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[[file:Facial Chronicle - b.01, p.254 - Story of Onan.jpg|thumb| Story of Onan]]
{{Short description|Biblical figure; second son of Judah}}
{{Other uses}}

'''Onan'''{{efn|{{Hebrew Name|אוֹנָן|ʾŌnan|ʾŌnān}} "Mourner"; {{langx|grc|Αὐνάν|Aunan}}.}} was a figure detailed in the [[Book of Genesis]] chapter 38,<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|38|HE|Chapter 38}}</ref>  as the second son of [[Judah (son of Jacob)|Judah]] who married the daughter of [[Shuah]] the Canaanite. Onan had an older brother [[Er (biblical person)|Er]] and a younger brother, [[Shelah (son of Judah)|Shelah]] as well. 

Onan was commanded by his father, Judah, to perform his duty as a husband's brother according to the custom of [[levirate marriage]] with Er's widow [[Tamar (Genesis)|Tamar]]. Onan refused to perform his duty as a levirate and instead "spilled his seed on the ground whenever he went in" because "the offspring would not be his", and was thus put to death by [[Yahweh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |title=Genesis: Translation and Commentary |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1997 |isbn=978-0393316704 |edition=First |pages=218 |quote=And Er his firstborn was evil in the eyes of the LORD. The nature of his moral failing remains unspecified, but given the insistent pattern of reversal of primogeniture in all these stories, it seems almost sufficient merely to be firstborn in order to incur God's displeasure: though the firstborn is not necessarily evil, he usually turns out to be obtuse, rash, wild, or otherwise disqualified from carrying on the heritage. It is noteworthy that Judah, who invented the lie that triggered his own father's mourning for a dead son, is bereaved of two sons in rapid sequence. In contrast to Jacob's extravagant grief, nothing is said about Judah's emotional response to the losses}}</ref> This act is detailed as retribution for being "displeasing in the sight of Lord".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/237189110 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |editor-first1=David Noel|editor-last1=Freedman |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1 |location=New Haven, Conn. |oclc=237189110 |quote=The second son of Judah and Shua, a Canaanite woman (Gen  38:2–4). He was the brother of Er and Shelah. In the genealogical list of Judah‘s descendants, Onan is mentioned as the daughter of Bath-shua (1 Chr 2:3). Judah had arranged a marriage between his firstborn, Er, and a woman named Tamar. Er, however, died  an early death, which was attributed to an act of Yahweh because of Er‘s unmentioned wickedness (Gen  36:7).}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=ONAN - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11708-onan |access-date=2022-06-20 |website=jewishencyclopedia.com |quote=A son of Judah; he refused to enter into a levirate marriage with his sister-in-law after the death of his elder brother Er, and it was for this reason that the Lord "slew him also" (Gen. xxxviii. 7-10).}}</ref> Onan's crime is often misinterpreted as being [[masturbation]], but it is universally agreed among biblical scholars that Onan's death is attributed to his refusal to fulfill his obligation of levirate marriage with Tamar by committing [[coitus interruptus]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Patton |first=Michael S. |date=1986 |title=Twentieth-Century Attitudes Toward Masturbation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27505893 |journal=Journal of Religion and Health |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=291–302 |doi=10.1007/BF01534067 |jstor=27505893 |pmid=24301692 |s2cid=2994906 |issn=0022-4197 |quote=The story of Onan in Genesis 38:7-10 has been the basis of the condemnation of masturbation by Jewish and Christian theologians. Biblical scholars universally agree that the Onan story is a gross misconception of masturbation, since Onan's sexual activity was not masturbation but coitus interruptus.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=Carr |first1=David M. |title=The new Oxford annotated Bible : New Revised Standard version with the Apocrypha |date=2018 |editor-first1=Michael David|editor-last1=Coogan|editor-first2=Marc Zvi|editor-last2=Brettler|editor-first3=Carol A.|editor-last3=Newsom|editor-first4=Pheme|editor-last4=Perkins |isbn=978-0-19-027609-6 |edition=Fully revised fifth |location=New York, New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=1006596851 |quote=Onan's death is attributed to his refusal to perform this duty  of impregnating Er's widow, Tamar, probably by coitus interruptus (rather than "onanism," masturbation).|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UnpVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65}}</ref>

