“How much will you pay to have sex with me?” Tamar asked.

Genesis38:16

For Meditation

Judah wakes up to the knock on his door. 

“Time to go, my good friend,” Hirah said. “The shearers are waiting, and we cannot delay.”

The road to Timnah passed by the entrance to Enaim. The jokes about females and sex elicited excitement and laughter. Hirah bragged about his sexual exploits and the intricate descriptions in which vulgar male mindset often delights. 

“Show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are!” the saying goes. 

Hirah was bringing the real Judah out, and it was not admirable. Slowly, Canaan was cutting its pattern to fit Judah. His heart adopted to the desires of the world around him, and like many Christians today, he did not know it.

King Solomon has an experiential counsel to offer every child of God. He writes in Proverbs 4: 23-26.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”

Judah could have used this counsel that sets a person on this secure way in the Lord. He did not stay focused on the safe path when he set out to shear his sheep. And what a catastrophic fall he experienced!

He saw this woman at the city gate, and all the imageries of his conversation with Hirah came parading before him. He saw a prostitute in that woman, but it did not matter. She had aroused the sensual feelings of Judah already. They screamed for satisfaction, and in a land where there were no moral restraints, it was a free fall to absolute failure. Never go into any negotiation with such a huge disadvantage or handicap as Judah did. He was a captive, even before he proposed to the prostitute at the city gate. 

“Come now; let me sleep with you” (Gen. 38:16). 

Do not miss the tone and casual nature of sin. They sound like a game, a flirtation, yet it is a serious business. 

How much will you pay?

I will send you a young goat.

A guarantee, please!

What is acceptable to you?

“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand” (18).

Just like that, Tamar stripped Judah bare for the world to see his nakedness. Yet he remained blinded by his lust.

That is the power of sexual perversity! It can turn you into a marshmallow, and like a ripe fruit, squeeze every ounce of morality out of you. Your ‘hidden’ preferences will become public knowledge, exposing the once ‘successful’ you, to ridicule. Don’t fool yourself. It will outclass you if you engage on its glistening, but slippery slope (Prov. 7:6-27). Judah swaggered down Sensuality Lane and became Canaan’s joke.

Do not become like him. Heed the counsel of Solomon and keep full possession of your integrity.