SEASONS - REMEMBERING THE BEGINNINGS OF THANKSGIVING

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I find myself in a continuous pattern of thankfulness as we go through the calendar months of October, November and December in America. 

It all starts with the Hebrew Festival called The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, which has already come and gone for this year.  Each year at this festival my heart is overwhelmed with Thanksgiving, then follows America’s Thanksgiving Holiday bringing more reminders of thankfulness.  I’m often reminded that Sukkot probably was the first original form of a Thanksgiving celebration. 

Among the many, many things I am grateful for this year is the fact that we have a God Who has perfectly orchestrated the history of our country, making our American roots beautiful and unique.  My eyes are opened to this fact every time I look at the similarities between Sukkot and The American Holiday of Thanksgiving. 

The Hebrew Feast of Tabernacles or Booths begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after the crops are all gathered in for the winter.  So  we see this similar pattern already in that this too  is a fall harvest activity, very much in the nature of The American Thanksgiving holiday.   

God instructed the Israelites to observe the Feast of Tabernacles by building and living in temporary booths for seven days so that they would remember the exodus from Egypt when they lived in tents, or booths, in the dessert.  It was to help them to remember how God dwelt among them and tabernacled with them as they sojourned to a new land.  In other words it was a time to remember all the good and great things that God had done for them. 

Exodus 25:8 speaks of this:   “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” (NIV)

There were also other reasons for dwelling in booths near the threshing floors.  Threshing floors were the place of the harvest.  The harvest was income.  The threshing floors were always in danger of being robbed.  This was less likely to happen if someone was sleeping in a temporary booth in the fields until all the 
grain was removed.  It was customary for the family to move out to the vicinity of the threshing floor in order to work together as well as to protect the harvest.  

The mother would prepare meals there in the shade and she would take her turn with the father and the children to ride on the sledge.  

This was what was going on when Ruth approached Boaz.  He was sleeping in a Sukkah near the threshing floor guarding the grain.  

The ancient people gladly added God’s instructions for the Holy Days to this tradition, and they turned this time into a joyous celebration full of Thanksgiving. 

 Isn’t that just like our Great God to turn dread and fear into a time of celebration and joy?  He is a God of great reversals. 

We look at the Hebrew people dwelling in booths during The Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot and we can't help but think of the lean-tos on the sides of the first log cabins that the settlers built.  They were temperory dwellings with three sides and a door.  They were often the shelter offereed to strangers passing through to spend the night.  They were a form of exteneded hospitality, just like a sukkah has come to be in today's celebrations.

Historians now note that the first Jews arrived in America with Christopher Columbus in 1492.  Jews newly converted to Christianity were also among the first Spaniards to live in Mexico with Conquistador Hernando Cortez in 1519.  In North America in 1654 Jews arrived in New Amsterdam which later came to be known as New York.  There were 23 Jewish refugees from Recif, Brazil. 
 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13)

The Hebrew feast is celebrated by a full week of rejoicing, dancing, singing and feasting and is called “The Season of our Joy”.  Many of us gathering for Thanksgiving in America find ourselves doing the same things with all the same intentions in our hearts.  We too find our year coming to a close and are looking at the harvests of our lives for this season.  We are thankful for the ways that God has chosen to bless us. 

There seems to be a widely held opinion that The Pilgrim/Puritans based Thanksgiving on their knowledge of The Feast of Tabernacles.  The Puritans were great followers of the Hebrew Scriptures.  The Bible was the Puritan’s most important guide to living.  They could have noticed the description of The Feast of Tabernacles found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and followed this pattern for their own celebration.  Also, there could have been some Jewish believers among these first settlers who might have been keeping these traditional feasts all along.  There was a group that moved to the Netherlands before joining the pilgrims from England as they began their journey across the sea.  These had lived among the Dutch and had associated with Jewish believers in that land who would have kept the festival of Sukkot. 

It is extremely clear that the laws of the first colonies were based on biblical principals from the scriptures.  The New Haven legislators adopted a legal code called the Code of 1655 that contained 79 statutes.  Half of these 79 statutes included biblical references, and it is very clear that they came from the Hebrew bible.  The Plymouth Colony had a similar law code, and so did the Massachusetts Colony.  In 1641 the Massachusetts Colony adopted The Capital Laws of New England.  These laws were based almost entirely on the Mosaic law. 