==Biblical account==

After [[Yahweh]] slew Onan's oldest brother [[Er (biblical person)|Er]], Onan's father [[Judah (son of Jacob)|Judah]] told him to fulfill his duty<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/892869165 |title=The Jewish Study Bible |date=2014 |editor-first=Adele |editor-last=Berlin|editor-first2=Marc Zvi |editor-last2=Brettler|isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |edition=Second |location=Oxford |oclc=892869165 |quote=The duty in question, known in English as "levirate marriage" is spelled out in Deut. 25.5-10. If a man dies childless, his brother is obligated to marry his widow, and her first son is reckoned as the offspring of the deceased. In Deuteronomy, the surviving brother can decline and undergo a procedure that the Rabbis named "halitzah," but Gen. ch 38 presupposes a stage in the history of the law in which "haliztah" is still unknown.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31604392 |title=The book of Genesis. Chapters 18-50 |date=1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |isbn=0-8028-2309-2 |location=Grand Rapids, Mich. |oclc=31604392 |quote=Onan's responsibility is to fulfill his part in what is known as levirate marriage. He is to levirate, or perform the duty of a brother-in-law to (weyabbēm), Tamar. Later biblical law spells out the particulars of the levirate in Deut. 25:5-10, in which the root ybm (cf. yāḇām, "brother-in-law") appears six times (twice as a verb, vv. 5, 7; four times as a noun, vv. 5, 7 [twice], 9). These six occurrences of ybm account for all but two uses of the root in the OT (here and Ruth 1:15). The law states that if brothers live together, and if one of them is married but dies without children, one of the surviving brothers is to marry or take her as wife and father a child with her. The child born of this levirate relationship (levir is Latin for "brother-in-law") carries on the name of his deceased father and eventually inherits the family estate. Here Judah is clever enough to mention only producing a child for the brother. For obvious reasons he says nothing about the inheritance this child will one day receive.}}</ref> as a brother-in-law by entering into a [[levirate marriage]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=LEVIRATE MARRIAGE - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15085-yibbum |access-date=2022-06-20 |website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |title=Genesis: Translation and Commentary |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1997 |isbn=978-0393316704 |edition=1st |pages=218 |quote=8. do your duty as brother-in-law. In the Hebrew, this is a single verb, yabem, referring to the so-called levirate marriage. The legal obligation of yibum, which was a widespread practice in the ancient Near East, was incurred when a man died leaving his wife childless. His closest brother in order of birth was obliged to become his proxy, "raising up seed" for him by impregnating his widow. The dead brother would thus be provided a kind of biological continuity, and the widow would be able to produce progeny, which was a woman's chief avenue of fulfillment in this culture.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/237189110 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |editor-first1=David Noel|editor-last1=Freedman |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1 |location=New Haven, Conn. |oclc=237189110 |quote=The purpose of levirate marriage is expressed by Deut 25:6: ―that his name [the name of the dead  brother] may not be blotted out of Israel.‖ Thus, in order to comply with the intent of the tradition, Judah  commanded Onan to take the wife of his deceased brother in order to raise an offspring for his brother (Gen 38:8). Onan was not required to actually marry Tamar, for in levirate marriage the widow only had the right to a son to preserve her husband‘s name}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=John J. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1031462523 |title=Introduction to the Hebrew Bible |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-5064-4605-9 |edition=Third |publisher=Fortress Press| location=Minneapolis |oclc=1031462523 |quote=The story begins with Judah's marriage to a Canaanite woman. This is not condemned in the text, but it goes against the practice of the patriarchs hitherto. When their son Er dies, his brother Onan is expected to "go in" to his widow, Tamar, to raise up offspring for him. (This is known as the levirate law. It is spelled out in Deut 25:5-10.)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45879881 |title=The Oxford Bible commentary |date=2001 |editor-first=John |editor-last=Barton|editor-first2=John |editor-last2=Muddiman |isbn=0-19-875500-7 |location=Oxford |oclc=45879881 |quote=Tamar's second marriage, to Onan, conforms to the custom of levirate marriage (see Deut 25:5—6).}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/892041536 |title=The New interpreter's bible commentary. |date=2015 |publisher=Abingdon Press |editor=Leander E. Keck |isbn=978-1-4267-3912-5 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |oclc=892041536 |quote=Judah then directs his second son, Onan, to "perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her" (though marriage is not mentioned, consummation probably entails it; cf. v. 14)—namely, to raise up an heir to carry on the name and inheritance of the deceased brother  (cf. Deut 25:5-10; Ruth 4).}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1006596851 |title=The new Oxford annotated Bible : New Revised Standard version with the Apocrypha |date=2018 |editor-first=Michael David |editor-last=Coogan|editor-first2=Marc Zvi |editor-last2=Brettler|editor-first3=Carol A. |editor-last3=Newsom|editor-first4=Pheme |editor-last4=Perkins |isbn=978-0-19-027609-6 |edition=Fully revised fifth |location=New York, New York |oclc=1006596851 |quote=According to the ancient custom of levirate marriage (Deut 25.5–10), the duty of  a brother-in-law of his brother's childless widow was to impregnate her and thus perpetuate his brother's name and inheritance through his widow's offspring.|page=65}}</ref> with his brother's widow [[Tamar (Genesis)|Tamar]] to give her offspring. Religion professor [[Tikva Frymer-Kensky]] has pointed out the economic repercussions of a levirate marriage:  any son born to Tamar would be deemed the heir of the deceased Er and could claim the firstborn's double share of an inheritance. However, if Er were childless or only had daughters, Onan would have inherited as the oldest surviving son.<ref name="Frymer">Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "[http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/tamar-bible Tamar: Bible]", ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia''. 20 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on August 6, 2014)</ref>

