Midrasch zu Bereschit 38:2

(Gen. 38:2:) AND JUDAH SAW THERE THE DAUGHTER OF A CERTAIN CANAANITE WHOSE NAME WAS SHUA. When? When he had separated from his brothers, as stated (in vs. 1): THAT JUDAH WENT AWAY.

[(Gen. 38:1:) THAT JUDAH WENT AWAY < FROM HIS BROTHERS AND TURNED ASIDE TO A CERTAIN ADULLAMITE >.] This text is related (to Micah 1:15): I WILL YET BRING TO YOU ONE WHO SHALL DISPOSSESS YOU, < O INHABITANT OF MARESHAH; TO ADULLAM SHALL COME THE GLORY OF ISRAEL >.¹⁹Rashi on Gen. 37:35; see Gen. R. 85:1. R. Judah and R. Nehemiah differed. The one said: The tribal patriarchs married their sisters, since it is stated (in Gen. 37:35): THEN ALL HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS²⁰According to R. Judah, the plural here shows that Jacob had more than one daughter. AROSE TO COMFORT HIM. And how many daughters were there? They were simply their < brothers' twelve > twin sisters. < A given brother's mother > bore twins at his < birth >, and he would marry her. Moreover, it says so about Benjamin (in Gen. 35:17): BECAUSE THIS ALSO IS A SON FOR YOU.²¹Gen. R. 82:8. "Because this is a son for you" is not stated, but BECAUSE THIS ALSO IS A SON FOR YOU, since his mother had < already > given birth to < his > twin sister. Ergo (in Gen. 37:35): THEN ALL HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS AROSE…. Hence you learn that they married their sisters. But R. Nehemiah maintains: His daughters were his daughters-in-law. Since one's son-in-law is like his son, and his daughter-in-law, like a daughter, one does not refrain from calling his daughter-in-law his daughter.²²Gen. R. 84:21. Our masters have said: Judah, who was the eldest in his father's house, married a Canaanite. Thus it is written (in Gen. 38:2): AND JUDAH SAW THERE < THE DAUGHTER OF A CERTAIN CANAANITE >. And the prophet proclaims (in Micah 1:15): TO ADULLAM SHALL COME THE (HOLY ONE) [GLORY] OF ISRAEL. Ergo (according to Gen. 38:1-2): THAT JUDAH WENT AWAY < FROM HIS BROTHERS > AND TURNED ASIDE TO A CERTAIN ADULLAMITE < WHOSE NAME WAS HIRAH. AND JUDAH SAW THERE THE DAUGHTER OF A CERTAIN CANAANITE WHOSE NAME WAS SHUA. SO HE TOOK HER AND WENT IN UNTO HER >.

Another interpretation (continuing in Gen. 38:2): AND JUDAH SAW THERE < THE DAUGHTER OF A CERTAIN CANAANITE >. There is the one who committed fornication and profited; there is also the one who committed fornication and lost. < There is the one who killed and profited; there is also the one who killed and lost. There is the one who stole and profited; there is also the one who stole and lost. There is the one who stole and lost, i.e., Achan (of Joshua 7). There is the one who stole and profited, i.e., Rachel, of whom it is stated (in Gen. 31:19): SO RACHEL STOLE. There is the one who killed and lost (in Numb. 35:16): THE MURDERER SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH. There is the one who killed and profited, i.e., Phinehas (of Numb. 25:7-13) >.⁴⁰This section in angle brackets (< >) is taken from Codex Vaticanus Ebr. 34. The shorter Buber text, which has Phinehas stealing instead of killing, reads as follows: “There is the one who stole and profited; there is also the one who stole and lost. There is the one who stole and profited. This is Phinehas. There is the one who stole and lost. This is Achan (of Joshua 7).” There is the one who committed fornication and lost. This is Zimri (of Numb. 25:6-14). There is the one who committed fornication and profited. This is Judah, since from him arose Perez and Hezron, who were going to sire < the line of > David (according to Ruth 4:18-21) and the Messianic King, who is going to redeem Israel. Look at how many episodes the Holy One brings about before he raises up the Messianic King from Judah! That is the one about whom it is written (in Is. 11:2): AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL REST UPON HIM.