Was it a Biblical Condemnation of Masturbation?
By James Donahue
The verses in Genesis 38/8-10 offer a strange story that appears to contradict modern marital customs and laws so they sometimes get misinterpreted. They read:
“Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.”
We have heard preachers and Bible teachers use these verses and First Corinthians 6:18 to argue that the act of masturbation is a serious sin in the eyes of God. But is this true? Young men and women resort to masturbation as a method of relieving sexual tension when separated from one another or when going through puberty at a time preceding marriage. When we consider it from a pure biological perspective it is a natural sexual act that all of God’s creatures enjoy. It is only the church that has used a few odd verses in a holy book to make it sound perverted and shameful.
To better understand Onan’s alleged “sin,” at least in the eyes of the Hebrew authors of the Genesis story, we must understand the customs of the Hebrew people at that ancient time. It was important that all married women produce children. The rule was so important that when a married man died before fathering children, his unmarried brother was socially and perhaps legally obligated to marry the widow and produce children with her. But there was a strange twist in this rule that bothered Onan. Any children would legally be the offspring of the dead brother, not Onan.
Being the head of the household and the legal father of children was so important to the people of that time that Onan found himself in a social conflict. And according to the Genesis story, it was an act of God that caused it. For some reason left unexplained to us, God found Onan’s brother Er wicked and slew him. This left Er’s wife Tamar a widow without children.
Because of the rule of family, Onan agreed to have sexual relations with Tamar, but he chose to deliberately pull out and spill his seed on the ground rather than impregnate her. The act angered God so Onan also was slain for failing to perform his fraternal duty.
Apparently there were other sons in the House of Judah, but Judah now refused to allow any more of the boys to get involved with Tamar. So Tamar took matters in her own hands. She disguised herself as a harlot and tricked Judah into having sexual relations with her. The trickery worked and Tamar gave birth to male twins, Perez and Zerah. And if we follow the blood line, Perez became an ancestor of Jesus.
As sordid as the Onan story is, it had nothing to do with a condemnation of masturbation. The man just pulled out and refused to give Tamar his sperm for personal reasons. And that particular pregnancy proved to be an important historical event in the eyes of God.
By James Donahue
The verses in Genesis 38/8-10 offer a strange story that appears to contradict modern marital customs and laws so they sometimes get misinterpreted. They read:
“Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.”
We have heard preachers and Bible teachers use these verses and First Corinthians 6:18 to argue that the act of masturbation is a serious sin in the eyes of God. But is this true? Young men and women resort to masturbation as a method of relieving sexual tension when separated from one another or when going through puberty at a time preceding marriage. When we consider it from a pure biological perspective it is a natural sexual act that all of God’s creatures enjoy. It is only the church that has used a few odd verses in a holy book to make it sound perverted and shameful.
To better understand Onan’s alleged “sin,” at least in the eyes of the Hebrew authors of the Genesis story, we must understand the customs of the Hebrew people at that ancient time. It was important that all married women produce children. The rule was so important that when a married man died before fathering children, his unmarried brother was socially and perhaps legally obligated to marry the widow and produce children with her. But there was a strange twist in this rule that bothered Onan. Any children would legally be the offspring of the dead brother, not Onan.
Being the head of the household and the legal father of children was so important to the people of that time that Onan found himself in a social conflict. And according to the Genesis story, it was an act of God that caused it. For some reason left unexplained to us, God found Onan’s brother Er wicked and slew him. This left Er’s wife Tamar a widow without children.
Because of the rule of family, Onan agreed to have sexual relations with Tamar, but he chose to deliberately pull out and spill his seed on the ground rather than impregnate her. The act angered God so Onan also was slain for failing to perform his fraternal duty.
Apparently there were other sons in the House of Judah, but Judah now refused to allow any more of the boys to get involved with Tamar. So Tamar took matters in her own hands. She disguised herself as a harlot and tricked Judah into having sexual relations with her. The trickery worked and Tamar gave birth to male twins, Perez and Zerah. And if we follow the blood line, Perez became an ancestor of Jesus.
As sordid as the Onan story is, it had nothing to do with a condemnation of masturbation. The man just pulled out and refused to give Tamar his sperm for personal reasons. And that particular pregnancy proved to be an important historical event in the eyes of God.