1 Chronicles 2:3

1Ch 2:3 The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: [which] three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him.

Ver. 3. The sons of Judah.] These are first set down, (1.) For the royal dignity; (2.) For the descent of the Messiah.

Was evil in the sight of the Lord.] Quem nihil latet , Who seeth and punisheth secret sins.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ch 2:3. The sons of Judah — He puts Judah first, because the best part of the right of the firstborn, namely, the dominion, was conferred on him, Gen 49:8; in consequence of which, his tribe obtained a pre- eminence among, and a kind of superiority over the rest, even before the time of David. And from David’s time, it is without doubt, that till the Babylonish captivity a kingly power continued in this tribe; Zerubbabel, also, who was their leader, when they returned to their own land, was of the same tribe. The chief reason, however, why the genealogy of Judah is set down first, is because the Messiah was to descend from him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:3–4:23 While the genealogies present the entire people of Israel (2:1-2), David’s ancestors in the tribe of Judah receive priority.

2:3-8 The genealogy of Judah is as comprehensive as possible, recording peripheral material as the background to the main line of David’s ancestors. Cp. Gen 46:12.

2:3 Er and Onan, the first two sons of Judah, were destroyed because of their sin (Gen 38:6-10). The descendants of Shelah are listed as an appendix at the end of the genealogies of Judah (1 Chr 4:21-23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Though Judah was not Jacob’s eldest son, yet he first beginneth at him, because he would come to the genealogy of David, of whom came Christ.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

THE FIVE SONS OF JUDAH, FROM Genesis 38.

(3) The daughter of Shua the Canaanitess.—Shua was the father of Judah’s wife.

Er, the firstborn of Judah, was (became, proved) evil.—Word for word from Gen_38:7. Suppressing other details relating to the sons of Judah, the chronicler copies this statement intact from Genesis, because it thoroughly harmonises with the moral he wishes to be drawn from the entire history of his people.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3–17. The Descent of the Sons of Jesse from Judah

4. Pharez] R.V. Perez.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah,.... Through incest; they were twins, Gen 38:27 all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.

all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.

1 Chronicles 2:5

ch1 2:5

ch1 2:5

ch1 2:5The sons of Pharez,.... One of the above twins, born to Judah:

Hezron and Hamul; see Gen 46:12.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Her. The crime for which he was punished is not specified in Scripture. (Calmet) --- The Rabbins say that he was so enamoured of the beauty of his wife, that he treated her in the same manner as Onan did afterwards. (Cassian viii. 11.) --- It is supposed that he was slain by a devil, (Calmet) like the (Tirinus) impure husbands of Sarai, Tobias vi. 14. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He puts

Judah first, because the best part of the right of the first-born, to wit, the dominion, was conferred upon him, Gen 49:8, and because the Messiah was to come out of his loins.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 3-9. 2. THE LINE OF JUDAH, TO HIS THREE GREATGRANDSONS. The line of Judah is, with a well-known object, the first to be taken up, although Judah stands fourth of Israel"s sons. Judah has five sons: three, Er, Onan, Shelah, by a Canaanitess, the daughter of Shad; and two, Pharez and Zerah, by Tamar, his own daughter-in-law, under the circumstances described. (Gen_38:6-30) There all these names are found in exact accord in the Authorized Version, in the Hebrew text, and in the Septuagint. The Septuagint Version, however, (Gen_38:2) by an evident inaccuracy of translation, gives Shua as the name, not of the father, but of the daughter, h=| onoma Saua. Parallel passages are also found (Gen_46:12; Num_26:19-22) Er and Onan died without issue, and the descendants of Shelah are not mentioned till we 1Ch_4:21-23. The line is now carried on by the twin sons of Tamar (vers. 5, 6). Pharez, with two sons, Hezron and Hamul (Gen_46:12; Rth_4:18) and Zerah, with five sons, Zimri (or, Jos_7:1) Ethan, Heman, Calcol, Dara (or with many manuscripts, followed by the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions, Darda). If these last four names are not identical with those in 1Ki_4:31, they are not to be found in any available connection elsewhere, and the last two not at all. Upon this supposition, it is held by some that this very passage proves that the compiler drew on resources not possessed by us.

The weight of evidence seems, however, largely in favour of the persons being the same. (See Gilbert Barrington"s "Old Testament Genealogies," 1:206-208, well summarized in art. "Darda," Smith"s "Bible Dictionary," for as competent a discussion of the question as the present data will allow.) It needs to be constantly remembered that an enumeration like the above, of five so-called sons, does not necessarily involve their being five brothers, although in this case it looks the more as though they were so, as it is said five of them in all Divine judgment on individual sin.

