Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]Levirate in Narrative Texts: Genesis 38
Levirate is central to the narrative of Genesis , the account of Judah
and his daughter-in-law Tamar. Judah’s oldest son, Er, dies without chil-
dren, leaving Tamar a widow. Judah orders his second son, Onan, to “join
with your brother’s wife and do your duty by her as a brother-in-law, and
prov ide of fspr i ng for you r brot her.”^15 Ona n does not w ish to “prov ide of f-
spring for his brother”;^16 although he does have sexual intercourse with
Tamar, he does so in a way intended to prevent conception. After Onan’s
death, Judah is reluctant to allow his third son, Shelah, to marry Tamar,
fea r i ng t hat Shela h “too m ig ht d ie l i ke h is brot hers.”^17 Event ua l l y, Ta ma r
realizes that Judah has no intention of allowing Shelah to marry her.
She disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces her recently widowed
father-in-law. A few months later, Judah learns that Tamar is pregnant
and sentences her to death. She informs him that he is the father of her
unborn child. Judah acknowledges her claim on him, and the story ends
with Tamar giving birth to twin sons.
Like Deuteronomy , Genesis suggests that levirate marriage was
not the inevitable outcome when a childless man died. Onan resists ful-
filling his levirate duty; he is apparently willing to marry Tamar but not
to impregnate her. Onan does not feel obliged to provide offspring for
his dead brother; rather, the Bible explicitly acknowledges that he does
not wish to provide Er with a child. Although Judah’s order to Onan indi-
cates a commitment to levirate marriage, his resolve weakens when his
second son d ies; Juda h’s desi re to protect Shela h is g reater t ha n h is sense
of duty to Er. The only character thoroughly committed to the consum-
mation of some sort of levirate union is Tamar. Like the widow of Deu-
teronomy , Tamar is given a voice; after the deaths of Er and Onan,
Tamar becomes her own advocate. What is unclear is whether Tamar
acts to preserve her husband’s name and lineage or whether she acts to
preserve her connection to Judah’s family. Regardless of Tamar’s moti-
vation, the author of Genesis validates her actions while condemning
those of the men around her.
In Deuteronomy , the lev ir’s refusal to marr y his brother’s w idow is
not explained; he simply does “not want to marry her.” In contrast, we
are told why Onan refused to fully consummate his union with Tamar.
He is motivated by the knowledge that “the seed would not count as