When Onan had sex with Tamar, he withdrew before he ejaculated<ref>Freedman, Myers & Beck. ''Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible'' ({{ISBN|0802824005}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-2400-4}}), 2000, p. 1273</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/892041536 |title=The New interpreter's bible commentary. |date=2015 |publisher=Abingdon Press |editor=Leander E. Keck |isbn=978-1-4267-3912-5 |location=Nashville, Tennessee |oclc=892041536 |quote=Onan sabotages the intent of the relationship  in order to gain Er's inheritance for himself upon  Judah's death—the firstborn would receive a double share. He regularly uses Tamar for sex, but makes sure she does not become pregnant by not letting his semen enter her (coitus interruptus, not masturbation). He thereby formally fulfills his  duty, lest the role be passed on to his other brother and he lose Er's inheritance in this way. This willful deception would be observable to  Tamar, but God's observation leads to Onan's death (again, by unspecified means).}}</ref> and "spilled his [[semen|seed]] on the ground" thus committing ''[[Coitus interruptus|coitus interuptus]]'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |title=Genesis: Translation and Commentary |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1997 |isbn=978-0393316704 |edition=1st |pages=218 |quote=he would waste his seed on the ground. Despite the confusion engendered by the English term "onanism" that derives from this text, the activity referred to is almost certainly coitus interruptus—as Rashi vividly puts it, "threshing within, winnowing without."}}</ref> since any child born would not legally be considered his heir.<ref>Dershowitz. ''The Genesis of Justice'' ({{ISBN|0446524794}}, {{ISBN|978-0-446-52479-7}}), 2000, ch. 9</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Alter |first=Robert |title=Genesis: Translation and Commentary |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1997 |isbn=978-0393316704 |edition=1st |pages=218 |quote=9. the seed would not be his. Evidently, Onan is troubled by the role of sexual proxy, which creates a situation in which the child he begets will be legally considered his dead brother's offspring.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/892869165 |title=The Jewish Study Bible |date=2014 |editor-first=Adele |editor-last=Berlin|editor-first2=Marc Zvi |editor-last2=Brettler|isbn=978-0-19-997846-5 |edition=Second |location=Oxford |oclc=892869165 |quote=9:Onan would have to expend his own resources to support a child that is  legally someone else's, and the child, as the heir to a first-born son, would displace Onan in the line of inheritance to boot.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walton |first=John H. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/46872206 |title=Genesis : from biblical text ... to contemporary life |date=2001 |isbn=0-310-20617-0 |location=Grand Rapids, Mich |oclc=46872206 |quote=Onan's refusal is explained by his knowledge that the son will not be his (38:9). We need to recognize, then, that there is a birthright issue here. Er was the firstborn and entitled to the birthright. If he has no offspring, the birthright will transfer to Onan. If, however, Tamar bears a son that is considered Er's, the birthright will pass to that son.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mathews |first=K. A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33207787 |title=Genesis |date=1996–2005 |publisher=Broadman & Holman Publishers |isbn=0-8054-0101-6 |location=Nashville, Tenn. |oclc=33207787 |quote=Onan, however, refused to impregnate Tamar, ejaculating on the ground (coitus interruptus) because he did not want to reduce his share of the family inheritance.}}</ref> The next statement in the Bible says that Onan displeased Yahweh, so the Lord slew him.<ref>{{bibleref|Genesis|38:8-10|HE}}</ref> Onan's crime is often misinterpreted to be masturbation but it is universally agreed among biblical scholars that Onan's death is attributed to his refusal to fulfill his obligation of levirate marriage with Tamar by committing ''coitus interruptus.''<ref name=":3"/><ref name=":4"/>

