10. The third time, is the time of the Law, viz. a manifesting and laying open of sin, and is justly called Shelah: for this son says, I have found my soul again in the Lord. But it was not he yet which Tamar (that is, the hidden Eve, in whom the Covenant of grace lay) could marry: he could not raise up the seed of the woman. For Christ was as yet hidden in the law, therefore Tamar must wait till Shelah be grown up; that is, the Law must wait till the fullness of time. Yet nevertheless Tamar (that is, the new Eve, which lay hid under the veil of sin) must conceive through the spirit in the Covenant, and bear the line of Christ, hidden to the outward Tamar or Eve: as this figure of Judah and Tamar shows it.
The inward figure stands thus:
11. Judah gave his first son a wife, called Tamar; but he was evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore the Lord slew him. That is, in the inward understanding, as much as to say, God gave to the first world, viz. to the first son Er, this Tamar, viz. the promised incorporated Covenant in the seed of the woman. But they looked only upon the outward Eve, and committed whoredom with her; so Tamar remained unfruitful by this son, and bare only the outward Eve in her whoredom. And thus Er, viz. the fleshly desire, was evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore the Lord slew him with the deluge.
12. When this son was slain, the spirit of God said to the second son after the deluge: Take you your brother's wife, and raise up in Tamar a seed out of the line of the Covenant. That is, enter you into the first Covenant of the woman's seed; and bring your will into the obedience of God, and work in the promised grace. But the second son, viz. the second world, would not marry with the divine will either, nor work in the grace, but spilt their seed upon the earth. That is, they set their desires upon earthly things, and would raise up no seed in the inward Eve in the Covenant of grace; but introduced their seed into earthly vessels, and bare children of fleshly voluptuousness: as is to be seen in the children of Nimrod, and presently after in Sodom and Gomorrah.
13. But God having signified his Covenant of grace to them by Noah, that he would no more slay them with water, when they said, o nein [O no], Lord, slay us thus no more, and they had promised to walk before him, and bring forth fruit to him; but they brought their seed into vanity, and spilt it before the Lord, and would not marry Tamar, viz. the inward Covenant of grace, but committed adultery with the earthly Eve, and spilt the seed of their soul before the inward Eve in the Covenant: then the Lord slew this Onan also, viz. Sodom and Gomorrah, and the heathen, when Israel drove them out of their land, and slew them. For those heathen would not marry the woman in the Covenant, but they married their own reason, and made them idols, and spilt the seed of their faith before them upon the earth, and therefore the Lord slew them also, as he did Onan.
10. The third time, is the time of the Law, viz. a manifesting and laying open of sin, and is justly called Shelah: for this son says, I have found my soul again in the Lord. But it was not he yet which Tamar (that is, the hidden Eve, in whom the Covenant of grace lay) could marry: he could not raise up the seed of the woman. For Christ was as yet hidden in the law, therefore Tamar must wait till Shelah be grown up; that is, the Law must wait till the fullness of time. Yet nevertheless Tamar (that is, the new Eve, which lay hid under the veil of sin) must conceive through the spirit in the Covenant, and bear the line of Christ, hidden to the outward Tamar or Eve: as this figure of Judah and Tamar shows it.
The inward figure stands thus:
11. Judah gave his first son a wife, called Tamar; but he was evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore the Lord slew him. That is, in the inward understanding, as much as to say, God gave to the first world, viz. to the first son Er, this Tamar, viz. the promised incorporated Covenant in the seed of the woman. But they looked only upon the outward Eve, and committed whoredom with her; so Tamar remained unfruitful by this son, and bare only the outward Eve in her whoredom. And thus Er, viz. the fleshly desire, was evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore the Lord slew him with the deluge.
12. When this son was slain, the spirit of God said to the second son after the deluge: Take you your brother's wife, and raise up in Tamar a seed out of the line of the Covenant. That is, enter you into the first Covenant of the woman's seed; and bring your will into the obedience of God, and work in the promised grace. But the second son, viz. the second world, would not marry with the divine will either, nor work in the grace, but spilt their seed upon the earth. That is, they set their desires upon earthly things, and would raise up no seed in the inward Eve in the Covenant of grace; but introduced their seed into earthly vessels, and bare children of fleshly voluptuousness: as is to be seen in the children of Nimrod, and presently after in Sodom and Gomorrah.
13. But God having signified his Covenant of grace to them by Noah, that he would no more slay them with water, when they said, o nein [O no], Lord, slay us thus no more, and they had promised to walk before him, and bring forth fruit to him; but they brought their seed into vanity, and spilt it before the Lord, and would not marry Tamar, viz. the inward Covenant of grace, but committed adultery with the earthly Eve, and spilt the seed of their soul before the inward Eve in the Covenant: then the Lord slew this Onan also, viz. Sodom and Gomorrah, and the heathen, when Israel drove them out of their land, and slew them. For those heathen would not marry the woman in the Covenant, but they married their own reason, and made them idols, and spilt the seed of their faith before them upon the earth, and therefore the Lord slew them also, as he did Onan.
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