Editing Onan (section)

==Interpretation==
The implication from the narrative is that Onan's act as described is what gave rise to divine displeasure.

===Early Jewish views===
One opinion expressed in the [[Talmud]] argues that this was where the [[death penalty]]'s imposition originated.<ref name="niddah13a">[[Tohorot|Niddah]] 13a.</ref>{{not in source|date=October 2022}} The Talmud also likens emitting [[semen]] in vain to shedding blood.<ref name="niddah13a"/>

However, the [[Keri|regulations concerning ejaculation]] in the [[book of Leviticus]], whether as a result of [[sexual intercourse]] or not,<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|15:18|HE}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|15:16-17|HE}}</ref> merely prescribe a ritual washing and becoming [[ritual impurity|ritually impure]] until the following evening.

===Classical Christian views===
Early Christian writers have sometimes focused on the ''spilling seed'', and the sexual act being used for non-procreational purposes. This interpretation was held by several early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]]. [[Jerome]], for example, argued:

{{blockquote|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 begrudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the [[procreation]] of children?|Jerome, ''Against Jovinian'' 1:19 (AD 393)}}

[[Epiphanius of Salamis]] wrote against heretics who used ''[[coitus interruptus]]'', calling it the sin of Οnan:<ref>United States Congress Senate Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures. Population Crisis: Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966, p. 403–404''</ref>

{{blockquote|They soil their bodies, minds and souls with unchastity. Some of them masquerade as monastics, and their woman companions as female monastics. And they are physically corrupted because they satisfy their appetite but, to put it politely, by the act of Onan the son of Judah. For as Onan coupled with Tamar and satisfied his appetite but did not complete the act by planting his seed for the God-given [purpose of] procreation and did himself harm instead, thus, as [he] did the vile thing, so these people have used their supposed [female monastics], committing this infamy. For purity is not their concern, but a hypocritical purity in name. Their concern is limited to ensuring that the woman the seeming [ascetic] has seduced does not get pregnant—either so as not to cause child-bearing, or to escape detection, since they want to be honored for their supposed celibacy. In any case, this is what they do, but others endeavor to get this same filthy satisfaction not with women but by other means, and pollute themselves with their own hands. They too imitate the son of Judah, soil the ground with their forbidden practices and drops of filthy fluid and rub their emissions into the earth with their feet|Epiphanius of Salamis, ''Boston'', 2010, p. 131}}

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

{{blockquote|Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly [[ejaculation|ejaculated]], nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)}}

{{blockquote|To have [[coitus]] other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:95:3}}

===Roman Catholic views===
{{expand section|date=April 2011}}
The papal encyclical ''[[Casti connubii]]'' (1930) invokes this Biblical text in support of the teaching of the Catholic Church [[Christian views on contraception|against contracepted sex]] by quoting St. Augustine, "Intercourse even with one's legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of the offspring is prevented. Onan, the son of Juda [''sic''], did this and the Lord killed him for it."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Casti Connubii (December 31, 1930) {{!}} PIUS XI |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>

===Early Protestant views===
Making reference to Onan's offense to identify [[masturbation]] as sinful, in his ''Commentary on Genesis'', [[John Calvin]] wrote that "the voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between a man and a woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is double monstrous."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thatcher|first1=Adrian|title=God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction|date=2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcNyAOxMLFsC&q=%22%22the+voluntary+spilling+of+semen+outside+of+intercourse+between+a+man+and+a+woman+is+a+monstrous+thing.%22&pg=PT197 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1405193696|pages=184–185}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Reilly|first1=Kevin|editor1-last=Laderman|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=León|editor2-first=Luis|title=Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610691109|page=770|edition=Second|chapter=Masturbation}}</ref>

