{"id":4012,"date":"2015-12-15T20:36:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T01:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/?p=4012"},"modified":"2023-07-05T22:06:28","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T02:06:28","slug":"did-god-kill-onan-for-spilling-his-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/2015\/12\/15\/did-god-kill-onan-for-spilling-his-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"Did God Kill Onan For Spilling His Seed?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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TLDR Video Summary<\/h3>\n
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\"Tamar<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Did God kill Onan because he wasted his seed and spilled it on the ground? The answer is clear in the Bible but sadly, many people don’t read the Bible stories in their entirety. They just read snippets. This leads to people dreadfully misinformed about biblical events. Now, let’s take a look at the passage.<\/p>\n

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\"Onan<\/a>
Onan and Tamar 1892 painting by Alexandre Cabanel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0<\/span>But Er, Judah\u2019s firstborn, was wicked in the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u2019s sight;\u00a0so the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0put him to death.<\/span><\/p>\n

8\u00a0<\/span>Then Judah said to Onan, \u201cSleep with your brother\u2019s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.\u201d<\/span>\u00a09\u00a0<\/span>But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother\u2019s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother.<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/span>What he did was wicked in the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u2019s sight; so the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0put him to death also.<\/span><\/p>\n

11\u00a0<\/span>Judah then said to his daughter-in-law\u00a0Tamar,\u00a0\u201cLive as a widow in your father\u2019s household\u00a0until my son Shelah\u00a0grows up.\u201d\u00a0For he thought, \u201cHe may die too, just like his brothers.\u201d So Tamar went to live in her father\u2019s household. (Genesis 38:6-11)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most people just read verses 8-10 which is not enough for them to understand the full context. Below is a brief breakdown of the passages for a better understanding of\u00a0 what the author of the passage was trying to demonstrate.<\/p>\n

Genesis 38:6-7<\/strong> Judah’s first son married Tamar, but unfortunately he did not live long enough to impregnate his wife. This is a problem because Tamar has no heir to inherit Er’s land or possessions. Women could not inherit things usually. Though, special cases existed when appeals were made to judges. This is why it was an expected practice for the brother of the deceased husband to have a son with her. It’s referred too as a Levirate duty.<\/p>\n

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Deuteronomy explains the issue with the brotherly duties<\/h2>\n
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If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband\u2019s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.\u00a06<\/b><\/span>The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.<\/p>\n

7<\/b><\/span>However, if a man does not want to marry his brother\u2019s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, \u201cMy husband\u2019s brother refuses to carry on his brother\u2019s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.\u201d\u00a08<\/b><\/span>Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, \u201cI do not want to marry her,\u201d\u00a09<\/b><\/span>his brother\u2019s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, \u201cThis is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother\u2019s family line.\u201d\u00a010<\/b><\/span>That man\u2019s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Genesis 38:8-9<\/strong> Onan was the brother of Er, and it was now his responsibility to have a son with her. If he did not do so then it would be the nearest kin’s job, but no nearer kin existed (Genesis 38:11). So Onan was charged with the task to produce offspring with his brother’s wife and he shamefully and selfishly decided not to because he knew the son would not belong to him. This means he would not inherit his brother’s land or belongings but his brother’s surrogate son would.<\/p>\n

This is shameful on two levels. On the major level he knows that he is going to leave Tamar stranded and desolate. Many women who have no “redeemer” to give them a son could fall into prostitution or even worse. The second piece is that he still had sex with her, pretending to get her pregnant. But he was just lying to have sex with her and then eventually take her dead husband’s belongings.<\/p>\n

Genesis 38:10<\/strong>\u00a0The above wickedness is why God put him to death. It had nothing to do with wasting his seed. It was the betrayal of his brother and of Tamar.<\/p>\n

Genesis 38:11<\/strong> Judah has now lost two sons and the only son left was probably too young to redeem Tamar. However, the passage indicates the Judah also feared for his life, not knowing why Onan was killed. I am sure Onan did not reveal his dirty deeds with his father. So Judah decided to send her back to her father’s house to live out her days as a widow. This was essentially a death sentence.<\/p>\n

