We are continuing on with our discussion of Levirate marriage and how it was inextricably connected to ancient Hebrew beliefs about the afterlife.
Actually, correction.
The beliefs about the afterlife I’ve outlined so far were as a matter of fact pretty universal in nature and again the Lord in His Torah was piggybacking on a belief system that already existed but modifying it to serve His divine purposes.
For example, in the book of Genesis, we read about Jacob and his son Joseph insisting that after their death, their corpses be brought outside of Egypt and buried next to their ancestors.
Why?
Because they wanted to commune with their deceased ancestors once they passed away.
Do you also notice how we’ll constantly encounter the phrase “he died and and went to be with his fathers“ in the Bible.
This is just further evidence demonstrating how much the Hebrews believed in the idea of the possibility of an afterlife spent with their ancestors in some ill-defined underworld.
However, in order to achieve this afterlife utopia of being able to commune with their relatives who went before them, the living had certain obligations to the dead they had to fulfill.
So right here we can see another key reason why the custom of Levirate marriage existed.
It was all part of a belief system to make sure the spirit of a person continued to exist even after he or she had passed away.
If an Israelite died minus giving birth to a son, not only would he have no descendant to attend to his afterlife needs, but his very family name would be blotted out and that was the nightmare to end all nightmares.
Again, note verse 6.
“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.”
The Lord figured it was important enough to ensure one’s family name lived on.
That’s why He established commands instructing that a brother of a deceased man was to marry the widow and impregnate her so she could have children.
Understand that giving the widow children was the most important issue at stake here.
Recall earlier how I pointed out that we’ll find this astounding progression in the Bible where God’s unchangeable principles were actually buried deep within the stories of the patriarchs BEFORE they were formerly made into laws at Sinai.
The next time we meet, I want to show you some more amazing examples of this process at work.
Your comment on the importance of male heirs in Jewish life reminds me of Jesus’s words on divorce. When the apostles thought his strict limitation on divorce led them to question marriage at all, Jesus replied, “For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it].”
Maybe this has nothing to do with celibacy at all, maybe the saying has to do with the ability to have children through marriage or otherwise.
I think it includes both (love your concocted email name by the way…”damn crackers”?)