ANSWERING THE BIBLE:
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| “The meeting between Tamar and Judah” by the Italian master Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594) |
Ans: Get killed by the God of the Bible.
To understand this let us consider the following verses from the Bible.
21st Century King James Version:
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned unto a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her.
3And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.
4And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
5And she yet again conceived and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. And he was at Chezib when she bore him.
3And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.
4And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.
5And she yet again conceived and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. And he was at Chezib when she bore him.
6And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.
7And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. (Genesis 38:1-8
New Century Version:
Judah and Tamar
1 About that time, Judah left his brothers and went to stay with a man named Hirah in the town of Adullam.2 There Judah met a Canaanite girl, the daughter of a man named Shua, and married her. Judah had sexual relations with her,3 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom Judah named Er.4 Later she gave birth to another son and named him Onan.5 Still later she had another son and named him Shelah. She was at Kezib when this third son was born.
6 Judah chose a girl named Tamar to be the wife of his first son Er.7 But Er, Judah's oldest son, did what the Lord said was evil, so the Lord killed him.8 Then Judah said to Er's brother Onan, "Go and have sexual relations with your dead brother's wife. It is your duty to provide children for your brother in this way."(Genesis 38:1-8).
New Living Translation:
1 About this time, Judah left home and moved to Adullam, where he stayed with a man named Hirah. 2 There he saw a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua, and he married her. When he slept with her, 3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and he named the boy Er. 4 Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son, and she named him Onan. 5 And when she gave birth to a third son, she named him Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth, they were living at Kezib.
6 In the course of time, Judah arranged for his firstborn son, Er, to marry a young woman named Tamar. 7 But Er was a wicked man in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord took his life. (Genesis 38:1-8).
Holman Christian Standard Bible:
Judah and Tamar:
1 At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua; he took her as a wife and slept with her. 3 She conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named him Er. 4 She conceived again, gave birth to a son, and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that [a] [b] she gave birth to him.
6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Now Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the LORD's sight, and the LORD put him to death. (Genesis 38:1-8
a. Genesis 38:5 LXX reads She was at Chezib when
b. Genesis 38:5 Or He was at Chezib when
Look at this line above, "Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her".....so you do not need to have a proper marriage to have children, as long as God of the Bible is on your side. So free sex is propagated by the Bible?
Q. What did the God of the Bible do to Onan (the 2nd son of Judah) when he went into his brother's wife but spilled the "semen" on the ground? Was the act evil in the eye of the God of the Bible?
Q. What did the God of the Bible do to Onan (the 2nd son of Judah) when he went into his brother's wife but spilled the "semen" on the ground? Was the act evil in the eye of the God of the Bible?
Ans: Yes what he (Onam) did was evil in the LORD's sight; so He put him to death.
To under this, let us consider the following verses from the Bible:
21st Century King James Version:
8And Judah said unto Onan, "Go in unto thy brother's wife and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother."
9And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
10And the thing which he did displeased the LORD; therefore He slew him also. (Genesis 38:8-10).
New Living Translation:
8 Then Judah said to Er’s brother Onan, “Go and marry Tamar, as our law requires of the brother of a man who has died. You must produce an heir for your brother.”
9 But Onan was not willing to have a child who would not be his own heir. So whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he spilled the semen on the ground. This prevented her from having a child who would belong to his brother. 10 But the Lord considered it evil for Onan to deny a child to his dead brother. So the Lord took Onan’s life, too. (Genesis 38:8-10).
Holman Christian Standard Bible:
8 Then Judah said to Onan, "Sleep with your brother's wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother." 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he released his semen on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was evil in the LORD's sight, so He put him to death also. (Genesis 38:8-10).
New Century Version:
9 But Onan knew that the children would not belong to him, so when he was supposed to have sexual relations with Tamar he did not complete the sex act. This made it impossible for Tamar to become pregnant and for Er to have descendants.10 The Lord was displeased by this wicked thing Onan had done, so the Lord killed Onan also. (Genesis 38:8-10).
The God killed Onan because, Onan chose to interrupt his coitus (technical terms for sexual intercourse) before he could impregnate Tamar. Onan had a logical reason for doing so, in terms of physical satisfaction in sex. However, the God of the Bible, had different plans.
Verse 8 shows us that Judah gave his son Onan a direct order to marry his dead brother’s wife and raise up seed to his dead brother (in other words, the children, or at least the first child, would be considered the dead brother’s). During Biblical times, this was an accepted practice and was later codified in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. But Onan did not want to raise up seed to his brother. He rebelled against his father’s order. To avoid raising up seed to his brother (or Onan’s direct rebellion against raising up seed to his brother), he used coitus interrupts, which displeased the Lord.
But the catch point here is that this lovely Bible story is often formed the basis of many Christian doctrines, including the condemnation of both masturbation and birth control, though many Biblical scholars argue that, Onan’s birth control method is only used in this act of rebellion, and as such Scripture cannot be used to determine God’s pleasure or displeasure with birth control in other situations.
One interesting point which comes as a bye-product from this is that coitus interruptus was apparently a known method of birth control at the time.
Now looking from the other angles we can see that God of the Bible was not comfortable with the idea of Birth control. In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply." Adam and Eve were our first parents and legally represented the human race (for example, their fall into sin was also our fall in sin). Therefore, this can be seen not only as an order from God to Adam and Eve, but also to the mankind. The God of the Bible asks us to be "fruitful and multiply". Numerous verses from the Bible, either directly state or imply that children are a gift from God and the man who has many of them is blessed by God. Let us consider a couple of them:
(i) Psalm 127 states:
"3Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.
