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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Genesis 38:1
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It happened at that time, that Yehudah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain `Adullami, whose name was Hirah.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
And it happened that at that time Judah went down from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah in the town of Adullam.
At that time Judah left his brothers and stayed with an Adullamite man named Hirah.
Now at that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to [stay with] a certain Adullamite named Hirah.
And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
And at that time Iudah went downe from his brethren, and turned in to a man called Hirah an Adullamite.
Now it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
About that time Judah left his brothers in the hill country and went to live near his friend Hirah in the town of Adullam.
(iv) It was at this time that Y'hudah went off from his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah who was an ‘Adulami.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a man of Adullam whose name was Hirah.
About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah from the town of Adullam.
It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
AND it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Arlemite, whose name was Hirah.
About that time Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah, who was from the town of Adullam.
At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah.
And it happened at that time that Judah went down, away from his brothers, and turned aside to a man of Adullam named Hirah.
It fortuned at the same time, yt Iuda wente downe fro his brethren, & gat him to a man called Hyra at Odollam.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
Now at that time, Judah went away from his brothers and became the friend of a man of Adullam named Hirah.
About that tyme Iudas went downe from his brethren, and gate him to a man called Hirah of Adulam.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
And it came to passe at that time, that Iudah went downe from his brethren, and turned in to a certaine Adullamite, whose name was Hirah:
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.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
Yn the same tyme Judas yede doun fro his britheren, and turnede to a man of Odolla, Hiram bi name;
And it cometh to pass, at that time, that Judah goeth down from his brethren, and turneth aside unto a man, an Adullamite, whose name [is] Hirah;
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name [was] Hirah.
It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hirah.
Judah went away from his brothers at that time. He visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and settled near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down away from his brethren, - and turned aside unto a certain Adullamite, whose, name, was Hirah.
At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Odollamite, named Hiras.
It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
About that time, Judah separated from his brothers and hooked up with a man in Adullam named Hirah. While there, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. He married her, they went to bed, she became pregnant and had a son named Er. She got pregnant again and had a son named Onan. She had still another son; she named this one Shelah. They were living at Kezib when she had him.
And it came about at that time, that Judah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
am 2265, bc 1739
it came: As there cannot be above 23 years from the selling of Joseph, unto Israel's going down into Egypt; and as it is impossible that Judah should take a wife, and by her have three sons successively, and Shelah, the youngest, marriageable when Judah begat Pharez of Tamar, and Pharez be grown up, married, and have two sons, all within so short a period; Mr. Ainsworth conceives that the time here spoken of is soon after Jacob's coming to Shechem - Genesis 33:1. We have accordingly adapted the chronology to correspond with that time.
turned: Genesis 19:2, Genesis 19:3, Judges 4:18, 2 Kings 4:8, Proverbs 9:6, Proverbs 13:20
Adullamite: An inhabitant of Adullam, a city of Canaan, afterwards given to Judah, situated in the southern part of that tribe, west of Hebron. Joshua 12:15, Joshua 15:35, 1 Samuel 22:1, 2 Samuel 23:13, Micah 1:15
Reciprocal: Genesis 29:35 - called Genesis 38:12 - Timnath Genesis 46:12 - Judah Numbers 26:19 - Er and Onan 2 Samuel 13:3 - a friend
Cross-References
There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.
So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.
the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there.
At harvest time, three of the thirty chief men went down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.
Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding."
