G
E N E S I S
CHAP. XXXVIII.
This chapter gives us an account of Judah and
his family, and such an account it is that one would wonder that, of all
Jacob's sons, our Lord should spring out of Judah, Heb. vii. 14. If we were to
form a character of him by this story, we should not say, "Judah, thou
art he whom thy brethren shall praise," ch. xlix. 8. But God will
show that his choice is of grace and not of merit, and that Christ came into
the world to save sinners, even the chief, and is not ashamed, upon their
repentance, to be allied to them, also that the worth and worthiness of Jesus
Christ are personal, of himself, and not derived from his ancestors. Humbling
himself to be "made in the likeness of sinful flesh," he was pleased
to descend from some that were infamous. 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 viii. 41. We have, in this chapter, I. Judah's marriage
and issue, and the untimely death of his two eldest sons, ver. 1-11. II.
Judah's incest with his daughter-in-law Tamar, without his knowing it, ver.
12-23. III. His confusion, when it was discovered, ver. 24-26. IV. The birth
of his twin sons, in whom his family was built up, ver. 27, &c.
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Judah's
Profligacy.
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B. C. 1717.
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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. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a
certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in
unto her. 3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his
name Er. 4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called
his name Onan. 5 And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and
called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6
And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD;
and the LORD
slew him. 8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's
wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Onan
knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in
unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he
should give seed to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did
displeased the LORD:
wherefore he slew him also. 11 Then said Judah to Tamar his
daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be
grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did.
And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
Here is, 1.
Judah's foolish friendship with a Canaanite-man. He went down from his
brethren, and withdrew for a time from their society and his father's family,
and got to be intimately acquainted with one Hirah, an Adullamite, v.
1. It is computed that he was now not much above fifteen or sixteen years of
age, an easy prey to the tempter. Note, When young people that have been well
educated begin to change their company, they will soon change their manners,
and lose their good education. Those that go down from their brethren, that
despise and forsake the society of the seed of Israel, and pick up Canaanites
for their companions, are going down the hill apace. It is of great
consequence to young people to choose proper associates; for these they will
imitate, study to recommend themselves to, and, by their opinion of them,
value themselves: an error in this choice is often fatal. 2. His foolish
marriage with a Canaanite-woman, a match made, not by his father, who, it
should seem, was not consulted, but by his new friend Hirah, v. 2. Many
have been drawn into marriages scandalous and pernicious to themselves and
their families by keeping bad company, and growing familiar with bad people:
one wicked league entangles men in another. Let young people be admonished by
this to take their good parents for their best friends, and to be advised by
them, and not by flatterers, who wheedle them, to make a prey of them. 3. His
children by this Canaanite, and his disposal of them. Three sons he had by
her, Er, Onan, and Shelah. It is probable that she embraced the worship of the
God of Israel, at least in profession, but, for aught that appears, there was
little of the fear of God in the family. Judah married too young, and very
rashly; he also married his sons too young, when they had neither wit nor
grace to govern themselves, and the consequences were very bad. (1.) His
first-born, Er, was notoriously wicked; he was so in the sight of
the Lord, that is, in defiance of God and his law; or, if perhaps he was
not wicked in the sight of the world, he was so in the sight of God, to whom
all men's wickedness is open; and what came of it? Why, God cut him off
presently (v. 7): The Lord slew him. Note, Sometimes God makes
quick work with sinners, and takes them away in his wrath, when they are but
just setting out in a wicked course of life. (2.) The next son, Onan,
was, according to the ancient usage, married to the widow,
to preserve the name of his deceased brother that died childless. Though God
had taken away his life for his wickedness, yet they were solicitous to
preserve his memory; and their disappointment therein, through Onan's sin, was
a further punishment of his wickedness. The custom of marrying the brother's
widow was afterwards made one of the laws of Moses, Deut. xxv. 5. Onan, though
he consented to marry the widow, yet, to the great abuse of his own body, of
the wife that he had married, and of the memory of his brother that was gone,
he refused to raise up seed unto his brother, as he was in duty bound. This
was so much the worse because the Messiah was to descend from Judah, and, had
he not been guilty of this wickedness, he might have had the honour of being
one of his ancestors. Note, Those sins that dishonour the body and defile it
are very displeasing to God and evidences of vile affections. (3.) Shelah,
the third son, was reserved for the widow (v. 11), yet with a 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 their own wickedness that slew them), and then sent her to her
father's house, with a charge to remain a widow. If so, it was an inexcusable
piece of prevarication that he was guilty of. However, Tamar acquiesced for
the present, and waited the issue.