However, Onan‘s reluctance to give a child to his sister-in-law may reflect a rejection of this custom already present in society. The regulation of levirate marriage in Deut 25:5–10 shows that the custom had encountered some opposition. The law in Deuteronomy allowing a man to refuse<ref>{{Cite web |title=ḤALIẒAH - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7105-halizah |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> his duty was a concession to the reluctance to comply with the custom. Because of Onan's unwillingness to bear a child for his deceased brother, Yahweh was displeased with Onan and slew him also (Gen 38:10).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/237189110 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |editor-first1=David Noel | editor-last1=Freedman |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1 |location=New Haven, Conn. |oclc=237189110}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

=== Family tree ===
{{Judah and Tamar family tree}}

==Interpretation==
The implication from the narrative is that Onan's act as described is what gave rise to divine displeasure.

===Early Jewish views===
One opinion expressed in the [[Talmud]] argues that this was where the [[death penalty]]'s imposition originated.<ref name="niddah13a">[[Tohorot|Niddah]] 13a.</ref>{{not in source|date=October 2022}} The Talmud also likens emitting [[semen]] in vain to shedding blood.<ref name="niddah13a"/>

However, the [[Keri|regulations concerning ejaculation]] in the [[book of Leviticus]], whether as a result of [[sexual intercourse]] or not,<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|15:18|HE}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|15:16-17|HE}}</ref> merely prescribe a ritual washing and becoming [[ritual impurity|ritually impure]] until the following evening.

===Classical Christian views===
Early Christian writers have sometimes focused on the ''spilling seed'', and the sexual act being used for non-procreational purposes. This interpretation was held by several early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologists]]. [[Jerome]], for example, argued:

{{blockquote|But I wonder why he the heretic [[Jovinianus]] set Judah and Tamar before us for an example, unless perchance even harlots give him pleasure; or Onan, who was slain because he begrudged his brother his seed. Does he imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the [[procreation]] of children?|Jerome, ''Against Jovinian'' 1:19 (AD 393)}}

[[Epiphanius of Salamis]] wrote against heretics who used ''[[coitus interruptus]]'', calling it the sin of Οnan:<ref>United States Congress Senate Committee on Government Operations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures. Population Crisis: Hearings, Eighty-ninth Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966, p. 403–404''</ref>

{{blockquote|They soil their bodies, minds and souls with unchastity. Some of them masquerade as monastics, and their woman companions as female monastics. And they are physically corrupted because they satisfy their appetite but, to put it politely, by the act of Onan the son of Judah. For as Onan coupled with Tamar and satisfied his appetite but did not complete the act by planting his seed for the God-given [purpose of] procreation and did himself harm instead, thus, as [he] did the vile thing, so these people have used their supposed [female monastics], committing this infamy. For purity is not their concern, but a hypocritical purity in name. Their concern is limited to ensuring that the woman the seeming [ascetic] has seduced does not get pregnant—either so as not to cause child-bearing, or to escape detection, since they want to be honored for their supposed celibacy. In any case, this is what they do, but others endeavor to get this same filthy satisfaction not with women but by other means, and pollute themselves with their own hands. They too imitate the son of Judah, soil the ground with their forbidden practices and drops of filthy fluid and rub their emissions into the earth with their feet|Epiphanius of Salamis, ''Boston'', 2010, p. 131}}