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And it came to pass at that time,.... This some refer to the time of Jacob's coming from Padanaram into Canaan, soon after he came to Shechem, and before the affair of Dinah; but to this may be objected the marriage of Judah at an age that may seem too early for him, his separation from his brethren, and having a flock of his own to keep, which seems not consistent with the above history: wherefore it is better to connect this with the history of Joseph's being sold into Egypt; for though there were but twenty three years from hence to Jacob's going down into Egypt, Joseph being now seventeen, and was thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh, after which were seven years of plenty, and two of famine, at which time Jacob went thither with two of Judah's grandsons, Hezron and Hamul, Genesis 46:12, which make the number mentioned; yet all this may be accounted for; at seventeen, Er, Judah's firstborn, might marry, being the eighteenth from the selling of Joseph, and the marriage of his father; and Onan at the same age, which was the nineteenth; and allowing two or three years for Tamar's staying for Shelah, there was time for her intrigue with Judah, and bearing him two sons at a birth, before the descent of Jacob into Egypt; as for his two grandsons, they may be said to go into Egypt; as Benjamin's sons did in their father's loins, being begotten there during Jacob's abode in it:
that Judah went down from his brethren: not from Dothan to Adullam, as Ben Melech observes, as if this separation was at the time and place of the selling of Joseph; but rather from Hebron thither, after he and his brethren were come home to their father, and had reported and condoled the death of Joseph; and Judah is said to go down, because he went from the north to the south, as Aben Ezra notes; whether this departure from his brethren was owing to a misunderstanding or quarrel between them on account of the affair of Joseph, or on any account, is not certain:
and turned in to a certain Adullamite; an inhabitant of Adullam, a city which afterwards fell to the tribe of Judah, and where was a famous cave, that had its name from thence in David's time; it was ten miles from Eleutheropolis to the east i, and eight from Jerusalem to the southwest k; hither he turned, or stretched out l; that is, his tent, with his flock, which he extended to Adullam, as Ben Melech interprets it, and joined to this man,
whose name [was] Hirah; whom the Jews m fabulously report to be the same with Hiram king of Tyre, in the days of David and Solomon, and that he was the husband of Nebuchadnezzar's mother, and lived twelve hundred years.
i Jerom de loc. Heb. fol. 88. F. k Bunting's Travels, p. 78. l ויט "et tentorium fixerat", Schmidt. m Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- The Family of Judah
1. עדלם ‛ǎdûllâm, ‘Adullam, “righteousness.” חירה chı̂yrâh Chirah, “nobility?”
2. שׁוּע shûa‛, Shua‘, “luck, riches, cry.”
3. ער ‛êr, ‘Er, “watching.”
4. אונן 'ônân, Onan, “strong.”
5. שׁלה shēlâh, Shelah, “request? rest.” כזיב kezı̂yb Kezib, “falsehood.”
6. תמר tāmār, Tamar, “palm.”
12. תמנה tı̂mnâh, Timnah, “counted or assigned.”
14. עינים 'êynayı̂m, ‘Enaim, “two fountains.”
29. פרץ perets, Perets, “breach.”
This strange narrative is an episode in the history of Joseph; but an integral part of the “generations” of Jacob. It is loosely dated with the phrase “at that time.” This does not indicate a sequel to the preceding record, the proper phrase for which is “after these things” (האלה חדברים אחר 'achar hadebārı̂ym hâ'ēleh Genesis 22:1). It implies rather a train of events that commenced at least in the past, some time before the closing incident of the previous narrative Genesis 21:22. But the sale of Joseph, which alone is recorded in the last chapter, only occupied some few weeks or months of a year. Hence, the circumstances contained in this memoir of Judah’s family must have taken their rise before that event. The date “at that time,” is rendered indefinite also by being attached to the phrase, “And it came to pass,” which covers at least all the events in the first eleven verses of the chapter.
All this is in accordance with the customary mode of arranging parallel lines of events in Hebrew narrative. We shall see reason afterward for placing the birth of Er at as early a date as possible in the life of Judah Genesis 46:12. Now Judah, we conceive, was born when his father was eighty-seven, and Joseph when he was ninety-one, and hence, there is a difference about four years in their ages. We suppose Er to have been born in Judah’s fourteenth year, when Joseph and Dinah were in their tenth, and therefore, about three years before the rape of Dinah, and shortly after Jacob arrived at the town of Shekem. The dishonor of Dinah, and the cruel treatment of Joseph, being of essential moment in the process of things, had to be recorded in the main line of events. The commencement of Judah’s family, having no particular influence on the current of the history, is fitly reserved until the whole of the circumstances could be brought together into a connected narrative. And the private history of Judah’s line is given, while that of the others is omitted, simply because from him the promised seed is descended. As soon as Jacob is settled in the promised land, the contact with Hebron and its neighborhood seems to have commenced. A clear proof of this is the presence of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, in Jacob’s family Genesis 35:8. The great thoroughfare from Damascus to Egypt runs through Shekem and Hebron, and we know that when Jacob was residing at Hebron, his sons fed their flocks at Shekem and Dothan, and the youthful Joseph was sent to inquire after their welfare.
