Genesis 40 - Assimilation Alert

Judah's sons failed to due their duty to father a child via Tamar to prevent her husband's heritage from ending. They refused and by custom this duty fell to Judah who also refused to do his duty. This Hittite cultural duty was later codified in the Mosaic Law. Tamar performed an act of worship to trick Judah into doing his duty. Judah, and his sons, were facing assimilation into Canaanite culture by marrying into this society which would have ended the Messianic line almost before it began.