This is not the most edifying of chapters! It contrasts sharply with the following chapter, where Joseph resists temptation.
Judah makes one wrong decision after another, and suffers the consequences. First he marries a Canaanite woman. They had two sons and one died. Following customs of the tine, Onan was to marry his brother's widow. Though he went through the motions, he made sure that they would not have a child, for the child would not legally be his. So Onan died as well.
Tamar, the widow, lived as a widow. Judah's own wife died as well. Then Tamar ended up sleeping with her father. Both were at fault here, for Tamar deliberately set out to entice Judah, and Judah was quite happily to sleep with a prostitute.
There is an important lesson here. If Judah had resolved not to sleep with a prostitute, then Tamar's plan would not have worked. By pursuing righteousness we make it less likely that we fall for the devil's traps. Notice also that this happened soon after Judah's wide had died, so some may say he was suffering from grief and in a way it was understandable. Understandable or not, his actions caused all sorts of trouble. We must not let our emotions lead us into, or excuse us, from wrongdoing.
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