Was trying to remember the 7 churches established by our Apostle. As a matter of fact is it 7.5 . Found the seven in wiki - St. Thomas established seven churches in Malabar at Kodungalloor, Paravur, Palayoor, Kokkamangalam, Niranam, Chayal (Nilackal) and Kollam. We have visited only Niranam so far. We need to go to other churches and also to St. Thomas Mount in Chennai.
Genesis 38 : Judah and Tamar
Judah, Jacob's 4th son, goes away to stay with a friend named Hiram of Adullam. He meets a Canaanite girl named Shua and marries her. He has 3 sons - Er, Onan and Shelah.
Er grows up and marries Tamar. After a short while, Er dies. God makes him die fast because of his evil deeds. Judah tells Onan to sleep with Tamar so that she may have a baby that could carry on Er's legacy. Looks like this was a practice during those days. Onan does as his father says, but only partially. During intercourse, he spills his semen on the ground before it goes into Tamar. This displeases the Lord and Onan also dies. Shelah is young. So Judah tells his daughter in law to go back to her home till Shelah comes of age. She goes back.
Years pass by, Shelah grows up but Judah doesn't keep his promise. Judah's wife dies. Once Judah visits Timnah, Tamar's town for business. Tamar comes to know. She changes her widows clothes to something better, goes out of sits by the road to Timnah, with her face covered. Judah sees her and thinks that she is a prostitute. He approaches her and asks her how much it would cost. She asks him to name the wages. He says he will send a goat. She asks for a pledge till the goat is given. Judah gives his seal. He has intercourse with her.
Next day, he sends a goat to get the seal back but she is not found. They ask the townspeople and none had heard about a prostitute there.
Many months later, Judah gets news that his daughter in law is pregnant. He gets furious and orders her to be burnt. She sends the seal back to Judah saying - 'the man with the seal is the father of the child'. Judah immediately realizes that he had not kept his word about giving Shelah to Tamar. He takes Tamar to his house. Tamar gives birth to twins - Perez and Zerah.
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