It is highly possible that some of our American heroes might have been from people of Jewish roots who had come to the shores of America long before the Mayflower ever sailed.   

Already living in the land at the time, they may have been among those who came to the aid of the pilgrims that first year.  Many wanted to turn these Jewish brothers away and chase them out of the area, but The Dutch West Indian Company depended heavily on their investments and helped them to stay.  By the time of The War of Independence, there was an estimated 2,000, mostly Sephardic Jews living in America.  Their contributions to the causes of the country were very significant.  Not only did they fight alongside of the Patriots, but these Jews provided great financial contributions in the years after the first colonies arrived.  One of the greatest among them was Haym Salomon, who lent a great deal of money to The Continental Congress in the last days of the war.  He was never paid back a dime and died bankrupt.

There was also a well known metallurgist named Gaunse who had come to America with a Spanish expedition from the Queen of England.  Jews were not allowed to go to the colonies at that time, but this man was so knowledgeable about copper that an exception was allowed in his case. 

So it is highly possible that some Jewish thoughts were floating around among the colonies.  This coupled with the strict interpretations and emphasis on the scriptures might have contributed to the first Thanksgiving celebration.

Their feast was held after their fall harvest, just as the one the Hebrews held.  

The chain of events leading up to the first Thanksgiving in America is amazing when you think about it.  The Pilgrims too had made a great exodus to come to a new place where they would be allowed to worship God as they chose to do, in the way that they thought God intended.  The Israelites crossed the Red Sea; the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean.  Both journeys were filled with dangers and perils.  Upon arriving at their destination both groups experienced apprehension and adjustments.  They had to gather their courage to be brave in an unfamiliar land, and they had to learn to get along with strange people who had totally different cultures.  Both brave groups of people had to learn how to live in peace and harmony with those around them even if they had great differences in lifestyles.  For these Pilgrims America had become The Promised Land.   So it was that they recognized and followed the customs of the Israelites who had for many years given thanks for abundant harvests in the eight day celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The land of England where the colonist hailed from originally had a custom to observe a Harvest Festival, but the Pilgrims had not associated themselves with their homeland’s festivals because of their many pagan customs.  Once they arrived in America, they made every effort to observe things in their days that were accurately associated with God.  They were more concerned with religious matters than politics or social issues.  It is also thought that they adopted a Sabbatarian view of observing the Sabbath from sunset on Friday till sunset on Saturday.  They were heavily influenced by preaching and teachings on Millennialism.  They believed there would be a “Golden Age” or “Paradise on Earth” in which Christ will reign for 1000 years prior to the final judgment of mankind.  This all plays into the theology of the Christian symbolism in the celebration of Sukkot, which many Christians today live out once a year in sort of a “dress rehearsal” of The Millennial Kingdom of Christ.  These fundamentals of Christian doctrine are now commonly taught practices and observances in most evangelical based churches of faith today. 

The Puritans chose to separate themselves from The Church of England based on the following scripture passage:  “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:22-23). 

These Puritans/Pilgrims did everything according to the truth they found in the scriptures.  They followed The Word of God in a strict and detailed manner.  In other words they believed in living out the scriptures in their daily lives.  The passage said to “flee” when you are persecuted for worshiping God; and so they did.  On a ship called The Mayflower.  102 passengers began the long voyage.  Though the mast of their ship broke in a severe storm, they were able to repair it and eventually found themselves on the shores of Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts.  When the mast was broken there was discussion of turning back.  Everyone decided to take the risk and keep going forward. The first use of the word “Pilgrims” appeared in William Bradford’s writings ‘Of Plymouth Plantation.’  In his writings he used the imagery of Hebrews 11:13-16 for those who had an opportunity to return to their homelands but instead longed for a better, heavenly country. 

