Verse 21
Then he asked the men of that place ,.... Or "of her place" F4 אנשי מקמה "viros loci ejus, scil mulieris", Piscator, Schimdt. , of the woman's place, supposing that she dwelt somewhere thereabout:
saying, where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside ? that sat there very publicly some little time ago: the word for "harlot" F5 הקדשה comes from another, which signifies to sanctify or separate to holy uses; and harlots were so called, either by an antiphrasis, by way of contradiction, being unholy; or because, as Jarchi observes, they were separated and destined to whoredom; or because they were such as were devoted to Venus, and the worshippers of her, and prostitutes in her temple, and in the temples of other Heathen deities; but it is questionable whether such practices as yet were used:
and they said, there was no harlot in this place ; they had not known any harlot to frequent that place lately, and Tamar sat there so small a time as not to have been observed by them.
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