Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]relationship with his nephew Lot as a brotherly one. The word can be
used in an even broader sense, to describe the relationship between in-
dividual Israelites.^2
Men who v iew each ot her as brot hers a re ex pected to show loya lt y to-
ward each other; conflict between brothers is undesirable. Responding
to a quarrel over limited resources between his servants and those of his
nephew Lot, Abraham says, “Let there be no strife between you and me,
between my herdsmen and yours, for we are brothers (anashim ahim
anahnu).”^3 When Abraham learns that Lot, his “brother,” has been taken
captive, he mounts an expedition to rescue him.^4 Judah’s argument for
sel l i ng Joseph rat her t ha n leav i ng h i m i n t he pit to d ie is prem ised on t he
fact that Joseph is “our brother, our own flesh.”^5
The Hebrew Bible also recognizes obligations between men who are
descr ibed a s brot hers. K i nsmen a re ex pected to redeem t hei r “brot her’s”
land if he is forced to sell it.^6 If a ma n sel ls h imself into bondage to a non-
Israel ite, “one of h is brot hers shou ld redeem h i m.”^7 If a man dies without
children, it is his brother’s obligation, through levirate marriage, to pro-
vide a child who will preserve the name of the deceased.
At the same time, the Hebrew Bible acknowledges that relationships
between brothers are not always ideal. The Psalmist’s observation, “How
good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together,”^8 seems ironic
when we consider the biblical narratives that describe fraternal rela-
tionships. The first murder, according to Genesis, was a fratricide. Isaac
and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers all serve as exam-
ples of brothers’ inability to live together and to share family resources.
Strife between brothers can be seen in the Books of Judges, Samuel, and
Kings. Even the relationship between Moses and Aaron, certainly the
most “brotherly” of any found in the Hebrew Bible, is marred by the lat-
ter’s murmuring against his brother.^9
A man’s obligation to preserve his brother’s name through levirate
may not always be embraced by the surviving brother. Deuteronomy
acknowledges this, while offering, through the complaint of the widow
and the proclamation of the elders, a critique of a man unwilling to fulfill
his levirate duty. A man may resent providing children for his brother, as
in Genesis , or feel that taking on another man’s widow and property,
only to see that property go to children he cannot claim as his, is a re-
sponsibility that threatens his own estate (Ruth ). An analysis of bibli-