Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TAMAR

(Heb. tāmār)

(PERSON)

1. Daughter-in-law of Judah (Gen. 38). Tamar, possibly a Canaanite woman, is given in marriage to Judah’s firstborn son, Er. Because he “was wicked in the sight of the Lord,” Er is killed by the Lord, before he can sire a son (Gen. 38:7). Judah’s next son Onan is given to Tamar to perform the duties of levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5-10), but withdraws before climax, spilling his semen upon the ground, and so is killed by the Lord. Judah, having but one son left, refuses to give him to Tamar.

Tamar then sees to it herself that an offspring be raised up for her dead husband. Dressing as a harlot, she sits by the city gate, enticing Judah to have intercourse with her. She becomes pregnant, and when her pregnancy can no longer be hidden, Judah seeks to burn her as a harlot. When Tamar produces Judah’s signet, staff, and cord, convincing evidence that Judah is the father, he acknowledges that she is more righteous than he, since he himself had violated the levirate requirements by refusing to give her his son Shelah. She gives birth to twins, Perez and Zerah, the former being a key ancestor of David (Ruth 4:12, 18). Tamar is one of four women included in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Matt. 1:3).

2. Daughter of David and Maacah. She was the half sister of Amnon, David’s oldest and the heir apparent, and full sister of Absalom, the second in line for the throne. Amnon falls madly in love with Tamar, and is desperate to have relations with her (2 Sam. 13). He finally gets her into his chambers through the ruse of being sick and needing Tamar to nurse him, but Tamar stoutly resists his advances, asking that they be married first (2 Sam. 13:12-13). After he forces himself on Tamar, Amnon’s love turns to hate and he orders her to leave. Tamar protests that this is worse than the rape itself (2 Sam. 13:16), so Amnon thrusts her out of his chambers. Absalom comforts her and, biding his time, takes advantage of the opportunity to kill his brother, thereby avenging Tamar (2 Sam. 13:23-39). There is more to this story than vengeance, however, since by having Amnon killed Absalom becomes David’s oldest living son, and therefore the presumed heir to the throne.

3. Absalom’s only daughter (2 Sam. 14:27), most likely named after Absalom’s sister. Some ancient manuscripts list Maacah rather than Tamar as Absalom’s daughter (LXX, OL), but it seems probable that Tamar is the original reading and that Maacah perhaps appeared through a scribal change based on 1 Kgs. 15:2.

Bibliography. G. W. Coats, Jr., “Widow’s Rights: A Crux in the Structure of Genesis 38,,” CBQ 34 (1972): 461-66; C. Conroy, Absalom Absalom! Narrative and Language in 2 Samuel 13–20. AnBib 81 (Rome, 1978); J. A. Emerton, “Judah and Tamar,” VT 29 (1979): 403-15; S. Niditch, “The Wronged Woman Righted: An Analysis of Genesis 38,,” HTR 72 (1979): 143-49.

Alan J. Hauser

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

TAMAR

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)