Sin of Onan
|
The penalty is death -
to have sex only for lustful reasons -
the penalty is death.
Rabbi
THE SIN OF ONAN: Genesis 38:9-10;
The common interpretation of this passage, is that Onan's sin consists only
in his selfish intent to deny offspring to his brothers widow Tamar and has nothing to do with the unusual
method he employed in doing so.
The classical Jewish commentators - certainly saw in this passage of Scripture a condemnation of both,
[his resistance to God's command and] unnatural intercourse.
A typical Jewish commentary puts it thus: "[Onan] misused the organs God gave him for propagating the
race to unnaturally satisfy his own lust, and he was therefore deserving of death." (Berehis: Genesis
[Brooklyn: Mesorah, 1980]. 5:1677).
The proper interpretation can be found in: [Deut. 25:10] The penalty subsequently laid down in the law
of Moses for a refusal to comply with the levirate marriage precept is only a relatively mild public
humiliation in the form of a brief ceremony of indignation.
In [Lev. 18:22, 20:13] we see that the penalty for the improper use of the sexual organs is death!
The penalty is death - to have sex only for lustful reasons - the penalty is death.