Onan
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Onan (Hebrew: אוֹנָן, Modern [Onan] Error: {{Transl}}: unrecognized transliteration standard: (help), Tiberian ʼÔnān ; "Strong") is a minor biblical person in the Book of Genesis chapter 38,[1] who was the second son of Judah. Like his older brother, Er, Onan was killed by Yahweh. Onan's death was retribution for being "evil in the sight of the Lord" through being unwilling to father a child by his widowed sister-in-law.[2]
Contents
Biblical account
After Onan's brother Er was slain by God, his father Judah told him to fulfill his duty as a brother-in-law (levirate marriage) to Tamar, by giving her offspring. Religion professor Tikva Frymer-Kensky has said that this could have substantial economic repercussions, with any son born deemed the heir of the deceased Er, and able to claim the firstborn's double share of inheritance. However, if Er were childless, Onan would have inherited as the oldest surviving son.[3]
When Onan had sex with Tamar, he withdrew before climax[4] and "spilled his seed [or semen] on the ground", since any child born would not legally be considered his heir.[5] He disregarded the principle of a levirate union, so God slew him.[6]
Interpretation
Classical views
Early writers have sometimes focused on the spilling seed, and the sexual act being used for non-procreational purposes. One opinion expressed in the Talmud argues that this was where the death penalty's imposition originated.[7] This interpretation was held by several early Christian apologists. Jerome, for example, argued:
But I wonder why he the heretic Jovinianus set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children?[8]
Clement of Alexandria, while not making explicit reference to Onan, similarly reflects an early Christian view of the abhorrence of spilling seed:
Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.[9]
To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature.[10]
Early Jewish views
The view that the "wasted seed" refers to masturbation was upheld by many early rabbis. However, the Levitical regulations concerning ejaculation, whether as a result of sexual intercourse[11] or not,[12] merely prescribe a ritual washing, and remaining ritually impure until the next day began on the following evening.
Roman Catholic views
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The papal encyclical Casti connubii (1930) invokes this Biblical text in support of the teaching of the Catholic Church against contracepted sex.
Criticism
According to some Bible critics who contextually read this passage, the description of Onan is an origin myth concerning fluctuations in the constituency of the tribe of Judah, with the death of Onan reflecting the dying out of a clan;[13][14] Er and Onan are hence viewed as each being representative of a clan, with Onan possibly representing an Edomite clan named Onam,[14] mentioned by an Edomite genealogy in Genesis.[15]
Also, it has been suggested that God's anger was directed not at the sexual act, but at Onan's disobedience by refusing to impregnate his brother's widow.[16]
The text emphasizes the social and legal situation, with Judah explaining what Onan must do and why. A plain reading of the text is that Onan was killed because he refused to follow instructions. Scholars have argued that the secondary purpose of the narrative about Onan and Tamar, of which the description of Onan is a part, was to either assert the institution of levirate marriage, or present an aetiological myth for its origin;[13] Onan's role in the narrative is, thus, as the brother abusing his obligations by agreeing to sexual intercourse with his dead brother's wife, but refusing to allow her to become pregnant as a result. Emerton regards the evidence for this to be inconclusive, although classical rabbinical writers argued that this narrative describes the origin of levirate marriage.[17]
Modern scholars[2][18][19] and a Church Father, Epiphanius of Salamis, maintained that the story does not refer to masturbation, but to coitus interruptus.[20] A number of other mainstream Bible scholars maintain the Bible does not claim that masturbation would be sinful.[21][22]
References
- ↑ Chapter 38
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dancy, J. The Divine Drama: the Old Testament as Literature, (ISBN 0718829875, ISBN 978-0-7188-2987-2), 2002, p. 92
- ↑ Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "Tamar: Bible", Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 20 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on August 6, 2014)
- ↑ Freedman, Myers & Beck. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (ISBN 0802824005, ISBN 978-0-8028-2400-4), 2000, p.1273
- ↑ Dershowitz. The Genesis of Justice, (ISBN 0446524794, ISBN 978-0-446-52479-7), 2000, ch. 9
- ↑ (Genesis 38:3–10)
- ↑ Niddah 13a.
- ↑ Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:19, (AD 393)
- ↑ Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)
- ↑ Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:95:3
- ↑ Leviticus 15:18
- ↑ Leviticus 15:16–17
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
- ↑ Genesis 36:23
- ↑ Alan Dershowitz, The Genesis of Justice
- ↑ Genesis Rabbah 85:6
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Church Father Epiphanius of Salamis agrees, according to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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