The Sin of Onan (Genesis 38)

[Gen. 38]

True to Biblical form, we break from this interesting story under way about Joseph and his brothers for a 180˚ digression. (But wait, this story's a pretty good one.)

Judah - you know, one of the Israel brothers - he strikes out on his own and weds a Canaanite woman (name not given). We get three sons: Er, Onan, Shelah.

Judah secures a wife for his eldest son Er - a woman named Tamar. "But Er... was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him." (Gen. 38:7)

Yow. No time wasted even telling us what the "wickedness" was about, or even how Er was slain. Did he have a sudden workplace accident, or get struck with a bad case of leukemia? In other words, was it superstition that led folks to conclude Er must have been "wicked"? Or did God's hand descend from the clouds Monty-Python-style and blast him flat to the ground?

At any rate, take two. Judah tells his second son Onan to "Go into your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother." (Gen. 38:8) Well Onan must have missed his sex ed classes, or perhaps the laws were just inexplicable back then, or - which is surely the case - both; because he resents having sex with his sister-in-law on the grounds that any kids born won't be his own. How does Onan suppose that children gotten by his act of coition are somebody else's? [I guess by the laws of inheritance, or something.] However, Onan certainly is happy enough to go have sex withTamar, which he does: he just pulls out prior to orgasm.

"And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him also." (Gen. 38:10)

Yikes!

Now, "the sin of Onan" is a phrase often used to describe masturbation. Turns out Onan's sin is not that at all. Which doesn't mean masturbation is okay by the LORD: semen-wastage seems to be the LORD's principal concern here.

(Clearly condoms - or any contraception - would appear "slew"-worthy as well in this connection. What about nocturnal emissions? What about donating semen to a sperm bank in full and good faith, but then there's a lab accident later in which the sample is spoiled before being used to impregnate anybody? The mind reels. What if I just don't ejaculate for so long that a fair block of sperm dies inside my testes and is turned over of its own accord? Are all these things "the sin of Onan"? And if they are, why aren't all of us men getting slain?)

All right, then - take three. Father Judah says to poor Tamar, who has gone through two brothers already, to hold tight and wait for his youngest son Shelah to come of age. However, as years go by and this slowly comes to pass, Shelah doesn't look to be getting particularly steered Tamar's way, wedlock-wise.

Father Judah, recently widowed himself at the time, announces a sheep-shearing trip to his friend's house, partly to get away from home and clear his head (sheep-shearing will do that). And so poor, neglected Tamar hatches a scheme: she sneaks out of the house and dresses like a "harlot" at the side of the road. Judah, having no idea who she is, picks her up on his way out of town.

(No rebuke to Judah is implied by this. Apparently it's a fine thing having sex with prostitutes - provided, of course, that you don't pull out.)

In their price negotiations, Tamar requests a staff and a cord and a signet ring as collateral until Judah can come back with the kid goat he's offering as payment. Once Judah is done with his business and is off fetching that goat, Tamar runs home with these items of his and hides them; Judah, meanwhile, is unable to find this mysterious harlot he just patronized. (A telling verb.)

When Judah gets back from his trip three months later, he's tipped off that his daughter-in-law Tamar "'has played the harlot; and moreover she is with child by harlotry.' And Judah said, 'Bring her out, and let her be burned.'" (Gen. 38:24)

Oh my goodness.

And hey, aren't these guys anti-abortion, like all good followers of god ? Seems like burning a pregnant woman to death would count.

Wellp, apparently widow Tamar's pregnancy is A-okay as long as it was caused within the family. And this may be a strange basis for a You go, girl! kind of shout-out, but when Tamar throws down that staff and cord and signet ring like an ace card, Judah not only backs off of the whole "let's burn her" thing, but he also repents personally. "She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah." (Gen. 38:26)

Clearly you could spend a semester's worth of Women's Studies on this one chapter of Genesis.

...Post-scripturally, Tamar has a creepy delivery of twins in which a hand emerges from her vulva, and the midwife ties a red cord to it to mark which baby was first-born. But then the hand sinks back inside, and the other baby finagles himself out first.

So it's quite important to these Biblical-era folks who's the first-born of each family - no matter how arbitrary that distinction becomes.

Oh, and that delivery sounds unimaginably painful, by the way. Since I don't want to neglect the woman's point of view.