There was nothing in this new land that required the education of the founder’s children.  Yet, these brave people felt education was very important and established their own unique system of studies.  John Winthrop declared that their schools should be the beginning of “A City Upon A Hill” that all the people turned to for education and learning.  The founders were not amateurs; most of them had attended either Oxford or Cambridge and before coming to the new land they had communicated with intellectuals throughout Europe.  Eventually the school they established became known as Harvard University.  My point in explaining this is to express that these were well educated men, highly capable of discerning mistakes and blunders of bad choices and totally capable of interpreting the scriptures with great intellect.  They had something special that many others did not, however; they had heart and passion for the fruit of their intellectual endeavors.  Oh that Harvard would return to its original roots.

So we see that even in the field of education, these very educated and knowledgeable men –patterned their lives after the culture of The Hebrew people and their stories that are played out in our Bibles.  Think of the similarities that we have discussed so far.  They both were people who set themselves apart in order to worship God in the way they thought He desired to be worshipped.  The Pilgrims considered the scriptures found in Deuteronomy 14:2: 

"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." (Deuteronomy 14:2)

The Pilgrims chose to pattern themselves after the nation that God chose and put His name upon; The Nation of Israel.  This being true, it is highly possible that these well learned men studied and followed the feast and festivals of God found in our Old Testament scriptures.  Perhaps they had read and understood the significance of Deuteronomy 6:3: 

"Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the LORD God of your fathers has promised you - ‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’" 

That first winter proved harsh and forbidding.  There were many illnesses and they were to the point of starvation in the first settlement.  They found the Hand of God was with them as they learned to get along with an unusual culture of people who were already living on the continent.  They cooperated with these Indians and combined their resources.  This is how they were able to rise above their problems.  They were humble before God and were willing to learn new things, and most of all they were willing to reach out and receive and return love from those that were not familiar to them. 

As we keep looking at the patterns of that first Feast of Tabernacles of the Hebrews and also observing our national ancestors, we see so many parallels.  It has been discovered that some of the Jewish New “Englanders kept track of these historical parallels too; that both people groups were persecuted for their beliefs, left their homes and came to a new land, survived the first year and celebrated a time of Thanksgiving before God after their Fall Harvest. It seems that William Bradford, who was the first governor of the Pilgrims proclaimed the first Thanksgiving by using the Scriptures – both from the Old and New Testaments for guidance in governing the colony. 

So we conclude that the hard and dangerous journey that led to Plymouth Rock, in a very real sense began with that earlier migration from Egyptian slavery toward Mount Sinai and led onward toward Ellis Island, and every other landing place where the later generations of pilgrims arrived at on these shores.

Today, as we approach Thanksgiving once more, the journey continues for America, for each of us, in our own lives and for all the people of our country as a whole. The Pilgrims were the first to sense that America had a unique destiny in human history.  Governor Bradford wrote, ‘just as one small candle may light a thousand others, and loose none of it’s own light, so too will we — but few in number — become a beacon for all people!”

May Governor Bradford’s words once again be so.  We Americans stand at a critical crossroad in our nation’s life. The challenge of keeping our freedom and liberty, of being able to work to provide for our families and the fight for living and raising our children in a godly manner and worshiping in a land that provides freedom and justice for all people to pursue and fulfill their dreams is still unrealized, even after 393 years since the Mayflower found its way to a safe harbor.  We too, may well have some dangerous seas and painful trials ahead of us, before we can gather with all our neighbors in a pure celebration of Thanksgiving once more.  But the example of our Pilgrim ancestors can continue to inspire and guide us as we reaffirm the freedom of conscience and independent spirit they stood for.  Let us all strive to again be “one nation under God” and  continue our quest for peace on earth, good will to man.

PIECES OF THE PUZZLE: WHY DID COLUMBUS SAIL THE OCEAN BLUE?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

This article was written three years ago.  I found the facts fascinating then, and now I find them even more fascinating. 

Do you realize how many times the Jewish people and the Christian people have been driven out of their lands and homes because of their belief in God?  

It has happened continuously, over and over in the history of mankind.  If you begin to study this history, you also begin to see how the hand of God has worked in these things, despite the tragedies that took place.  

One example is that of the Alhambra Decree that drove the Jewish people out of Spain.  If you study the writings of modern day Spanish scholars, you uncover amazing truths about how history in American evolved.  You will hear of many things that are not recorded in the typical American History books or taught in American schools.  

Pondering  the Alhambra Decree and the devastation it must have brought to the Jewish community as they were driven from Spain has allowed me to stumble across some very interesting observations. 

