Genesis 38:21—“There was no harlot in this place …”

 

And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not. 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 (Gen. 38:20-21).

  

(I)

Robert C. Harbach (1914-1996)

[Source: Studies in the Book of Genesis (RFPA, 2001), p. 723]

When Judah had sent his friend back to redeem his pawned signet, staff, and bracelets, Hireh inquired at the place, “Where is the harlot (temple prostitute) that was openly by the wayside?” The answer the men of the place gave was, “There is no harlot in this place.” Good it is to be able to say this of any place, but then such a circumstance would not be an instance of common grace. For when natural men have a regard for virtue and good external deportment, they only do what they ought to do, to act, not in the sphere of grace, but in the realm of the natural. But even so, because of their natural depravity they are incapable of using their natural knowledge aright. Neither do they perform their acts of proper deportment in faith, nor in harmony with the law of God, nor for His glory. They do pollute all that they think, say, and accomplish; they hold down every act formally good in unrighteousness. So that what is common in their life is not grace, but sin ... What the natural man has in common with the Christian is not some fancied “non-saving grace,” but what is common among men is natural corruption.

 

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(II)

More to Come! (DV)