family, Yet Tamar was really guilty of both ally, tlw C/YlUecraJed, the prostitul.'l bcin" adultery and incest, though Lnnge thinks the regarded as "one devoted to the WOT3hip of' wickedness of Er and Onan renders this open Astarte, a goddess of the Canaanites, the to question. deification of the generative and productive Ver. 17.-And he said, I will send thee principl~ of nature,'' corresponding to the a kid from the flock-literally, a kid of the Babyloman Ashtarte, whose worship was of goats (ver. 20; cf. Judges xv. 1). And ahe 11 rossly libidinous character (Herod., i. 199 J. said, Wilt thou Jive me a pledge, till thou C . Dent. xxiii. 19; Numb. xxv. 1 • Hosea send it t--literal1y, if thou wilt give me a iv. 14; and vide Keil on Dent. xxiii. 19- pledge (11:l")v., from :l'J,V, to give in pledge, a that was openly by the way side !-or, that word peculiar to traders which the Greeks was in Enajim on the way, ut supra, ver. 14 ). and Romans appear to have borrowed from And they aaid, There waa no harlot (or the Phenicians, the originators of traffic: cf. kedeskah) in thia place. upoa{3wv, arrkabo: vide Gesenius, p. 652) Ver. 22.-And he returned to Judah, and ur.til thy sending (sc. then I consent to thy said, I cannot find her ; and also the men proposal). of the place aaid, that there was no ho.riot Ver. 18.-And he said, What pledge shall (or kedeshah) in thia place. I give thee 1 And she said, Thy signet,- Ver. 23.-And Judah said, Let her take the chotham, or signet, was either worn on it to her,-liternlly, let her take to herselj the finger, Jarcrv7'.iov (LXX.) or suspended (sc. the plcdgc)-lest we be shamed (liter- round the neck by n pithil, or silk string. ally, become a contempt, i e. by inquiring Its impression was a sign of property and a after her. Though not afraid to sin against means of security (cf. Matt. xxvii 66; John God, Judah was pained nt the idea of losi,1~ iii. 33; Ephes. i. 13, &c.). Among the ancient his reputation before men): behold, I sent Babylonians it was customary for every ono this kid (i. e. I take you to witness that I to wear such a riug (Herod., i. 195); o.nd have fulfilled my promise), and thou hast not modern Arabians in towns wear a seal-ring found her. on the finger, or fastened by a cord round Ver. 24.-And it oame to pass about three tbe neck, the impression of which serves months after (the usual time nt which as a signature (Robinson, i. 62). The seals pregnancy is certainly determined), that it and signets that hnvo been brought to light was told J"udah, ao.yi.ng, Tamar thy daughter by the excavations in Assyria. and Babylon in-law hath played the harlot (or, ncteci ns " (Layard, 'Nin. and Bab.,' 162-159, 602- zonah); and also, behold, she is with chilJ 608) are ofvariollll forms nod materials. They by whoredom. And Judah said (altogether show the nrt of engraving to have been of unmindful of his own iniquity three months great antiquity; but whether Jndah's signet proviollll), Bring her forth, and let her be was marked with alphabetical cho.mcters burnt. Under tho lnw stoning wns the cannot bo determined, though it may have punishment allotted to the crime of Tnmar been, since alphabeticn.l writing was as old (Dout. xxii. 20-24), burning being nt.lt.lct.l at least ns the time of Abraham (vide Keil, only in cn.scs of excessive criminality (Levit. 'In trod.,' Pnrt I. sect. i. eh, i. § 4)-and thy xx. 14 ; xxi. 9). It is obvious that tho power braoelets (rather, thy chain,pithil, ut supra), of lifo nnd death lay in tho hood of Judnh, and thy ataft' (the mateh, or rod, wns so n.s the head of his family. cnllod from the idea of stretching out, the Ver. 25.-When she wns brought forth root being natah, to stretch out or extend) (literally, slie was brouqlit foi·th, awl), she that is in thine hand. This too every Bnby- 1ent to her father-in-law (who nppareutly lonian c11rried (Herod., i. 195), "It was hnd not the he:i.rt to 11;tncss tho execution nocessnrily adorned with some device carved of his own sentence), saying, By the mnn, upon it, ond consisting in 1L flower or a fruit, whose these are, nm I with child : and aha n bird, or some othor onimnl" (Kalisch). se.id, Disoem, I pray thee, whose nre these, And he gave it her, and cBJDe i.n unto her, the signet, and bracelets (or chain), and and she oonceived by him, ataff'. Ver. 19.-And she arose, and went awa.y, Ver. 26.-And Judah o.cknowledsed (or and laid by her vo.il from her, and put on discerned, ut supra, i. o. recognised) them, the garments of her widowhood, and said, She ho.th been more righteous than Ver. 20.-And Judah aent the kid- I ;-though Tamllr WILS for from in noccn t liternlly, the kid of the goats, which he hnd (vide vcr. 10), ehe w:i.s by no means ns promised(ver. 17)-bythe hcmdofhia friend culpablo ns J udah-beco.uae that (p-',_L'" 1 :::i, the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from for, for this cause, i. e. that so it might h:i.p- the woman's hand: but (literally, and) he pen to me: vide eh. xviii. 5) I gave her not (i. e. Hirah) found her not. to Shelo.h my aon. And (in token of hi, Ver. 21.-Then he asked the men of tha.t penitence) be knew her again no more. pl11oe, so.ying, Where is the ho.rlot,-litr.r- Ver. 27.--And it came to pa.as in the time 441 TlIE BOOK 01'' GENESIS. [en. xunu. 1--30.
of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her How hast thou broken forth t this breaoh be womb. Cf. the cosc of Rebekah (eh. xxv. 24). upon thee :-literally, JYhat a breach hast Ver. 2S.-And it came to pass, when she thou inade I upon thee, n breach I or, Why travailed,-literally, in her bi·inging forth hast thou broken forth for thyself a breach (cf. cl1. xxxv. 17)-that the one put out his (Delitzsch) I or, How hast thou made for thee hand :-literally, and it (sc. the cl1ild) gave a breach I (Murphy)-therefore his name a hand, i. e. i~ was an abnormal and danger- was called Pharez-or Breach (cf. eh. xlvi. ous presentation - and the midwife (vide 12; Numb. xxvi. 20; 1 Chron. ii. 4 ; Matt. eh. xxxv. 17) took and bound upon his hand i. 3). a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. Ver. 80.-And afterward came out his Ver. 29.-And it came to pass, as he drew brother, that had the scarlet thread upon back his hand, that, behold, his brother his hand : and his name was called Zarah came out: and she (i. e. the midwife) said, -Splendour.