Onan

Onan

Onan (Hebrew: אוֹנָן, Modern Onan Tiberian ʼÔnān ; "Strong") is a minor biblical person in the Book of Genesis Chapter 38, who was the second son of Judah. Just like his older brother, Er, Onan died prematurely by YHWH's will for being wicked.[1]

After Onan's brother Er died, his father Judah told him to fulfill his duty as a brother-in-law to Tamar, by giving her offspring. Centuries later, in the days of Moses, this practice was formulated into a law of a Levirate marriage, where the brother of the deceased would provide offspring to the childless widow [2] to preserve the family line.[1]

However, when Onan had sex with Tamar, he disregarded this principle when he withdrew before climax[3] and "spilled his seed (or semen) on the ground", since any child born would not legally be considered his heir.[4] This he did several times,[5] disregarding the principle of a Levirate union, and was accordingly sentenced to death by Yahweh for this wickedness. (Genesis 38:8-10) This biblical story does not refer to masturbation, but to coitus interruptus.[6]

Contents

Interpretation

Criticism

According to some Bible critics who contextually read this passage, the description of Onan is an eponymous aetiological story concerning fluctuations in the constituency of the tribe of Judah, with the death of Onan reflecting the dying out of a clan;[7][8] Er and Onan are hence viewed as each being representative of a clan, with Onan possibly representing an Edomite clan named Onam,[8] mentioned by an Edomite genealogy in Genesis.[9]

Also, it has been suggested that God's anger was directed not at the sexual act, but at Onan's disobedience by refusing to impregnate his brother's widow.[10]

The text emphasizes the social and legal situation, with Judah explaining what Onan must do and why. A plain reading of the text is that Onan was killed because he refused to follow instructions. Scholars have argued that the secondary purpose of the narrative about Onan and Tamar, of which the description of Onan is a part, was to either assert the institution of levirate marriage, or present an aetiological myth for its origin;[7] Onan's role in the narrative is, thus, as the brother abusing his obligations by agreeing to sexual intercourse with his dead brother's wife, but refusing to allow her to become pregnant as a result. Emerton regards the evidence for this to be inconclusive, although classical rabbinical writers argued that this narrative describes the origin of levirate marriage.[11]

Classical views

Early writers have sometimes focused on the spilling seed, and the sexual act being used for non-procreational purposes. One opinion expressed in the Talmud argues that this was where the death penalty's imposition originated.[12] This interpretation was held by several early Christian apologists. Jerome, for example, argued:

"But I wonder why he the heretic Jovinianus set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he grudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children?"[13]

Clement of Alexandria, while not making explicit reference to Onan, similarly reflects an early Christian view of the abhorrence of '"spilling seed'":

"Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted"[14]
"To have coitus other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature"[15]

Early Jewish views

The view of wasted seed referring to masturbation, was upheld by many early rabbis. However, the Levitical regulations concerning ejaculation, whether as a result of heterosexual intercourse[16] or not,[17] merely prescribe a ritual washing, and remaining ritually impure until the next day began on the following evening.

Roman Catholic views

The papal encyclical Casti Connubii (1930) invokes this Biblical text in support of the teaching of the Catholic Church against contracepted sex.

Influences

  • Timothy Findley uses a phrase "The Rain of Onan" in his novel Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984). "it was now that the rain, having lost its translucence and its mauveness, began to take on an opaque milky look, and Noah said that what had been an "evil" rain was now a 'passionate' rain being poured from the sky-spent and wasted on the dying earth and this he called 'The Rain of Onan.'"[18]
  • Robert Jordan, the main character in Ernest Hemingway's book "For Whom the Bell Tolls", also makes reference to Onan, the night before he is due to fight in battle:

He smiled and thought: "I'll keep any oversupply of that for tomorrow. I'll need all of that there is tomorrow. There are no pine needles that need that now as I will need it tomorrow. Who was it cast his seed upon the ground in the Bible? Onan. How did Onan turn out?" he thought. "I don't remember ever hearing any more about Onan". He smiled in the dark.

"The sin of Onan. Spilling the old seed on the ground. Cuffing the camel. Dusting the donkey. Flogging the Pharisee. Onanism, a sin that requires hundreds of hours of practice to get right, or at least that's what I told myself."