12
And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was
comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend
Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy
father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14 And she
put her widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and
wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to
Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to
wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an
harlot; because she had covered her face. 16 And he turned unto
her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for
he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt
thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17 And he said, I
will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me
a pledge, till thou send it? 18 And he said, What pledge
shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff
that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her,
and she conceived by him. 19 And she arose, and went away, and
laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive
his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not. 21
Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was
openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place.
22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her, and also the men of
the place said, that there was no harlot in this place.
23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I
sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
It is a very
ill-favoured story that is here told concerning Judah; one would not have
expected such folly in Israel. Judah had buried his wife; and widowers have
need to stand upon their guard with the utmost caution and resolution against
all fleshly lusts. He was unjust to his daughter-in-law, either through
negligence or design, in not giving her his surviving son, and this exposed
her to temptation.
I. Tamar wickedly
prostituted herself as a harlot to Judah, that, if the son might not, the
father might raise up seed to the deceased. Some excuse this by suggesting
that, though she was a Canaanite, yet she had embraced the true religion, and
believed the promise made to Abraham and his seed, particularly that of the
Messiah, who was to descend from the loins of Judah, and that she was
therefore thus earnestly 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 Messiah. And, if this was indeed her desire, it had its success;
she is one of the four women particularly named in the genealogy of Christ,
Matt. i. 3. Her sinful practice was pardoned, and her good intention was
accepted, which magnifies the grace of God, but can by no means be admitted to
justify or encourage the like. Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that she
hoped Shelah, who was by right her husband, might have come along with his
father, and that he might have been allured to her embraces. There was a great
deal of plot and contrivance in Tamar's sin. 1. She took an opportunity for
it, when Judah had a time of mirth and feasting with his
sheep-shearers. Note, Time of jollity often prove times of temptation,
particularly to the sin of uncleanness; when men are fed to the full, the
reins are apt to be let loose. 2. She exposed herself as a harlot in an
open place, v. 14. Those that are, and would be, chaste, must be keepers
at home, Tit. ii. 5. It should seem, it was the custom of harlots, in
those times, to cover their faces, that, though they were not ashamed, yet
they might seem to be so. The sin of uncleanness did not then go so barefaced
as it does now.
II. Judah was
taken in the snare, and though it was ignorantly that he was guilty of incest
with his daughter-in-law (not knowing who she was), yet he was willfully
guilty of fornication: whoever she was, he knew she was not his wife, and
therefore not to be touched. Nor was his sin capable, in the least, of such a
charitable excuse as some make for Tamar, that though the action was bad the
intention possibly might be good. Observe, 1. Judah's sin began in the eye (v.
15): He saw her. Note, Those have eyes, and hearts too, full of
adultery (as it is 2 Pet. ii. 14), that catch at every bait that presents
itself to them and are as tinder to every spark. We have need to make a
covenant with our eyes, and to turn them from beholding vanity, lest the eye
infect the heart. 2. It added to the scandal that the hire of a harlot (than
which nothing is more infamous) was demanded, offered, and accepted--a kid
from the flock, a goodly price at which her chastity and honour were
valued! Nay, 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 conscience, and the hope of heaven, are
too precious to be exposed to sale at any such rates; the Topaz of Ethiopia
cannot equal them: what are those profited that lose their souls to gain the
world? 3. It turned to the reproach of Judah that he left his jewels in pawn
for a kid. Note, Fleshly lusts are not only brutish, but sottish, and ruining
to men's secular interests. It is plain that whoredom, as well as wine, and
new wine, takes away the heart first, else it would never take away the signet
and the bracelets.
