4871. And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock. That this signifies a pledge of conjunction, is evident from the signification of a “kid of the goats,” as being the innocence of the external or natural man (n. 3519); and because it is innocence, it is a pledge of conjugial love, or a pledge of conjunction, for genuine conjugial love is innocence (n. 2736). Hence it was a custom received from the ancients that when they went anew unto their wives, they sent beforehand a kid of the goats, as appears also from what is related of Samson in the book of Judges:

It came to pass after days, in the days of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats; for he said, I will enter to my wife into the chamber (Judg. 15:1).

In like manner in the present case; but as the promised kid of the goats was not to be accepted, Tamar required a pledge. It is said a pledge of conjunction, not a marriage pledge, because on the part of Judah it was conjunction like that with a harlot.