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New International Version. Update. 12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.
There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love ... Judah and Tamar - At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.
In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
Note that Judah marries the daughter of Shua; Shua is not the name of his wife. The Midrash names Judah’s wife “Aliyah” (Sefer HaYashar, Vayeshev 22). “Tamar” means “date palm”, which flowers in the desert and has fruit that is super-sweet.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
After Judah blames Tamar for the death of two of his sons and subjugates her so she is unable to remarry, she tricks him into freeing her from her limbo, illustrating both her loyalty and assertiveness.
Following the death of his two sons, Judah tells Tamar: “Stay as a widow in your father’s house” (Gen. 38:11), which the midrash reckons she did for one year. An additional year passed until the death of Shua’s daughter (Seder Olam Rabbah 2).
