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Bible Question: Did Onan die in Genesis 38:9-10 because he did not want children?
Bible Answer: Levirate-marriage is a strange custom for us today. For some, it may seem to be an evil custom. It required one brother to marry the wife of a brother who died and who did not have a son. The custom of levirate-marriage was practiced throughout the Old Testament (Gen. 38:6-10; Ruth 4:10) and even into Christ's time (Matt. 22:24). It is clear this was a divine principle during the time the book of Genesis covers, and it was finally written down as part of the Mosaic Law,
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When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. "And it shall be that the first-born whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, 'I do not desire to take her,' then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, 'Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' And in Israel his name shall be called, 'The house of him whose sandal is removed.'" (NASB) Deuteronomy 25:5-10 |
This was designed to ensure that the family line continued.
Genesis 38:9-10. Genesis 38:9-10 is about levirate-marriage. Er and Onan were brothers. Er was married to Tamar. He was an evil man. We do not know what he was doing, but God took his life. Er had no offspring, so Judah told Onan to "perform his duty" and produce offspring.
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Now Judah took a wife for Er his first-born, and her name was
Tamar. But Er, Judah's first-born, was evil in the sight of the
LORD, so the LORD took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, "Go
in to your brother's wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law
to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." And Onan knew
that the offspring would not be his; so it came about that when
he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground,
in order not to give offspring to his brother. But what he did
was displeasing in the sight of the LORD; so He took his life
also. (NASB) Genesis 38:6-10 |
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