Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, Book 2 · Chapter 38
CHAP. XXXVIII.
1. The Method or Argument.
THis Chapter hath three parts; the first concerneth the marriage of Iudah, with the birth of his three sons, from vers. 1. to 6. The second sheweth the wickednesse of Iudah his two eldest sons, Er and Onan, from vers. 6. to 10. The third declareth the incest of Iudah with Thamar. 1. The occasion thereof, because Iudah kept not promise in giving unto her Selah his youngest sonne, vers. 11.26. 2. The manner thereof, the disguising of her selfe, and taking a pledge of Iudah, from vers. 14. to 24. 3. The sentence of Iudah against her, with the discovery of his sinne, vers. 24. to 27. 4. The birth of Phar…s and Zarah, with the manner thereof, vers. 27. to the end of the Chapter.
2. The divers readings.
v. 1. Whose name was Iras. S. Hirah. cat.S.c. S.c.
v. 2. Whose name was Sabath: the Septuag. make it the name of the woman, using the feminine gender. S. whose name was Suah. cat. that is, Iudahs wives fathers name.
the daughter of a merchant. C. of a Canaanite. cat. cenagnan signifieth also a merchant.C. ap. f. pr. H. cor. ap. f. pr. T.r.
v. 5. She ceased to beare. H. Iudah was at Chezib when she bare him. cat. cazab signifieth to lie or deceive: the Latine translator so readeth, because she deceived Iudahs expectation in bringing forth no more.
v. 8. Ioyned to her. H.C. take her to wife. S.B. doe the office of a kinsman to her. G.P. marrie her in the brothers right. T. so the word jabam signifieth.
v. 9. He shed his seed upon the ground. H.S. corrupted his way upon the ground. C. spilled it upon the ground.C. cor. B.G. corrupted it by shedding upon the ground. T. heb. shacath, to corrupt.
v. 12. Many yeares expired. H. after many dayes. S.C.T.P. in processe of time. B.G.
v. 12. Suah Iudahs wife. S. the daughter of Suah, Iudahs wife. cat.H.c.
after his griefe receiving comfort. H. being comforted. S.C. having left mourning. G.B. comforted himselfe T. P. heb.T.P.r.
v. 14. Did decke herselfe in the gates of Enan. P.S. sate downe in Petath-Enaim. C. in an open place. B. in a crosse way, in bivio. T.C.H. heb. in the doore of the eyes. T.B. not in the doore of the fountaines,T.H.r. as P.G. gneen, signifieth both an eye and a fountaine.
v. 14. And had not taken him for her husband. H. she was not given unto him to wife. cater.H.c. H. ….
v. 15. She had covered her face, lest she should be knowne. H. and he knew her not because shee had covered her face. cat.
v. 16. He went in to her. H. he turned to the way toward her. cat.H.c.
L.C.r.v. 18. Thy bracelet. H.S.B. thy cloake. H.P. kercheffe or napkin, sudarium. T.C. he. pethil, signifieth both.
S.H.c. simil. ver. T.r. T.B.G.r.v. 20. By the hand of his shepherd the Adullamite. H.S. by the hand of his neighbour. G. of his friend, caet. regneth, a shepherd: regnah, a friend.
a kid out of the flocke. B.H. a kid from the goats. S.C. a kid of the goats. G.P that is, a sucking kid. T.
v. 23. She cannot challenge … of a lie. H. lest we be mocked. S.C. lest we bee ashamed. B.G. contemned. P.T. heb. Buz, to contemne, despise.
T.P.r.v. 29. Why is the partition, maceria, broken, because of thee. H.S. how great strength is in thee, that thou shouldest prevaile? G. wherefore hast thou rent a rent upon thee? B. how hast thou broken the breach upon thee? G. how hast thou broken through, the breach is thine or upon thee? T.B. heb.
3. The explanation of doubtfull questions.
QUEST. I. Why this history of Iudah his incest is inserted.