Genesis 38:1-11
Judah marries and has three sons. “Went down from brethren.” This seems to have been an act of willful indiscretion in Judah. His separation from his brethren, however, extends only to the matter of his new connection. In regard to property and employment there seems to have been no long or entire separation until they went down into Egypt. He went down from the high grounds about Shekem to the lowlands in which Adullam was situated Joshua 15:33-35. “A certain Adullamite.” He may have become acquainted with this Hirah, when visiting his grandfather, or in some of the caravans which were constantly passing Shekem, or even in the ordinary wanderings of the pastoral life. Adullam was in the Shephelah or lowland of Judah bordering on Philistia proper. “A certain Kenaanite.” This connection with Shua’s daughter was contrary to the will of God and the example of his fathers. Onan was born, we conceive, in Judah’s fifteenth year, and Shelah in his sixteenth.
At Kezib. - This appears the same as Akzib, which is associated with Keilah and Mareshah Joshua 15:44, and therefore, lay in the south of the lowland of Judah. This note of place indicates a change of residence since her other children were born. In the year after this birth the dishonor of Dinah takes place. “Took a wife for Er.” Judah chose a wife for himself at an early age, and now he chooses for his first-born at the same age. “Was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” The God of covenant is obliged to cut off Er for his wickedness in the prime of life. We are not made acquainted with his crime; but it could scarcely be more vile and unnatural than that for which his brother Onan is also visited with death. “And be a husband to her.” The original word means to act as a husband to the widow of a deceased brother who has left no issue. Onan seems to have been prompted to commit his crime by the low motive of turning the whole inheritance to his own house. At the time of Er’s death Judah must have been in his twenty-seventh year; Joseph was consequently in his twenty-third, and Jacob had for ten years past had his headquarters at Hebron. Hence, the contact with Timnah, Adullam, and Enaim was easy.
Genesis 38:12-23
Judah now comes into criminal, and, though unknown to him, incestuous sexual intercourse with Tamar. “And many were the days,” a year or somewhat more. “To Timnah.” This town is about twenty miles northwest of Hebron. There is another, however, in the hills about seven miles south of Hebron. “Put on a veil;” to conceal her face from Judah, or any other beholder. “The qate of Enaim.” This is supposed to be the same as Enam Joshua 15:34. “And thy lace.” This is the cord by which the signet was suspended round his neck. “Courtesan.” The original word קדשׁה qedêshâh means one consecrated to the worship of Ashtoreth, in which chastity is sacrificed.
Genesis 38:24-30
Tamar bears Perez and Zerah to Judah. After three months her pregnancy was manifest. “Let her be burnt.” It is manifest Judah had the power to execute this punishment. The life of the widow of his son was in his hands. Stoning was the mode of punishment by the law of Moses Deuteronomy 22:20-24; burning, only in aggravated cases Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9. He is a severe judge in a case where he is equally criminal. “She hath been more righteous than I. Tamar was less culpable in this matter than Judah. For he was moved by lust to commit fornication, and was the indirect occasion of Tamar’s conduct by withholding Selah. But Tamar, though wronged, was not free from blame in her mode of righting herself. The youthful indiscretion of Judah in forming an intermarriage with a Canaanitish family, without the concurrence of his brothers or his father, has been fruitful of crime. If this immorality goes on, the chosen family will be speedily absorbed in the surrounding paganism. Hence, we begin to see the necessity of an immediate removal to another land, where they may be kept more distinct from the native superstition. By the disclosure of Tamar Judah is brought to acknowledgment of his fault, and, we may infer, to repentance. His abstaining from all further sexual intercourse with her may be accepted as a proof of this. “A scarlet thread.” The right of primogeniture here manifests its importance. “Perez” - a breach. Slight incidents become the foundation of names, and are often the hinges on which great events turn. The minutest circumstances connected with the progenitors of the promised seed have a lasting interest.
Judah was at the close of his twenty-ninth year when Perez and Zerah were born. The dates in his family history may be arranged as underneath, on the supposition that the first child was born when the father was in his fourteenth year. This hypothesis is fairly allowable when we take into consideration not only other cases, but the early willfulness of Judah, and the example he gave to his children. The command also to be fruitful and multiply Genesis 35:11, which was given especially to Jacob, may have had a tendency to encourage early marriages. It is certain that the Jewish rabbis considered a man to have transgressed a divine precept who passed the age of twenty without being married. They also fixed the marriageable age for males at thirteen years and a day. King Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah when he was not more than twelve 2 Kings 16:2; 2 Kings 18:2; and King Josiah the father of Jehoiakim, when fourteen years of age 2 Kings 22:1; 2 Kings 23:36.
