Er, Firstborn of Judah: Four Passages and a Verdict

A name on four lists

Er is the firstborn son of Judah, born to Judah by Bath-shua, named in the record as Shua's daughter the Canaanitess (1 Chronicles 2:3). He belongs to the era of Egypt and the wilderness, placed at around 1706 BC to 1451 BC by an era placed on Ussher's chronology (1650). Six verses across four passages carry his name, and they are spread over three books: Genesis, Numbers and 1 Chronicles. His first mention is Genesis 38:3; his last is in 1 Chronicles. That is the whole of him, and it is worth reading slowly, because the little that is said is said twice and said hard.

Born and named

The first word about Er is the word of his birth. "She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er" (Genesis 38:3). The naming is done by Judah. Nothing is recorded of Er's childhood, his character as a boy, his work or his words. The text moves from his birth to his brothers, Onan and Shelah (1 Chronicles 2:3), and then returns to him only when he is old enough to be married.

A wife is taken for him

The second mention is the one that matters, and it is two verses long, the longest continuous run his name gets anywhere. "Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in Yahweh's sight. So Yahweh killed him" (Genesis 38:6-7).

Notice what the passage withholds. The marriage is arranged by the father; the son does not speak. The wife is named, Tamar. Then comes a verdict with no trial scene attached to it. We are told that Er was wicked in Yahweh's sight. We are not told what he did. There is no incident, no confrontation, no recorded warning. The assessment and the consequence stand in the same breath. The God who sees is the one who judges, and the judgment here is immediate and fatal.

Named among the dead

After Genesis 38, Er appears only in lists, and in each one he appears as someone who is gone. "The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul" (Genesis 46:12). The list of Judah's sons cannot be given without the correction attached: two of the five are dead, and dead in the land of Canaan, before the line is traced forward through Perez to Hezron and Hamul.

The census in Numbers repeats it in even barer form: "The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan" (Numbers 26:19). Here Er heads a list of families and immediately drops out of it. He has a name in the register and no household under it.

The chronicler picks up the same verdict and will not soften it: "The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah; which three were born to him of Shua's daughter the Canaanitess. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in Yahweh's sight; and he killed him" (1 Chronicles 2:3). What Genesis 38:7 says once, 1 Chronicles 2:3 says again, long afterward. The record kept both the name and the reason.

The failure, named plainly

There is no way to read Er kindly, because the text does not leave the question open. Twice the same words are used: he was wicked in Yahweh's sight (Genesis 38:7; 1 Chronicles 2:3). Twice the same outcome is recorded: Yahweh killed him. He was the firstborn son of Judah, given a wife by his father, standing at the head of a line, and he is remembered as the man whose wickedness ended him before his line began. Position in the family did not shield him. Being the eldest did not shield him. The judgment fell on the firstborn as readily as it would have fallen on any other.

There is a second honesty here that is easy to miss. The one who took the wife for Er was his father (Genesis 38:6), and the mother of Er was a Canaanite woman (1 Chronicles 2:3). The text states these things and leaves them standing beside the verdict without explaining the connection. Readers who want a cause are given none.

What we do not know

We do not know what Er's wickedness was. The verdict is recorded without the evidence. No children are named for him; the lists that carry a brother's descendants carry nothing under his name (Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:19). No scene is told about him at all in the sense of dialogue or action: every mention is a list, a genealogy or a passing note, apart from the two verses that record his marriage and his death (Genesis 38:6-7). He never speaks. No one is recorded speaking to him. He is a man known entirely by what God thought of him.

That is an uncomfortable place to leave a person, and the text leaves him there. A name at the head of a list, a wife given, a verdict spoken, a death in the land of Canaan (Numbers 26:19). Scripture does not round him off, and neither should we.