Genesis 38:7

7 And Er, the first begotten son of Judah, was wayward in the sight of the Lord, and therefore he was slain of the Lord (and so the Lord killed 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 16.

Genesis 38:7 In-Context

5 And she childed the third son, whom she called Shelah, and when he was born, she ceased to bear child more (she ceased to bear any more children). (And she bare her third son, whom she called Shelah, when she was at Chezib.)

6 Soothly Judah gave a wife, that was called Tamar, to his first begotten son Er.

7 And Er, the first begotten son of Judah, was wayward in the sight of the Lord, and therefore he was slain of the Lord (and so the Lord killed him).

8 Therefore Judah said to Onan, his son, Enter thou [in] to the wife of thy brother, and be thou fellowshipped to her, that thou raise seed to thy brother. (And so Judah said to his son Onan, Sleep with thy brother's wife, and be fellowshipped to her, and so raise thou up seed, or some sons, for thy brother.)

9 And he knew that sons should not be born to him; and he entered [in] to the wife of his brother, and shedded his seed into the earth, lest the free children should be born by the name of the dead brother; (But Onan knew that any sons who would be born would not be his; so he slept with his brother's wife, but he poured out his seed onto the ground, so that no children would be born in the name of his dead brother;)