Very little is known of Er. The account in Genesis (Gen_38:7) is as brief as that given in the Chronicles. Yet it sets clearly before us a case of early death, probably a sudden and violent death, and it declares to us that, in this particular instance, the death, and the manner of the death, were immediate judgments on personal transgression. There is a strong tendency to assume individual sin as the cause of calamities and so-called accidents, but our Lord taught us that we cannot always, or necessarily, trace such a connection. It may be so, but it may not be so; and we, in Christian charity, had better leave the discovery of the connection in God"s own hands. (see Luk_13:1-5) Still, we should be ready to learn the lessons which God may design to teach us, when he is pleased to give us illustrative cases in his Word. Oftentimes we find the Divine recognition and judgment of social and national sins illustrated. The old divine bids us remember that "God can only punish nations, as such, in this world; he can punish individuals in this world and the next." Israel is, as a nation, the subject of frequent Divine judgments, and Israel is bidden observe how Divine judgments fall on the guilty nations around her. But as this feature of the Divine dealings is set forth so prominently and so constantly, there is some danger of our assuming that Divine judgments, as executed here on earth, do not concern the individual; and that God may be said directly to govern the race, but not the man. Such a delusion would tend to nourish human wilfulness and pride, and still more completely separate men from God; and, therefore, we have men"s personal sins, and the immediate Divine judgment on those sins, impressively narrated.

I ER"S SIN WAS SOME PERSONAL ACT OF WRONG-DOING. Exactly what it was we are not told, but we know the ways in which men nowadays transgress God"s laws and insult the Divine honour. There are acts of wilful disobedience and rebellion, acts of bodily self-indulgence, and acts of violence and cruelty toward others. We have to see that this evil of Er"s was distinctly personal. He did not merely share in the errors, or follies, or sins of his age, in a blind and heedless way; he made wicked ways for himself, and wrought evil in his own wilfulness. Therefore the Divine observation rested upon him as a man who strove to set himself against God.

II ER"S SIN REVEALED A HOPELESSLY CORRUPTED NATURE. It was such a fruitage as could only come out of a corrupt tree. Distinguish between the one sin into which man may be tempted; even the good man may be "drawn aside and enticed," "overtaken in a fault;" and the continuing in sin, which indicates the love for it, and the deteriorating influence it has exerted on mind and heart. A time may come for the man (as Er), or for the nation (as Sodom), when remedial agencies cease to be of avail, and then they can but be "cut down." Illustrate from Pharaoh, with the hardened heart, from King Saul, and from the expression used in Hosea, (Hos_4:17) "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

III ER"S SIN BROUGHT UPON HIMSELF DIVINE JUDGMENT. This is briefly but forcibly intimated in the words, "and he slew him." His early and sudden and violent death, was no disease and no accident. It was direct Divine judgment. God deals with the individual exactly as with the hopelessly corrupted world and the utterly degraded Sodom. Life on earth is forfeited it" it is so shamefully abused. Discuss the question how far we may recognize calamities reaching individuals as Divine judgment on their personal transgressions. In every age there are open and notorious cases, e.g. Ananias and Sapphira. We may say that it is quite possible for any accident to be a judgment; but it may be a judgment on a bad system, and the sufferer may not be the direct cause. Impress God"s constant inspection of individual conduct and character. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judah - Whom he puts first, because the best part of the right of the firstborn, namely, the dominion, was conferred upon him, Gen. xlix, 8, and because the Messiah was to come out of his loins.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah,.... Through incest; they were twins, Gen 38:27 all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.

all the sons of Judah were five; who are before mentioned by name.

1 Chronicles 2:5

ch1 2:5

ch1 2:5

ch1 2:5The sons of Pharez,.... One of the above twins, born to Judah:

Hezron and Hamul; see Gen 46:12.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

This list includes the names of both men and women names. (See: How to Translate Names)

Er, Onan, and Shelah ... Shua ... Perez ... Zerah

These are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

who were born to him by Shua's daughter

This can be translated in active form. AT: "his sons whom Shua bore" (See: Active or Passive)

Yahweh

This is the name of God that he revealed to his people in the Old Testament. See the translationWord page about Yahweh concerning how to translate this.

bore him Perez and Zerah

"gave birth to his sons Perez and Zerah"

in the sight of Yahweh

The sight of Yahweh represents his judgment or evaluation. AT: "as Yahweh judged" (See: Metaphor)

Yahweh killed him

The reader should understand that Yahweh probably had a person kill Er. (See: Metonymy)

Tamar

This is the name of a woman. (See: How to Translate Names)

daughter-in-law

This is a reference to the wife of his son.

five sons

"5 sons" (See: Numbers)

translationWords

Canaan

firstborn

evil

Yahweh

Tamar

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

was evil in the eyes of the Lord It is explained (Gen. Rab. (85:4) that he would “plow in the gardens,” meaning he was intimate with her in an unnatural way.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.