(א) בת איש כנעני. כתרגומו תגרא, לא כנעני ממש, כי יהודה הלך בדרך אבותיו וחלילה לו שישא מבנות הכנעני והיו נשיהם מצריות עמוניות מואביות ומייחוסי ישמעאל ובני קטורה, ומפני זה פרט הכתוב בשאול בן שמעון (בראשית מו) ושאול בן הכנענית. ללמדך כי זו לבדה היתה בהם, ואפילו בזו סברו רז"ל שאינה כנענית ממש ואמרו זו דינה שנבעלה לכנעני.
(1) בת איש כנעני , “the daughter of a Canaanite man of distinction.” According to Onkelos the word כנעני in this instance refers to a merchant, a trader. Yehudah was certainly true to the tradition of his fathers not to marry girls of Canaanite descent. The respective wives of all the brothers may be presumed to have been of Egyptian descent or of Moabite and Ammonite descent respectively, neighboring peoples who were not from Canaanitic stock. The brothers may also have married descendants of Ishmael or Keturah, Avraham’s second wife who had born him six sons. This is the reason that we are told in 46,10 amongst the list of sons of Shimon that there was someone who is described as שאול בן הכנענית, “Saul the son of a Canaanite woman.” Even when the Torah was so explicit, our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 80:11) still explained that that woman was not a true Canaanite, claiming that the “Canaanite woman” was none other than Dinah who had been raped by a Canaanite and that Shimon had married her and had adopted the son she bore as a result of this rape.