BIBLE NAMES REVEALED | TAMAR

1. Bible Names Revealed

a) The Bible is an historic record of real people and places. Learn who's who, their relationships, and the meaning of their names.

2. Tamar

a) Also known as Thamar.

b) Meaning: palm.

c) This was the name of three biblical women and one place…

i) The daughter-in-law of Judah, to whose eldest son, Er, she was married (Genesis 38:6). After her husband's death, she was married to Onan, his brother (8), and on his death, Judah promised to her that his third son, Shelah, would become her husband. This promise was not fulfilled, and hence Tamar's revenge and Judah's great guilt (38:12-30). She eventually bore twins (Pharez and Zerah (Zarah), with Judah as the father. From Pharez, the royal line of King David sprang.

ii) A daughter of David (2 Samuel 13:1-32; 1 Chronicles 3:9), whom Amnon shamefully outraged and afterwards “hated exceedingly,” thereby illustrating the law of human nature noticed even by the heathen, “Proprium humani ingenii est odisse quem laeseris,” i.e., “It is the property of human nature to hate one whom you have injured.”

iii) A daughter of Absalom (2 Samuel 14:27).

iv) A place mentioned by Ezekiel (47:19; 48:28), on the southeastern border of Israel. Some suppose this was “Tadmor” (q.v.).