(Gen 49:3–4). Judah’s selection despite his moral turpitude is a display of pure grace, for despite Judah’s failings (Gen 38:1–2, 12–30) Yahweh saw in him a suitable forebear for the monarchic and messianic line.37 The mainly segmented genealogy of Judah is limited to the offspring of Perez, the elder of Judah’s twins by Tamar who gained that privilege by crowding aside his brother and issuing first from his mother’s womb (Gen 38:28–30), a ploy reminiscent of his grandfather Jacob who cheated his