Chapter 38:
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis 38
How little reason had the Jews, who were so called
from this Judah, to boast, as they did, that they were not born of
fornication? John viii, 41. We have in this chapter,
I. Judah's marriage and issue, and the untimely death of his two
eldest sons, ver. 1-11.
II. Judah's incest with his daughter-in-law Tamar, ver. 12-23.
III. His confusion when it was discovered, ver. 24-26.
IV. The birth of his twin sons in whom his family was built up,
ver. 27-30.
Verse 1. Judah went down from his brethren - Withdrew for a time from
his father's family, and got intimately acquainted with one Hirah
an Adullamite. When young people that have been well educated
begin to change their company, they will soon change their
manners, and lose their good education. They that go down from
their brethren, that forsake the society of the seed of Israel, and
pick up Canaanites for their companions, are going down the hill
apace.
Verse
2. He took her-To wife. His father, it should seem, was not
consulted, but by his new friend Hirah.
Verse
7. And Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord - That is, in
defiance of God and his law. And what came of it? Why God cut
him off presently, The Lord slew him. The next brother Onan
was, according to the ancient usage, married to the widow, to
preserve the name of his deceased brother that died childless. This
custom of marrying the brother's widow was afterward made one
of the laws of Moses, Deut. xxv, 5. Onan, though he consented to
marry the widow, yet to the great abuse of his own body, of the
wife he had married, and the memory of his brother that was
gone, he refused to raise up seed unto his brother. Those sins that
dishonour the body are very displeasing to God, and the evidence
of vile actions. Observe, the thing which he did displeased the
Lord - And it is to be feared, thousands, especially of single
persons, by this very thing, still displeased the Lord, and destroy
their own souls.
Verse
11. Shelah the third son was reserved for the widow, yet with
design that he should not marry so young as his brothers had
done, lest he die also. Some think that Judah never intended to
marry Shelah to Tamar, but unjustly suspected her to have been
the death of her two former husbands, (whereas it was their own
wickedness that slew them) and then sent her to her father's house,
with a charge to remain a widow. If so, it was an inexcusable
piece of prevarication; however Tamar acquiesced, and waited for
the issue.
Verse
14. Some excuse this by suggesting that she believed the promise
made to Abraham and his seed, particularly that of the Messiah,
and that she was therefore desirous to have a child by one of that
family, that she might have the honour, or at least stand fair for
the honour of being the mother of the Messiah. She covered her
with a veil - It was the custom of harlots in those times to cover
their faces, that tho' they were not ashamed, yet they might seem
to be so: the sin of uncleanness did not then go so bare-faced as it
now doth.
Verse
17. A kid from the flock - A goodly price at which her chastity
and honour were valued! Had the consideration been thousands of
rams, and ten thousand rivers of oil, it had not been a valuable
consideration. The favour of God, the purity of the soul, the peace
of the conscience, and the hope of heaven: are too precious to be
exposed to sale at any such rates. He lost his Jewels by the
bargain: He sent the kid according to his promise, to redeem his
pawn, but the supposed harlot could not be found. He sent it by
his friend, (who was indeed his back-friend, because he was
aiding and abetting in his evil deeds) the Adullamite; who came
back without the pledge. 'Tis a good account, if it be but true, of
any place that which they here gave, that there is no harlot in this
place, for such sinners are the scandals and plagues of any place.
Judah sits down content to lose his signet and his bracelets, and
forbids his friend to make any farther enquiry.
Verse
23. Lest we be shamed - Either,
1. Lest his sin should come to be known publicly, Or
2. Lest he should be laughed at as a fool for trusting a whore with
his signet and his bracelets. He expresses no concern about the
sin, only about the shame. There are many who are more
solicitous to preserve their reputation with men, than to secure the
savour of God, lest we be shamed goes farther with them than lest
we be damned.
Verse
28. It should seem the birth was hard to the mother, by which she
was corrected for her sin: the children also, like Jacob and Esau,
struggled for the birth-right, and Pharez who got it, is ever named
first, and from him Christ descended. He had his name from his
breaking forth before his brother; this breach be upon thee - The
Jews, as Zarah, bid fair for the birth-right, and were marked with a
scarlet thread, as those that come out first; but the Gentiles, like
Pharez, or a son of violence got the start of them, by that violence
which the kingdom of heaven suffers, and attained to the
righteousness which the Jews came short of: yet when the fulness
of time is come, all Israel shall be saved. Both these sons are
named in the genealogy of our saviour, Matt. i, 3, to perpetuate
the story, as an instance of the humiliation of our Lord Jesus.
Chapter 38:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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