History
As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.” Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again. When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.
In the midst of the life of Joseph being sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt, the scriptures pause to detail a portion of Judah’s life dealing with the custom of a brother marrying the widowed wife of his deceased brother (if their marriage had not produced an heir), so he could produce an offspring that would be considered belonging to his deceased brother, thus continuing the family line. Judah’s first son marries Tamar, but he dies with no children. Tamar is given to Judah’s second son to carry out his duty, but he also dies. Judah tells Tamar to live with her father until his last son grows up, but he was concerned that his last son would die like the first two. Tamar realizes that Judah has no intention of giving his last son to her, so she devises a plan which results in her getting pregnant by Judah. Tamar has twins with the first born named Perez. Every life is precious and important. Your life, no matter your history is precious to God. He can do great things in and through each person. In this case, while we don’t know much more about Perez’s life, but we know that it was crucial in David becoming King and eventually the birth of Jesus. The books of Matthew and Ruth include genealogies that show ten generations from Perez is David. Without Perez, past history and history to come would not be the same.