GENESIS—NOTE ON Genesis 38:8 Judah instructs his second son Onan to fulfill the custom of “levirate marriage,” which required a brother to marry his brother’s childless widow and give her children. See Deuteronomy 25:5. It plays an important role in the book of Ruth 1:1 (Ruth 1:11; Ruth 4:1). Judah is eager that Tamar should have a son to continue the firstborn line of Er.

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