5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies at the gate". (21st Century King James Version: Psalm 127: 3-5).
(ii) Psalm 128 is similar:
"3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
4Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
5The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel". (21st Century King James Version: Psalm 128:3-6)
Therefore, we can conclude that the modern idea prevalent in civilized societies to limit families to one or two children is alien to the God’s idea of the family or goes against the family planning. "If we are to be fruitful and multiply, and if children are a blessing from God, we should have as many of them as possible"....Huh!! So is the Population explosion okay?
But the clever clergies of various Churches have tried to obfuscate this by, applying twisted logic from other verses from the Bible. They point towards Mathew 12: 1-8, which says:
"At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto Him, "Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day."
3But He said unto them, "Have ye not read what David did when he hungered and they that were with him: 4how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5Or have ye not read in the law how on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?
6But I say unto you, that in this place is One greater than the temple.
7But if ye had known what this meaneth,`I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."
They point out that, Jesus in this verse was teaching that sometimes one law overrides another!! They point out Mathew 12: 7: "But if ye had known what this meaneth, `I will have mercy and not sacrifice, yes, we are to be fruitful and multiply, but we are also to be merciful". They say, that there are times in life when a couple must consider that, for many reasons, it would be better for the woman not to become pregnant or go for birth control. They say, "Those who make sweeping statements that Christians must never use contraception fall into the same ditch as the Pharisees, at least on this subject".
However, this kind of convoluted logic has been used by Church, since the ages to justify or shield the visible errors and contradictions in the Bible.
Then there are a bunch of Roman Catholics, who say that "artificial" methods of birth control are sinful, but "natural" methods are acceptable. While we see here that the God is displeased, even with the natural method also, if the cause does not produce the result!! We also know that many fundamental Christians are against Abortion. Think about it...!! .
The God killed Onan because, Onan chose to interrupt his coitus (technical terms for sexual intercourse) before he could impregnate Tamar. Onan had a logical reason for doing so, in terms of physical satisfaction in sex. However, the God of the Bible, had different plans.
Verse 8 shows us that Judah gave his son Onan a direct order to marry his dead brother’s wife and raise up seed to his dead brother (in other words, the children, or at least the first child, would be considered the dead brother’s). During Biblical times, this was an accepted practice and was later codified in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. But Onan did not want to raise up seed to his brother. He rebelled against his father’s order. To avoid raising up seed to his brother (or Onan’s direct rebellion against raising up seed to his brother), he used coitus interrupts, which displeased the Lord.
But the catch point here is that this lovely Bible story is often formed the basis of many Christian doctrines, including the condemnation of both masturbation and birth control, though many Biblical scholars argue that, Onan’s birth control method is only used in this act of rebellion, and as such Scripture cannot be used to determine God’s pleasure or displeasure with birth control in other situations.
One interesting point which comes as a bye-product from this is that coitus interruptus was apparently a known method of birth control at the time.
Now looking from the other angles we can see that God of the Bible was not comfortable with the idea of Birth control. In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful, and multiply." Adam and Eve were our first parents and legally represented the human race (for example, their fall into sin was also our fall in sin). Therefore, this can be seen not only as an order from God to Adam and Eve, but also to the mankind. The God of the Bible asks us to be "fruitful and multiply". Numerous verses from the Bible, either directly state or imply that children are a gift from God and the man who has many of them is blessed by God. Let us consider a couple of them:
(i) Psalm 127 states:
"3Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
4As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.
5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies at the gate". (21st Century King James Version: Psalm 127: 3-5).
(ii) Psalm 128 is similar:
"3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house, thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
4Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
5The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion, and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel". (21st Century King James Version: Psalm 128:3-6)
Therefore, we can conclude that the modern idea prevalent in civilized societies to limit families to one or two children is alien to the God’s idea of the family or goes against the family planning. "If we are to be fruitful and multiply, and if children are a blessing from God, we should have as many of them as possible"....Huh!! So is the Population explosion okay?
But the clever clergies of various Churches have tried to obfuscate this by, applying twisted logic from other verses from the Bible. They point towards Mathew 12: 1-8, which says:
"At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
2But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto Him, "Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day."
3But He said unto them, "Have ye not read what David did when he hungered and they that were with him: 4how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5Or have ye not read in the law how on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?
6But I say unto you, that in this place is One greater than the temple.
7But if ye had known what this meaneth,`I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
8For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."
They point out that, Jesus in this verse was teaching that sometimes one law overrides another!! They point out Mathew 12: 7: "But if ye had known what this meaneth, `I will have mercy and not sacrifice, yes, we are to be fruitful and multiply, but we are also to be merciful". They say, that there are times in life when a couple must consider that, for many reasons, it would be better for the woman not to become pregnant or go for birth control. They say, "Those who make sweeping statements that Christians must never use contraception fall into the same ditch as the Pharisees, at least on this subject".
However, this kind of convoluted logic has been used by Church, since the ages to justify or shield the visible errors and contradictions in the Bible.
Then there are a bunch of Roman Catholics, who say that "artificial" methods of birth control are sinful, but "natural" methods are acceptable. While we see here that the God is displeased, even with the natural method also, if the cause does not produce the result!! We also know that many fundamental Christians are against Abortion. Think about it...!! .
