Genesis 38:17

And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Genesis 38:17-21. A kid from the flock — A goodly price at which her chastity and honour were valued! Had the consideration been a thousand rams, and ten thousands of 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. It is 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 further inquiry.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

38:1-30 The profligate conduct of Judah and his family. - This chapter gives an account of Judah and his family, and such an account it is, that it seems a wonder that of all Jacob's sons, our Lord should spring out of Judah, Heb 7:14. But God will show that his choice is of grace and not of merit, and that Christ came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. Also, that the worthiness of Christ is of himself, and not from his ancestors. How little reason had the Jews, who were so called from this Judah, to boast as they did, Joh 8:41. What awful examples the Lord proclaims in his punishments, of his utter displeasure at sin! Let us seek grace from God to avoid every appearance of sin. And let that state of humbleness to which Jesus submitted, when he came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, in appointing such characters as those here recorded, to be his ancestors, endear the Redeemer to our hearts.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. Judah … went up unto his sheep-shearers—This season, which occurs in Palestine towards the end of March, was spent in more than usual hilarity, and the wealthiest masters invited their friends, as well as treated their servants, to sumptuous entertainments. Accordingly, it is said, Judah was accompanied by his friend Hirah.

Timnath—in the mountains of Judah.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock,.... Either from Timnath, where his flock was shearing, or rather from Adullam, where he lived; since it is probable he was now returning from Timnath, where he had been feasting and making merry with his shearers, and so in a disposition to commit such an action:

and she said, wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? she made no objection to the hire or present, only required a pawn, or security for it till she had it; and this was her view indeed in asking an hire that she might have something to produce, should she prove with child by him, to convince him by whom it was.

Geneva Study Bible

And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock - literally, a kid of the goats (ver. 20; cf. Judges 15:1). And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? - literally, if thou wilt give me a pledge (עֵרָבזֹן, from עָבַ, to give in pledge, a word peculiar to traders which the Greeks and Romans appear to have borrowed from the Phoenicians, the originators of traffic: cf. ἀῥῤαβών, arrhabo: vide Gesenius, p. 652) until thy sending (sc. then I consent to thy proposal). Genesis 38:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Judah saw her here and took her for a harlot, he made her an offer, and gave her his signet-ring, with the band (פּתיל) by which it was hung round his neck, and his staff, as a pledge of the young buck-goat which he offered her. They were both objects of value, and were regarded as ornaments in the East, as Herodotus (i. 195) has shown with regard to the Babylonians (see my Bibl. Arch. 2, 48). He then lay with her, and she became pregnant by him.