The Biblical Remix – Lovin’ U

Genesis 38:6-18 – http://bit.ly/biblicalremixlovinu

There was a man named Judah who had mad family issues.  His first son Er had died because Er was living foul and God killed him.  Er had a wife named Tamar who was now a widow.

Because of the culture, Judah’s second son Onan got together with Tamar.  Then Onan died too…lol.

Judah had one son left, Shelah, and Judah was shook thinking Shelah would die if he got with Tamar.  So Judah told Tamar to go back home to her pop’s crib until Shelah was older.  Judah was gonna wait it out and avoid Tamar.

Then Judah’s wife died.  So Judah was mad tight.

After some time he traveled to the town of Timnah to do some work.  Along the way he peeped this prostitute on the roadside (FYI – the prostitute was his daughter-in-law Tamar dressed up on the low.  She went to Timnah to trick Judah into getting her prego).

So Judah rolls up on the prostitute (Timanh in disguise).  The words he said were from this Enrique Iglesias song:

“Please excuse I don’t mean to be rude, But tonight I’m loving you, Oh you know, That tonight I’m loving you…”

Reflection:

If you know the original version of this song Enrique is a little more explicit/crass in his assertion.  Some of us men can be like that.

However I want to reflect on Tamar.  Here is a broken woman.  She lost her husband, who was her livelihood.  After becoming a widow her husband’s brother did evilness and he was killed.  Then Tamar’s father-in-law sends her away and ignores her.

Rejected, abandoned, and ashamed, Tamar decides to get her life back on track by…prostituting. I want to focus in on this choice.  Tamar does this only once but I find this very interesting.

Recently I visited some young juvenille offenders in New York City.  A good amount of the 15 to 17 year old girls who were there were arrested for…prostitution.

What gets a teenage girl to a place where she chooses to prostitute?  How much rejection has she gone through?  How much abandonment has she experienced?  How heavy is the shame weighing on her?  How has she been violated growing up?  How broken is she on the inside?

There are many Tamars in the system and in our communities that are looked upon by Judahs as a thing to be conquered or a piece of bootie to be tapped.  When and how do we choose to restore our current day Tamars?

The narratives we sing or rap about in the urban culture actually glorify the accomplishment of violating Tamars emotionally and mentally. We use and abuse them.  Otherwise why would we dance and sing catchy hooks like “Excuse me I don’t mean to be rude but tonight I’m f***ing u”