XXXVIII. FAMILY HISTORY OF JUDAH. This episode is no interruption of the narrative, for, as we have seen, the _Tôldôth Jacob_ is the history generally of Jacob’s posterity, and especially of the next great event in their development into a nation, namely the descent into Egypt. Two main reasons may... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THAT TIME. — This does not mean at the time of Joseph’s sale; for as there was only an interval of twenty-two years between that event and the descent into Egypt, this period is scarcely long enough for the events recorded in this chapter. According to the usual chronology, Judah, Leah’s fourth s... [ Continue Reading ]
CANAANITE. — This is rendered in the Targum _merchant,_ and so the Authorised Version translates Canaanite in Proverbs 31:24. In favour of this view is the fact, that the marriage of Simeon with a Canaanitish woman is regarded as an act so exceptional, as to be worth recording (Genesis 46:10). But w... [ Continue Reading ]
CHEZIB. — Mr. Conder has found traces of this place at _Ain Kezbeh,_ near Beit Nettif, a little to the north of Adullam (_Handbook,_ p. 408). In Micah 1:14, it is called Achzib, and is there also placed near Adullam.... [ Continue Reading ]
GO IN UNTO THY brother’s wife. — We learn from this that the law _of_ the Levirate, by which the brother of the dead husband was required to marry the widow, was of far more ancient date than the law of Moses. Its object, first of all, was to prevent the extinction of any line of descent, a matter o... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SAID, LEST HE ALSO DIE. — It is evident from this that Judah, for reasons which, in Genesis 38:26, he acknowledged to be insufficient, wished to evade the duty of giving a third son to Tamar. It does not follow that he blamed her for their deaths; for the loss of two sons in succession might... [ Continue Reading ]
TIMNATH. — There were two places of this name (Joshua 15:10; Joshua 15:57). One was a little to the west of Bethlehem, the other upon the Philistine border, beyond Bethshemesh. As it lay, however, only about seven miles beyond Adullam, and as the flocks there were Judah’s private property (Genesis 3... [ Continue Reading ]
IN AN OPEN PLACE. — Heb., _in the gate of Enajim._ Enajim means “the two fountains,” and we learn from Genesis 38:21 that it was the town where Tamar’s father dwelt, and where Tamar was living with him in her widowhood. In the exploration of Palestine, Enajim has been identified with a place called... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE SHE HAD COVERED HER FACE. — The Jewish commentators all agree that this was not the custom of harlots; and as Judah, in Genesis 38:21, calls her _kedeshah,_ one consecrated, he probably thought that she was a woman performing the vow required of every female votary of the Phœnician Venus (As... [ Continue Reading ]
THY BRACELETS. — Heb., _thy cord._ The art of engraving was probably not advanced enough among these nomads to permit them to engrave gems small enough to wear in a ring. Judah evidently suspended his signet round his neck by a cord; and this custom still exists among the Arabs, of whom some wear si... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS THE HARLOT...? — Heb.,_Whercisthe kedeshah_ (see Genesis 38:15) _that was at Enajim by the wayside?_ “Enajim (the two founts) by-the-wayside,” seems to have been the full name of the village. (See Genesis 38:14.)... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST WE BE SHAMED. — Maimonides asserts that Judah had committed _no_ breach of the Law, the utmost therein commanded being that no Jewish woman should become a _kedeshah_ (Deuteronomy 23:17). But Judah evidently regards what he had done as shameful, and having big friend’s testimony, if needed, to... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HER BE BURNT. — As being by law the wife of Shelah, Tamar was condemned by Judah in right of his position, as head of the family, to the punishment usual for adultery. In subsequent times, this penalty was limited to one who had married mother and daughter (Leviticus 20:14); or to the daughter o... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE SENT... — The Talmud praises Tamar for so acting, as to bring no public disgrace upon Judah; and he acknowledges that he was most to blame, because the cause of her crime was his own failure to act justly by her.... [ Continue Reading ]
ZARAH. — Heb., _the rising,_ especially of the sun. There is in the name an allusion to the red streak placed (upon the child’s hand.... [ Continue Reading ]