Vers. 1. AT that time Iudah went downe from his brethren, &c. Moses inserteth the story of Iudah and of his line. 1. To shew the prerogative of that tribe of whom our Saviour should come after the flesh, Marlorat. 2. To set forth the great humility of Christ, that vouchsafed to take his flesh even of such a generation as was at the first propagated by incestuous birth, Calvin. for in Christ there was all riches of grace, who needed not to be made noble by his stocke, nor yet were the infirmities of his progenitors any disparagement to him. All precedent slips and errours in them were cleansed and purified in his holy and unspotted conception. 13. This narration of Iudahs incest doth serve to abate the pride and insolencie of the Jewes, who boast so much of their petigree; and they are not ashamed to tell our Saviour to his face, that they were not borne of fornication, Ioh. 8.41. Perer. 4. This story hath some coherence and similitude with that which followeth in the next chapter, though the event is not like: for here Thamar soliciteth Iudah, there Potiphars wife Ioseph; but Iudah sheweth his incontinencie, Ioseph his chastity, Mercer.
QUEST. II. At what time these things were done here reported of Iudah
BUt at what time this historie was done, here recorded, some question there is: 1. Neither is this narration wholly set downe by way of recapitulation, as Augustine thinketh, quaest. 128. in Gen. as though it went before Iosephs selling into Egypt: for Iudah was not above foure or five yeares elder than Ioseph: for Iudah was the fourth sonne of Leah, and hee and Ioseph were borne within the compasse of seven yeares, Gen. 31.31. Now Ioseph being seventeene yeare old when he was sold into Egypt, Iudah then not exceeding 22. yeares, could not have sonnes marriageable, as Er and Onan were. 2. Neither is Pererius opinion to be received, that all this fell out after Ioseph was sold: for from that time till Iacobs going downe to Egypt, when Ioseph was 39. yeare old, are but 22. yeares, in which time Iudah could not bee a grand-father as he was: for his sonne Phares had two sonnes, Ezron and Hamul, that went downe with Iacob into Egypt. And to say that either of these two sonnes were borne in Egypt, is to contradict the Scripture that saith, they went downe into Egypt with Iacob, Gen. 46.26. or to say that Iacobs going downe must be taken for all the time of his life and abode in Egypt, which was seventeene yeares, is to speake improperly, and to pervert the course of the story. 3. Wherefore the best solution is, that part of this chapter was fulfilled before Iosephs captivity, part followed after; and Iudah must be supposed to have taken a wife at twelve or thirteene, Mercer. Iunius thinketh at seventeene yeares, (I would rather take fourteene or fifteene yeares betweene both;Iudah and his children married very young.) and Er must be about ten yeares of age when Ioseph was sold, Iun. who also tooke a wife at the like age of twelve or thirteene yeares, Mercer. which will fall out about the twenty five or twenty six yeare of Iudahs age: then Er and Onan might die in one yeare, Selah might be expected some three yeares, Perer. then the yeare following might Thamar have her two twins, about the thirty yeare of Iudah; Pharez keeping the same time of marriage might have his two sonnes, but very young, when Iacob went downe to Egypt, in the 44. yeare or thereabout of Iudahs age. Iunius thinketh that Iudah begat Pharez at the age of thirty foure, and was fifty yeares old when he went downe into Egypt: but that cannot be, for Iudah was not above five years elder than Ioseph, who was then but 39. yeares old: for Iudah was Leahs fourth son, who together with Ioseph were borne in the second seven yeare of Iacobs service with Laban. 4. And lest it might seeme strange that Iudah and his sonnes were married and had children so young; this is not affirmed without the like president in Scripture: for wee finde that Ahaz father to Hezekiah, was but eleven yeares old when hee was borne; for Ahaz was but thirty six yeares old when hee died, 2 King. 16.2. and Hezekiah immediately succeeding in the kingdome, was 25. yeare old, 2 King. 18.2. It cannot be said that there was an interrognum betweene them, that the kingdome lay void a certaine space: for in the twelfth yeare of Ahaz over Judah, began Hoshea to reigne in Samaria nine years, 2 King. 17.1. and Ahaz reigned sixteene years, 2 King. 16.2. Now in the third yeare of Hoshea began Hezekiah to reigne, 2 King. 18.1. If then in those dayes when mans age was much shortned, his nature decayed, and strength abated, they had issue so soone, it is not improbable but that such untimely mariages might be in use in Iudahs time, when their life was longer, and their strength greater. 5. But where it is said, About that time Iudah went downe: it must not be referred exactly to that particular season which went immediately before, but indefinitely understood of the whole course of that history of Iacobs children after their returne out of Mesopotamia, while Iacob dwelt in Sechem, where he remained eight yeares: which I rather thinke with Mercer. than that this was done after Iacob was come to Isaack. Aben Ezra sheweth the like, Deut. 10.7. where it is said, that at the same time when the children of Israel departed from Gudgodah, The Lord separated the tribe of Levi: whereas Levi was separated the second yeare after they came out of Egypt, but they departed from Gudgodah in the 40. yeare: wherefore these words the same time, must be referred to the whole time of their pe…egrination in the wildernesse, not to that particular time of departing from Gudgodah. And so likewise in this place, ex Mercer. Or further, these words about that time, may be understood by a synecdoche, the part being taken for the whole: because some of these things here recorded (though not all) might fall out in that instant, or not long after, as the strange death of Er and Onan, and the incest of Iudah, which might happen about the 24. yeare of Ioseph, ex Mercer.
