Genesis 38:12-13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 38:12-23

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,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:12

And in process of time the daughter of Shuah, Judah's wife , died ,.... Shuah was his wife's father, who was a Canaanite, Genesis 38:2 ; what her name was is not certain, nor the exact time of her death; it was some time after Tamar was sent home to her father's house; and some take the death of Judah's wife to be a correction and reproof to him for his ill usage of his daughter-in-law, in neglecting to give her to his son, or not designing to do it at all: and Judah was comforted ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:13

And it was told Tamar ,.... By some of her neighbours, or by some of Judah's family: saying, behold, thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep ; which might be told her as an indifferent thing, without any design in it; but she took notice of it, and it gave her an opportunity she wanted. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:12

In process of time - This phrase, which is in general use in the Bible, needs explanation; the original is הימים וירבו vaiyirbu haiyamim , and the days were multiplied. Though it implies an indefinite time, yet it generally embraces a pretty long period, and in this place may mean several years. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:13

Verse 13 13.And it was told Tamar. Moses relates how Tamer avenged herself for the injury done her. She did not at first perceive the fraud, but discovered it after a long course of time. When Shelah had grown up, finding herself deceived, she turned her thoughts to revenge. And it is not to be doubted that she had long meditated, and, as it were, hatched this design. For the message respecting Judah’s departure was not brought to her accidentally; but, because she was intent upon her purpose,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The house of Judah: a family record of sin and shame. I. THE WICKEDNESS OF ER AND ONAN . 1. Early . On any hypothesis Er and Onan can have been little more than boys when they were married, and yet they appear to have arrived at a remarkable precocity in sin. Nor was it simply that they had shed the innocence and purity of youth, but they had also acquired a shameful proficiency in vice. Young scholars are mostly apt learners, especially in the devil's school. 2.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The goodness and severity of God. These occurrences in the family of Judah would seem Judah is a wanderer from his brethren; a sensual, self-willed, degenerate man; yet it is in the line of this same wanderer that the promised seed shall appear. The whole is a lesson on the evil of separation from the people of God . Luther asks why such things were placed in Scripture, and answers, read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:12

And in process of time — literally, and the days were multiplied (cf. Genesis 4:3 ), which is rendered by the same words in the A . V .— the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted (or, comforted himself, ceased to mourn), and went up unto his sheep-shearers (vide Genesis 31:19 ) to Timnath ,—a border town between Ekron and Bethshemesh ( Joshua 15:10 ) in the plain of Judah (Kalisch, Wordsworth, W . L . Alexander in Kitto's 'Cyclopedia'); but more... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:12-26

Judah's sin with Tamar. I. COMMITTED . 1. Suddenly . It was occasioned by the sight of a supposed courtesan. Much evil enters by the eye (cf. 2 Samuel 11:2 ). Great need for the prayer of David ( Psalms 119:37 ). 2. Openly . Judah was in the company of Hirah, his friend, when he beheld Tamar sitting in the gate of Enajim, and, without attempting to hide it from his friend, went to seek her society. Shamelessness in sin betokens great depravity. 3. Willfully . ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:13

And it was told Tamer, saying, Behold thy father in-law — חָם , a father-in-law, from חָמָה , unused, to join together. Of. γαμβρός for γαμερός, a son-in-law, or generally one connected lay marriage, from γαμέω— goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep . read more

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