ER, the Patriarch Judah’s eldest son, who married Tamar. But as he was very wicked in the sight of God, the Lord Genes. xxxviii. 7.brought him to an untimely end. As Er had no children by his wife Tamar, Judah married her to Onan his second son, who was as wicked as his brother. The Hebrews believe, that Er married Tamar when he was but eight years old, and that he lived but one year with her. The Testament of the Seder Olam, c. 2. Testamentum Judæ.twelve Patriarchs says, that the Angel of the Lord slew him the third night after his marriage, as a punishment for refusing to treat Tamar as his wife, because she was not a Canaanite; for Er’s mother being by descent a Canaanite, had, as it is said, conceived a great aversion to Tamar her daughter-in-law, who was of the race of Aram, or the Syrians. Wherefore she advised her son not to consummate his marriage with Tamar. But there is no certainty in these traditions, Vide Auth. Oper. imperfecti in Matth. Homil. 1.notwithstanding their antiquity.
Library / Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged
Volume I · E
Er
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Augustin Calmet, O.S.B., “Er,” in Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible, Complete and Unabridged, English translation, Mind of the Church, https://mindofthechurch.com/works/calmet-dictionary/e/er/.