CHAPTER 38

38:1-30 And it came to pass at that time that Judas went down from his brethren, and came as far as to a certain man of Odollam, whose name was Iras. 2 And Judas saw there the daughter of a Chananitish man, whose name was Sava; and he took her, and went in to her. 3 And she conceived and bore a son, and called his name, Er. 4 And she conceived and bore a son again; and called his name, Aunan. 5 And she again bore a son; and called his name, Selom: and she was in Chasbi when she bore them. 6 And Judas took a wife for Er his first-born, whose name was Thamar. 7 And Er, the first-born of Judas, was wicked before the Lord; and God killed him. 8 And Judas said to Aunan, Go in to thy brother’s wife, and marry her as her brother-in-law, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9 And Aunan, knowing that the seed should not be his—it came to pass when he went in to his brother’s wife, that he spilled it upon the ground, so that he should not give seed to his brother’s wife. 10 And his doing this appeared evil before God; and he slew him also. 11 And Judas said to Thamar, his daughter-in-law, Sit thou a widow in the house of thy father-in-law, until Selom my son be grown; for he said, lest he also die as his brethren; and Thamar departed, and sat in the house of her father. 12 And the days were fulfilled, and Sava the wife of Judas died; and Judas, being comforted, went to them that sheared his sheep, himself and Iras his Shepherd the Odollamite, to Thamna. 13 And it was told Thamar his daughter-in-law, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Thamna, to shear his sheep. 14 And having taken off the garments of her widowhood from her, she put on a veil, and ornamented her face, and sat by the gates of Ænan, which is in the way to Thamna, for she saw that Selom was grown; but he gave her not to him for a wife. 15 And when Judas saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; for she covered her face, and he knew her not. 16 And he went out of his way to her, and said to her, Let me come in to thee; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law; and she said, What wilt thou give me if thou shouldest come in to me? 17 And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from my flock; and she said, Well, if thou wilt give me an earnest, until thou send it. 18 And he said, What is the earnest that I shall give thee? and she said, Thy ring, and thy bracelet, and the staff in thy hand; and he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 And she arose and departed, and took her veil from off her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 And Judas sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd the Odollamite, to receive the pledge from the woman; and he found her not. 21 And he asked the men of the place, Where is the harlot who was in Ænan by the way-side? and they said, There was no harlot here. 22 And he returned to Judas, and said, I have not found her; and the men of the place say, There is no harlot here. 23 And Judas said, Let her have them, but let us not be ridiculed; I sent this kid, but thou hast not found her. 24 And it came to pass after three months, that it was told Judas, saying, Thamar thy daughter-in-law has grievously played the harlot, and behold she is with child by whoredom; and Judas said, Bring her out, and let her be burnt. 25 And as they were bringing her, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, I am with child by the man whose these things are; and she said, See whose is this ring and bracelet and staff. 26 And Judas knew them, and said, Thamar is cleared rather than I, forasmuch as I gave her not to Selom my son: and he knew her not again. 27 And it came to pass when she was in labour, that she also had twins in her womb. 28 And it came to pass as she was bringing forth, one thrust forth his hand, and the midwife having taken hold of it, bound upon hid hand a scarlet thread, saying, This one shall come out first. 29 And when he drew back his hand, then immediately came forth his brother; and she said, Why has the barrier been cut through because of thee? and she called his name, Phares. 30 And after this came forth his brother, on whose hand was the scarlet thread; and she called his name, Zara.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 38: 1-3). CHRONOLOGICAL QUESTION. — And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and went unto an Adollamite, called Ira. And Judah saw there the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua, and took her for a wife, and came to her, and conceived, and bare a son, etc. We want to know when these things could happen. For if it happened after Joseph had come down to Egypt, how in the space of twenty-two years; for after so long it was clear that they were able to go to Egypt with their father to see their brother; it could happen that all the sons of Judah of that time could marry? For when his firstborn son died, he married his daughter-in-law Tamar to another of his sons (Cf. Gen. 38:6-11). This second died, waited for the son third to grow. When he got older, he did not give her as his wife, fearing that he too would die. So it happened that she gave herself to her own father-in-law (Cf. Gen. 38:12-18). With all reason, therefore, the problem arises of knowing how so many things could happen in so few years. The explanation might be that, as is often the case, Scripture meant by way of recapitulation that all this began to happen some years before the sale of Joseph, because the text is written as follows: “It happened at that time.” Nevertheless, if Joseph was seventeen when he was sold, the question arises as to how many years Judah, Jacob's fourth son, could have, since his firstborn, Reuben, could have at most five or six more than his brother Joseph. But it is clear that Scripture says that Joseph was thirty years old when he became known to Pharaoh (Cf. Gen. 41:46). Now, if one thinks that he was sold at seventeen years of age, he would have spent thirteen years in Egypt unknown to Pharaoh. To these thirteen years we would have to add the seven of abundance, and thus we arrived at the twenty years. To these should be added the two years of famine, because Jacob went to Egypt with his children the second year of the famine. And so we are at twenty-two years old, during which Joseph was far from his father and his brothers. Well, it is difficult to know how in this interim of time all the things that were told about the woman, the children and the daughter-in-law of Judah could happen. Unless we think, well, it may have happened that Judah, when he was a teenager, fell in love with the woman he married before Joseph was sold into Egypt. [Question 128]

(Gen. 38:14). ON THE CLOTHES OF THE WIDOWS. —She took off her widow's clothes. This text implies that also in the time of the patriarchs the widows wore certain dresses, different from those that the married women wore. [Question 129]