Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Genesis 38:5/ספורנו על בראשית ל״ח:ה׳

אוְהָיָה בִכְזִיב. וְהַטַּעַם שֶׁקְּרָאַתּוּ שֵׁלָה לְשׁוֹן "אַל תַּשְׁלֶה" (מלכים ב ד:כח), שֶׁהוּא שֵׁם בִּלְתִּי נָאוֹת, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁיְּהוּדָה הָיָה אָז בִּכְזִיב, וְתוֹחַלְתָּהּ נִכְזְבָה מֵרְאוֹת פְּנֵי אִישָׁהּ בְּעֵת לֵדָתָהּ. וְהוּא, אִם הָיָה שָׁם, לֹא הָיָה מַסְכִּים בִּקְרִיאַת שֵׁם בִּלְתִּי נָאוֹת.
1והיה בכזיב, the reason why she called their third son Shelah, a word reminiscent of Kings II 4,28 (לא) תשלה, “(do not) deceive, disappoint, disillusion,” a name which is not exactly complimentary to the bearer of it, was due to Yehudah being in כזיב, i.e. a reference to his being absent, so that she did not have this moral support when she began the labour pains prior to giving birth to her third son. [I am not sure if the author understood the Torah as using to the word כזיב to describe Yehudah’s state of mind, and that there was no such place at all. Ed.] Had he been there, he would never have agreed to the name she gave his son.