
“I have trodden the wine trough alone,
And from the peoples there was no man with Me.
I also trod them in My anger
And trampled them in My wrath;
And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments,
And I stained all My raiment. (Is 63:1-3)
Isaiah’s prophecy suggests that Messiah will come “from the peoples” when he marches back to Jerusalem. His physical route is described from the area of Edom and Botzrah, which would take him through Tamar toward the south and also a crossroad. Messiah’s garments are stained red, the color of Edom. The mountains of Edom and Timnah are the purest red. The “spiritual” location of Tamar then, may be a prophecy of Messiah, for the decisions of Judah and Tamar at that crossroad form the axis of the story of Joseph and the eventual family reunion.
Tamar’s first two husbands, the sons of the Canaanite woman, were Er and Onan. They were called “evil in the eyes of Hashem.” They wasted more than their seed. They wasted a righteous woman’s precious time. Likewise, Judah wasted Tamar’s time waiting for a son he never intended to give to her in marriage. After much waiting, Tamar reached a crossroad of decision. Where Tamar sat in wait for Judah has been translated differently by Christian and Jewish scholars (Ge 38:14):
- NASB: “So she removed her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah...”
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Artscroll/Rashi: “So she removed her widow’s garb from upon her, covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself; and she sat at a crossroads which is on the road toward Timnah...”
The key is at the “crossroads.”
Vayeishev tells us that the subplots will also describe how the children of Jacob “dwell” in the Land (and in exile). Vah-teshev describes Tamar’s dwelling. She dwells “at the opening of eyes on the way to Timnah” because she “saw” Judah intended to withhold Shelah and children from her. What happens at Tamar’s dwelling will open Judah’s eyes. A crossroads is called an “opening of the eyes” because it is the point at which the traveler must open his eyes, to decide which way to go. (Rashi to 38:14)
When Tamar is found to be pregnant, Judah judges her, sentencing her to death by burning. If she was a daughter or descendant of Shem, it would make sense, for he was a priest, and burning was the penalty for a licentious daughter of a priest.
Rather than shame his honor Judah, the progenitor of the monarchal dynasty of Israel, Tamar waits until the last moment to produce the three emblems of Mashiach (Messiah): the staff, the signet ring, and the garment. The staff is both a shepherd’s staff and an object of tribal authority. It is a sign of Mashiach, “And there shall come forth a rod from the stem of Yishai.” (Is 11:1) The garment in which he wrapped himself was like a husband covering his wife with his tallit; the signet ring was that which sealed legal agreements. Tamar procured Judah’s agreement to marriage. Judah even called her a play-on word, ha-kedeshah, קְדֵשָֽׁה ”the holy,” which can also mean a temple prostitute. When she vanishes with taking payment of a kid from the flock, Judah doesn’t seek the “prostitute” because he doesn’t want the shame of the matter to become known.
Rather than diminish his honor, Tamar gives Judah a chance to have her killed so that his transgression will not be found out. He can seek the wrong kind of honor among his peers and family. She asks at the last opportunity, "as she was taken out" (38:25), “Do you recognize these?” Judah had asked this question of his father Jacob when he deceived him with Joseph’s torn, bloody garment, blood taken from a “kid.” When Tamar produces the three personal emblems, Judah understands a deeper question. Do you “see” your deception and dishonor to your father? Your decision in this matter will lead to a decision in that matter. Your decision on the road to Timnah will lead to decisions later on the road to and from Egypt.
Conceal temporary shame, or be shamed now in order to obtain the honor of human nobility cast in the image of Elohim? Judah chose not to be honored for the person he wasn’t…and in that decision, he took a step toward that nobility that Tamar saw in him.
The gift of Tamar is her exemplary ability to salvage Judah’s honor even when he hypocritically sentences her to burning. She gives him the opportunity to choose his type of shame and honor. She sacrifices her own honor to open his eyes honorably. An eye, or ayin, in Hebrew is also a spring or well. There is a well at ancient Biblical Tamar on the road to Timnah, but there is another spring nearby, literally named “Ein Tamar.” Whether this was the actual site of the meeting (not probable), it is definitely a Torah-location of spiritual meaning. Sometimes we must be respectful and honor those who are behaving dishonorably. We must see something in them that they have not yet seen in themselves. And this is why we must continue interceding and intersecting the lives of those who have turned aside from their most noble created selves. We must see the image of Elohim in others.
We’d love for you to hear and view the visuals to the entire teaching on the eyes of Tamar this week. You will be able to find the premiere of Your Honor on our YouTube channel tonight at 5:00 pm.
