Genesis 38:10

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What is the meaning behind Genesis 38:10? Another thread was addressing contraception and this text came up. Is it a reference to “spilled seed”, or to economic support? It seems all Christian denominations, until 1930, agreed that contraception was wrong and cited this verse as proof. The Episcopalians were the first to change their mind, now most protestant churches either teach contraception or are silent on the matter.

So, what is the meaning of Genesis 38:10?
 
Newsy said:
What is the meaning behind Genesis 38:10? Another thread was addressing contraception and this text came up. Is it a reference to “spilled seed”, or to economic support? It seems all Christian denominations, until 1930, agreed that contraception was wrong and cited this verse as proof. The Episcopalians were the first to change their mind, now most protestant churches either teach contraception or are silent on the matter.

So, what is the meaning of Genesis 38:10?
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The basic facts are this. Onan ejaculated on the ground. God killed him. He killed him because of his disobedience and/or God considers it worthy of death when men pull out before finishing when having sex.
Those are the two options I see. They do not have to be exclusive of one another.
 
It seems clear to me, by the context provided by verses 8 and 9, that Onan’s sin was in refusing to fulfill his obligations to raise up children for his elder brother (the levirate marriage).
 
It’s a case of Onan doing something objectively sinful, out of a motive which was also evil. God punished Onan, I assume, for the whole sin.

Those who support contraception can isolate the motivation and make the claim that it’s not the contraceptive act itself that is wrong, just doing it for the wrong reasons. Those of us who believe contraception is wrong, on the other hand, can point to this as an instance in the Bible where someone sterilizes the sexual act and is punished for it. The text itself is unlikely to settle that disagreement as far as I can tell, because as I said the account describes both the objective act and an evil motivation, not making clear if the sinfulness was in both or only one.
 
RyanBlack said:
It seems clear to me, by the context provided by verses 8 and 9, that Onan’s sin was in refusing to fulfill his obligations to raise up children for his elder brother (the levirate marriage).
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I thought that we’re told elsewhere in the OT that the punishment for refusing to bring up children for your elder brother is something else besides death. I’m sure someone else will have the specifics on this…
 
BrianH said:
The basic facts are this. Onan ejaculated on the ground. God killed him. He killed him because of his disobedience and/or God considers it worthy of death when men pull out before finishing when having sex.
Those are the two options I see. They do not have to be exclusive of one another.
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Does God consider fornication worthy of death? Then How come god didn’t kill all the fornicators in the the old testament?
 
Deut. 25:7-10 states,
"7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled. ".

Nowhere does it say that death is the punishment for not raising offspring for your dead brother. A man, according to Deuteronomy 25, is to be humiliated in public. What Onan did, “displeased God”.

Let’s continue on in Deuteronomy 25. The next passage addresses two men fighting, the wife of one intervenes. " 11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.". Rather than thank his wife for her help, the husband would be obligated to cut off her hand. Why? Could it be because she runs the chance of making him infertile?:eek: This idea would fit into line with Gen 38:10, if Onan was killed for wasting his seed.

If Onan was killed for not raising up offspring for his brother, then why wasn’t Judah killed for not letting her marry Shelah?

Here’s a great link, matt1618.freeyellow.com/birthcontrol.html.
 
An observation as far as the punishment goes for not fulfilling the Leverite Marriage…

In Onan’s case, he accepted the duty and had sex with Tamar. The context shows this.

**In a case like Deut. 25:7-10, the brother refuses to marry and perform the duty at all.

** Onan lied to God and the community by accepting the leverite duty but then reneging on it. Whether God killed him for **reneging on the duty **or for the specific act of contracepted sex isn’t stated. I know many Church Fathers and Popes have used this story as a warning against contracepted sex, but I don’t think the context of the verses make it clear either way.

However, we know by natural law that contraception is wrong anyway.
 
Another reason God may have killed Onan…

If I am not mistaken, Onan practiced ‘pulling out’ very frequently and not just once. If he did this for a long time, and the community was unaware of it, then this could have led them to believe that Tamar was unable to have children and brought her a lot of shame. I could see where this would be very disgusting to God.

I know there is no scriptural support for this, but what do you guys think? Could it have happened?
 
I try not to add things that aren’t already in the Bible, it tends to get messy when you do.
 
Geaux_LSU said:
Another reason God may have killed Onan…

If I am not mistaken, Onan practiced ‘pulling out’ very frequently and not just once. If he did this for a long time, and the community was unaware of it, then this could have led them to believe that Tamar was unable to have children and brought her a lot of shame. I could see where this would be very disgusting to God.

I know there is no scriptural support for this, but what do you guys think? Could it have happened?
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I didn’t know that frequency had anything to do with it being a sin. 🤷 I mean there are people in prison who only killed a person once.

I have never heard this idea before, it appears to be a newer manipulation of the story. Since there is no scriptural support, I would not give it a lot of credit.
 
Newsy, I agree with you. Frequency doesn’t make it more or less of a sin, because natural law states contraception is a sin every time.

The point I wanted to stress is that the context doesn’t make it clear why God struck Onan dead: was it because he didn’t fulfill the duty, or because of the act of contraception?

The context does make it clear that Onan despised the marriage, because he knew the child wouldn’t be his own. So, I tend to believe it was because his heart was evil and he deliberately didn’t fulfill the duty, but who knows? However, this doesn’t make the act of contraception any less of a sin. It just might not be the reason he died…
 
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