Onan was a biblical person detailed in the Book of Genesis chapter 38, as the second son of Judah who married the daughter of Shuah the Canaanite. Onan had an older brother Er and a younger brother, Shelah as well.
3 quotes found
"Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord killed him And Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.”"
"Onan, Sade, Masoch – how fortunate they are! Their names, like their deeds, will never fade away."
"It was the law among the Jews that the widow of a man who died without children should be married to the brother of the deceased, and that any offspring resulting from this union should be attributed to the deceased husband: this is the law known as leviarate marriage (Deuteronomy, 25, 5-10), which was intended to prevent families from dying out. Here, Onan, in order not to lose his brother's inheritance, prevents procreation with a sin that he calls onanism, which corresponds precisely to modern Malthusianism. The Bible's condemnation of these practices is inexorable."