Genesis 38:12 – 19
After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. 13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked. 17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked. 18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. 19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.
When reading this passage, the first thing that comes to my mind is, “what a tangled, ugly, broken mess!” This very phrase is what tends to define our lives when we live in sin. In this mess, Tamar asked Judah what he would give to her in pledge for what he owed her for sleeping with him. She then suggested that he give her his “seal and its cord, and the staff in [his] hand” (Genesis 38:18). The seal and cord were most likely a cylinder used to press into clay or wax, identifying the cylinder’s owner (like a signet ring). This cylinder was likely connected to a cord Judah could wear around his neck. While the staff was common to shepherds, it was known that a unique staff would be carried by someone important or the patriarch of the family.* Either way, this virtually gave Tamar Judah’s birth certificate and driver’s license!
Let's talk about sin for a moment. When we sin, we leave a small part of us behind, “at the scene of the crime”; something that ties us and identifies us with what we’ve done. We think we can get away with it unscathed, but as God told the Israelites through Moses, “...your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).
*Cultural Background Study Bible, note on Genesis 38:18 seal...cord...sta+, p. 84.