PDF《Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2》

Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2016, Vol 2, No 1, 241C259 DOI: http://dx.

doi.org/10.17570/stj.2016.v2n1.a12 Online ISSN 2413-9467 | Print ISSN 2413-9459

2016 ? Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust Old Testament stories and Christian ethics: Some perspectives from the narrative of Judah and Tamar Meyer, Esias University of Pretoria [email protected] Pietersen, Leonore University of Pretoria [email protected] Abstract The relationship between Old Testament narrative and Christian ethics is challenging. When it comes to finding ethical guideline Old Testament narratives are unresponsive. This is particularly the case with a narrative such as Genesis 38. Biblical scholars have written extensively on how the text can be interpreted. In this article we look at the various ways scholars in Biblical criticism have tried to make sense of the text. We show that narratives can function as a platform for dialogue to mirror the intricacies of life. We do not attempt to resolve the tension between the story and ethics, but rather aim to consider biblical criticism as a tool which stimulates ethical debate. Keywords Judah, Tamar, Old Testament stories, Christian ethics 1. Introduction In John Barton'

s recent book Ethics in Ancient Israel he reminds us that '

Old Testament narrative is well known to be sometimes reticent in drawing moral conclusions from the stories it presents'

(2014:171). This unresponsiveness of Old Testament narratives has been a problem for biblical critics and Christian ethicists alike and the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis

38 is a case in point, although one wonders whether this story is really so '

reticent'

. At least towards the end of the story in verse

26 we have Judah saying that '

She is more in the right than I'

(NRSV), which sounds more like an invitation to an audience to engage in moral reflection

242 Meyer &

Pietersen ? STJ 2016, Vol 2, No 1, 241C259 than the conclusion to a story being reluctant to do that. Yet as we will see later, what Judah actually means is not that clear. What is clear, though, is that biblical critics have indeed responded to the lure of the story, if not exactly by looking for ethical guidelines in the story. 2. Genesis

38 Many commentaries and articles have engaged with the text, with the years after

2009 and especially

2012 being particularly productive with at least eight articles published.1 In most of these studies the classic questions of biblical criticism are addressed;

these are often categorised as either diachronic or synchronic questions. An example of the former is Amit (2009:285), who dates the text to the Persian period and thinks that the story '

served as an anti-isolationist polemical position on the crucial issue of marriage with foreign women.'

2 We could thus describe the text as '

anti- xenophobic.'

According to another examole, that of Leuchter (2013:223), the text is from the end of the eight century during '

Hezekiah'

s urbanization project.'

For Leuchter (2013:225) Tamar is a symbol of '

sacred hinterland fertility'

and an indication '

that Judah is restored to righteousness and that the survival of his progeny is secured.'

Leuchter thinks that the story is aimed at the royal administration of the time and the objective is to get that administration to end '

its assault on the institutions of the hinterland.'

The story becomes a protest against urbanisation. Thus both Amit and Leuchter have more general historical-critical questions in mind when they read the text. They argue for a specific historical context, where the story has a specific socio-political message. Neither of them is really interested in contemporary ethical debates, although it should be clear that