Genesis 38

Genesis 38 interrupts the Joseph story to tell the story of Judah and Tamar. It’s one of the most uncomfortable chapters in the book.

Judah’s sons died. He withheld his third son from Tamar as promised. Tamar disguised herself, slept with Judah without him knowing who she was, and became pregnant. When Judah found out she was pregnant and ordered her burned, she produced his seal and staff as evidence of who the father was.

And Judah said: she is more righteous than I.

That sentence. From a man who had just ordered an execution. The willingness to admit, publicly and specifically, that the person he was about to punish was actually more righteous than he was.

It cost him something to say that. And yet he said it.

I’ve been in situations where I had the power to enforce something and discovered partway through that I was wrong. That the person I was moving against was actually more in the right than I was. What you do in that moment reveals something important.

Judah didn’t have to say what he said. He said it anyway.