Tamar the Trickster Grandmother of Kings

I Chronicles 2:4

King David dies tonight - according to Talmudic traditions, the poet king died at the age of seventy - on the holiday of Shavuot - celebrated in the Jewish world tonight.

It’s an obscure tradition that is perhaps linked to the fact that David’s lineage is also connected to Ruth - the Moabite widow who joins the Judean family in Bethlehem to become David’s great-grandmother.

The Scroll of Ruth is also associated with Shavuot.

It all fits well with our Below the Bible Belt journey - as the second chapter of The Book of Chronicles continues with a long list of lineage - and it really has one person in mind: The founding king of the Davidic dynasty.

And while the long lists in these chapters that are one long family tree can be quite tedious - there are some intriguing details here that catch the curious eye.

The first fact is that quite a few women are mentioned and named - atypical for these sort of patriarchal texts, and worth exploring.

And the second fact is that whoever wrote this seems to have access to lineage lists that are not found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible and tell more background stories about who’s who in the Judaic family and who matters more.

The chapter starts with the usual line-up of the twelve tribes of Israel. But it’s not the usual order that we’ve seen before. What’s different?

The ordering of the sons of Israel is off.

Had it been chronological, by what we so far know of the order of birth, it should have been: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issacher, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.

If it was to be according to the four mothers’ status it would list Leah’s sons first - Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar; followed by Rachel’s - Joseph and Benjamin; then Bilhah’s boys - Dan, Naphtali, and finally Zilpa’s - Gad and Asher.

But Dan is out of place in this chapter, listed between Zebulon and Joseph.

Why? There might be a political reason here that has to do with the fact that this chapter - and the entire book - is not interested in the rest of the tribes of Israel but is only focused on the tribe of Judah, the Southern Kingdom and the lineage of David.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was associated with Joseph, and Saul, the first king of Israel, before being replaced by the Judean David - was from the tribe of Benjamin.

For whoever wrote this list - it may make sense to push down the importance of these two sons/tribes to the bottom of the list, by placing Dan above them. And by doing so - the author wants to remind us that Joseph was born even after the sons of the concubines.

Although Judah was not the firstborn - he and all others precede the sons of the north.

There are other little juicy details here giving us hints to the author’s agendas. When it comes to David’s family - unlike the previous sources, here all his siblings are named - six brothers in total- and two sisters, Avigail and Tzruya.

But of the several important women mentioned in this chapter, mothers and concubines, sisters and daughters, one has a place of honor as the cunning mother of the Judean lineage that led to the birth of the hero - even if the birth is through transgression.

Her name is Tamar:

וְתָמָר֙ כַּלָּת֔וֹ יָ֥לְדָה לּ֖וֹ אֶת־פֶּ֣רֶץ וְאֶת־זָ֑רַח כׇּל־בְּנֵ֥י יְהוּדָ֖ה חֲמִשָּֽׁה׃

Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar also bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah’s sons were five in all.

I Chronicles 2:4

Tamar, as we may recall from the story in Genesis, became a widow when Judah’s son died. There’s more to the complex story but she’s left with no status and no choice other than to become pregnant by the head of the tribe - Judah himself.

She does so by transgression and trickery that almost costs her life - but she ends up giving birth to her father-in-law - and the two twins born to her will be the ones to become the critical links in the lineage chains of this tribe.

It is through her courage and cunning that the story continues - not unlike Jacob/Israel - the ancestral figure - or David - the one who will take the tribe to the throne.

Sudan Nidtich wrote that

“Tamar... becomes a trickster, a marginal figure who succeeds in indirect ways, by deceiving those in power... tales of tricksters appeal to the underdog side of each of us, but they may have special appeal among groups who feel themselves out of power—for example, women in a world dominated by men.”

David, like Tamar and like Ruth - the women in his lineage who were not Judean but through cunning manages to survive and become matriarchs and mothers of kings -- is also a trickster and works his way to the top.

The lists go on into the next chapters, data that delights the experts but exhausts us ordinary readers. We’ll keep exploring what’s between the lines and why some names are known, some lists are changed and how David’s dynasty and legacy still lingers and matters, thanks to the women who had the courage and wisdom to take fate into their own hands.

Wishing us a holiday of Shavuot with wisdom and revelation, courage and care, healing and hope to all.

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