September 18, 2019

Levirate Marriage: It's Not As Creepy As You Might Think.

Deuteronomy 25

Sue Bohlin
Wednesday's Devo

September 18, 2019

Wednesday's Devo

September 18, 2019

Central Truth

God's instructions for childless widows reveal His tender, loving heart.

Key Verse | Deuteronomy 25:5

"If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her."

Deuteronomy 25

If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.’ 10 And the name of his house 1 25:10 Hebrew its name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Miscellaneous Laws

11 When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

13 You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair 2 25:15 Or just, or righteous; twice in this verse weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

Footnotes

[1] 25:10 Hebrew its name
[2] 25:15 Or just, or righteous; twice in this verse

Dive Deeper | Deuteronomy 25

My husband Ray is the most handsome of five handsome brothers. As much as I like my brothers-in-law, I wouldn't want to have lived in the days of Deuteronomy 25. If my husband died before we had a son to carry on his name and receive the Bohlin inheritance, it was mandated that one of Ray's brothers take pity on me, step up, and marry me to (hopefully) raise up a son who would continue my husband's lineage and assume possession of our land.

That sound you hear is the whoosh! of my grateful relief that we were born in 1953 A.D., not B.C.!

This chapter prescribes Levirate marriage. The name comes from the Latin word levir, which means "a husband's brother."

It was already practiced earlier, as far back as in Genesis 38. When his firstborn son Er died, Judah instructed his next son Onan to marry his daughter-in-law Tamar so she could bear a son to carry on Er's name and take his part of the inheritance. Onan was good with being intimate with Tamar, but he didn't want her to have a baby, which was evil, so God took him out. Tamar knew Yahweh's intentions for her in-laws, and she was quite understandably angry when Judah refused to give her his third son lest he die as well. So, Tamar went undercover. (Read Genesis 38:1-30. Lots of people don't know this fascinating story is in the Bible!)

My takeaway from this portion of Scripture is how it points to God's tender, loving heart. In addition to wanting His people to keep the land He gave to their tribes, He also had a heart for widows. In that culture, a widow's financial situation was dire. She had no one to protect and provide for her, and very few options or choices. The Levirate marriage was a gracious way of caring for women who would have big trouble taking care of themselves. It is laws like this that allow us to see that God is a God of grace in the Old Testament and not just the New.

Discussion Questions

1. What is your understanding of the plight of widows, especially those without children, in the Old Testament? Are you aware of any Scripture in either the Old or the New Testament that directs God's people to care for widows?

2. Put yourself in the shoes of a widow in that time without anyone to care for her. How would you feel? What would you want?

3. What is it about God's command for Levirate marriage that honors women and displays His love for them? Don't miss the "opt out" commands in Genesis 38:7-10 when an available brother didn't want to do things God's way.