[[Clement of Alexandria]], while not making explicit reference to Onan, similarly reflects an early Christian view of the abhorrence of ''spilling seed'':

{{blockquote|Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly [[ejaculation|ejaculated]], nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:91:2 (AD 191)}}

{{blockquote|To have [[coitus]] other than to procreate children is to do injury to nature.|Clement of Alexandria, ''The Instructor of Children'' 2:10:95:3}}

===Roman Catholic views===
{{expand section|date=April 2011}}
The papal encyclical ''[[Casti connubii]]'' (1930) invokes this Biblical text in support of the teaching of the Catholic Church [[Christian views on contraception|against contracepted sex]] by quoting St. Augustine, "Intercourse even with one's legitimate wife is unlawful and wicked where the conception of the offspring is prevented. Onan, the son of Juda [''sic''], did this and the Lord killed him for it."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Casti Connubii (December 31, 1930) {{!}} PIUS XI |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=www.vatican.va}}</ref>

===Early Protestant views===
Making reference to Onan's offense to identify [[masturbation]] as sinful, in his ''Commentary on Genesis'', [[John Calvin]] wrote that "the voluntary spilling of semen outside of intercourse between a man and a woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is double monstrous."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thatcher|first1=Adrian|title=God, Sex, and Gender: An Introduction|date=2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcNyAOxMLFsC&q=%22%22the+voluntary+spilling+of+semen+outside+of+intercourse+between+a+man+and+a+woman+is+a+monstrous+thing.%22&pg=PT197 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1405193696|pages=184–185}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Reilly|first1=Kevin|editor1-last=Laderman|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=León|editor2-first=Luis|title=Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610691109|page=770|edition=Second|chapter=Masturbation}}</ref>

[[Methodism]] founder [[John Wesley]], according to Bryan C. Hodge, "believed that any waste of the semen in an unproductive sexual act, whether that should be in the form of masturbation or ''coitus interruptus'', as in the case of Onan, destroyed the souls of the individuals who practice it".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hodge|first1=Bryan C.|title=The Christian Case against Contraception: Making the Case from Historical, Biblical, Systematic, and Practical Theology & Ethics|date=2010|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1621892199|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHtJAwAAQBAJ&q=john+wesley+masturbation}}</ref> He wrote his ''Thoughts on the Sin of Onan'' (1767), which was reproduced as ''A Word to Whom it May Concern'' on 1779, as an attempt to censor a work by [[Samuel-Auguste Tissot]].<ref name="Numbers">{{cite book|last1=Numbers|first1=Ronald L.|last2=Amundsen|first2=Darrel W.|title=Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions|date=1986|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0801857961|page=322}}</ref> In that writing, Wesley warned about "the dangers of self pollution", the bad physical and mental effects of masturbation,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Madden |first1=Deborah |title='Inward & Outward Health': John Wesley's Holistic Concept of Medical Science, the Environment and Holy Living|date=2012|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1620321270|pages=152–153}}</ref><ref name="Numbers"/> writes many such cases along with the treatment recommendations.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Coe|first1=Bufford W.|title=John Wesley and Marriage|date=1996|publisher=Lehigh University Press|isbn=0934223394|page=64}}</ref>

===Disputes===
According to some [[biblical criticism|Bible critics]] who contextually read this passage, the description of Onan is an [[aetiology|origin myth]] concerning fluctuations in the constituency of the [[tribe of Judah]], with the death of Onan reflecting the dying out of a [[clan]];<ref name="J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar">{{cite book| first= J. A.| last= Emerton| title= Judah And Tamar| publisher= | year= | page= }}</ref><ref name= "ReferenceA">Cheyne and Black, ''[[Encyclopedia Biblica]]''</ref> ''Er'' and ''Onan'' are hence viewed as each being representative of a clan, with Onan possibly representing an [[Edom]]ite clan named Onam,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> mentioned by an Edomite [[genealogy]] in Genesis.<ref>Genesis 36:23</ref>