[[Methodism]] founder [[John Wesley]], according to Bryan C. Hodge, "believed that any waste of the semen in an unproductive sexual act, whether that should be in the form of masturbation or ''coitus interruptus'', as in the case of Onan, destroyed the souls of the individuals who practice it".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hodge|first1=Bryan C.|title=The Christian Case against Contraception: Making the Case from Historical, Biblical, Systematic, and Practical Theology & Ethics|date=2010|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1621892199|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHtJAwAAQBAJ&q=john+wesley+masturbation}}</ref> He wrote his ''Thoughts on the Sin of Onan'' (1767), which was reproduced as ''A Word to Whom it May Concern'' on 1779, as an attempt to censor a work by [[Samuel-Auguste Tissot]].<ref name="Numbers">{{cite book|last1=Numbers|first1=Ronald L.|last2=Amundsen|first2=Darrel W.|title=Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions|date=1986|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0801857961|page=322}}</ref> In that writing, Wesley warned about "the dangers of self pollution", the bad physical and mental effects of masturbation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Madden |first1=Deborah |title='Inward & Outward Health': John Wesley's Holistic Concept of Medical Science, the Environment and Holy Living|date=2012|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1620321270|pages=152–153}}</ref><ref name="Numbers"/> writes many such cases along with the treatment recommendations.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Coe|first1=Bufford W.|title=John Wesley and Marriage|date=1996|publisher=Lehigh University Press|isbn=0934223394|page=64}}</ref>

===Disputes===
According to some [[biblical criticism|Bible critics]] who contextually read this passage, the description of Onan is an [[aetiology|origin myth]] concerning fluctuations in the constituency of the [[tribe of Judah]], with the death of Onan reflecting the dying out of a [[clan]];<ref name="J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar">{{cite book| first= J. A.| last= Emerton| title= Judah And Tamar| publisher= | year= | page= }}</ref><ref name= "ReferenceA">Cheyne and Black, ''[[Encyclopedia Biblica]]''</ref> ''Er'' and ''Onan'' are hence viewed as each being representative of a clan, with Onan possibly representing an [[Edom]]ite clan named Onam,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> mentioned by an Edomite [[genealogy]] in Genesis.<ref>Genesis 36:23</ref>

Biblical scholars universally agree that the biblical story of Onan is not about masturbation nor about contraception per se or the "wasting of semen" but his refusal to fulfill his obligation of levirate-marriage with Tamar by committing ''coitus interruptus''.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45439956 |title=The Oxford guide to people & places of the Bible |first=Carl S.|last=Ehrlich |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-first1=Bruce M.|editor-last1=Metzger|editor-first2=Michael David |editor-last2=Coogan |chapter=Onan |isbn=0-19-514641-7 |location=Oxford, New York |oclc=45439956 |page=222 |quote=Although Onan did cohabit with Tamar, "he spilled his seed on the ground"; for this he was put to death by God. Onan's effort to avoid impregnating his sister-in-law has given rise to the term "onanism," a synonym for masturbation. This passage is then employed by some to indicate divine condemnation of autoeroticism. This interpretation, however, completely misses the point of the passage. Onan's sin was not sexual. Rather, it was his refusal to fulfill the obligation of levirate marriage, according to which a man was obligated to impregnate the wife of his brother if his brother had died without an heir, thus ensuring the continuation of his brothers line and inheritance. That fulfilling this obligation often raised additional questions regarding the apportioning of the familial inheritance is indicated by passages in Deuteronomy and Ruth. Thus Onan's sexual act, most probably coitus interruptus, was the means whereby he avoided his fraternal duty, in spite of the fact that he seemed to be fulfilling it by cohabiting with Tamar. For this deception he was punished.}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/237189110 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |chapter=Onan (PERSON) |editor-first1=David Noel |editor-last1=Freedman |first=Claude F. |last=Mariottini |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1 |location=New Haven, Conn. |oclc=237189110 |quote=This action of Onan probably was a reference to coitus interruptus, but Onan's conduct has  produced the word "onanism," which has come to be a reference to masturbation. |volume=5|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Satlow |first=Michael L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzpv5s5 |title=Tasting the Dish: Rabbinic Rhetorics of Sexuality |date=2020 |publisher=Brown Judaic Studies |isbn=978-1-946527-53-0 |doi= 10.2307/j.ctvzpv5s5|jstor=j.ctvzpv5s5 |s2cid=241988511 }}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last= Satlow |first= Michael L. |date=1994 |title= 'Wasted Seed,' The History of a Rabbinic Idea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23508531 |journal=Hebrew Union College Annual |volume=65 |pages=137–175 | publisher= [[Hebrew Union College]] |jstor=23508531 |issn=0360-9049}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31604392 |title=The book of Genesis. Chapters 18-50 |date=1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |isbn=0-8028-2309-2 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |oclc=31604392 |quote=The levir in this case is to be Onan, the second born. But he refuses to accept his responsibility. Instead, he practices coitus interruptus with Tamar; that is, instead of impregnating her, he wasted his semen on the ground (lit., "he spoiled [it] groundward").This is clearly a reference to withdrawal to prevent conception, rather than a reference to masturbation.}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

