GENESIS—NOTE ON Genesis 38:9 Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. While publicly Onan appears to fulfill his father’s request, in private he refuses to father a child on behalf of Er. he would waste the semen on the ground. Onan avoided impregnating Tamar. He probably selfishly feared that a son born to Tamar would reduce the importance of his own family line and his share of Judah’s inheritance.

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