QUEST. III. Why Iudah went downe, and whither.
Vers. 1. IVdah went downe, &c. 1. That is, he descended into some lower Countrey, it may bee out of Sechem: not as some Hebrewes, that he was fallen from his greatnesse, because he gave counsell to have Ioseph sold, and was the cause of his fathers long griefe, Mercer. 2. What was the cause of his going from his brethren is not expressed, whether for detestation of the horrible murther committed by Simeon and Levi upon the Sichemites, or for the abundance of cattell which he had. But it is like that he often came and went to his brethren, as appeareth by the story of Iosephs selling into Egypt, whereunto Iudah advised: he also went downe with his brethren into Egypt for corne.Adullam the n…me …f a village in the tribe of Judah. 3. This Adullam was a towne in the tribe of Iudah, whither afterward David did flie, 1 Sam. 22.1. Hierom saith, that in his time there was a village of that name some ten miles from Eleutherepolis, Muscul.
QUEST. IV. Of Iudahs oversight in marrying a woman of the Canaanites.
Vers. 2. IVdah saw the daughter of a man called Suah. 1. This was not the name of Iudahs wife as the Septuagint reade, vers. 12. but of his wives father. 2. Neither was this Suah a merchant as the Chalde paraphrast readeth, and the Hebrewes follow the same, to cover the infirmities of their fathers: although the word Covagnan sometime be used appellatively for a merchant, Prov. 31.24. But he was a Canaanite: as we reade the like of Simeon, that he had his sonne Saul by a Canaanitish woman, Gen. 46.10. Mercer. 3. No marvell then if Iudah matching into the cursed stocke of Canaan, whose land was promised to Abraham and his seed, which Iudah could not be ignorant of, had no good successe in his children the fruits of this marriage, who also were accursed of God, Calvin. 4. Iudah saw this woman, he tooke her and went in to her; all was done in haste: so that his affection carried him headlong, his judgement did not guide him, Muscul.
QUEST. V. Er and Onan whence and upon what occasion so called.
Vers. 6. IVdah tooke a wife to Er his first-borne. 1. Though Iudah tooke him a wife without the consent of his father, yet he will not have his sonne so to doe, Muscul. 2. Whence he is called Er it is not certaine: some will have it to signifie watchfull. Augustine doth interpret it pelliceus, to have his name of skinne or leather, such as Adam was cloathed with, in token of his transgression, lib. 22. cont. Faust. cap. 84. Isaack Carus will have all these three sonnes to be named from Iosephs calamity: Er, because Ioseph was in a manner desolate, or destroyed, of gnariri: Onan, of the griefe of their father: Shelah, of the errour which Iudah committed in selling of Ioseph. Ramban thinketh Onan to be so called of the paine of his mother in travell, as Rachel called Benjamin Ben-oni; and Shelah of his mothers errour, in ceasi…g to beare afterward. But if it bee lawfull to use conjectures, I thinke upon what occasion soever they had these names given at the first, that the event answered their names; for Er was solitary without children; Onan had a lamentable end, and about Shelah Iudah committed a great errour with Thamar. 3. Iudah gave Er his name, the mother named the other two: not that as the Hebrewes note, the father did alwayes name the first-borne, the mother the rest: for as we saw before in Iacobs sonnes, sometime the father, sometime the mother indifferently gave the name, but not without the consent of the father, Mercer. 4. Concerning Thamar, some Hebrewes would have her the daughter of Se…, the high Priest Melchisedeck, Thamar whether the daughter of Sem.because Iudah judgeth her to be burned, according to the law of the Priests daughter committing fornication, Levit. 21.8. but seeing Sem died ten yeare before Iacob, (he lived not to the 50. yeare of Iacobs, as Mercerus) it cannot be that Thamar a childe-bearing woman should bee his daughter, Iacob being at the least an hundred yeare old. It is like she was a Canaanitish woman, Luther. and a vertuous woman, that did leave and forsake the idolatry of her Countrey to worship the true God, Perer. ex Philone.
