PDF《Stellenbosch Theological Journal 2》

1 See, for instance, Amit (2009), Abasili (2011a), Abasili (2011b), Kruschwitz (2012), Claassens (2012), Kim (2012), Wünch (2012) and Leuchter (2013).

2 The weakness in Amit'

s argument is that he thinks that Tamar was Canaanite, which is never explicitly mentioned in the text. Amit (2009:275) argues that Judah is '

completely surrounded by Canaanites'

and adds that Tamar '

lived near Timnath in the Judean lowland? C as local inhabitants who were mostly Canaanites during the period in question.'

We are not so sure. Why does the text not say this explicitly as it does with Judah'

s wife (v. 2)? See also the criticism of Ebach (2007:125). Although in support of Amit'

s argument, one could add that the picture painted within the narrative world is one in which the family of Jacob lives amongst Canaanites.

243 Meyer &

Pietersen ? STJ 2016, Vol 2, No 1, 241C259 both offer readings which might actually be stimulating for current ethical discourses, especially Amit'

s reading about being open to strangers. Scholars such as Abasili (2011a), Kim (2012), Kruschwitz (2012) and Wünch (2012) have more synchronic questions in mind, either focusing on Genesis

38 as such, or how this story is related to the rest of the Joseph narrative in which it is imbedded. Abasili (2011a:286-288) argues that the main theme of the narrative is '

the search for offspring and progeny.'

Kim (2012:558- 559) thinks that the story of Tamar is characterised by a '

bucket-shaped structure'

and has three important themes namely '

family building'

, '

shame'

and '

deceit.'

Kruschwitz (2012:409-410) looks for similarities between the Tamar story and the Joseph narrative and finds them '

in plot pattern and ironic tone.'

For Wünch (2012:804) the purpose of Genesis

38 is to show why Judah became the leader of the brothers. The incident with Tamar transformed Judah into somebody worthy of leadership. The story is told here to explain the role played by Judah in the latter part of the Joseph narrative (Gen.

48 and 49). These four scholars offer readings which are ahistorical and they are more interested in how the story as such functions, either on its own (Abasili and Kim) or within the broader narrative (Kruschwitz and Wünch). None of them is interested in contemporary ethical debates. Abasili (2011b:556) published another article, in which he writes (somewhat unusually) from the perspective of a childless Igbo woman. The article makes use of '

African contextual hermeneutics'

and he shows (as in Abasili 2011a) that, from the perspective of a childless Igbo woman, the story is about progeny. Although this reading is much more context conscious, it is not overtly interested in ethics. The point we want to make is that of the eight articles published by biblical critics since 2009, seven are not interested in contemporary ethics. The only exception in this regard is Claassens (2012). For Claassens (2012:661) the stories of Tamar and Ruth (which she also engages with) are stories about human dignity and the human tendency to struggle against and resist dehumanisation. Claassens touches on many of the issues already presented above. Like Amit, Claassens (2012:672) emphasises the role of the foreigner, especially in the Ruth narrative, although in Genesis

38 Tamar is considered an outsider by Claassens

244 Meyer &

Pietersen ? STJ 2016, Vol 2, No 1, 241C259 and thus plays a similar role.3 Furthermore, for Claassens (2012:672) Judah learns to protect vulnerable people in society, which explains why he later protects Benjamin in the Joseph narrative, which makes her approach broadly similar to Wünch'