Biblical scholars universally agree that the biblical story of Onan is not about masturbation nor about contraception per se or the "wasting of semen" but his refusal to fulfill his obligation of levirate-marriage with Tamar by committing ''coitus interruptus''.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45439956 |title=The Oxford guide to people & places of the Bible |first=Carl S.|last=Ehrlich |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-first1=Bruce M.|editor-last1=Metzger|editor-first2=Michael David |editor-last2=Coogan |chapter=Onan |isbn=0-19-514641-7 |location=Oxford, New York |oclc=45439956 |page=222 |quote=Although Onan did cohabit with Tamar, "he spilled his seed on the ground"; for this he was put to death by God. Onan's effort to avoid impregnating his sister-in-law has given rise to the term "onanism," a synonym for masturbation. This passage is then employed by some to indicate divine condemnation of autoeroticism. This interpretation, however, completely misses the point of the passage. Onan's sin was not sexual. Rather, it was his refusal to fulfill the obligation of levirate marriage, according to which a man was obligated to impregnate the wife of his brother if his brother had died without an heir, thus ensuring the continuation of his brothers line and inheritance. That fulfilling this obligation often raised additional questions regarding the apportioning of the familial inheritance is indicated by passages in Deuteronomy and Ruth. Thus Onan's sexual act, most probably coitus interruptus, was the means whereby he avoided his fraternal duty, in spite of the fact that he seemed to be fulfilling it by cohabiting with Tamar. For this deception he was punished.}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/237189110 |title=The Anchor Yale Bible dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Yale University Press |chapter=Onan (PERSON) |editor-first1=David Noel |editor-last1=Freedman |first=Claude F. |last=Mariottini |isbn=978-0-300-14081-1 |location=New Haven, Conn. |oclc=237189110 |quote=This action of Onan probably was a reference to coitus interruptus, but Onan's conduct has  produced the word "onanism," which has come to be a reference to masturbation. |volume=5|pages=20–21}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Satlow |first=Michael L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvzpv5s5 |title=Tasting the Dish: Rabbinic Rhetorics of Sexuality |date=2020 |publisher=Brown Judaic Studies |isbn=978-1-946527-53-0 |doi= 10.2307/j.ctvzpv5s5|jstor=j.ctvzpv5s5 |s2cid=241988511 }}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last= Satlow |first= Michael L. |date=1994 |title= 'Wasted Seed,' The History of a Rabbinic Idea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23508531 |journal=Hebrew Union College Annual |volume=65 |pages=137–175 | publisher= [[Hebrew Union College]] |jstor=23508531 |issn=0360-9049}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31604392 |title=The book of Genesis. Chapters 18-50 |date=1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |isbn=0-8028-2309-2 |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |oclc=31604392 |quote=The levir in this case is to be Onan, the second born. But he refuses to accept his responsibility. Instead, he practices coitus interruptus with Tamar; that is, instead of impregnating her, he wasted his semen on the ground (lit., "he spoiled [it] groundward").This is clearly a reference to withdrawal to prevent conception, rather than a reference to masturbation.}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

The text emphasizes the social and legal situation, with Judah explaining what Onan must do and why. A plain reading of the text is that Onan was killed because he refused to follow instructions. Scholars have argued that the secondary purpose of the narrative about Onan and Tamar, of which the description of Onan is a part, was to either assert the institution of levirate marriage or present a myth for its origin;<ref name="J. A. Emerton, Judah And Tamar"/> Onan's role in the narrative is, thus, as the brother abusing his obligations by agreeing to [[Human reproduction#Copulation|sexual intercourse]] with his dead brother's wife, but refusing to allow her to become pregnant as a result. [[John Emerton|Emerton]] regards the evidence for this to be inconclusive, although [[classical rabbinical literature|classical rabbinical writers]] argued that this narrative describes the origin of levirate marriage.<ref>''[[Genesis Rabbah]]'' 85:6</ref>