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 a myth for its origin;<ref name="J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar"/> Onan's role in the narrative is, thus, as the brother abusing his obligations by agreeing to [[Human reproduction#Copulation|sexual intercourse]] with his dead brother's wife, but refusing to allow her to become pregnant as a result. [[John Emerton|Emerton]] regards the evidence for this to be inconclusive, although [[classical rabbinical literature|classical rabbinical writers]] argued that this narrative describes the origin of levirate marriage.<ref>''[[Genesis Rabbah]]'' 85:6</ref>

John M. Riddle argues that "[[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius (fourth century)]] construed the sin of Onan as ''coitus interruptus''".<ref>{{cite book| last1= Riddle|first1=John M.|title=Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance|year=1992|publisher=Harvard University Press |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-16875-5|oclc=24428750|page=4|chapter=1. Population and Sex|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vS85LtlsnIC&pg=PA4}}</ref> [[John T. Noonan Jr.]] says that "St. Epiphanius gave a plain interpretation of the text as a condemnation of contraception, and he did so only in the context of his anti-Gnostic polemic".<ref name="Noonan">{{cite book|last1=Noonan |first1=John T. Jr. |title=Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists|date=2012|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674070264| page= 101| edition=Enlarged}}</ref>

Bible scholars maintained that the story does not refer to [[masturbation]], but to ''[[coitus interruptus]]''.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{cite book| last= Coogan| first= Michael|title=God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says|url=https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog|url-access= registration|access-date=May 5, 2011| edition= 1st| date= October 2010|publisher=Twelve. Hachette Book Group|location=New York; Boston|isbn=978-0-446-54525-9| oclc=505927356|page=[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/110 110]|quote=Although Onan gives his name to ''onanism,'' usually a synonym for masturbation, Onan was not masturbating but practicing ''coitus interruptus''.}}</ref><ref name="Dancy, 92">{{cite book| last= Dancy| first= J. |title= The Divine Drama: the Old Testament as Literature | publisher= James Clarke & Co.| isbn= 9780718829872| year= 2002| page= 92}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ellens|first1=J. Harold|title=Sex in the Bible: a new consideration |year=2006|publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=0-275-98767-1 |oclc=65429579 |page=48 |chapter= Chapter 6. Making Babies: Purposes of Sex|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXVGBv2eEroC&pg=PA48 |quote=He practiced coitus interruptus whenever he made love to Tamar.}}</ref>  Bible scholars even maintain that the Bible does not claim that masturbation would be sinful.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Patton| first= Michael S.|date=June 1985|title=Masturbation from Judaism to Victorianism|journal= [[Journal of Religion and Health]] |volume=24|issue=2|pages=133–146 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |issn=0022-4197 |doi=10.1007/BF01532257|pmid=24306073|s2cid=39066052 |quote=Social change in attitudes toward masturbation has occurred at the professional level only since 1960 and at the popular level since 1970. [133] ... onanism and masturbation erroneously became synonymous... [134] ... there is no legislation in the Bible pertaining to masturbation. [135]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kwee| first1=Alex W.| first2= David C.| last2= Hoover|year=2008|title=Theologically-Informed Education about Masturbation: A Male Sexual Health Perspective|journal=Journal of Psychology and Theology|volume=36|issue=4|pages=258–269|location=La Mirada, California|publisher=Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University|issn=0091-6471|access-date=12 November 2011|url=http://www.alexkwee.com/uploads/kwee_hoover08.pdf|quote=The Bible presents no clear theological ethic on masturbation, leaving many young unmarried Christians with confusion and guilt around their sexuality.