Genesis 38:19 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. And she arose, and went away. Some pious writers have alleged, in extenuation of Tamar's shameful conduct, that, though a Canaanite, she had become connected with the chosen race, and had imbibed the eager desire of Hebrew women to have offspring, in the hope of being the ancestress of the promised Messiah. But there is not a particle of evidence to support such an hypothesis. It is more probable that she was unhappy, as Oriental wives have in all ages been, under the reproach of being childless; and that, knowing her father-in-law was the cause of her lying under that reproach, she planned an artful scheme of revenge, from executing which, though it involved the crime of incest, her Canaanite education made her in no degree averse.