Tay´mahr; Heb., “date palm”
1 The Canaanite daughter-in-law of Judah whom Judah promised successively to each of his three sons as each older one died without issue (Gen 38:1-30). When Judah withheld Shelah, his youngest, fearing to lose him also, Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and offered herself to her father-in-law. When she was exposed by her pregnancy, she identified her partner, who confessed that she had acted “more righteously” than he (Gen 38:26). Tamar bore twins to Judah, Perez and Zerah. Through Perez she is reckoned to the ancestry of David (Ruth 4:12, Ruth 4:18-22; 1Chr 2:4) and Jesus (Matt 1:3). 2 The daughter of David who was raped by her half brother Amnon (2Sam 13:1-29). Her brother Absalom, to whom she fled, avenged her by having Amnon murdered. 3 Absalom’s only daughter, “a beautiful woman” (2Sam 14:27), and his sister’s namesake. 4 A city marking the southeast border point in Ezekiel’s description of the restored territory of Israel (Ezek 47:18-19; Ezek 48:28). The site remains unidentified (cf. Hazazon-tamar, Gen 14:7).