QUEST. VI. Of the sinne of Er what it was.
Vers. 7. NOw Er was wicked in the sight of the Lord. 1. The wickednesse of Er was not as Augustine supposeth, in being given to oppression or cruelty, lib. 22. cont. Faust. cap. 34. but it is like to be the same sinne of unnaturall lust which Onan committed, as may be gathered both by the likenesse of the punishment, as by the phrase, that he was wicked in the sight of God, as it is said of the Sodomites, Gen. 13.13. his sinne was not secret, as Tostatus, but it was a sinne very hainous and grievous against the order of nature, and institution of God: for he abused himselfe, and spoiled his seed, not because he would not have any issue by a Canaanitish woman, as Mercer. for then he needed not to have maried her; but rather as the Hebrewes conjecture, that hee might long enjoy the beauty and favour of Thamar, which would be impaired by bearing of children, or some such like cause. 2. So then this sinne was against nature, which is diversly commited: either alone, when men doe vitiously procure and provoke their seed;Unnaturall lust how many wayes committed. or with others, either of a divers kinde, as with bruit beasts, or with the same kinde but not the right sex, as with the male, or with the right sex that is the female, but not in due manner, which was the sinne of Er and Onan. 3. This sinne of Er was against the order of nature, using the act of generation for pleasure onelyonly, and not for generation: it was against God, whose institution he brake; against his wife, whom he defrauded of the fruit of her wombe; against himselfe, in preventing his issue; against mankinde, which should have beene increased and propagated,Er or Onan, whether the greater sinner. Perer. 4. Yet Onans sinne was not lesse than Ers, as Augustine thinketh, who maketh Er of that sort of wicked men that doe evill to others; Onan of that kinde that doe no good to others: but herein Onan exceedeth the wickednesse of Er, both because he was not warned by his brothers example; as Daniel reproveth Belthasar because his heart was not humbled by the fall of Nebuchadnezer his father, Dan. 5.22. As also for that Onan committed this sinne of envie against his brother, to whom hee should have raised seed, whereas Er did it not of envie, but of an immoderate desire of pleasure, Perer.
QUEST. VII. Whether in any case it were lawfull by Moses law for one to marry his brothers wife.
Vers. 8. IVdah said, &c. goe in to thy brothers wife. Here a question is moved, whether it were lawfull by Moses law for the brother to marry his brothers widow, to raise up seed to his brother. 1. Philo thinketh that it was not onelyonly lawfull among the Israelites, but that it was the custome so to doe among the Canaanites, and that the Judges of the Countrey did give Thamar to Onan, after the death of his brother Er, but the contrary is evident out of the text; for Iudah and not the Judges of the Countrey gave Tham…r to Onan: And I thinke rather that it was a custome received among the fathers, and afterward confirmed by Moses law, than any usage learned of the Canaanites, whose fashions they were not to imitate. 2. Neither doe I thinke with the Hebrewes, that Iudah was the first that brought in this kinde of marriage, though hee be first mentioned, but that he had received that custome from other of the fathers. 3. Wherefore it seemeth that Moses gave liberty to the next brother to take the wife of his brother that departed without issue, and not to the next removed kinsman onelyonly that was without the compasse of the Leviticall degrees: and so some expound that law, Deut. 25.5. sic Genevens. upon that place: D. Fulk. in 6. Mark. annot. 2. But the other sense approved by Mercerus, Calvin, Iunius, which understand it of the naturall brother, seemeth more probable for these reasons: 1. Because the first president of such marriages is taken from this place,Moses Law, Deut 24.5. whether to be understood of the naturall brother. where one naturall brother succeedeth another in taking his wife. 2. The word used in the law, Deut. 25.5. jabam, signifieth not to doe the office of a kinsman, but of a brother; for the word is used first in this place where it so signifieth; from hence then the originall sense of the word must be taken. 3. The words of the law are, If brethren dwell together; now naturall brethren and such as are properly so called, are more like to dwell together than kinsmen removed, who in a large sense are so called brethren. 4. This law is so interpreted in the Gospell, where it appeareth by the Sadduces question of seven brethren that successively tooke the one the others wife, Matth. 22. that it was so practised. 5. It is the opinion of Philo and the Hebrewes, as we heard before, who are best acquainted with their owne lawes, that naturall brethren used so to doe.