III. He lost his
jewels by the bargain; he sent the kid, according to this promise, to redeem
his pawn, but the supposed harlot could not be found. He sent it by his friend
(who was indeed his back-friend, because he was aiding and abetting in
his evil deeds) the Adullamite, who came back without the pledge. It is a good
account (if it be but true) of any place which they here gave, there is no
harlot in this place; for such sinners are the scandals and plagues of any
place. Judah sits down content to lose his signet and his bracelets, and
forbids his friend to make any further enquiry after them, giving this reason,
lest we be shamed, v. 23. Either, 1. Lest his sin should come to
be known publicly, and be talked of. Fornication and uncleanness have ever
been looked upon as scandalous things and the reproach and shame of those that
are convicted of them. Nothing will make those blush that are not ashamed of
these. 2. Lest he should be laughed at as a fool for trusting a strumpet with
his signet and his bracelets. He expresses no concern about the sin, to get
that pardoned, only about the shame, to prevent that. Note, There are many who
are more solicitous to preserve their reputation with men than to secure the
favour of God and a good conscience; lest we be shamed goes further
with them than lest we be damned.
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Birth
of Phares and Zarah.
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B. C. 1714.
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24 And it came to pass about three
months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath
played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And
Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. 25 When she was
brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are,
am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are
these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. 26 And Judah
acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I;
because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no
more. 27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that,
behold, twins were in her womb. 28 And it came to pass,
when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the
midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out
first. 29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that,
behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this
breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.
30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his
hand: and his name was called Zarah.
Here is, I.
Judah's rigour against Tamar, when he heard she was an adulteress. She was, in
the eye of the law, Shelah's wife, and therefore her being with child by
another was looked upon as an injury and reproach to Judah's family: Bring
her forth therefore, says Judah, the master of the family, and let her
be burnt; not burnt to death, but burnt in the cheek or forehead,
stigmatized for a harlot. This seems probable, v. 24. Note,
it is a common thing for men to be severe against those very sins in others in
which yet they allow themselves; and so, in judging others, they condemn
themselves, Rom. ii. 1; xiv. 22. If he designed that she should be burnt to
death, perhaps, under pretence of zeal against the sin, he was contriving how
to get rid of his daughter-in-law, being loath to marry Shelah to her. Note,
It is a common thing, but a very bad thing, to cover malice against men's
persons with a show of zeal against their vices.
II. Judah's
shame, when it was made to appear that he was the adulterer. She produced the
ring and the bracelets in court, which justified the fathering of the
child upon Judah, v. 25, 26. Note, The wickedness that has been most
secretly committed, and most industriously concealed, yet sometimes is
strangely brought to light, to the shame and confusion of those who have said,
No eye sees. A bird of the air may carry the voice; however, there is a
destroying day coming, when all will be laid open. Some of the Jewish writers
observe that as Judah had said to his father, See, is this thy son's coat?
(ch. xxxvii. 32) so it was now said to him, "See, are these thy
signet and bracelets?" Judah, being convicted by his own conscience, 1.
Confesses his sin: She has been more righteous than I. He owns that a
perpetual mark of infamy should be fastened rather upon him, who had been so
much accessory to it. Note, Those offenders ought to be treated with the
greatest tenderness to whom we have any way given occasion of offending. If
servants purloin, and their masters, by withholding from them what is due,
tempt them to it, they ought to forgive them. 2. He never returned to it
again: He knew her again no more. Note, Those do not truly repent of
their sins that do not forsake them.
III. The building
up of Judah's family hereby, notwithstanding, in the birth of Pharez and Zarah,
from whom descended the most considerable families of the illustrious tribe of
Judah. 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 obtained it, who is ever named first, and from him
Christ descended. He had his name from his breaking forth before his brother: This
breach be upon thee, which is applicable to those that sow discord, and
create distance, between brethren. The Jews, as Zarah, bade fair for the
birthright, and were marked with a scarlet thread, as those that came out
first; but the Gentiles, like Pharez, as a son of violence, got the start of
them, by that violence which the kingdom of heaven suffers, and attained to
the righteousness of which the Jews came short. Yet, when the fulness of time
is come, all Israel shall be saved. Both these sons are named in the genealogy
of our Saviour (Matt. i. 3), to perpetuate the story, as an instance of the
humiliation of our Lord Jesus. Some observe that the four eldest sons of Jacob
fell under very foul guilt, Reuben and Judah under the guilt of incest, Simeon
and Levi under that of murder; yet they were patriarchs, and from Levi
descended the priests, from Judah the kings and Messiah. Thus they became
examples of repentance, and monuments of pardoning mercy.
Contents
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