I am so excited to share these historical possibilities with you.  Am I sure they are all completely true?  I will let you know the facts I have found, and you may decide that for yourself.  I never claim to be an expert or a perfect historian, so be sure to do your own homework and research all of the facts.  Ask God to reveal only the truth to you and know I am presenting the truth here as best I can discern it from my own limited research.  I have found it all very fascinating! 

As a first note, and just to make sure we set the record straight, after all these years, The Alhambra Decree, the Edict of Expulsion that ordered the Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon was formally revoked on December 16, 1968 after the Second Vatican Council. 

It is nice to clean up history this way.  It was a pleasant gesture of good will from the descendants of ungodly men, but as you know all of those who suffered and were affected were long dead and gone by the time of this apology.  

It appears from certain documents that Christopher Columbus signed his last will and testament on May 19, 1506, and in this document he made five very curious and revealing provisions.  Two of his wishes were that there would be a tithe of one-tenth of his income to the poor, and to that an anonymous dowry would be provided for a group of poor girls.  These requests were typical Jewish customs of the times. 

He also decreed to give money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter.  

In Simon Weisenthal's book, "Sails of Hope," he argues that Columbus's voyage  in which he discovered America was mostly motivated by a desire to find a safe haven for the Jews in light of their expulsion from Spain.  

In order to get the vision of this surprising discovery; we must trudge back through the paths of history.  

It seems that it all began in the 8^th century, when the Muslims had occupied and settled most of the Iberian Peninsula.   The Jewish people had lived in this region since Roman times and were called “The People Of The Book.”  They were given special status and even thrived under the Muslim rule.  The Jewish settlements flourished with learning and commerce until Iberia began to be reclaimed by Christendom and The Catholic Church.  Hostility toward the Jews gradually became more and more pronounced until it escalated in brutal episodes of violence and hostility.   Thousands of Jews escaped this violence by converting to Catholicism.  Many of these conversions were false moves, just done in order to save their lives, but not done from the heart or the head.    

From the 13th to the 16th centuries many European countries expelled the Jews from their territory, with Spain being preceded by England, France and German lands, among many others. So Spain does not provide any exception to a tragic history of the life of Jews among Christian nations.  

Then we move forward in time to the days of the reign of Ferdinand II and Isabella I.   This royal couple formed a union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile.  In 1948 King Ferdinand established the Spanish Inquisition in Aragon.  By the victory of the Battle of Granada Isabella took control of a large Jewish and Muslim population.  The Alhambra Decree was issued, and much persecution began.

Imagine yourself as a Jew living during the time of these Crusades.  How tragic life must have seemed for them.  During the same time in a small town called Genoa, Italy; lived a boy named Christopher Columbus.  Imagine how he came to be there.  His first language was Castilian Spanish.  About one hundred years before his birth many Jewish people had been forced to leave Castile.  Large numbers of these refugees had come to Genoa, Italy.   14^th Century Castilian Spanish is the “Yiddish” of Spanish Jewry,  and is also known as “Ladino.”  This was the native language spoken by Christopher Columbus.   

Forget all that you have been taught in elementary school for a moment, and imagine the life of the young Christopher Columbus.  Perhaps, by leaving all previously taught knowledge, you might even be able to see him as a young boy of Jewish ancestry  growing up in Genoa, Italy, like many other young boys of Jewish ancestry at that time.  What would your life have been like?   

When the new king and queen came into power over the area the Jews were forced to renounce Judaism and embrace Catholicism.  The people who decided to do this were called “Conversos” or Converts.  The people who were already Catholic liked to call them “new converts” in order to distinguish them from themselves. 

If your Jewish family stayed true to the Jewish traditions under this rule, your life might have been lived secretly, and your religious beliefs might have been hidden from the government.  That is, if your family held to the “Marrano” traditions of that time.  The “Marranos,” (another word for “swine,”)  were those who faked a conversion to the Catholic Church, practicing Catholicism outwardly while covertly practicing Judaism.  Tens of thousands of Marranos were tortured in the Spanish Inquisition.  They were pressured to offer up the names of friends and family members who were ultimately paraded in front of crowds, tied to stakes and burned alive.  Their land and personal possessions were then divvied up by the church and crown.  