4. Now the objections on the contrary part are easily answered. 1. It is objected that Levit. 18.16. the brother is forbidden to marry his brothers wife. Answ. This is a particular exception from that generall law, that unlesse in this case onelyonly to raise seed to the brother, it was utterly unlawfull to take the brothers widow; which was not to uncover her shame, but rather to take away her shame in that shee remained childlesse by his brother, and it was honourable to the dead in reviving his memory. So wee see in other cases that the Lord made some particular exception from his generall lawes: As the making of the Cherubims over the Arke was an instance against the second commandement; the Israelites robbing of the Egyptians against the eighth commandement; Phinehes killing of the adulterer and adulteresse against the sixth commandement.
2. Ob. The practice of this law, as appeareth, Ruth 4. where Boaz not a brother but a kinsman taketh the wife of the dead, sheweth the meaning thereof. Answ. We deny not but where there was no brother nearer, there the next kinsman further off did the duty of the brother; and so was it practised upon Ruth.
3. Ob. Iohn Baptist simply reproveth Herod because he tooke his brothers wife, It is not lawfull for thee (saith Iohn) to have thy brothers wife, Mark. 6.18. Answ. It is certaine that Herods brother had issue by his wife Herodias, whose daughter danced before Herod; and therefore in this case it was not lawfull: so that Herod tooke not Herodias for any such purpose to raise seed to his brother, but of an immoderate lust.
4. Ob. Why then should it not be lawfull still in this case to marry the brothers wife dying without issue? Answ. This law of Moses was partly ceremoniall and typicall, in preserving the right of the first-borne, whereby was prefigured the spirituall birth-right in the Messiah, which never should have end: partly politicall, in maintaining the distinction of families in their tribes: whereof the ceremonie is now abolished, which onelyonly concerned that people, Iun. in Deut. 25. vers. 5.
QUEST. VIII. Whether Thamar or Iudahs sinne was greater.
COncerning this act of incontinencie which Iudah committed with Thamar, 1. We refuse the opinion of Rab. Simeon, who altogether exempteth Thamar from any fault, because she onelyonly desired issue for the hope of the Messiah to be borne of Iudah: for this mystery was not as yet revealed, Perer. 2. It is certaine that Iudahs sinne was greater than Thamars, both in that he brake promise with her concerning Selah, as also in that he companied with her not for any issue but carnall lust: though he were afterward preferred before his brethren, this no more excuseth his fault than if Davids adultery joyned with murther should bee defended, because hee was preferred before his brethren, of whose seed the Messiah should come. 3. Thamars sinne was lesse than Iudahs, yet a sinne, as Augustine noteth; Non eam justificatam, sed magis quam se justificatam dicens; Iudah saith, She was not righteous, but more righteous than he, lib. 22. cont. Faust. cap. 62. Yet her fault is extenuated by these circumstances, as Ambrose noteth: Non alienum praeripuit thorum; She did not usurpe upon anothers bed: she stayed till Iudah was a widower: she did it not of an inordinate lust, Sed successionis gratia concupivit; She onelyonly desired to have issue: Et ex ea familia quam delegerat; And by that family which she had chosen: and further, after she knew her selfe to be conceived with childe, she put on her widowes garments againe, and so continued. 4. Yet Thamars sin in some respect was greater than Iudahs; because she wittingly committed incest with her father in law, but Iudah ignorantly, Luther. Notwithstanding all circumstances considered, Iudahs fault was the greater: and so he doth justifie her in respect of himselfe. 5. But whereas Ambrose further noteth, that shee stayed till Selah, to whom she was espoused, was dead, therein is an errour: for vers. 14. it is given as a reason why Thamar attempted this thing, because Selah was now growne, and of age, and she yet not given unto him: he was then at this time alive. Beside, Selah is numbred among those sons of Iudah that went downe with Iacob into Egypt: and onelyonly Er and Onan of Iacobs sonnes are said to have died in the land of Canaan, Gen. 46.12. ex Perer.