John M. Riddle argues that "[[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius (fourth century)]] construed the sin of Onan as ''coitus interruptus''".<ref>{{cite book| last1= Riddle|first1=John M.|title=Contraception and abortion from the ancient world to the Renaissance|year=1992|publisher=Harvard University Press |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-16875-5|oclc=24428750|page=4|chapter=1. Population and Sex|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vS85LtlsnIC&pg=PA4}}</ref> [[John T. Noonan Jr.]] says that "St. Epiphanius gave a plain interpretation of the text as a condemnation of contraception, and he did so only in the context of his anti-Gnostic polemic".<ref name="Noonan">{{cite book|last1=Noonan |first1=John T. Jr. |title=Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists|date=2012|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674070264| page= 101| edition=Enlarged}}</ref>

Bible scholars maintained that the story does not refer to [[masturbation]], but to ''[[coitus interruptus]]''.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{cite book| last= Coogan| first= Michael|title=God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says|url=https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog|url-access= registration|access-date=May 5, 2011| edition= 1st| date= October 2010|publisher=Twelve. Hachette Book Group|location=New York; Boston|isbn=978-0-446-54525-9| oclc=505927356|page=[https://archive.org/details/godsexwhatbi00coog/page/110 110]|quote=Although Onan gives his name to ''onanism,'' usually a synonym for masturbation, Onan was not masturbating but practicing ''coitus interruptus''.}}</ref><ref name="Dancy, 92">{{cite book| last= Dancy| first= J. |title= The Divine Drama: the Old Testament as Literature | publisher= James Clarke & Co.| isbn= 9780718829872| year= 2002| page= 92}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ellens|first1=J. Harold|title=Sex in the Bible: a new consideration |year=2006|publisher=Praeger Publishers|location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=0-275-98767-1 |oclc=65429579 |page=48 |chapter= Chapter 6. Making Babies: Purposes of Sex|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXVGBv2eEroC&pg=PA48 |quote=He practiced coitus interruptus whenever he made love to Tamar.}}</ref>  Bible scholars even maintain that the Bible does not claim that masturbation would be sinful.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Patton| first= Michael S.|date=June 1985|title=Masturbation from Judaism to Victorianism|journal= [[Journal of Religion and Health]] |volume=24|issue=2|pages=133–146 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |issn=0022-4197 |doi=10.1007/BF01532257|pmid=24306073|s2cid=39066052 |quote=Social change in attitudes toward masturbation has occurred at the professional level only since 1960 and at the popular level since 1970. [133] ... onanism and masturbation erroneously became synonymous... [134] ... there is no legislation in the Bible pertaining to masturbation. [135]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kwee| first1=Alex W.| first2= David C.| last2= Hoover|year=2008|title=Theologically-Informed Education about Masturbation: A Male Sexual Health Perspective|journal=Journal of Psychology and Theology|volume=36|issue=4|pages=258–269|location=La Mirada, California|publisher=Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University|issn=0091-6471|access-date=12 November 2011|url=http://www.alexkwee.com/uploads/kwee_hoover08.pdf|quote=The Bible presents no clear theological ethic on masturbation, leaving many young unmarried Christians with confusion and guilt around their sexuality.|doi=10.1177/009164710803600402|s2cid=142040707}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nemesnyik Rashkow|first1=Ilona|year=2000|title=Taboo Or Not Taboo: Sexuality and Family in the Hebrew Bible|chapter=Sin and Sex, Sex and Sin: The Hebrew Bible and Human Sexuality|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hmeBybf8-JgC&q=leviticus+masturbation&pg=PA16| location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press|page=16|isbn=9781451409871|quote=Since it is questionable whether masturbation is considered a category of "negative" sexual activity in the Hebrew Bible, I shall not discuss masturbation. (The sin of Onan [Genesis 38] is not necessarily that of masturbation; otherwise, oblique references to seminal emission, such as "a man, when an emission of semen comes out of him" [Lev 15:16], refer to the emission rather than its circumstances. Female masturbation is never mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.)