When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her.
20. And Judah sent the kid. He sends by the hand of a friend, that he may not reveal his ignominy to a stranger. This is also the reason why he does not dare to complain of the lost pledges, lest he should expose himself to ridicule.
It is a very ill-favoured story that is here told concerning Judah; one would not have expected such folly in Israel. Judah had buried his wife; and widowers have need to stand upon their guard with the utmost caution and resolution against all fleshly lusts. He was unjust to his daughter-in-law, either through negligence or design, in not giving her his surviving son, and this exposed her to temptation. I.
Commenting on Genesis 38:12-23
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...