|doi=10.1177/009164710803600402|s2cid=142040707}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nemesnyik Rashkow|first1=Ilona|year=2000|title=Taboo Or Not Taboo: Sexuality and Family in the Hebrew Bible|chapter=Sin and Sex, Sex and Sin: The Hebrew Bible and Human Sexuality|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmeBybf8-JgC&q=leviticus+masturbation&pg=PA16| location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press|page=16|isbn=9781451409871|quote=Since it is questionable whether masturbation is considered a category of "negative" sexual activity in the Hebrew Bible, I shall not discuss masturbation. (The sin of Onan [Genesis 38] is not necessarily that of masturbation; otherwise, oblique references to seminal emission, such as "a man, when an emission of semen comes out of him" [Lev 15:16], refer to the emission rather than its circumstances. Female masturbation is never mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.)|oclc=42603147|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162647/https://books.google.com/books?id=hmeBybf8-JgC&q=leviticus+masturbation&pg=PA16 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="jonesandjones">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stanton |last2=Jones |first2= Brenna |year= 2014 |chapter= Chapter 13: Developing Moral Discernment About Masturbation and Petting|title=How and When to Tell Your Kids About Sex: A Lifelong Approach to Shaping Your Child's Sexual Character|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exv0AgAAQBAJ&q=Johnson+suggests+that+this+Leviticus+passage+is+significant+for+treating+a+solitary+sexual+experience,+whether+wet+dream+or+masturbation,+as+a+purely&pg=PT253|location=Colorado Springs, CO|publisher=NavPress, Tyndale House|page=253|isbn=9781612912301|quote=1. We are aware of only one argument that attempts to draw directly from the Scripture to establish a basis for the acceptance of masturbation, found in J. Johnson, "Toward a Biblical Approach to Masturbation, Journal of Psychology and Theology 10 (1982): 137-146. Johnson suggests that Leviticus 15:16-18 should set the tone for our dealing with masturbation. Verses 16 and 17 say that a man who has an emission of semen should wash and be ceremonially unclean until evening. Verse 18 goes on to say that if a man and woman have intercourse, the same cleanliness rules apply. By bringing up intercourse separately, the passage surely does imply that the emission of semen in verses 16 and 17 occurred for the man individually. The passage may be referring to a nocturnal emission, or wet dream, rather than masturbation, but the passage is not specific. Johnson suggests that this Leviticus passage is significant for treating a solitary sexual experience, whether wet dream or masturbation, as a purely ceremonial cleanliness issue and not as a matter of morality. The passage also puts no more disapproval on the solitary experience than it does on intercourse. Since Christians today commonly view the Old Testament ceremonial law as no longer valid, this author suggests that masturbation is not in itself a moral concern from a biblical perspective and is no longer a ceremonial concern either.|oclc=104623265|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162645/https://books.google.com/books?id=exv0AgAAQBAJ&q=Johnson+suggests+that+this+Leviticus+passage+is+significant+for+treating+a+solitary+sexual+experience,+whether+wet+dream+or+masturbation,+as+a+purely&pg=PT253|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="tjwray">{{cite book|last1=Wray|first1=Tina J.