4888. But he found her not. This signifies because there was not anything conjugial on his part, namely, on the part of Judah; for he came to her, not as to a wife, but as to a harlot; for which reason Tamar did not desire a kid of the goats, by which a marriage pledge was signified (n. 4885). Nor indeed was there anything of genuine marriage on the part of Tamar; for her conjunction was that of a daughter-in-law with her father-in-law under the pretext of the duty of a husband's brother. These things are signified by his not finding her.
