Genesis 38:18

The seal was a special stone. It had a string so as to hang from a person’s neck. Its shape had a special pattern. Its owner would press the seal on a flat lump of clay. (Clay is a kind of soil. One can form it into a flat lump. One can write on the flat lump with the point of a stick. People used flat lumps of clay as we use paper nowadays.) Then anyone could see the pattern on the lump of clay. That was like signing a letter nowadays. (See the comment on Genesis 41:42.)

v20 Judah sent his friend the Adullamite to look for the woman. The Adullamite took the young goat that Judah had promised to give. He intended to receive from the woman Judah’s seal and his stick. But the Adullamite could not find the woman. v21 He asked the men of the place, ‘Where is the woman who has sex for money? She was at the side of the road at Enaim.’ And they said, ‘No such woman has been here.’

v22 So the Adullamite returned to Judah. He said, ‘I have not found her. And the men of the place said, “No such woman has been here.” ’ v23 And Judah replied, ‘Let her keep the things. Let them be hers. Otherwise, people will laugh at us. And I did send this young goat to her but you could not find her.’

v24 About 3 months later people said to Judah, ‘Tamar, your son’s widow, has had sex for money. And because of that she is *pregnant.’ And Judah said, ‘Bring her here. We must burn her.’ v25 As they brought her, she sent a message to her husband’s father. She said, ‘These belong to my child’s father.’ And she said, ‘Please look at these things. Discover whose are the seal and the string and the stick.’ v26 Then Judah said that the things were his. He said, ‘She has done better things than I have done. I did not give her as a wife to my son Shelah.’ And he did not lie with her again.