LEVIRATE MARRIAGE IN OLD TESTAMENT WORLD. part 2

We take a break today from our James study to continue our long-form series by looking at Levirate marriage. Today, we will focus on the examples of levirate marriage and the kinsman redeemer found in Ruth. For the first part of this series, it can be found here.

---

Old Testament Examples

Only two examples of Levirate marriage occur in the Old Testament, both of them difficult to interpret and only imperfectly corresponding to the law in Deuteronomy: the stories of Tamar and Ruth.[1] Judah’s first-born son, Er, dies without having a child by his wife Tamar (Gen 38:6-7). It is the duty of his brother Onan to marry the widow Tamar, but Onan does not want to have a child who would not be his own son by law. So Onan took selfish advantage of Levirate marriage. He wanted sex with his sister-in-law, but he purposefully avoided impregnating her by spilling his semen on the ground (Gen 38:9). For this sin, Yahweh put Onan to death as well (Gen 38:10). Judah was to give his youngest son Shelah to Tamar, but he was worried that he might die as well so he shirks his duty as well (Gen 38:11). This leads to Tamar tricking Judah into having intercourse with her (Gen 38:15-19). “This story of ancient times presents the obligation of the Levirate as much stricter than in the law of Deuteronomy; the brother-in-law may not decline the duty, and it passes to all the surviving brothers in turn (cf. Matt 22:24-27).”[2] Tamar’s seduction of Judah may be a remnant of a time when the duty of Levirate fell on the father-in-law if he had no other sons, a practice which is found among other people groups.[3] However, it is more likely that it is a desperate act of a woman who desires children from the same line as her husband and does not want to be left alone with nothing.

The story found in Ruth combines the custom of the Levirate with the duty of the redemption which belonged to the kinsman redeemer (go’el). For Ruth, the law of Deuteronomy 25 does not apply to her because she did not have any more brothers-in-law (Ruth 1:11-12). “The fact that some near relative must marry her, and that this obligation proceeds in a certain order (Ruth 2:20; 3:12), no doubt indicates a period or a milieu in which the law of levirate was a matter for the clan rather than for the family in the strict sense.”[4] Regardless, the information and effects of the marriage were those of a Levirate marriage, since it was made to perpetuate the name of the dead (Ruth 4:5, 10; cf. 2:20), and the child born of it was considered the son of the deceased (Ruth 4:6; cf. 4:17).[5]

In order to provide more background on this situation with the kinsman redeemer, it is interesting to look at Leviticus 25:25-28 on the topic of redeeming land. It is of note that in this passage a reference to marriage is absent. In this section of Leviticus, the word “redeem” comes into play. Redemption involves buying back land; technically it does not apply to the levir’s contribution of seed, however that is a necessary redemptive step.[6] A levir weds the widow; a gōʾēl, Hebrew for “redeemer,” buys the land.[7] The levir effects one kind of seed; the gōʾēl another.

The problem with this analysis is that it does not exactly fit the book of Ruth. The gōʾēl of Ruth 4 refused without shame, removed his sandal to seal the transaction, and the reader does not want him to redeem her viewing Boaz is the hero. Naomi needed to sell the land, not buy it. Ruth resonates to customs otherwise obscure and distinct from Torah.[8] Boaz is neither a levir nor a gōʾēl in the traditional sense; and in fact “act as levir” (yābam) is not used in Ruth.[9] Boaz did not marry Naomi but her daughter-in-law and in the genealogy, Obed belongs to Boaz not Elimelech, thus nullifying Boaz’s role as levir. It seems that the familial distance was large enough that eligible men could refuse without shame, yet close enough to be permitted to act to save Elimelech’s place in the clan.[10] They were not obligated in the sense given in Deuteronomy 25, and even less in the sense of Genesis 38 (where refusal brought death).[11] In Ruth the spirit of the law is fulfilled, if not the letter.

The book of Numbers declares that a vow made by a wife continued to bind her after her husband’s death (Num 30:10). By the Levirate law, a childless widow could continue as part of her husband’s family. If there was not a brother-in-law to marry, the widow could re-marry outside the family (Ruth 1:9), spending the interval before her second marriage with her own father and mother (Ruth 1:8; Gen 38:11; cf. Lev 22:13).[12] However, Tamar’s story shows that even during this period her father-in-law retained authority over her (Gen 38:24).

---

[1] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Instructions, trans. John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 37.

[2] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Instructions, trans John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 38.

[3] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Instructions, trans John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 38.

[4] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its life and Instructions, trans John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 38.

[5] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its life and Instructions, trans John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 38.

[6] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1299.

[7] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1299.

[8] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1300.

[9] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1300.

[10] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1300.

[11] George M. Schwab, “Ruth,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Numbers–Ruth (Revised Edition), rev and ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 1301.

[12] Roland De Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its life and Instructions, trans John McHugh (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 40.