Midrash for Genesis 38:24

(Gen. 38:24, cont.:) THAT IT WAS TOLD TO JUDAH, SAYING: YOUR DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TAMAR HAS PROSTITUTED HERSELF; AND SHE IS ALSO PREGNANT FOR LEWDNESS. What is the meaning of FOR LEWDNESS? That she would enter a bathhouse and say to her women friends: Go away from me because I am bearing kings. But Isaac, Jacob, and Judah were sitting there in judgment. They said (ibid., cont.): BRING HER OUT AND LET HER BE BURNED. R. Johanan said: In property cases one begins with the eldest, but in capital cases one begins with the youngest and finishes with the eldest.⁵⁹Sanh. 4:2; Git. 59a. Thus the younger judges would not be unduly influenced by their elders. And why does one say: WITH THE YOUNGEST? Because one ascribes corruption to the youngest. Why did he say (in Gen. 34:24): LET HER BE BURNED, and not say: "Let her be killed"? Ephraim the Disputant said in the name of R. Me'ir: She was Shem's daughter, and Shem was a priest. For this reason he said: BRING HER OUT, AND LET HER BE BURNED.⁶⁰See Lev. 21:9. Now they were dragging her and bringing her out against her will, as stated (in Gen. 38:25): AS SHE WAS BEING BROUGHT OUT. Now while she was being brought out, she sought < the tokens of > the pledge but did not find them. In that hour she raised her eyes to the heavens. Immediately the Holy One sent her others.