19:14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. 1 He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy 2 the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them. 3
26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” 4 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 5 “The men of this place will kill me to get 6 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, 7 “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” 8 So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
1 sn The language has to be interpreted in the light of the context and the social customs. The men are called “sons-in-law” (literally “the takers of his daughters”), but the daughters had not yet had sex with a man. It is better to translate the phrase “who were going to marry his daughters.” Since formal marriage contracts were binding, the husbands-to-be could already be called sons-in-law.
2 tn The Hebrew active participle expresses an imminent action.
3 tn Heb “and he was like one taunting in the eyes of his sons-in-law.” These men mistakenly thought Lot was ridiculing them and their lifestyle. Their response illustrates how morally insensitive they had become.
4 sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.
5 tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.
6 tn Heb “kill me on account of.”
7 tn Heb “said.”
8 tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”
sn I don’t want him to die like his brothers. This clause explains that Judah had no intention of giving Shelah to Tamar for the purpose of the levirate marriage. Judah apparently knew the nature of his sons, and feared that God would be angry with the third son and kill him as well.