QUEST. IX. How it came to passe that Iudah discerned not Thamar by her voice.
Vers. 15. HE judged her to be an whore, for she had covered her face, &c. 1. Not as some reade, she had coloured or painted her face, whom Aben Ezra doth not without cause reprove. 2. Neither is this a reason why Iudah did thinke she was an harlot, because she was vailed, as Iunius, Calvin. for harlots use not to be so modest, but it is given as a reason why Iudah did not know her, Mercer. 3. And whereas it may seeme strange that Iudah did not know her by her voice, the reason is, that being wholly given over to lust, and intending no other thing, he greatly regarded not the sight of his eyes, or hearing of his eares, Luther: As also it was a just judgement of God upon him, to strike him with such a stupidity, as not to discerne her, Mercer. Geneven.
QUEST. X. Whether Iud…h were a Iudge.
Vers. 24. BRing her forth and let her be burnt, &c. 1. Iudah giveth not sentence against Thamar, either as being appointed a Prince and Judge among the Canaanites, as Tostatus, Cajetanus: for it is not like they would suffer a stranger to be a Judge and ruler among them, as the Sodomites answer Lot, Gen. 19.9. neither as chiefe in the familie had he power of life and death over those of his charge, as some thinke: for neither doe we reade that any father of families did execute any such justice in their families: and Iacob was the chiefe father of these families; and therefore it is most like that Iudah giveth advice that Thamar should be brought forth to the place of justice, and proceeded against according to the custome and law of that Country, Mercer. Iun. 2. But whereas she is adjudged to the fire:Why Thamar is adjudged to be burned. this was not because she was Melchisedecks daughter, the Lords high Priest, as the Hebrewes imagine, for he died ten yeares before Iacob was borne, who was now above 100. yeare old: and therefore Melchisedeck could not have a daughter so young to beare children: neither was this punishment arbitrary in Iudah, and inflicted without law according to his pleasure, Burgens. for Iudah had no such authority there: nor yet as Lyranus and Tostatus, was she worthy of the fire, because she had committed not simple fornication, but adultery, because she was by law obliged to the third brother, and so in a manner espoused: for it was not adultery for the widow of the brother to marrie with some other than the surviving brother: else Naomi would never have advised her daughters in law to get them other husbands in their owne Countrey, Ruth. 1.9. But I rather thinke that Thamars adultery was in this, that she had played the whore, whereas Iudah had betrothed and espoused her to Selah: and that Iudah, who never was minded to give Selah to Thamar, fearing lest he might die also, as is evident, vers. 11. was very forward to take this occasion to be rid of Thamar. that Selah might not marrie her. 3. But herein appeareth Iudahs too much rigour and injustice,Iudahs his rigorous oversight in adjudging a woman great with childe to the fire. that before the matter was examined gave sentence: and was partiall (the truth being knowne) in his owne cause: and further, it was a savage part to put to death a woman great with childe, which is contrary both to divine and humane lawes: for it is written, Deut. 24.16. The fathers shall not bee put to death for the children, nor the children for the fathers: but if Thamar had now died the infant had died with her. The Romans had a law, that the execution of a woman with childe should be deferred till she had brought forth: the same also was practised among the Athenians, Aeltan. lib. 5. And therefore Claudius the Emperour is noted for his cruelty, that spared not to put to death women with childe, Perer. ex Dion. lib. 57.
QUEST. XI. Wherefore the Midwife useth a red threed, and what colour it was of.
Vers. 28. THe midwife bound a red threed, &c. 1. It is so rather to be read than with Oleaster, a twine or double threed: the word sani here used commeth indeed of sanah, that signifieth to double, which is rather to be referred to the double die and colour, than the double matter, Iun. Tostatus also is much deceived here, that taketh it not for a red, but a blacke colour twice died, ex Perer. 3. The Midwife tied this red threed as a marke of the first-borne, because he first put forth his hand: and the purple colour very well agreeth to the birth-right or eldership, Muscul.
QUEST. XII. Whence Pharez was so called, and whereof he is a type.
