1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
Hirah was an Adullamite, a friend of Judah. The name Hirah means "splendid," "noble," "pure," "liberty." An Adullamite was a native of the city of Addullam, which represents a state of poise in prayer in which spiritual ideas flow into consciousness without obstruction. Being in the valley, it would not refer to a high, exalted state of mind in prayer but rather to an established equilibrium and adjustment in the body consciousness. But even if at first it seems to be only in the material consciousness, it imparts a "splendid," "noble" quality to the man and leads toward true "liberty." Such a state of consciousness is represented by Hirah.
2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married her and went in to her,
Shua ("broad," "ample," "riches") represents the broad, rich thoughts of abundant substance in the depths of the subconscious mind. Judah united with a daughter of Shua, who symbolizes the feminine element in the rich subconscious.
3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.
Er represents observant, vigilant thoughts. It matters a great deal what one watches or gives attention to.
4 Again she conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
Onan symbolizes thoughts pertaining to strength and vigor, yet thoughts that are not spiritual but of the intellect. They are influenced too by the lower emotions and tendencies of the carnal soul (Onan's mother was a Canaanite woman); therefore they are likely to bring about inharmony and error because of the misdirection of energy. Yet, in themselves, these thoughts are good and if directed by spiritual understanding yield great blessings.
5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore him.
Shelah represents a sense of peace, harmony, and security that has come about through prayer, affirmation, and desire. However, Shelah was born in Chezib, which symbolizes a deceptive state of mind that lies deep within the elemental life forces of the individual. This deceptive state of consciousness must be cleansed thoroughly of its error, its double-minded, idolatrous belief in a power of evil as well as a power of good, so that the truth of the Unity of All Creation can be firmly established in the mind..
6 And Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was Tamar.
The name Judah means "praise YHVH." Praise is closely related to prayer; under the law of mind, whatever we praise we increase. Praise is the key to the increase of life activity. If you depreciate your life you decrease your consciousness of life. Thus we find that, besides symbolizing the place in consciousness where we come in contact with the highest activities of Divine Mind, Judah also represents the central faculty of consciousness.
This faculty operates in the body consciousness through the spinal cord, as well as in the top head, and finds its outer expression through the life center, which, unregenerated, is Judas, who hath a devil. When life is separated from the inner faculties and endeavors to find expression without their co-operation, man gives himself over to his animal nature and inclinations.
The name Tamar means "palm," "erect," "upright." Tamar represents victory and conquest through uprightness. This consciousness of victory or conquest and overcoming power is of the soul in the individual.
7 But Er, Judah's first-born, was wicked in the sight of YHVH; and YHVH slew him.
If one persists in recognizing that which appears to be evil, one cannot obtain abiding life and good. (Er was wicked in the sight of YHVH.)
8 Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."
9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother.
10 And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the YHVH, and he slew him also.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up" --for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
12 In course of time the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died; and when Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
Timnah symbolizes the error race belief that a share of the life forces in man rightly belongs to the purely animal, physical, and sense part of his being. Judah kept his sheep in this Canaanitish city. Sheep represent the pure, natural life of the organism and Canaanites the elemental life forces in man.
13 And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,"
14 she put off her widow's garments, and put on a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.
Enaim, in whose gate Tamar sat, is supposed to be one with the city of Enam. The name means "two eyes," "double springs." It signifies the fountain of understanding in man, which because of his belief in good and evil, in materiality as well as spirituality, is dedicated to both generation and regeneration, both sense and Spirit. Double--mindedness causes instability. Stability is needed if one is to grow and develop spiritually. One establishes stability of character by giving oneself up wholly, with singleness of purpose, to the regenerative law.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had covered her face.
16 He went over to her at the road side, and said, "Come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
17 He answered, "I will send you a kid from the flock." And she said, "Will you give me a pledge, till you send it?"
18 He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he could not find her.
21 And he asked the men of the place, "Where is the harlot who was at Enaim by the wayside?" And they said, "No harlot has been here."
22 So he returned to Judah, and said, "I have not found her; and also the men of the place said, 'No harlot has been here.'"
23 And Judah replied, "Let her keep the things as her own, lest we be laughed at; you see, I sent this kid, and you could not find her."
24 About three months later Judah was told, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; and moreover she is with child by harlotry." And Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burned."
25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "By the man to whom these belong, I am with child." And she said, "Mark, I pray you, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."
26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, "She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah." And he did not lie with her again.
27 When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.
28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and bound on his hand a scarlet thread, saying, "This came out first."
29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out; and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" Therefore his name was called Perez.
The name Perez means "broken through," "torn asunder." Perez represents victory through praise, or making a way out of apparent limitation and error and prevailing over them by means of prayer and praise.
30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread upon his hand; and his name was called Zerah.
Zerah ("sunrise," "birth of a child," "germination of a seed") represents awakening to new light, new understanding, in consciousness; the first conscious awakening to the presence of this new inner light or understanding.
In the journey from Physicality to Spirit, the soul passes through many phases, misdirects its faculties, and practices multitudinous forms of dissipation or waste. (These verses in Genesis illustrate this fact.) But, as man follows the light as it is given him to see the light, he gradually learns to understand himself and his soul's activities. Then he begins to conform to spiritual law and to conserve his energies, forces, and substance, which in turn results in lifting up the whole man, Spirit, Soul, and Body, out of the mire of materiality into the new estate of the regenerate man, the Divine Man.