“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.
When Tamar was told, ‘Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,’ 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. 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. ‘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. 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…About three months later Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.’ Judah said, ‘Bring her out and have her burned to death!’ As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. ‘I am pregnant by the man who owns these,’ she said. And she added, ‘See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.’ Judah recognized them and said, ‘She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.’ And he did not sleep with her again.” Genesis 38:12-26
“The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’” Genesis 3:12. As the first woman Eve was blamed by Adam for his own sin, there seems to be trend in society to blame women for men’s actions in partaking of forbidden pleasures while the male’s role of participation in sin is excused or minimized, especially as it revolves around sexuality-which is wrong. Although Adams attempt at unfairly shafting blame on the woman didn’t make him any less guilty than he was in God’s sight back then and people don’t seem to learn still unfairly shift responsibly of sin bon women for when men partake in forbidden sexual pleasure. Judah slept with Tamar whom he supposed was a prostitute, yet he blamed her for being one.
He wanted a punishment inflicted on her for having sex that he didn’t ask to be inflicted on himself for not only doing the same but also valuing her body to be equal to a mere goat and thus encouraging and enabling the devaluing and objectification of women as acceptable behavior. Society does the same by blaming women and excusing men. Many people, even professed believers, while valuing modestly (which is good in itself) misguidedly cling to the same sick reasoning Judah had which can been seen in their tendencies to disproportionally blame women for sexual sins as if women are the cause of sin and excuse male participation in it although the Bible condemns both. “There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one of the sons of Israel.” Deuteronomy 23:17 There is no double standard.
Even regarding a woman who is purposely seeking men with impure motives the Bible states even in the most provocative situations, “Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes” Proverbs 6:25. While modestly is a Biblical virtue, the Bible clearly indicates your lust is your own heart problem-period regardless as to what a woman wears, or what she said or didn’t say. Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.” Job 31:1 not she has to make a covenant with her clothing for me to be pure. “Boys will be boys” will not stand up as a valid excuse under the judgment of God. You can’t be justified by blaming sin on feeling tempted.
Picture originally found here