Vers. 29. HOw hast thou broken thy breach upon thee? 1. Hierome is deceived, that of this word pharatz ▪ that signifieth to breake or divide, thinketh the Pharises to have taken denomination: whereas they had their name rather of Pharas, which signifieth to disperse or separate: because they were separate from other in profession of life, and their apparell, Mercer. 2. This story hath bin diversly allegorized by the fathers: some by Pharez understand the beleeving Gentiles, by Zarah, the Israelites: and by the red threed, their bloudy circumcision & sacrifices, sic Iren. Cyril. Some contrariwise will have Phares to signifie the Jewes, Zarah, the beleeving Gentiles, Chrysost. 3. But this Phares is more fitly a type and figure of Christ, who hath broken downe the partition wall, and hath broken the power of hell and death, Mercer. And by this strange and extraordinary birth, the Lord would have Iudah and Thamar admonished of the sin which they had committed, and to be humbled thereby, though he in his merciemercy had forgiven it, Calvin.
4. Places of Doctrine.
1. Doct. The difference betweene the apparelling of widowes and wives.
Vers. 14. SHe put her widowes garment off, &c. It seemeth that it was the use in those dayes for widowes to be knowne from wives by their mourning and grave apparell: in which case more is permitted to women that are married, whom the Apostle alloweth to adorne themselves with comely and sober apparell, without pride or excesse, 1 Timoth. 2.9. to please and content their husbands: but widowes having no husbands to whose liking they should apparell themselves, ought not to decke themselves to please other mens eyes, Luther.
2. Doct. Friendship ought alwayes to be joyned with pietie.
Vers. 20. IVdah sent a kid by the hand of his friend. This H…rah Iudahs friend did performe an evill office, in being as it were a broker for Iudah; who should neither have requested any dishonest or uncomely thing of his friend, nor the other yeelded unto it: love, truth, and piety, ought not to be separated, as Saint Iohn saith, Whom I love in the truth, Epist. 3.1. Muscul.
3. Doct. Adultery in former times punished by death.
Vers. 24. LEt her bee burnt. We see that even among the Canaanites adultery was judged worthy of death: for Iudah inventeth no new kinde of punishment, but speaketh according to the law and custome of that Countrey: So the Lord himselfe said to Abimelech that had taken Sarai unto him, Behold thou art but a dead man for this, &c. Gen. 20.3. Now although this law as peculiar to that Countrey, bindeth not now neither in respect of the kinde of death (for by Moses law onelyonly the Priests daughter if she played the whore was burned, Levit. 21.9. the rest were stoned:) nor yet in the inequality of the law: for the women offending were burned, the men escaped, as appeareth in Iudah, Calvin. whereas both adulterers and adulteresses are alike guilty: and though then there was greater cause of keeping their seed uncorrupt for preserving of their lives, and the distinction of families, in which respect it may be thought somewhat of the former rigour and severity may be abated: yet this example condemneth the security and connivence of magistrates in these dayes in the punishing of this sinne, when as faults of lesse nature are more severely censured than adultery. And whereas the president of our Saviour is urged by some for the mitigation of the punishment of adultery,Why Christ condemned not the adulteresse, Ioh. 8. because he would not condemne the woman taken in adulterie, it doth not serve their turne: for this merciemercy Christ shewed, not to cleare or exempt the adulteresse, leaving her to the magistrate, but partly to shew that he came not to be a judge in such causes, as neither in other like businesses, as dividing of the inheritance, Luk. 12.14. partly by this example he would teach what is to be required in the person of an accuser, not to bee guilty of that crime whereof he accuseth others.
5. Places of Confutation.
1. Confut. That it is not lawfull upon any occasion to marrie the brothers wife.
Vers. 8. GOe into thy brothers wife. Because in this place, as also Deut. 25.5. it is permitted to naturall brethren to marry the wives of their brother deceased; Bellarmine inferreth that the Law, Levit. 18.16. that a man should not marry his brothers wife, was but a judiciall law, not grounded upon the law of nature, and abrogated by Christ: and that it is not simply evill so to doe, for then it could not be made lawfull by circumstance, Bellar. de ma…ri. cap, 27.
