Judah's Staff, Girdle and Diadem

Illustration of Judah's Staff, Girdle and Diadem

Judah tells his sons that two years after Tamar was widowed she heard he was going up to shear his sheep. She dressed as a bride and sat by the city gate. Judah, drunk at the waters of Chozeb, did not recognise her. When she asked what he would give her, he handed over his staff, his girdle and his royal crown.

Later, not knowing what she had done, Judah wished to put her to death, but she secretly sent the pledges back and shamed him. In his teaching afterwards he explains what he gave away. The staff was the stay of his tribe, the girdle was his power, and the diadem was the glory of his kingdom. He says he repented and took no wine or meat until his old age.

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Category
Royal
Associated With
Judah, Tamar, Bathshua

Key Chapters

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 47 Judah 12 2 min read The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 50 Judah 15 1 min read

Key Passages

Judah gives his pledges to Tamar

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 47:1-12

And after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after two years that I was going up to shear my sheep; then s...

A1nd after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after two years that I was going up to shear my sheep; then she decked herself in bridal array, and sat over against the city by the gate.

2 For it is a law of the Amorites, that she who is about to marry sit in fornication seven days by the gate. 3 I therefore, being drunk at the waters of Chozeb, recognised her not by reason of wine; and her beauty deceived me, through the fashion of her adorning. 4 And I turned aside to her, and said, I would enter in to thee. 5 And she said to me, What wilt thou give me? 6 And I gave her my staff, and my girdle, and my royal crown; and I lay with her, and she conceived. 7 I then, not knowing what she had done, wished to slay her; but she privily sent my pledges, and put me to shame. 8 And when I called her, I heard also the secret words which I spoke when lying with her in my drunkenness; and I could not slay her, because it was from the Lord. 9 For I said, Lest haply she did it in subtlety, and received the pledge from another woman: but I came near her no more till my death, because I had done this abomination in all Israel. 10 Moreover, they who were in the city said that there was no bride in the city, because she came from another place, and sat for awhile in the gate, and she thought that no one knew that I had gone in to her. 11 And after this we came into Egypt to Joseph, because of the famine. 12 Forty and six years old was I, and seventy and three years lived I there.

What the three pledges meant

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 50:1-4

He that committeth fornication, and uncovereth his nakedness, hath become the servant of fornication, and escapeth not f...

H1e that committeth fornication, and uncovereth his nakedness, hath become the servant of fornication, and escapeth not from the power thereof, even as I also was uncovered.

2 For I gave my staff, that is, the stay of my tribe; and my girdle, that is, my power; and my diadem, that is, the glory of my kingdom. 3 Then I repented for these things, and took no wine or flesh until my old age, nor did I behold any joy. 4 And the angel of God showed me that for ever do women bear rule over king and beggar alike; and from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his strength, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his poverty.

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Did You Know?

1

Judah gave Tamar three pledges, which he lists as his staff, his girdle and his royal crown.

2

Judah explains the staff as the stay of his tribe, the girdle as his power and the diadem as the glory of his kingdom.

3

Tamar returned the pledges privately, and Judah says he could not put her to death because the matter was from the Lord.

4

Judah says he was drunk at the waters of Chozeb and did not recognise Tamar because of the wine.

5

According to this book it was an Amorite law that a woman about to marry sat by the gate for seven days.