 History tells us that Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula at the time.  The other countries around it had been united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, who had converted them to Christianity under the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.  Granda fell too in the year of 1492, when Christopher Columbus had grown into a young man.  This brought an end to the Muslim domination of Spain that had lasted nearly 800 years.  Spain returned to being a completely Christian country.    What if Christopher Columbus had secretly been a young Jewish man living in a former Muslim country that was now being completely converted to Christianity? 

All of the kingdoms in the area under Ferdinand and Isabella came to be called Spain.  Ferdinand and Isabella decided to throw all the Jews out of Spain.  They were not just targeting Jews who had never converted to Christianity anymore.  These Monarchs proclaimed an Edict of Expulsion and signed it into effect on March 31 of 1492.  They did not want the Jews left in the country to re-Judaize the converses.  Also, Jewish money was now needed to rebuild the kingdom after the costly war against the Muslims.  Instead of taxing the Jews, they thought it easier and faster to just expel them all at once and to confiscate the wealth and property they would leave behind. 

 Some scholars now believe that Christopher Columbus sailed to America to protect and find refuge for his Jewish brothers and sisters at the time of the Alhambra Decree during the Crusades.  Pope Urban II declared the Crusades on the 9^th of AV in 1492; which displaced many Jewish people from their lands.  Countless Jews were tortured and murdered on this day.    On the very same day, Columbus left on his route through the West Indies, and there is much evidence from history to reference that the Jewish people were established in America even before the pilgrims! 

What an astonishing discovery!  These facts are not at all in keeping with what I learned in my old history classes in elementary school growing up.  We were taught that Christopher Columbus set out from Spain to discover new lands for the Spanish throne.   There was no mention of his being Jewish, and actually no mention of the good King and Queen not liking the Jews because they were Catholic.  We were simply told that the Queen was a “Christian.”   We were actually told that Christopher Columbus was an Italian from Genoa, and that the good queen and king backed his adventures with their funds. 

Recently a number of Spanish scholars, such as Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, have concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, whose survival depended upon the suppression of all evidence of his Jewish background in face of the brutal systemic, ethnic cleansing due to the Alhambra Decree.

There is documented evidence that Columbus's voyage was not as it is commonly believed, funded by the deep pockets of Queen Isabella, but rather by two Jewish Conversos and another prominent Jew.  Louis d Santengel and Gabriel Sanchez  are said to have advanced an interest free loan of 17,000 ducats from their own pockets to help pay for the voyage.  

Some historians now believe the first two letters Columbus sent back from his journey were not to Ferdinand and Isabella, but to Santangel and Sanchez, thanking them for their support and telling them what he had found.  This evidence seems to bear out a far more complicated picture of the man named Columbus.  As we witness bloodshed the world over in the name of religious freedom, it is valuable to take another look at this brave soul who sailed the seas in search of such freedoms and landed in a place that would eventually come to hold such an ideal at its very foundation.

Some even believe it could be possible that Christopher Columbus was actually on a quest to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims.  We cannot know for sure.  If this is all true, it would be because his true identity was being hidden. 

On the document of his will Columbus marked a triangular signature of dots and letters that resembled inscriptions found on grave stones of the Jewish cemeteries in Spain. He ordered his heirs to use the signature in perpetuity.  According to British historian Cecil Roth's "The History of the Marranos;"   the anagram was a cryptic substitute for the Kaddish, a prayer recited in the synagogue by mourners after the death of a close relative.   It is also stated that Columbus left money to support the crusade he hoped his successors would take up to liberate the Holy Land.

Many of the letters Columbus wrote to his son were later found and each of them contained the Hebrew letters bet-hei, which means "with God's help."  This was a custom of observant Jews for centuries; to add this blessing to their letters.  No letters written to others outside of the family bear this work.  

Scholars also point to the date on which Columbus set sail as further evidence of his true motives. He was originally going to sail on a day that happened to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av.  Columbus postponed this original sail date by one day to avoid embarking on the holiday, which would have been considered by Jews to be an unlucky day to set sail.  That made the timing of the actual day he did set forth the very day that Jews were given the choice of converting, leaving Spain, or being killed.

