Judah went down from his brethren — Withdrew for a time from his father's family, and got intimately acquainted with one Hirah an Adullamite. When young people that have been well educated begin to change their company, they will soon change their manners, and lose their good education. They that go... [ Continue Reading ]
He took her — To wife. His father, it should seem, was not consulted, but by his new friend Hirah.... [ Continue Reading ]
And Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord — That is, in defiance of God and his law. And what came of it? Why God cut him off presently, The Lord slew him. The next brother Onan was, according to the ancient usage, married to the widow, to preserve the name of his deceased brother that died childle... [ Continue Reading ]
Shelah the third son was reserved for the widow, yet with design that he should not marry so young as his brothers had done, lest he die also. Some think that Judah never intended to marry Shelah to Tamar, but unjustly suspected her to have been the death of her two former husbands, (whereas it was... [ Continue Reading ]
Some excuse this by suggesting that she believed the promise made to Abraham and his seed, particularly that of the Messiah, and that she was therefore desirous to have a child by one of that family, that she might have the honour, or at least stand fair for the honour of being the mother of the Mes... [ Continue Reading ]
A kid from the flock — A goodly price at which her chastity and honour were valued! Had the consideration been thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil, it had not been a valuable consideration. The favour of God, the purity of the soul, the peace of the conscience, and the hope of heaven:... [ Continue Reading ]
Lest we be shamed — Either, Lest his sin should come to be known publicly, Or Lest he should be laughed at as a fool for trusting a whore with his signet and his bracelets. He expresses no concern about the sin, only about the shame. There are many who are more solicitous to preserve their reputatio... [ Continue Reading ]
It should seem the birth was hard to the mother, by which she was corrected for her sin: the children also, like Jacob and Esau, struggled for the birth — right, and Pharez who got it, is ever named first, and from him Christ descended. He had his name from his breaking forth before his brother; thi... [ Continue Reading ]