Genesis 38:20-39:10 NIV

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Genesis 38:1-30

The sad and tragic story of Judah's corruption recorded here needs very little comment. It carries its own lessons of the frailty of human nature and of the far-reaching effects of sin. However, placing it at this point in the history is suggestive and important. Following this revelation, we are observing the first movements of God in the process of regeneration amid the degeneration of the race. So far, we have been occupied almost exclusively with individuals. Gradually the larger outlook... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:20-23

‘And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, and he did not find her. Then he asked the men of her place, “Where is the sacred prostitute who was at Enaim by the way side?” And they said, “There has been no sacred prostitute here.” And he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her, and the men of the place also said, ‘There has been no sacred prostitute here’.” And Judah said, “Let her take it to her lest we... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:1-30

Genesis 38. Judah and Tamar.— The source is J, but not the same stratum as that to which the Joseph story belongs. There is not room for the events either before or after the events of Genesis 37, nor does the Joseph narrative suggest that Judah left his brothers and lived the independent life here described. The chronology is quite inconsistent with the view that Genesis is a unity. Judah was roughly about twenty when Joseph, at the age at least of seventeen ( Genesis 37:2), went into Egypt.... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

CRITICAL NOTES.—Genesis 38:1. Turned in.] (Heb.) “And he pitched,” i.e., his tent. He came to dwell in the near neighbourhood of a man belonging to the small kingdom of Adullam (Joshua 12:15; Joshua 15:25.) Genesis 38:2. Whose name was Shuah.] This is not the name of Judah’s wife, but of her father. Genesis 38:8. Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.] This was according to the custom of the Levirate marriage, which was afterwards legalised by Moses. So... read more

Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

Chapter 38For the correlating audio message go to Chapter 37Now it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and he turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her ( Genesis 38:1-2 ). Now customarily, if you wanted to get a wife, you'd have your father go ahead and arrange a dowry. You have a big ceremony and everything else. Judah didn't bother to... read more

Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 38:1-30

Genesis 38:1. At that time. All the events of this chapter could not happen in the twenty-two years from the selling of Joseph, to Israel’s going down into Egypt; but according to Eben Ezra, as quoted by critics, Judah must have married a Canaanite before the sale of his brother. At the age of fourteen he left his father, and married this strange woman, by whom he had Er, Onan, and Shelah in three years. Judah’s morals were therefore corrupted at an early age, and this accounts for the... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Genesis 38:11-30

Genesis 38:11-30TamarLessons1.Sinful hearts when they suffer from God’s hand are apt to vent it upon creatures. 2. Carnal relations grow quickly weary of showing kindness when their aims are crossed by God. 3. Hard fathers-in-law, for their own ends, spare not to lay the hardest terms upon allies. 4. Such oppressors deal subtilly, though cruelly; they pretend fair at least. 5. Wicked hearts are apt to be jealous, and transfer faults and ill successes to others that are innocent. 6. Sinful... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Genesis 38:20

Gen 38:20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive [his] pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not. Ver. 20. By the hand of hls friend. ] His broker. Fie upon such Adullamites! Such coal carriers as this, saith one, be good to scour a hot oven with. Such another was Jonadab to Amnon. How much better that heathen, that answered, Amicus tibi sum, sed usque ad aras. read more

Samuel Bagster

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge - Genesis 38:20

his friend: Genesis 20:9, Leviticus 19:17, Judges 14:20, 2 Samuel 13:3, Luke 23:12 Reciprocal: Genesis 38:17 - Wilt thou read more