Yesterday I talked about how pagan practices connected to ancestor worship were still a part of the Hebrew religious belief system.
However, I need to inform you about another belief system you need to understand if you’re going to properly grasp the story that’s about to unfold.
I’m talking about the custom of Levirate Marriage.
And contrary to ancestor worship, this was a custom that was actually God-ordained.
Since Ruth and Orpah were childless it was of utmost importance for their dead husbands that they remarry.
Notice I stressed how important it was for their “dead husbands” instead of the women themselves.
Why is this?
Because of the belief at the time that said a man’s essence was carried on through his sons.
If a man never had children that meant the termination of his essence in the afterlife…
And that was an utterly horrible thing for the people of that time to contemplate.
That’s also why the Hebrews developed the custom known as the Levirate marriage as a solution.
How it worked was when a woman of a deceased husband remarried, the first son born would be dedicated in the name of the former husband (the one who had died).
And thus in this way the deceased husband’s name was rescued from an eternal death and would be carried on into the future.
The story of Onan in Genesis Chapter 38 is perhaps one of the most famous examples in the Torah of how one man disobeyed the Levirate marriage commands on this matter and was killed by God as a result.
Judah told his brother Onan:
“Sleep with your brother’s wife and
fulfill your duty to her as a
brother-in-law to raise up
offspring for your brother.”
See that phrase where it says…
…”fulfill your duty to her as
a brother-in-law to raise up
offspring for your brother”.
This is all about Levirate marriage folks.
However, we’re told Onan wasn’t too happy about this arrangement.
The next verse says:
“But Onan knew that the child would not be his;
so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife,
he spilled his semen on the ground to keep
from providing offspring for his brother.”
Onan being a selfish man was like “Screw this!” and said to himself…
“The hell if I’m giving up my life force (semen) to raise up kids in my brother’s name”.
So how did the Lord react to this?
We’re told He killed Onan on the spot.
Of course, idiotic gentile scholars who know nothing about Torah or Levirate marriage will say this story illustrates how God is against masturbation.
And the fact that the word “Onanism” comes from the name Onan just propagates this false understanding.
I hope you can see how this story has NOTHING to do with masturbation?
I mean think about it man.
Onan wasn’t self-pleasuring himself in this story.
He was having sex with Tamar when he decided to pull his member out so as to not impregnate her.
Again, this story was all about the custom of Levirate marriage and how it was violated.
And understanding Levirate marriage is going to be key to grasping certain parts of the story of Ruth.
Especially if you want to go beyond the ridiculous surface and comic-book level understanding of the story which is the level of where most folks are at.
One interesting thing I need to point out is that when Naomi said “May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband”, let’s not forget she was talking to Moabite women.
So Naomi probably had it in her mind that Ruth and Orpah would go on to marry Moabite men and live out the rest of their days in Moabite territory…
However, the concept of Levitate marriage was a uniquely Hebrew thing.
In addition, the two dead Hebrew husbands didn’t have any brothers who would be able to step up and fulfill the Levirate marriage duties with the widows.
Man, what a mess this is…
However, we’re going to see how this sticky situation will help explain things as we move forward.
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