Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 38:21

Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where [is] the harlot, that [was] openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this [place].

21. harlot ] Heb. edshah, that is, a woman dedicated to impure heathen worship: see Deu 23:17; Hos 4:14. The Heb. word denotes “a woman dedicated to the service of some god, or goddess.” Her dedication consisted in the sacrifice of her chastity. This repulsive and strangely degrading custom prevailed generally among Semitic races, and was associated with the impure and immoral rites of the Phoenician, Syrian, and Babylonian worship.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 21. Where is the harlot that was openly by the wayside?] Our translators often render different Hebrew words by the same term in English, and thus many important shades of meaning, which involve traits of character, are lost. In Ge 38:15, Tamar is called a harlot, zonah, which, as we have already seen, signifies a person who prostitutes herself for money. In this verse she is called a harlot in our version; but the original is not but kedeshah, a holy or consecrated person, from kadash, to make holy, or to consecrate to religious purposes. And the word here must necessarily signify a person consecrated by prostitution to the worship of some impure goddess.

The public prostitutes in the temple of Venus are called , holy or consecrated female servants, by Strabo; and it appears from the words zonah and kedeshah above, that impure rites and public prostitution prevailed in the worship of the Canaanites in the time of Judah. And among these people we have much reason to believe that Astarte and Asteroth occupied the same place in their theology as Venus did among the Greeks and Romans, and were worshipped with the same impure rites.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Then he asked the men of that place,…. Or “of her place” d, of the woman’s place, supposing that she dwelt somewhere thereabout:

saying, where [is] the harlot that [was] openly by the wayside? that sat there very publicly some little time ago: the word for “harlot” e comes from another, which signifies to sanctify or separate to holy uses; and harlots were so called, either by an antiphrasis, by way of contradiction, being unholy; or because, as Jarchi observes, they were separated and destined to whoredom; or because they were such as were devoted to Venus, and the worshippers of her, and prostitutes in her temple, and in the temples of other Heathen deities; but it is questionable whether such practices as yet were used;

and they said, there was no harlot in this [place]; they had not known any harlot to frequent that place lately, and Tamar sat there so small a time as not to have been observed by them.

d “viros loci ejus, scil mulieris”, Piscator, Schimdt. e

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(21) Where is the harlot . . .?Heb.,Whercisthe kedeshah (see Gen. 38:15) that was at Enajim by the wayside? Enajim (the two founts) by-the-wayside, seems to have been the full name of the village. (See Gen. 38:14.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. Openly by the wayside Rather, at Enajim on the way . See on Gen 38:14.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Gen 38:21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where [is] the harlot, that [was] openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this [place].

Ver. 21. Where is the harlot? ] The holy whore, as the Hebrew word importeth; such as committed that filthiness, under a pretence of holiness. Such, among the heathens, were the lewd worshippers of Priapus (this is thought to be Baalpeor); and Venus at Cyprus; where the maids, in honour of their goddess, prostituted their chastity to all that would, once a year. So in their Lupercals and Bacchanals at Rome, in quibus discurrebatur ad publicos concubitus, for like reason. Of such unclean persons, even by God’s house, we read in 2Ki 23:7 , and of such as “sacrificed with harlots” in Hos 4:14 , who brought their hire for a vow; called therefore, the price of a salt bitch (dog). Deu 23:17-18 Vah propudium!

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)