Among the Hebrews, even before the law, a widow who had no
children by her husband was to marry the brother of her deceased spouse,
in order to raise up children who might inherit his goods and perpetuate
his name and family. We find the practice of this custom before the law
in the person of Tamar, who married successively Er and Onan, the sons
of Judah, and who was likewise to have married Selah, the third son of
this patriarch, after the two former were dead without issue, Gen.
xxxviii, 6–11. The law that appoints these marriages is Deut. xxv, 5,
&c. Two motives prevailed to the enacting of this law. The first was,
the continuation of estates in the same family; and the other was to
perpetuate a man’s name in Israel. It was looked upon as a great
misfortune for a man to die without an heir, or to see his inheritance
pass into another family. This law was not confined to brothers-in-law
only, but was extended to more distant relations of the same kind; as we
see in the example of Ruth, who married Boaz after she had been refused
by a nearer kinsman. See SANDALS.
children by her husband was to marry the brother of her deceased spouse,
in order to raise up children who might inherit his goods and perpetuate
his name and family. We find the practice of this custom before the law
in the person of Tamar, who married successively Er and Onan, the sons
of Judah, and who was likewise to have married Selah, the third son of
this patriarch, after the two former were dead without issue, Gen.
xxxviii, 6–11. The law that appoints these marriages is Deut. xxv, 5,
&c. Two motives prevailed to the enacting of this law. The first was,
the continuation of estates in the same family; and the other was to
perpetuate a man’s name in Israel. It was looked upon as a great
misfortune for a man to die without an heir, or to see his inheritance
pass into another family. This law was not confined to brothers-in-law
only, but was extended to more distant relations of the same kind; as we
see in the example of Ruth, who married Boaz after she had been refused
by a nearer kinsman. See SANDALS.