What was the sin of Onan?

tonychanyt said:

Levirate marriage is when the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. It was practiced in the Ancient Near East, Asia, India, etc.

In God's mind, the Messiah was supposed to come from Judah. Genesis 38:


That was Onan's levirate duty. Jesus could have been a descendant of Onan, but Onan did not cooperate. He missed his big chance to be in the lineage of the Messiah.


That wasn't masturbation but coitus interruptus.


The Lord put Onan to death because he refused to impregnate his dead brother's wife.

What was the sin of Onan?

It wasn't masturbation. It wasn't the practice of coitus interruptus. Specifically, Onan sinned for refusing his levirate duty.

See also Why did God punish Cain and Onan so differently?.

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AlexB23 said:

Whew, this is a little heavy bro.

So, Onan was not messing with his sword (a roundabout way of saying "jerking off"), he refused to impregnate his dead brother's wife? Onan should have followed through.

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KevinT said:

Yes, I think the story was hijacked by those who wanted to make it about masturbation. But it is clearly instead about refusing to continue the lineage of his brother.

KT

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KevinT said:

Yes, I think the story was hijacked by those who wanted to make it about masturbation. But it is clearly instead about refusing to continue the lineage of his brother.

KT

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