At first reading it is strange and even a bit distasteful to come from Genesis 37, in which the story of Joseph has just gotten under way, to Genesis 38 with its flashback to the sins of Joseph’s elder brother Judah in Canaan. For one thing, it is parenthetical. We want to move ahead to see how Joseph fared in Egypt as a slave to Potiphar. Also, the chapter deals with sexual sins, and it is hard to see how these can be edifying. One commentator, who never thinks much of such stories, describes the