This is also why we see later in the story Tamar goes to extreme measures and tricks Judah (her dead husband’s father) into having sex with her and having a son. It is one of the best survival and revenge stories to ever exist. Here it is to enjoy.<\/p>\n

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\"Francesco<\/a>
Francesco Hayez, Tamar of Judah – 1847 (Public Domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Tamar\u00a0was told, \u201cYour father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,\u201d<\/span>14\u00a0<\/span>she took off her widow\u2019s clothes,\u00a0covered herself with a veil\u00a0to disguise herself, and then sat down\u00a0at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah.\u00a0For she saw that, though Shelah\u00a0had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

15\u00a0<\/span>When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute,\u00a0for she had covered her face.<\/span>16\u00a0<\/span>Not realizing\u00a0that she was his daughter-in-law,\u00a0he went over to her by the roadside and said, \u201cCome now, let me sleep with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what will you give me to sleep with you?\u201d\u00a0she asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

17\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI\u2019ll send you a young goat\u00a0from my flock,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWill you give me something as a pledge\u00a0until you send it?\u201d she asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

18\u00a0<\/span>He said, \u201cWhat pledge should I give you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour seal\u00a0and its cord, and the staff\u00a0in your hand,\u201d she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.<\/span>\u00a019\u00a0<\/span>After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow\u2019s clothes\u00a0again.<\/span><\/p>\n

20\u00a0<\/span>Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite\u00a0in order to get his pledge\u00a0back from the woman, but he did not find her.<\/span>\u00a021\u00a0<\/span>He asked the men who lived there, \u201cWhere is the shrine prostitute\u00a0who was beside the road at Enaim?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any shrine prostitute here,\u201d they said.<\/span><\/p>\n

22\u00a0<\/span>So he went back to Judah and said, \u201cI didn\u2019t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, \u2018There hasn\u2019t been any shrine prostitute here.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

23\u00a0<\/span>Then Judah said, \u201cLet her keep what she has,\u00a0or we will become a laughingstock.\u00a0After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn\u2019t find her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

24\u00a0<\/span>About three months later Judah was told, \u201cYour daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Judah said, \u201cBring her out and have her burned to death!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

25\u00a0<\/span>As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. \u201cI am pregnant by the man who owns these,\u201d she said. And she added, \u201cSee if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

26\u00a0<\/span>Judah recognized them and said, \u201cShe is more righteous than I,\u00a0since I wouldn\u2019t give her to my son Shelah.\u201d And he did not sleep with her again.<\/span><\/p>\n

27\u00a0<\/span>When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.<\/span>\u00a028\u00a0<\/span>As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife\u00a0took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist\u00a0and said, \u201cThis one came out first.\u201d<\/span>\u00a029\u00a0<\/span>But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out,\u00a0and she said, \u201cSo this is how you have broken out!\u201d And he was named Perez.<\/span>\u00a030\u00a0<\/span>Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist,\u00a0came out. And he was named Zerah.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Genesis 38:13-30)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Wasn’t Deuteronomy Written After Genesis?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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One astute commenter brought up the matter of Chronology and I thought it might be wise to add it to the post. The problem with using Deuteronomy to explain Genesis is anachronistic because the law of Moses was not yet given in Genesis 38. So why does Deuteronomy matter?<\/p>\n

The answer is that this passage, and others from Genesis, were written long after the books of the law began to be introduced into Israelite and Judean society. That is why a number of the stories in Genesis seem to comport to laws given later. Many scholars actually think that this part of the narrative was written at the same time as 2 Kings.[1]<\/sup><\/a>Kim, Dohyung\u00a0(2011)\u00a0A literary-critical analysis of the role of Genesis 38 within Genesis 37-50 as part of the primary narrative (Genesis – 2 Kings) of the Hebrew Bible. PhD thesis, … Continue reading<\/span><\/span><\/span>