Full Gen 38:27–30. Tamar's twin birth: Zerah's hand emerges first and the midwife binds a scarlet thread to mark him as firstborn; Pharez (Perez) is born first in full, so the firstborn birthright passes without the thread. Perez, the line-breaker, is the ancestor of David (Ruth 4:18–22) and thus of the Messiah. The thread marks — but does not determine.
Tamar's Scarlet Thread (Gen 38)
A thread marks the firstborn — but the promise goes to the brother without it.
Primary passage:Genesis 38:28 →
Commentary
Featured voice
John Calvin
Commentaries
1. And it came to pass at that time, that Judah. Before Moses proceeds in relating the history of Joseph, he inserts the genealogy of Judah, to which he devotes more labor, because the Redeemer was thence to derive his origin; for the continuous history of that tribe, from which…
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