Genesis 38:9-10 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 38:1-11

Here is, 1. Judah's foolish friendship with a Canaanite-man. He went down from his brethren, and withdrew for a time from their society and his father's family, and got to be intimately acquainted with one Hirah, an Adullamite, Gen. 38:1. It is computed that he was now not much above fifteen or sixteen years of age, an easy prey to the tempter. Note, When young people that have been well educated begin to change their company, they will soon change their manners, and lose their good education.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:9

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his ,.... Should not be called a son of his, but a son of his brother Er; this is to be understood only of the firstborn; all the rest of the children born afterwards were reckoned the children of the real parent of them; this shows this was a custom in use in those times, and well known, and was not a peculiar case: and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife ; to cohabit with her, as man and wife, he having married her... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:10

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:9

Onan knew that the seed should not be his - That is, that the child begotten of his brother's widow should be reckoned as the child of his deceased brother, and his name, though the real father of it, should not appear in the genealogical tables. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:10

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... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:10

Verse 10 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The house of Judah: a family record of sin and shame. I. THE WICKEDNESS OF ER AND ONAN . 1. Early . On any hypothesis Er and Onan can have been little more than boys when they were married, and yet they appear to have arrived at a remarkable precocity in sin. Nor was it simply that they had shed the innocence and purity of youth, but they had also acquired a shameful proficiency in vice. Young scholars are mostly apt learners, especially in the devil's school. 2.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The goodness and severity of God. These occurrences in the family of Judah would seem Judah is a wanderer from his brethren; a sensual, self-willed, degenerate man; yet it is in the line of this same wanderer that the promised seed shall appear. The whole is a lesson on the evil of separation from the people of God . Luther asks why such things were placed in Scripture, and answers, read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:9-10

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when —literally, and it was if, i.e. whenever— he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground (literally, destroyed to the ground ) , lest that he should (or, so as not to) give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased (literally, was evil in the eyes of ) the Lord :—the word Jehovah is employed not because the writer was a late interpolator, but because the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 38:1-30

- The Family of Judah1. עדלם ‛ǎdûllâm, ‘Adullam, “righteousness.” חירה chı̂yrâh Chirah, “nobility?”2. שׁוּע shûa‛, Shua‘, “luck, riches, cry.”3. ער ‛êr, ‘Er, “watching.”4. אונן 'ônân, Onan, “strong.”5. שׁלה shēlâh, Shelah, “request? rest.” כזיב kezı̂yb Kezib, “falsehood.”6. תמר tāmār, Tamar, “palm.”12. תמנה tı̂mnâh, Timnah, “counted or assigned.”14. עינים 'êynayı̂m, ‘Enaim, “two fountains.”29. פרץ perets, Perets, “breach.”This strange narrative is an episode in the history of... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 38:1-11

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 38:10

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:9

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:10

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 38:10

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:1-30

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 38:9-10

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 38:1-30

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