Person
Onan
Second son of Judah who refused his levirate duty to Tamar and was killed by the LORD, leaving Judah without an heir in the Tamar episode.
Who is this?
Onan was the second son of by a woman named Shua's daughter. After his older brother Er died, Judah instructed Onan to fulfill the levirate obligation and raise offspring for Er's widow Tamar. Onan, however, repeatedly prevented conception when he was with Tamar, since any child would be reckoned as his brother's heir rather than his own. The LORD regarded what he did as wicked and put him to death as well (Gen 38:8–10). His death, like Er's, left Tamar a childless widow in Judah's household, setting up the later episode in which Tamar disguised herself to obtain offspring from Judah himself.
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Where this appears in Scripture
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