Most seem to agree that there's hardly a question that Columbus's voyage to America was spiritually linked to the expulsion. Just as one of the greatest Jewish communities of Medieval Europe was being destroyed, God was opening up the doors of what was going to eventually become the greatest Diaspora refuge for Jews in history -  a place called America.

Is this replacement theology in the making?  Not at all!  It is just the continuing of God’s long, unending story.  In this it has been stated that “before God made the disease, He made the cure.” 

Another interesting fact is that though we can’t prove exactly that Columbus was Jewish, we can know that the tools that he used in his journey were all made possible by Jewish inventions, such as the tools of the navigators called the quadrant and the astral lobe.   All that were used during this period of history were of Jewish manufacture.  In fact, the quadrant then in use was called “Jacob’s Staff,” it was invented by Rabbi Levi ben Gershon.  The atlas that Columbus used was known as the Catalon Atlas. It was the creation of the Cresca Family who were Jews from Majorca, Spain. Not only was the Catalon Atlas considered the greatest and most significant collection of maps at the time, it had no competition to speak of.  Jews had a virtual monopoly on map making because they had gained valuable information from Jewish merchants from all over the known world all throughout their history to that point. 

Another thing we must consider in this fascinating history is the fact that Spain, having discovered and colonized the new World, should have been the wealthiest of countries, but in fact was bankrupt within one hundred years of the expulsion. Turkey, who welcomed the Jews who migrated there from Spain, on the other hand, prospered. The Ottoman Empire became one of the greatest powers in the world. The next two sultans, Selim I and Suleiman I, expanded the empire as far as Vienna, Austria.

One has to recall the blessing of Abraham when considering these facts.   God had given Abraham and his descendants a special blessing:  "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you, will be blessed all the families of the earth." (Genesis 12:3)

To quote Thomas Newton-The Bishop of Bristol (1704-1782):

The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most single and illustrious acts of Divine Providence... and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation... We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin... And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against them.

This is the pattern of history that continues to repeat itself over and over.  

You can literally chart the rise and fall of empires by how they treated the Jews.

COME AS A CHIILD LESSON 91 JUDAH AND TAMAR

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Our last lesson left us with Joseph living as a slave to Potipher in Egypt. 

The sons of Israel had told Joseph’s father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.  They had taken the blood of a kid (a young goat)  and spread it over the coat of many colors that Joseph had been given by Israel.   Israel, now in a very sad state; has decided to grieve until he died too, so that he could then go into the next life and be with Joseph. 

And so life in the land of Canaan goes on.  Let’s just say it wasn’t a rose garden all the time.  There was always something going on.  For instance, take the thing that happened with Judah:

Judah was probably pretty miserable just watching Israel grieve over the

loss of his brother Joseph.  The story of what had really happened and the truth of the whole matter must have been eating away at Judah from the inside.  He was probably afraid he would say something to let the truth out of the bag.  He decided to leave for awhile and go somewhere more cheerful.  

Judah had a friend in Adullam named Hirah.  Judah’s friendship with Hirah seems to have spanned over twenty or more years.  He first met Hirah when he was a young shepherd, but Hirah must have simply been in training to be humble because  Hirah means “splendor” which would indicate that Judah’s friend Hirah was probably royal and lived lavishly after his days of education and training in the land of Adullam. 

This description of Hirah agrees with the theory of many scholars; that Hirah and Hiram were the same person who lived a long, long life.  Hiram, as he is called later in the scriptures came to be the King of Tyre.  He probably was being groomed for the kingship as a young man when he met Judah.  They both, being young men, were tending to their father's business and being educated about life. 

 Judah probably enjoyed the high life that hanging out with Hirah provided.  These men were of two totally different cultures.  Hirah did not worship the One True God.  He was a pagan and he highly influenced Judah to participate in pagan things.  This acquaintance had a slow and gradual effect over Judah’s personality.  

I will tell the story of the adventures of these two young men, but first, let us learn a little more about the city from which Hirah resided.    This ancient city of Adullam was located in the plain southwest of Jerusalem. The area of this piece of the earth now reeks with history from events of later dates beyond the times of Judah.   Much of this future history of Adullam included the fact that it was the place whose king was later slain by Joshua. It was one of the cities later rebuilt and fortified by Rehoboam, and it was re-occupied by the Jews after the captivity in the days of Nehemiah. 

