Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 38:28
And it came to pass, when she travailed, that [the one] put out [his] hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
Verse 28. The midwife – bound upon his hand a scarlet thread] The binding of the scarlet thread about the wrist of the child whose arm appeared first in the birth, serves to show us how solicitously the privileges of the birthright were preserved. Had not this caution been taken by the midwife, Pharez would have had the right of primogeniture to the prejudice of his elder brother Zarah. And yet Pharez is usually reckoned in the genealogical tables before Zarah; and from him, not Zarah, does the line of our Lord proceed. See Mt 1:3. Probably the two brothers, as being twins, were conjoined in the privileges belonging to the birthright.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The midwife bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, in token of his being the first-born, which she confidently expected he would be.
This breach be upon thee, be imputed to thee, as the same phrase is taken Gen 16:5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it came to pass when she travailed,…. Her birth throes came strong and quick upon her:
that [the one] put out [his] hand; which showed that she was like to have a difficult and dangerous time of it; that the birth was not like to be according to the usual and natural order, which may be considered as a correction for her sin:
and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying,
this came out first; she tied this to his wrist, that she might know whose hand it was, and so which was the firstborn; which, to know was a matter of consequence, since to the firstborn there were some special and peculiar privileges.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gen 38:28, &c. And it came, &c. This account is given to shew how the right of primogeniture was settled between these twin brothers. This breach against thee, (as it is in the margin of our Bibles,) Houbigant contends should be, that breach against US; he would read, aleinu, after the Samaritan, instead of aleca. See his note and Bishop Patrick’s. Many are the mysteries which the fathers and other writers have drawn from this chapter. However, the sacred historian may well be justified for inserting this history; as, 1st, It affords a strong proof of his impartiality, which suffered him not to dissemble the faults of the great founders of his nation. 2nd, It is a plain proof that the covenant wherewith God honoured the patriarchs was not in reward of their merit. 3rdly, It is a monument very proper to beat down the haughtiness of a nation too proud of having Abraham for their father. And, lastly, To take away all boasting from a carnal birth, Christ descended lineally, as to the flesh, from Judah and Tamar. It is not without good reason, says Calmet, that the Holy Spirit permitted the names of Tamar, Rachah, and Bath-sheba, to be found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Is not this typical also, like that of Esau and Jacob, of the struggle of the churches?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Gen 25:26 – And after
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 38:28-29. When she travailed It should seem the birth was hard to the mother, by which she was corrected for her sin: the children also, like Jacob and Esau, struggled for the birthright, and Pharez, who got it, is ever named first, and from him Christ descended. He had his name from his breaking forth before his brother: this breach be upon thee The Jews, as Zarah, bid fair for the birthright, and were marked, as it were, with a scarlet thread, as those that came first; but the Gentiles, like Pharez, or a son of violence, got the start of them, by that violence which the kingdom of heaven suffers, and attained to the righteousness which the Jews came short of: yet when the fulness of time is come, all Israel shall be saved. Both these sons are named in the genealogy of our Saviour, Mat 1:3, to perpetuate the story, as an instance of the humiliation of our Lord Jesus.