Timnath

12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheep shearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.

Genesis 38:11-14

Next comes one of the more distressing things to be seen in the text. It’s a story of a woman scorned as some things are if you will. Then again, I would rather you didn’t. It’ll all work out for good if you don’t. I’m not saying that all women are evil, not at all by no means. Rather our viewpoint and thusly our experiences are all due to the fall. The main issues here have been Judah’s dealings with the Lord. His sons have done evil it seems and so brought a terrible fate on themselves and this woman, Tamar with whom they have been. The thing to see though isn’t the woman or sons but rather the place. Judah, a father-in-law by this point in the story, has gone to another little known place called simply as Timnath to shear his sheep there. I don’t know much about it beyond what it says in the text. There’s a road nearby very likely along with plenty of places to sit with a view. I mean, we see the daughter-in-law sitting by the way wrapped in a veil. She’s clearly not wanting to be known by anyone here. You know, times have sure changed. Back then if you frequent a country, you knew your friends and your neighbors, pretty much everyone there. The places were so small back then that everyone knew each other’s business, you see. I’d imagine living a world like that sure wasn’t pretty to those who had something to hide. They had places sure which is a foundational element of civilization. Beyond that there was buildings, possibly a few walls, and some towns. I mean, what more could you ask for aside from a sense of direction I suppose. What happened next was Judah took this daughter-in-law of his for a wife, albeit unknowing what soon would end up. Then when a child came forth from her womb, Judah went looking for some strange women of that place only to see there were none to be found. The thing is, if you didn’t know where you were going back then you had to ask for some help from a friendly local or two. The other issue is the ever-changing nature of places like this. It’s kind of irritating the map won’t stay put if you ask me. The only thing worse than famine or flood or the landscape of war is that those found nearby don’t want to be associated with anything bad. Whenever scenes like this happen, see, the people there would quickly forget about it by changing it’s name. Thus, the map seemed to gain a life of it’s own as it changed shape year after year stirred by time and the weather along with the movement of tribes. We’ll see more on the ever-shifting geo-political landscape much later.