Public shame was often used to enforce the law in ancient times. The woman’s action publicly humiliated the man, and his family’s disgrace was remembered long after he was dead. The action involving the sandal had symbolic meaning: the foot symbolized the male genitals, the sandal the female sexual organs, and the spittle, the semen. To us the punishment does not sound very much, but in the context of the time it meant public disgrace that could not be lived down.
The woman, the injured party, went up to him in a public assembly, pulled his sandal from his foot, spat in his face, and said ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house’. Since then, ‘onanism’ has become the technical word used to describe uncompleted coition and masturbation.ĭeuteronomy 25:9-10 describes the punishment for a man who refused to obey the Levirate law. He died, and his death at such an early age was seen as just punishment.
Any child born to Tamar would carry Er’s name, not Onan’s, and would inherit Er’s portion of the estate. But he refused outright to do so, probably because it meant his future share of the inheritance would be less. Under Levirate law, Er’s younger brother Onan was obliged to give Tamar a child. providing for all members of the tribal family, whether their fathers were alive or not.If a man died, and his wife had not yet had a child by him, she could go to his brother and demand that he marry her and give her a child who would inherit the property of the dead husband. This law was found in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. But there was a way out: the Levirate Law. Widowed and without children, Tamar was low in the pecking order of the tribe. Genealogy of King David and Solomon, and of Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) Tamar was one of the foremothers of both these leaders Bible Top Ten, Daily Life, Paintings Daily Life – Prayer – Paintings – Books of the Bible – Bible Paintings.
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