Why did midwife tie a scarlet thread around Zerah’s wrist? Was this a common action for twins? surely if it was custom to tie a ribbon surely this would have been done once the baby had been ‘birthed’. This whole procedure seems unlikely and extremely messy.<\/p>\n\t
“Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth, that behold, twins were in her womb. And so it was, when she was giving birth, that the one put out his hand; and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly; and she said, “How did you break through? This breach be upon you!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah<\/em>” (Genesis 38:27-30).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I find it interesting that today you in your armchair look back at the record of an event that happened roughly 4,000 years ago and decide that a fact in that event was “unlikely.” Beyond your own opinion, what proof can you offer?<\/p>\n
Let’s look at the events. It was known prior to the birth that Tamar was going to have twins. Birth order was important in that culture as it determined inheritance rights. Births themselves are messy and there are numerous things which must be done in quick succession. In the birth of twins, it is easy to confuse which twin came first after things settle down. Personally, I think the marking of the firstborn was a clever idea. The only problem is that while one boy’s arm came out first, the other boy managed to slip past his brother and was born first. I’m sure that caused quite a discussion as to who was actually the firstborn. The name “Perez” means a bursting forth or a breach (as in a dam breaking). The name “Zerah” means “he dawned.”<\/p>\n\t
Question:<\/h2>\n
I think you totally misunderstood me. I am coming to the Bible late in life and want to understand it, not just the \u2018glory points,\u2019 I want to understand what it was like in those times and see why they did what they did. Yes, 4,000 years later are you saying from our armchairs there is nothing to learn \u2013 hopefully not, but try and picture the scene then with what they had at hand. Is there any evidence that this was indeed a custom to tie a ribbon as soon as any part of the baby appeared? The fact that Perez did burst forward and was now the firstborn seems to negate this practice? Was the marking of the first to appear and not the firstborn?<\/p>\n
Perhaps I am expecting too much by my question?<\/p>\n
Dare I ask why the talking ass was referred to as a female?<\/p>\n
But from my armchair 4,000 years later what evidence do I have \u2013 none. What can I learn from this? My whole time in reading the Bible is that every word has a significance and none can simply be accepted, but then some people believe because it is written. I believe that through understanding will come belief, and blind faith is not faith at all.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
What I did is point out that you are sitting in judgment on the accuracy of the Bible but are using your personal opinion as the standard by which you are making conclusions. This is not an attempt at understanding, but a search for faults.<\/p>\n
Things are mentioned in the Bible for reasons. I might not be able to discern all the reasons, but in this particular case, there are some obvious points. The reason Perez received his name was that he scooted past his brother during the birth process. The reason it was noticed is solely that the midwife had put a scarlet thread on the arm that first came out from the birth canal. If she hadn’t done this, it wouldn’t have been noticed. Thus, the recording of this fact explains why it was noticed and how Perez received his name. It didn’t change anything about inheritance or birth order. Since Perez is named first, he would have been considered the older child.<\/p>\n
Balaam’s donkey is called “she” (Numbers 22:25) simply because the animal was female. You will find that the Bible is filled with details that are always accurate and precise. That is why I do not like the gender-neutral translations. They remove a level of precision from the original text both in gender and in number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Why did midwife tie a scarlet thread around Zerah’s wrist? Was this a common action for twins? surely if it was custom to tie a ribbon surely this would have been done once the baby had been ‘birthed’. This whole procedure seems unlikely and extremely messy. Answer: “Now it came to pass, at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[568,988,925,189],"class_list":["post-11845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-birth","tag-customs","tag-genesis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-version-of-the-bible-is-most-accurate\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":0},"title":"Which version of the Bible is most accurate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about which version of the Bible is most accurate. Some believe that the King James Version 1611 is the only one that is the true Word of God. Then I hear otherwise. Also, the church I attend uses the New King James Version and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51378,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-hebrew-midwives-lie\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":1},"title":"Did the Hebrew midwives lie?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Exodus 1:15-20, do you think this was a lie told by the midwives to Pharaoh or was it really true that the Hebrew women gave birth before the midwives came to them? Answer: \"Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30742,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-jacob-and-esau-identical-or-fraternal-twins\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":2},"title":"Were Jacob and Esau identical or fraternal twins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I overheard an argument concerning\u00a0Esau and Jacob.\u00a0 One was arguing that they were twins\u00a0(Genesis 25:21ff) but not identical twins. What are your thoughts? Answer: Twins are when two children are born to one mother in the same birth. \"So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18717,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-woman-give-birth-to-her-firstborn-and-remain-a-virgin\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":3},"title":"Can a woman give birth to her firstborn and remain a virgin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We recently went into an argument with a group of girls and boys on the topic: \"Can a woman deliver a child and remain a virgin?\" We took our separate ways and decided to contact others who may have knowledge better than we do. Now here is our chance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46648,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-jesus-birth-be-a-fulfillment-of-isaiah-714-when-he-was-named-jesus-and-not-immanuel\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":4},"title":"How can Jesus’ birth be a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 when he was named Jesus and not Immanuel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I checked in 31 different Bible versions and they all say the same thing about Matthew 1:21, They all use the word \"Jesus\" which means \"saves.\" Matthew goes on to say that the Old Testament verifies this and quotes in Matthew 1:23 (and in the same 31 different Bible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7562,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-did-adam-and-eves-children-marry\/","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":5},"title":"Who did Adam and Eve’s children marry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just recently I have heard a question that has been circulated among many different mediums. Just the other night this same question came up in my history class and I would like to know how to answer it. Forgive me if I have somehow missed the logic in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}