Image Details

Gerard Blot/Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY/©2001 Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris

A veiled and gaudily dressed Tamar ensnares her unsuspecting father-in-law, Judah, in her plan to bear children. The deaths of two of Judah’s sons have left Tamar childless and a third son has been with-held from her, so she entices Judah into sex (Genesis 38:13–15). Tamar, like the other “sperm stealers,” is not condemned by the Bible.