There is also the history of David withdrawing from the King of Gath at Adullam.  He hid at the “cave of Adullam with his mighty men.”  All of these things, however, took place in Adullam AFTER the time of Judah and in this story Adullam is simply an ancient city inhabited by a royal rich ancient family tribe that became known for providing the best shepherds and craftsmen in the land.  This is the place where Judah’s friend Hirah lived.  It seems he was a shepherd when he was young, then trained as a craftsman as he became older.     

There, in the city of Adullam, with due credit to Hirah and his pagan influence over Judah; Judah met and married a Canaanite woman.  Judah did not consult with his father, as was the custom, nor did he consult with God.  He simply married this woman that had been forbidden to him and his bloodline.  This was the first subtle influence of paganism that crept into Judah’s life.  It would be carried on through his sons.

 This Canaanite woman, named Shua, became pregnant with Judah's first child, a son, whom Judah named Er.  Er means "watcher."  The Canaanite woman conceived again and had another son, and the mother named this son Onan.   Onan means "strong."   Then she had still another son, and she named him Shelah.   Judah only carried out the custom of his people of the father naming the sons with his firstborn.  After that he allowed the mother to give the names to their offspring.   She gave birth to Shelah at Kezib, a place southwest of Adullam. Shelah means "that breaks, that unties, that undresses."   It seems Judah lingered in this pagan land for quite some time.    

Judah married off his firstborn son, Er, to a wife named Tamar.  She too was a Canaanite woman, the second instance of the pagan culture creeping into the house of Israel from Judah’s association with pagan people.  We are told that Er was a wicked man and God caused him to die.  We do not know how he was wicked, or what God was so displeased with about Er that was so wicked; we only know that he died because he displeased God greatly.   It is suspected that God did not want a pagan with wicked ways as an ancestor in the line of the Messiah.  No one knows for sure.  The fact that Er was wicked DID play into the picture though, not just that he was a Canaanite.  Tamar was also a Canaanite, but she did not displease God and she was not killed.   

When Er died Judah told his second son, Onan, to sleep with his dead brother’s wife and fulfill his duty to her as a brother-in-law, which was the custom, so that Er's wife too might contribute children to the tribe.    If a brother died the next brother was to take his wife as his own and produce offspring for the brother’s name.  This was called a "kinsman redeemer" or 'leverite marriage."  It was more about property rights than anything.  The first son of the widowed wife by his brother would inherit the land of his deceased father and it would stay in his family.  Any other sons born to the brother by the widow of his brother would be considered his own sons, and inherit from his property.   

But Onan, knowing that the child would not be considered his own, deliberately did not produce an offspring with Tamar.      He would sleep with Tamar, but the scriptures say he spilt his seamen on the ground and this was wicked in the LORD’S sight.  So the LORD caused Onan to die too.  It seems that God was very displeased with Judah's children.  I'm sure it was more about the fact that paganism had crept into the family line of Abraham and the sacredness of the passing on of the covenant.  Rarely will you ever read a passage of scripture that says "God caused" someone to die.  Something has to be WAY WRONG for this to happen.

After the death of Onan, Judah said to Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” 

Judah was probably afraid Shelah would die too!  It could happen to him just as it had happened to his brothers.  So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.  Technically, she should have inherited property from both Er and Onan, but she had not had children, so that was not possible.

A long time passed by.  Eventually Judah’s Canaanite wife died.  When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, the city were the men who were shearing his sheep were working, and Judah's friend Hirah, the Adullamite, went with him. 

Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law was on the way to Timnah to shear his sheep.  There was always a great feast and festival associated with this event.  Tamar took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil as a disguise and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah.  By now Tamar knew that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. She was not happy about the situation.  It meant that she was destined to die unmarried, a widow and childless in her own father's house.  

Judah saw Tamar sitting at the entrance to Enaim with a veil covering her face and thought she was a prostitute.  In Tamar's defense, temple prostitution was a respectable occupation in Canaanite society with many of the women in the village taking turns serving at the temple as their way of making an offering to their own god or goddess.  This does not excuse the practice but rather gives insight into Tamar's thinking that what she was doing was not for lust or money and a normal part of her pagan cultural practices.   
Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, Judah went over to Tamar on the roadside and said “Come now, let me sleep with you.”

