Dishonouring The Family Series

How was Onan wicked? After the death of Er, “Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother’” [GENESIS 38:8]. The marital practise in that day dictated that when a man died childless, his brother would marry the widow in order to produce an heir in the name of his dead brother. The son born of this marriage would not be the son of the man who impregnated the woman, but the son would be his deceased brother’s son. Because he would be the son of the deceased brother, this child would be the legal heir with firstborn privileges. To ensure that people understood the serious nature of what was taking place, the son born of this union would be given the name of the deceased brother. To fail to participate in this practise was to reveal a lack of brotherly love. Such an unloving individual would be viewed with contempt. The practise is known as levirate marriage, from the Latin term “levir,” meaning “husband’s brother.” This was later adopted as part of the Mosaic Law [see DEUTERONOMY 25:5-10]. However, the practise is of ancient origin.

Thus, though Onan would be married to Tamar, any child born of that union would receive all the rights of the firstborn—he would receive the birthright. Onan outwardly accepted the benefits of marriage to Tamar, but refused to fulfil his duty as the “levir.” So far as those about him could see, Onan was honouring his dead brother and his brother’s wife, but he was not about to fulfil the responsibility assigned. The implication is that Onan wanted to obtain the birthright. Since Er was dead, if there was no son born to Tamar, then Onan would be counted as the firstborn and receive the rights of primogeniture.

Onan dishonoured his brother and compounded his sin by allowing his greed to overwhelm him. Onan used the custom for his own gratification without actually fulfilling the responsibility. Dishonouring his family as he did was reprehensible before the Lord; therefore, the LORD put Onan to death. The family was marred by sinful attitudes and sinful actions stretching back all the way to Jacob who stole the birthright from his brother, Esau. Judah had imbibed deeply of the same attitude, and now his children adopted what he had modelled.

Why is this story here. It is an interlude of twenty-two years following the sale of Joseph into slavery and the need of the brothers to reunite to go down to Egypt to buy food. So, the story does serve as history to give us perspective. The biblical account of Jacob’s family is presented warts and all. It is important for us to know the history of this family.

The importance of the history is that we are provided with a practical warning of the consequences of poor moral choices in our own lives. One of the grave dangers for Christians is that we are tempted to live like our neighbours rather than living as the people of God. It is easy to dress as they dress, speak as they speak, entertain ourselves with their entertainment, adopt their attitudes. However, as we read this account of the descent of Judah into a moral morass, we are warned to beware of allowing ourselves to become indistinguishable from the world.