Judah 13 years 6 months when Er was born.
Judah 14 years 4 12 months when Onan was born.
Judah 15 years 3 months when Shelah was born.
Judah 28 years 9 months when Perez was born.
Judah 42 years 3 months when Hezron was born to Perez.
Judah 43 years 2 months when Hamul was born.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXXVIII
Judah marries the daughter of a Canaanite, 1, 2;
and begets of her Er, 3,
Onan, 4,
and Shelah, 5.
Er marries Tamar, 6;
is slain for his wickedness, 7.
Onan, required to raise up seed to his brother, refuses, 8, 9.
He also is slain, 10.
Judah promises his son Shelah to Tamar, when he should be of
age; but performs not his promise, 11.
Judah's wife dies, 12.
Tamar in disguise receives her father-in-law, he leaves his
signet, bracelets, and staff in her hand, and she conceives
by him, 13-23.
Judah is informed that his daughter-in-law is with child; and,
not knowing that himself was the father, condemns her to be
burnt, 24.
She produces the signet, bracelets, and staff, and convicts
Judah, 25, 26.
She is delivered of twins, who are called Pharez and Zarah, 27-30.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVIII
Verse Genesis 38:1. And it came to pass at that time — The facts mentioned here could not have happened at the times mentioned in the preceding chapter, as those times are all unquestionably too recent, for the very earliest of the transactions here recorded must have occurred long before the selling of Joseph. Mr. Ainsworth remarks "that Judah and his sons must have married when very young, else the chronology will not agree. For Joseph was born six years before Jacob left Laban and came into Canaan; Genesis 30:25, and Genesis 31:41. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold into Egypt, Genesis 37:2; Genesis 37:25; he was thirty years old when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream, Genesis 41:46. And nine years after, when there had been seven years of plenty and two years of famine, did Jacob with his family go down into Egypt, Genesis 41:53-54, and Genesis 45:6; Genesis 45:11. And at their going down thither, Pharez, the son of Judah, whose birth is set down at the end of this chapter, had two sons, Hezron and Hamul, Genesis 46:8; Genesis 46:12. Seeing then from the selling of Joseph unto Israel's going down into Egypt there cannot be above twenty-three years, how is it possible that Judah should take a wife, and have by her three sons successively, and Shelah the youngest of the three be marriageable when Judah begat Pharez of Tamar, Genesis 38:14; Genesis 38:24, and Pharez be grown up, married, and have two sons, all within so short a space? The time therefore here spoken of seems to have been soon after Jacob's coming to Shechem, Genesis 33:18, before the history of Dinah, Genesis 34:1-31, though Moses for special cause relates it in this place." I should rather suppose that this chapter originally stood after Genesis 33:1-20, and that it got by accident into this place. Dr. Hales, observing that some of Jacob's son must have married remarkably young, says that "Judah was about forty-seven years old when Jacob's family settled in Egypt. He could not therefore have been above fifteen at the birth of his eldest son Er; nor Er more than fifteen at his marriage with Tamar; nor could it have been more than two years after Er's death till the birth of Judah's twin sons by his daughter-in-law Tamar; nor could Pharez, one of them, be more than fifteen at the birth of his twin sons Herron and Hamul, supposing they were twins, just born before the departure from Canaan. For the aggregate of these numbers, 15, 15, 2, 15, or 47 years, gives the age of Judah; compare Genesis 38:1-30 with Genesis 46:12." See the remarks of Dr. Kennicott, at the end of Clarke's note at "Genesis 31:55".
Adullamite — An inhabitant of Adullam, a city of Canaan, afterwards given for a possession to the sons of Judah, Joshua 15:1; Joshua 15:35. It appears as if this Adullamite had kept a kind of lodging house, for Shuah the Canaanite and his family lodged with him; and there Judah lodged also. As the woman was a Canaanitess, Judah had the example of his fathers to prove at least the impropriety of such a connection.
