Genesis 38:7

7 But this Er Iudas eldest sonne was wicked in the syghte of the LORde wherfore the LORde slewe him.

Genesis 38:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 38:7

And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the
Lord
That is, exceedingly wicked, as this phrase signifies, ( Genesis 13:13 ) , was guilty of some very heinous sin, but what is not mentioned; according to the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi, it was the same with his brother Onan's, ( Genesis 38:9 ) , which it is suggested he committed, lest his wife should prove with child, and lose her beauty; but if it had been the same with his, it would have been expressed as well as his. An Arabic writer ^F16 says, that he cohabited with his wife not according to the course of nature, but in the "sodomitical" way: and the Lord slew him;
by his immediate hand, striking him dead at once, as Ananias and Sapphira were stricken, ( Acts 5:5 Acts 5:10 ) ; or by sending some distemper, which quickly carried him off, as a token of his displeasure at his sin.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 16.

Genesis 38:7 In-Context

5 And she conceaued the thyrde tyme and bare a sonne whom she called Scla: and he was at Chesyb when she bare hem.

6 And Iudas gaue Er his eldest sonne a wife whose name was Thamar.

7 But this Er Iudas eldest sonne was wicked in the syghte of the LORde wherfore the LORde slewe him.

8 Than sayde Iudas vnto Onan: goo in to thi brothers wyfe and Marie her and styrre vp seed vnto thy brother.

9 And when Onan perceaued that the seed shulde not be his: therfore when he went in to his brothers wife he spylled it on the grounde because he wold not geue seed vnto his brother.