“If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.”-Deuteronomy 25:5
Today we’re going to be broaching a topic that’s pretty much unknown in the whole western world.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about the subject of Levirate marriage which is introduced in verse 5 of Deuteronomy 25.
What’s interesting is you will not find the term “Levirate Marriage” anywhere in the Bible.
It’s actually a term originating from the Latin word “levir” and it means a “husband’s brother”.
Understand that “Levirate Marriage” has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Levites or the Levitical priesthood.
The example we’re introduced to here is that of a married man who passes away but doesn’t leave a son.
When this happens, the wife of the man who died is under obligation to marry within her husband’s family.
Some Bibles will say she is NOT to marry a “stranger”.
And not only that but if…
…the deceased husband has a brother, it is now his duty to marry the dead brother’s widow.
Wow!
Just think about this for a second.
Let’s say you had a married brother who passed away and he didn’t leave any children children.
And let’s say per the law, you were under obligation to marry your deceased brother’s wife so that his inheritance line (not yours) would be continued.
How would you feel about that?
Well, that’s precisely the situation we’re looking at here in Deuteronomy 25.
Remember, since per the Abrahamic covenant one had to “be fruitful and multiply”, reproduction was always the first and primary goal of any marriage in Israel which means…
…this was also the main purpose of the marriage forced upon the living brother.
It was his duty to marry and get the former widow pregnant.
If he succeeded and the former widow bore a son, that son would be considered the son of the deceased man!!!
And why?
Well, just read verse 6.
“The first child she bears will succeed
to the name of his dead brother,
so that his name will not
be eliminated from Israel.“
Well, there you have it in plain easy-to-understand language.
The reason for this instruction is so the deceased husband’s name will not be forever blotted out from Israel.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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