Contra. 1. For a man of a lustfull and uncleane minde to take his brothers wife is against the law of nature, and was never lawfull: but in this case onelyonly, to marry her in obedience to the law, and to revive the memory of the dead, was not against the law of nature. 2. If it had, God who is above nature, and who giveth law unto nature, might in this case grant an indulgence and dispensation for those times. 3. Like as then to kill was simply evill and forbidden in the commandement, yet in the zeale of Gods glory to kill the wicked, as Phinehes did the adulterer and adulteresse, and Samuel the king of Ameleck, was lawfull and commendable: so notwithstanding that law in Leviticus which forbiddeth the discovering of the shame of the brothers wife, Levit. 18.16. that is, of a filthy and uncleane desire to marrie her; it might be lawfull to doe it onelyonly in this case, to shew obedience to the law, and love to the dead in raising up seed unto him, which was not to discover their shame, but rather to cover it, in that the brother departed had by this meanes an heire to keepe his memory, the woman had issue which was childlesse before. 4. That this law which forbiddeth to marry the brothers wife, was not abrogated by Christ, appeareth by Iohns reprehension of Herod, that it was not lawfull for him to have his brothers wife, Mark. 6.
2. Confut. Against the Anabaptists, of the lawfull power of magistrates.
Vers. 24. LEt her be burnt. This maketh against the opinion of the Anabaptists, who deny that the Magistrate among Christians hath power to put any to death. And lest it might be thought onelyonly lawfull in the Old Testament and not in the new, the Apostle confirmeth the same, saying, that the power beareth not the sword for nought, and that he is the minister of God to shew revenge upon those that doe evill, Rom. 13.4. Now whereas the Anabaptists object that place, Matth. 5.38. Yee have heard that it hath beene said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth▪ but I say unto you, resist not evill, &c. Where Christ (they say) restraineth this power of revenging evill, given by Moses to the Magistrate: the answer here is readie, that although this rule was first given to the Magistrate, yet the Scribes and Pharises corruptly applied it to private revenge: so that our Saviour in this place disanulleth not the law of Moses, but speaketh against their corrupt gloses upon it.
6. Places of Exhortation.
1. Observ. How life is to bee counted a blessing.
Vers. 6. ER was wicked, &c. and therefore the Lord slew him: Length of daies then simply and in it selfe is a blessing of God▪ and the extraordinarie shortning and cutting off the daies, is a curse: the blondie and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his daies, Psal. 55.24. yet this is to be understood with certaine conditions and limitations: 1. In respect of the times, for long life more apparantly was accounted a blessing under the old testament, when the people were fed and nourished with temporall promises: but under the Gospel we must looke to spirituall: 2. Generally upon all the blessing of long, and judgement of short life is not shewed. It sufficeth, that for the demonstration of Gods merciemercy in the one, and of his justice in the other, some are exemplified: 3. Short life is a blessing, when men are taken away from troubles to come, as Abiah was of Ierobohams house, 1 King. 14.13. And long life is a curse, when it bringeth shame and dishonour with it, as is seene in Cam, Calvin.
2. Observ. Not to post over the fault to others.
Vers. 11. HE thought thou, lest he die as well as his brethren: Iudah layeth all the fault upon Thamar, as though her marriage had beene unluckie, whereas it was wholly in his sonnes. Thus Adam posted over his fault to Eve, but wee are taught hereby to examine our selves, and to finde out our owne sinne, Muscul.
3. Observ. The pronenesse of our nature to sinne.
Vers. 16. HE turned to the way towards her. Wee see in Iudah, what mans nature is, without the direction of grace: how prone and readie hee was to commit this sinne, and so carried headlong into it, that hee spared not to give her his best ornaments for a pledge, his Ring, Kercheffe, and Staffe, Musculus. Therefore that exhortation of Saint Paul is necessarie: Flie from the lusts of youth, and follow after righteousnesse, faith, love, 1 Tim. 2.22.
4. Observ. To feare God more than men.
Vers. 23. LEt her take it to her, lest we be ashamed: Ioseph feareth more the shame of the world in this case, than the displeasure of God, as many doe, which are given to the filthie sinne of uncleanenesse, Calvin. But wee should remember what our Saviour saith, Feare not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule, &c. Matth. 10.28,
5. Observ. After repentance, wee must not fall into the same sinne againe.
Vers. 26. SO he lay with her no more. In this Iudah is to bee commended, that having committed a sinne of ignorance, hee would not fall into the same willingly againe, Muscul. so true repentance, worketh a detestation of the sinne repented of: and godly sorrow bringeth a great care with it, 2 Cor. 7.11.