Genesis 38:1

_AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THAT TIME, THAT JUDAH WENT DOWN FROM HIS BRETHREN, AND TURNED IN TO A CERTAIN ADULLAMITE, WHOSE NAME WAS HIRAH._ At that time. This form of speech, which is of frequent occurrence in Scripture, is used not to mark an exact date, nor to give any note of time, but only to indicate in a loose and general way a connection with the period in which the events in the course of being narrated took place. [In fact, _ BAA`EET_ (H6256) _ HAHIY'_ (H1931) is not to be interpreted in a literal sense, but taken as describing an approximate chronology.] Thus, in one instance (Deuteronomy 10:8), it is prefixed to the narrative of an occurrence which transpired over 38 years (Numbers 3:6

1._And it came to pass at that time, that Judah_. Before Moses proceeds in relating the history of Joseph, he inserts the genealogy of Judah, to which he devotes more labor, because the Redeemer was thence to derive his origin; for the continuous history of that tribe, from which salvation was to be bought, could not remain unknown, without loss. And yet its glorious nobility is not here celebrated, but the greatest disgrace of the family is exposed. What is here related, so far from inflating the minds of the sons of Judah, ought rather to cover them with shame. Now although, at first sight, the dignity of Christ seems to be somewhat tarnished by such dishonor: yet since here also is seen that “emptying” of which St. Paul speaks, (138) it rather redounds to his glory, than, in the least degree, detracts from it. First, we wrong Christ, unless we deem him alone sufficient to blot out any...

CHAPTER XXXVIII Judah _marries the daughter of a Canaanite_, 1, 2; _and begets of her_ Er, 3, Onan, 4, _and_ Shelah, 5. _Er marries_ Tamar, 6; _is slain for his wickedness_, 7. _Onan, required to raise up seed to his brother, refuses_, 8, 9. _He also is slain_, 10. _Judah promises his son_ Shelah _to Tamar, when he should be of_ _age; but performs not his promise_, 11. _Judah's wife dies_, 12. Tamar in disguise receives her father-in-law, he leave

- The Family of Judah 1. עדלם _‛__ǎdûllâm_, ‘Adullam, “righteousness.” חירה _chı̂yrâh_ Chirah, “nobility?” 2. שׁוּע _shûa‛_, Shua‘, “luck, riches, cry.” 3. ער _‛__êr_, ‘Er, “watching.” 4. אונן _'ônân_, Onan, “strong.” 5. שׁלה _shēlâh_, Shelah, “request? rest.” כזיב _k__e__zı̂yb_ Kezib, “falsehood.” 6. תמר _tāmār_, Tamar, “palm.” 12. תמנה _tı̂mnâh_, Timnah

EXPOSITION GENESIS 38:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS. The present chapter appears to interrupt the continuity of the narrative of Joseph's history. Partly on this account, and partly because the name Jehovah occurs in it (Genesis 38:7, Genesis 38:10), it has been pronounced a later Jehovistic interpolation (Tuch, Bleek, Davidson, Coleuso). Its design has been explained as an attempt to glorify the line of David by representing it as sprung from Judah (Bohlen), or to disclose the origin of the Levitate law of marriage among the Jews (Knobel); but the incidents here recorded of Judah and his family are fitted to reflect dishonor instead of glory on the ancestry of David (Havernick)

AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THAT TIME,.... This some refer to the time of Jacob's coming from Padanaram into Canaan, soon after he came to Shechem, and before the affair of Dinah; but to this may be objected the marriage of Judah at an age that may seem too early for him, his separation from his brethren, and having a flock of his own to keep, which seems not consistent with the above history: wherefore it is better to connect this with the history of Joseph's being sold into Egypt; for though there were but twenty three years from hence to Jacob's going down into Egypt, Joseph being now seventeen, and was thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh, after which were seven years of plenty, and two of famine, at which time Jacob went thither with two of Judah's grandsons, Hezron and Hamul, Genesis 46:12, which make the number mentioned; yet all this may be accounted for; at seventeen, Er, Judah'...

CHAPTER 38 JUDAH AND TAMAR _ 1. Judah's marriage to the Canaanitish woman (Genesis 38:1)_ 2. His sons: Er, Onan and Shelah (Genesis 38:3) 3. Tamar married to Er and Onan (Genesis 38:6) 4. Tamar waiting for Shelah (Genesis 38:11) 5. Her deception and Judah's sin (Genesis 38:12) 6. The birth of Pharez and Zarah (Genesis 38:27) Historically this chapter comes before the thirty-seventh. The higher critics are one

GENESIS 38. JUDAH AND TAMAR. The source is J, but not the same stratum as that to which the Joseph story belongs. There is not room for the events either before or after the events of Genesis 37, nor does the Joseph narrative suggest that Judah left his brothers and lived the independent life here described. The chronology is quite inconsistent with the view that Genesis is a unity. Judah was roughly about twenty when Joseph, at the age at least of seventeen (Genesis 37:2), went into Egypt. The interval between that event and the journey of Jacob into Egypt was not more than twenty-two years. Within that period the whole of the events of this chapter have been crowded; moreover, Perez has two sons by its close (Genesis 46:12). To a certain extent the chapter contains tribal history. Judah at first consisted

_at that time_ Cf. Genesis 21:22. The notes of time in this chapter are very indefinite. Cf. 12, "in process of time." The marriage of Judah with the daughter of Shua, the birth of his three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah, and the marriage of the first two with Tamar, evidently represent a long interval. _Adullamite_ Judah moved from the high ground near Hebron to the lower, i.e. southern, country. The town of Adullam (Joshua 12:15; Joshua 15:35) is now identified with the ruins _-Aid-el-mâ_, 17 miles S.W. of Jerusalem and about 12 N.W. from Hebron. See 1 Samuel 22:1. Judah and Simeon in...

AND IT CAME, &C.— Moses relates this transaction because it concerned the principal end which his history had in view; namely, to transmit the genealogy of Christ, who descended from Abraham by Judah; see Matthew 1:3. Le Clerc observes: "Though these words seem to connect the following events with the former chapter, yet some of them, particularly Judah's marriage, which leads to the rest, must have happened long before Joseph was sold into AEgypt; and both Judah and his children too must have married young, else the chronology will not agree; for Joseph was born six years before Jacob came into Canaan," ch. Genesis 30:25.Genesis 31:41. When he was sold into AEgypt, he was seventeen years old, ch....