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

“I’ll send you a young goat form my flock,”  he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

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 that night after he had tended to his business she met him after dark and he slept with her.  That night Tamar became pregnant by Judah.  After she left his side in the middle of the night she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

Meanwhile, on the way home the next morning, Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from her, but his friend could not find the woman.  He asked all the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

The men answered him that there had been no shrine prostitute there.  So the Adullamite friend went back to Judah and said that he could not find her anywhere.  He told him that the men living in the area had never seen any such woman and did not know of her. 

So Judah, in order to keep from being the laughingstock of the community decided to let her keep the things he had pledged to her because they could not find her to give her the goat.   The cord and the seal and the staff were of great importance to Judah in conducting his business and going about his life, but he had no choice.   They were very personal items, and totally worthless to anyone else; so he simply went about replacing them and tried to forget the whole matter.

Three months passed by.  Someone came to Judah and told him that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, was guilty of prostitution and that she was now pregnant.  Judah quickly judged her and told them to bring her out and have her burned to death!

As Tamar was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. 

It read:  “I am pregnant by the man who owns these.  See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

Of course Judah recognized them right away.  In his shame he proclaimed that “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.”   He commanded that she not be punished.

Judah did not sleep with Tamar again.

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.  As she was giving birth one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”  But when he drew back his hand; his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” 

And he was named Perez which means “breaking out.”    Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out.  And he was named Zerah which means “scarlet or brightness.”

This has to be one of the oddest stories in the whole of the Old Testament passages.  Why is it there?  Yes, we know it actually happened and that the scriptures only speak of truth, but why are we given this particular story right in the middle of the story of Joseph?

We can begin to understand this by looking at the heart of Tamar.  Her

name in Hebrew means "a palm tree."  A palm tree has often been used to describe the nation of Israel in that it has its strength in its trunk and its roots and not its limbs and branches and leaves.  A palm tree is this way.  The heart of the date palm is its sap.  Unlike the saps of other trees (such as the olive tree and the almond tree) the sap of the palm is found only in its trunk, but not its branches and leaves.  Thus the old sages have a theory that the Palm tree, like Israel, has only a single heart.  Tamar had not been unfaithful to the people she had married into.  She had kept the rules of Leverite marriage, in that she had obtained her first child from the family of her dead husband.  She could have married again among her own people in her father's household where she was living, but she chose not to, even though she had to do so by deception.  The fact that the child was to be born from the family of her deceased husband and would carry on his name made it clear that Tamar was not acting as a prostitute, but merely keeping the customs of the husband's family that she had married into.

When Judah tried to pay off Tamar with the young goat or "kid" it is significant to note that he had once deceived his own father with the blood of a kid.  He had covered the coat of Joseph with its blood and told his father that Joseph had died.  Now his own outer cloak, called a "cord" when translated was being used to deceive him.  He was being deceived in the same manner that he had deceived another.  Funny how this pattern presents itself over and over in the scriptures.  Your sins will always find you out!

The items of proof, the pledge of Judah, had been a cord, a seal and a staff.  The word "cord" is often used to describe a light cloak that one would throw over his outter garment that proclaimed something of his family heritage.  It was worth nothing in monetary value, but it clearly spoke of who the owner who wore it was.  The staff would have been something like a walking cane, something that Judah had carved himself to represent his own individual life.  It was worthless to anyone but him.  It had great meaning to him alone.  The signet ring was a stamp that would be used to identify Judah's property.  It was a ring that would have been worth a lot to Judah, but useless to any other man.  
When Tamar is accused of adultery, she chose to send these identifying items instead of using them publicly to proclaim her innocence.  This brought honor to Judah instead of shame.  Instead of embarrassing her father-in-law by pointing her finger at him and saying "You are the father of my unborn child," Tamar left it up to Judah to admit the truth or stay quiet and let herself as well as her unborn child die by fire.  Finally Judah admitted his sin and Tamar's life was saved, including the sons who were born to her from the bloodline of Judah.