Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
Genesis 38:19 is the quietest verse in a loud chapter: Tamar changes her clothes and goes home. In one move she hides every trace of the roadside — yet she leaves with a child and with the pledge that will one day name the father.
Why she was dressed as a widow at all
The clothing she returns to is the mark of a promise Judah never kept. Judah left her waiting for a son he never gave her.
Edwin N. CrossTamar had the right to be the mother of Judah's heir. He kept this right from her, and in doing so blamed her for the death of his sons. He did not blame his own sons for any wrong. Judah's prejudice in favour of his own family blinded him to the truth.
The disguise she takes off
She takes off more than a roadside disguise. Commentators tie her costume to the religion of the land Judah had settled into.
Edwin N. CrossThe practices of the Canaanite religion made sexual temptation stronger. Ritual fornication was part of their fertility magic. It seems that Tamar posed as a temple prostitute. Such was the world that Judah had married into! Can there be anything so dreadful as this kind of union?
The cover-up that held — for a while
Verse 19 is the move that makes Judah's search fail. His messenger goes back with the payment and finds nobody.
Leslie M. GrantAt once she left the area and changed her clothes, going back to her widow's state. Of course, Judah then sent the young goat, expecting to get back the pledge he had left. But his messenger could not find the prostitute. He was even told that no prostitute had been in that place.
Hidden things brought to light
The disguise held for a time, but not for good. Commentators take episodes like this as a warning about secret sin everywhere.
C. H. MackintoshEverything must come to light. The stream may flow for a time underground, but sooner or later it will break out. We may go on for years in a course of secret evil. We may cultivate some unholy principle, indulge some unholy desire, or feed some unholy temper or feeling. But the smouldering flame must break out in the end, and show us the real character of what we have done.
What breaks the case open is the very security Tamar asked for before she changed clothes. She kept the evidence; Judah kept the double standard.
Edwin N. CrossJudah acts as if he is right and free of blame. But it is he who has the greater guilt… Judah is ready to have Tamar burnt, but she had secured a pledge from him. She now brought it forward as evidence (v. 25), and everyone saw Judah's part in the sin. This is the way God works. A frank confession will secure His mercy. Tamar is acknowledged as being more righteous than Judah (v. 26)… Having established righteousness He is now free to show mercy.
What the widow's clothes were hiding
Under those garments a child was growing, and the line to Christ ran through him. That is why this sordid chapter is not hidden away.
Frederick W GrantThe history of Tamar shows us in God's own marvellous way how Christ comes into connection with Judah. So her name appears in the Lord's genealogy in the gospel of Matthew. It is the first of four women's names there, and their presence shows the grace which has stooped to take up men. Each of these four has its own gospel feature to bring out. The record presses Tamar's sin, as it presses Rahab's faith… Tamar's sin alone brought her into the Lord's genealogy, and God has taken pains to record this striking fact, and to record it twice.
Summary
- Withheld. Tamar wore widow's clothes because Judah kept back what he owed her. The garments in verse 19 are the badge of his broken word.
- Disguised. The veil she puts off belonged to the Canaanite shrine. The world Judah married into had reached his own household.
- Concealed. Changing clothes worked for a time. The messenger came back and could find no such woman.
- Exposed. A buried stream surfaces. The pledge she had kept named the man who was ready to burn her.
- Redeemed. The child hidden under those widow's garments carried the line to Christ. Tamar's name stands in His genealogy — proof that grace stoops to take up sinners.