Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 38:10
And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
Verse 10. Wherefore he slew him also.] The sin of Onan has generally been supposed to be self-pollution; but this is certainly a mistake; his crime was his refusal to raise up seed to his brother, and rather than do it, by the act mentioned above, he rendered himself incapable of it. We find from this history that long be fore the Mosaic law it was an established custom, probably founded on a Divine precept, that if a man died childless his brother was to take his wife, and the children produced by this second marriage were considered as the children of the first husband, and in consequence inherited his possessions.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Displeased the Lord; an expression noting a more than ordinary offence against God, as 2Sa 11:27. This just but dreadful severity of God is noted both for the terror of such-like transgressors, and to provoke love and thankfulness to God in those whom he useth more indulgently.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the thing which he did displeased the Lord,…. Being done out of envy to his brother, and through want of affection to the memory of his name; and it may be out of covetousness to get his estate into his own hands, and especially as it frustrated the end of such an usage of marrying a brother’s wife; which appears to be according to the will of God, since it afterwards became a known law of his; and it was the more displeasing, as it was not only a check upon the multiplication of Abraham’s seed as promised, but since the Messiah was to come from Judah. This was doing all to hinder it that lay in his power:
wherefore he slew him also; in like manner as he had slain his brother, Ge 38:7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD. Less neatly the Jews speak about this matter. I will contend myself with briefly mentioning this, as far as the sense of shame allows to discuss it. It is a horrible thing to pour out seed besides the intercourse of man and woman. Deliberately avoiding the intercourse, so that the seed drops on the ground, is double horrible. For this means that one quenches the hope of his family, and kills the son, which could be expected, before he is born. This wickedness is now as severely as is possible condemned by the Spirit, through Moses, that Onan, as it were, through a violent and untimely birth, tore away the seed of his brother out the womb, and as cruel as shamefully has thrown on the earth. Moreover he thus has, as much as was in his power, tried to destroy a part of the human race. When a woman in some way drives away the seed out the womb, through aids, then this is rightly seen as an unforgivable crime. Onan was guilty of a similar crime, by defiling the earth with his seed, so that Tamar would not receive a future inheritor.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Timnath, a place remarkable for intrigue. See Jdg 14:1-2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 38:10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
Ver. 10. Wherefore he slew him. ] God oft punisheth the abuse of the marriage bed, either with untimely death – it was well said of one, a that Venus provides not for those that are already born, but for those that shall be born – or else with no children, misshapen children, idiots, or prodigiously wicked children, &c. Cavete let this consideration be as the angel standing with a drawn sword over Balaam’s shoulders.
a Cuffe’s Differ. of Ages, 106.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
displeased. Hebrew was evil in the eyes of Jehovah. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
displeased: Heb. was evil in the eyes of, Num 11:1, Num 22:34, 2Sa 11:27, 1Ch 21:7, Pro 14:32, Pro 24:18, Jer 44:4, Hag 1:13
him also: Gen 46:12, Num 26:19
Reciprocal: Gen 48:17 – displeased him Isa 59:15 – displeased him Rom 5:13 – until