  • Italian rock band Verdena has a song titled "Onan" on their album, Solo un Grande Sasso (Only a Large Stone).
  • Japanese cartoonist Demerin Kaneko makes reference to Onan in her manga Iyan, Ecchi no Suke
  • Tom Stoppard makes reference to Onan in his play Arcadia in the following exchange in Scene One:

Septimus [...] I am sorry that the seed fell on stony ground.
Thomasina That was the sin of Onan, wasn't it, Septimus?
Septimus Yes. He was giving his brother's wife a Latin lesson and she was hardly the wiser after it than before.[19]

It's barbaric, he's like Conan
Wish he'd do it on his Onan
Couldn't he make do with a cup of tea?

  • The folk band Poxy Boggards sings a tribute to Onan in the song "The Ballad of Onan."

See also

  • Masturbation, sometimes called "Onanism", as derived from the Onan narrative.

References

  1. ^ a b Dancy, J. The Divine Drama: the Old Testament as Literature, (ISBN 0718829875, ISBN 9780718829872), 2002, p. 92
  2. ^ Genesis 25:5-10)
  3. ^ Freedman, Myers & Beck. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (ISBN 0802824005, ISBN 9780802824004), 2000, p.1273
  4. ^ Dershowitz. The Genesis of Justice, (ISBN 0446524794, ISBN 9780446524797), 2000, ch. 9
  5. ^ Eerdmans, 2000, p.988
  6. ^ Coogan, Michael (October 2010). God and Sex. What the Bible Really Says (1st ed.). New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9. http://books.google.nl/books?id=2_gPKQEACAAJ&dq=god+and+sex&hl=nl&ei=4fbCTaPKDpGXOrq88Z0I&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAQ. Retrieved May 5, 2011. 
  7. ^ a b J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar
  8. ^ a b Cheyne and Black, Encyclopedia Biblica
  9. ^ Genesis 36:23
  10. ^ Alan Dershowitz, The Genesis of Justice
  11. ^ Genesis Rabbah 85:6
  12. ^ Niddah 13a.
  13. ^ Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:19, (AD 393)
  14. ^ Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)
  15. ^ Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor of Children 2:10:95:3
  16. ^ Leviticus 15:18
  17. ^ Leviticus 15:16-17
  18. ^ Findley, 1984, p.124
  19. ^ Stoppard, 1993, p.2

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  • Onan — ist eine biblische Gestalt, deren Geschichte in der Genesis (Kapitel 38) erzählt wird. Onan, der Sohn Judas und einer Kanaaniterin, musste Tamar, die Witwe seines verstorbenen Bruders Er, heiraten, um in dessen Namen Nachkommen zu zeugen. Dies… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Onan — (de l’hébreu : אוֹנָן) est un personnage biblique. Second fils de Juda, frère de Er, il doit, selon les coutumes du lévirat (que Juda est donc le premier personnage biblique à appliquer) prendre pour épouse Tamar, la femme d’Er, à la mort de …   Wikipédia en Français

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  • Onán — (אוֹנָן fuerte , hebreo Onan, hebreo tiberiano ʾÔnān) es un personaje que aparece en la Biblia (en el libro del Génesis). Era el segundo hijo de Judá. Su nombre es el origen para el término sexual onanismo (sinónimo de masturbación), aunque… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • onan — onan·ism; onan·ist; onan·is·tic; …   English syllables

  • Onan — Onan, Sohn Judas, erhielt nach dem Tode seines Bruders Ger dessen Wittwe Thamar zur Ehe, um dessen Stamm fortzupflanzen, vereitelte aber die Zeugung durch Selbstbefleckung (daher Onanie, s. Selbstbefleckung) u. büßte diese Schuld durch den Tod …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Onan — personnage biblique, second fils de Juda; contraint par la loi des patriarches à susciter une postérité à la veuve de son frère, il éluda cette obligation en fraudant par terre (Genèse, XXXVIII); aussi l éternel le fit il périr …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • ONAN — fil. Iudae ex Sue uxore sua, Gen. c. 38. v. 4. Latine, dolor, iniquitas, sive fortitudo …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

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