the effect of the mourning ceremonies; see Jer. 167.—The death of Judah's wife is mentioned as a palliation of his subsequent behaviour: "even in early times it was considered not quite comme il faut for a married man to have intercourse with harlots" (Gu.).—On the sheep-shearing, see 3119.—Ḥîrāh his associate] (see v.1) is mentioned here because of the part he has to play in the story (vv.20-23).—went up . . . to Timnah] This cannot be the Danite Timnah (Jos. 1510 1943, Ju. 141. 2. 5), which lies lower than 'Adullam. Another Timnah S of Hebron (Jos. 1557), but unidentified, might be meant; or it may be the modern Tibne, W of Bethlehem, though this is only 4 m. from 'Adullam, and room has to be found for 'Enaim between them (but v.i. on v.14).—14. her widow's garments] Cf. Jth. 85 103 168.—She assumes the garb of a common prostitute, and sits, covered by the veil (see below on v.21), by the wayside; cf. Jer. 32, Ezk. 1625, Ep. Jer. 43.—15. for she had covered her face] This explains, not Judah's failure to recognise her, but his mistaking her for a harlot (see v.16).—17. a kid of the goats] Cf. Ju. 151. The present of a kid on these occasions may be due to the fact that (as in classical antiquity) the goat was sacred to the goddess of love (Paus. vi. 25. 2 [with Frazer's Note, vol. iv. 106]; cf. Tac. Hist. 2, 3, and Lucian, Dial. meretr. 7. 1) (Kn-Di.).—18. The master-stroke of Tamar's plot is the securing of a pledge which rendered the identification of the owner
(
Hebrew characters) (cf. 1 Ch. 35 with 2 Sa. 113 etc.), through an intermediate (Hebrew characters).
G, both here and v.2 (but not 1 Ch. 23), gives (Hebrew characters) as the name of Judah's
wife.—(Hebrew characters)] GV (Hebrew characters), 'his shepherd,' wrongly.—13. (Hebrew characters)] 'husband's
father,' 1 Sa. 419. 21 † . Smith (KM2, 161 f.) finds in the Arabic usage a
distinct trace of ba'al-polyandry; the correlative is kanna, "which
usually means the wife of a son or brother, but in the Ḥamāsa is used
. . . to designate one's own wife."—14. (Hebrew characters)] so Dt. 2212, Jon. 36. Read
either (Hebrew characters), Niph. (Gu.), or (Hebrew characters), Hithp., with [E] (as 2465).—(Hebrew characters)] S
(Syriac characters), V in bivio itineris, and TOJ take the meaning to
be 'at the cross-roads' (of which there are several on the short way
from 'Aid el-Mā to Tibne). The sense is good, and it is tempting to
think that these Vns are on the right track, though their rendering has
no support in Heb. usage. If (Hebrew characters) be a proper name it may be identical
with the unknown (Hebrew characters) of Jos. 1534, in the Shephelah.—(Hebrew characters)] G
(Hebrew characters), better.—15 end] G + (Greek characters)
