Er (Biblical name)

:"This article discusses close relatives of Judah. Er is also a name listed by the Gospel of Luke's version of the genealogy of Jesus".

In the Biblical Book of Genesis, Er (] and Shelah [] ; the Book of Chronicles lists an "Er" as being one of Shelah's sons [bibleverse|1|Chronicles|4:21|] .

According to biblical scholars, the description of "Er" is an eponymous aetiological myth concerning fluctuations in the constituency of the tribe of Judah, with the abrupt death of Er reflecting the dying out of a clan [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] ; the presence of an "Er" as a descendant of Shelah, in the Book of Chronicles, suggests that "Er" was in reality the name of a clan that was originally equal in status to the "Shelah" clan, but was later subsumed by it [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] . The brother - Onan - may represent an Edomite clan named "Onam" [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] , who are mentioned in an Edomite genealogy in Genesis [Genesis 36:23] .

Scholars have argued that the Tamar narrative, of which the description of Er is a part, secondarily aims to either assert the institution of levirate marriage, or present an aetiological myth for its origin [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] ; Er's role in the narrative would thus be as the background to the main plot, his death being the reason for levirite marriage to become an issue. Emerton regards the evidence for this as inconclusive, though classical rabbinical writers argued that this narrative concerns the origin of levirate marriage ["Genesis Rabbah" 85:6] .

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