_A.M. 2269. B.C. 1735._ How little reason had the Jews, who were so called from this Judah, to boast, as they did, that they were not born of fornication! John 8:41. We have in this chapter, ( 1,) _ Judah's marriage and issue, and the untimely death of his two eldest sons, Genesis 38:1._ (2,) _ Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
_At that time_ That is, _about that time;_ this expression, as also the words _then, in those days_, often referring in Scripture to a considerable space of time. For though these words, as Le Clerc well observes, seem to connect the following events with those spoken of in the former chapter, yet s... [ Continue Reading ]
_He took her_ To wife. His father, it should seem, was not consulted, but he acted by the advice of his new friend Hirah.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord_ That is, in defiance of God, and his law. _And the Lord slew him_ Cut him off by an untimely death, before he had any children by Tamar. As long life among the Jews was generally reckoned a blessing from God; so an untimely death was accounted a punishment. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remain a widow till Shelah my son be grown_ The contract of marriage, it seems, was so understood, even before any positive law was made on the subject, that, if the husband died without any issue, his next brother was to marry his wife, and as long as any of his brethren remained they were bound t... [ Continue Reading ]
_She put her widow's garments off_, &c. Some excuse her conduct in 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 s... [ Continue Reading ]
_A kid from the flock_ A goodly price at which her chastity and honour were valued! Had the consideration been a thousand rams, and ten thousands of 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 ashamed_ Either, 1st, Lest his sin should come to be known publicly; or, 2d, 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 thei... [ Continue Reading ]
_Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt_ Some have inferred from this that fathers then had the power of life and death over their children. But if so, it is probable that some instance would have occurred and have appeared on record in which such a power was actually exercised. It seems... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Judah acknowledged them_ His guilty conscience and the horror of so foul a fact, together with the sudden surprise, forced him to make an immediate and ingenuous confession. _She hath been more righteous than I_ This he says because he had broken his word with her in withholding Shelah from her... [ Continue Reading ]
_When she travailed_ 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 birthright, and Pharez, who got it, is ever named first, and from him Christ descended. He had his name from _his breaking forth_ be... [ Continue Reading ]