son had been torn apart by a wild beast. Here, as we noted in the section summary, Judah seeks a pagan Canaanite wife in violation of God’s instructions to his family line to avoid such intermarriage. He also demonstrates a complete blindness to God’s judgment on his sons. Judah’s judgment in these matters is so ungodly that he misunderstands the divine judgment against his family and blames his daughter-in-law for the death of his sons. Consequently, he secretly decides to withhold his youngest