|year=2011|chapter=Chapter 7. Should We or Shouldn't We? A Brief Exploration of Sexuality and Gender|title=What the Bible Really Tells Us: The Essential Guide to Biblical Literacy|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OAewArzQ624C&q=masturbation+never+mentioned+bible&pg=PA143|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whatbiblereallyt0000wray/page/142 142–143]|isbn=9781442212930|quote=Returning to the Levitical list of sexual taboos, curiously missing from the list is any mention of masturbation. Many people assume that this, too, is forbidden, but the truth is, the word masturbation is never specifically mentioned in the Bible, though some argue that it is implied (and also condemned) in several places. The story cited most often is found in Genesis 38...For centuries this obscure passage has been used as an indictment against masturbation though it is not masturbation at all...But if Onan's story is not about masturbation, then where in the Bible is the practice forbidden? Some commentators conclude that the word porneia&mdash;a word already discussed in the first two assumptions&mdash;is a catchall term to include all forms of unchastity, including masturbation, but others vehemently disagree. In the book of Leviticus, there is explicit mention of purity regulations regarding semen that seem to emanate from either masturbation or possibly nocturnal emission: [Bible quote Lev 15:16-17] None of this, however, represent a clear condemnation of masturbation. |oclc= 707329261|url=https://archive.org/details/whatbiblereallyt0000wray/page/142}}</ref><ref name="lech">{{cite book|last1=Jech|first1=Carl L. |year= 2013| chapter= Chapter 2. Beyond Heaven and Hell|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz1JAwAAQBAJ&q=masturbation+mentioned+bible&pg=PA97|title=Religion as Art Form: Reclaiming Spirituality Without Supernatural Beliefs|location=Eugene, OR|publisher=Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers| page=97 |isbn= 9781621896708|oclc=853272981|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162646/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz1JAwAAQBAJ&q=masturbation+mentioned+bible&pg=PA97|url-status=live|quote=(Masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible.)}}</ref><ref name="vern">{{cite journal|last1=Malan|first1=Mark Kim|last2=Bullough|first2=Vern|date=Fall 2005| title=Historical development of new masturbation attitudes in Mormon culture: secular conformity, counterrevolution, and emerging reform| url= http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/mormon_masturbation.pdf|journal=Sexuality & Culture|volume=9|issue=4|pages=80–127|issn=1095-5143|quote=While nowhere in the Bible is there a clear unchallenged reference to masturbation, Jewish tradition was always seriously concerned about the loss of semen. The Book of Leviticus, for example states: [Bible quote Lev 14:16-18]...Although masturbation is not mentioned in the Bible or Book of Mormon, absence of scriptural authority on the matter, Kimball said, is irrelevant: "Let no one rationalize their sins on the excuse that a particular sin of his is not mentioned nor forbidden in scripture" (p.25).|doi=10.1007/s12119-005-1003-z|s2cid=145480822|access-date=2015-06-26|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110812181340/http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/mormon_masturbation.pdf|archive-date=2011-08-12|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name= vines>{{cite book|last1=Vines|first1=Matthew|year=2014|chapter=4. The Real Sin of Sodom|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTS0AAAAQBAJ&q=traditional+christian+interpretation+onan&pg=PT72|title=God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday Religious Publishing Group|page=72|isbn=9781601425171|oclc=869801284|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162649/https://books.google.com/books?id=bTS0AAAAQBAJ&q=traditional+christian+interpretation+onan&pg=PT72| url-status=live|quote=Most Christians today understand that masturbation was not the sin of Onan. What's more, many also recognize that masturbation is not inherently sinful.}}</ref>

Although the story of Onan does not involve masturbation, according to [[Peter Lewis Allen]], some theologians found "a common element" in both ''coitus interruptus'' (also known as onanism) and masturbation, as well as anal intercourse and other forms of nonmarital and nonvaginal sexual acts, which are considered wrongful acts.<ref name="Allen">{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Peter Lewis|title=The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present |date=2002| publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn=0226014614}}</ref>{{rp|81–82}}