|oclc=42603147|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162647/https://books.google.com/books?id=hmeBybf8-JgC&q=leviticus+masturbation&pg=PA16 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="jonesandjones">{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Stanton |last2=Jones |first2= Brenna |year= 2014 |chapter= Chapter 13: Developing Moral Discernment About Masturbation and Petting|title=How and When to Tell Your Kids About Sex: A Lifelong Approach to Shaping Your Child's Sexual Character|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exv0AgAAQBAJ&q=Johnson+suggests+that+this+Leviticus+passage+is+significant+for+treating+a+solitary+sexual+experience,+whether+wet+dream+or+masturbation,+as+a+purely&pg=PT253|location=Colorado Springs, CO|publisher=NavPress, Tyndale House|page=253|isbn=9781612912301|quote=1. We are aware of only one argument that attempts to draw directly from the Scripture to establish a basis for the acceptance of masturbation, found in J. Johnson, "Toward a Biblical Approach to Masturbation, Journal of Psychology and Theology 10 (1982): 137-146. Johnson suggests that Leviticus 15:16-18 should set the tone for our dealing with masturbation. Verses 16 and 17 say that a man who has an emission of semen should wash and be ceremonially unclean until evening. Verse 18 goes on to say that if a man and woman have intercourse, the same cleanliness rules apply. By bringing up intercourse separately, the passage surely does imply that the emission of semen in verses 16 and 17 occurred for the man individually. The passage may be referring to a nocturnal emission, or wet dream, rather than masturbation, but the passage is not specific. Johnson suggests that this Leviticus passage is significant for treating a solitary sexual experience, whether wet dream or masturbation, as a purely ceremonial cleanliness issue and not as a matter of morality. The passage also puts no more disapproval on the solitary experience than it does on intercourse. Since Christians today commonly view the Old Testament ceremonial law as no longer valid, this author suggests that masturbation is not in itself a moral concern from a biblical perspective and is no longer a ceremonial concern either.|oclc=104623265|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162645/https://books.google.com/books?id=exv0AgAAQBAJ&q=Johnson+suggests+that+this+Leviticus+passage+is+significant+for+treating+a+solitary+sexual+experience,+whether+wet+dream+or+masturbation,+as+a+purely&pg=PT253|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="tjwray">{{cite book|last1=Wray|first1=Tina J.|year=2011|chapter=Chapter 7. Should We or Shouldn't We? A Brief Exploration of Sexuality and Gender|title=What the Bible Really Tells Us: The Essential Guide to Biblical Literacy|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OAewArzQ624C&q=masturbation+never+mentioned+bible&pg=PA143|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|pages=[https://archive.org/details/whatbiblereallyt0000wray/page/142 142–143]|isbn=9781442212930|quote=Returning to the Levitical list of sexual taboos, curiously missing from the list is any mention of masturbation. Many people assume that this, too, is forbidden, but the truth is, the word masturbation is never specifically mentioned in the Bible, though some argue that it is implied (and also condemned) in several places. The story cited most often is found in Genesis 38...For centuries this obscure passage has been used as an indictment against masturbation though it is not masturbation at all...But if Onan's story is not about masturbation, then where in the Bible is the practice forbidden? Some commentators conclude that the word porneia&mdash;a word already discussed in the first two assumptions&mdash;is a catchall term to include all forms of unchastity, including masturbation, but others vehemently disagree. In the book of Leviticus, there is explicit mention of purity regulations regarding semen that seem to emanate from either masturbation or possibly nocturnal emission: [Bible quote Lev 15:16-17] None of this, however, represent a clear condemnation of masturbation. |oclc= 707329261|url=https://archive.org/details/whatbiblereallyt0000wray/page/142}}</ref><ref name="lech">{{cite book|last1=Jech|first1=Carl L. |year= 2013| chapter= Chapter 2. Beyond Heaven and Hell|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz1JAwAAQBAJ&q=masturbation+mentioned+bible&pg=PA97|title=Religion as Art Form: Reclaiming Spirituality Without Supernatural Beliefs|location=Eugene, OR|publisher=Resource Publications, Wipf and Stock Publishers| page=97 |isbn= 9781621896708|oclc=853272981|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162646/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz1JAwAAQBAJ&q=masturbation+mentioned+bible&pg=PA97|url-status=live|quote=(Masturbation is never mentioned in the Bible.)}}</ref><ref name="vern">{{cite journal|last1=Malan|first1=Mark Kim|last2=Bullough|first2=Vern|date=Fall 2005| title=Historical development of new masturbation attitudes in Mormon culture: secular conformity, counterrevolution, and emerging reform| url= http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/mormon_masturbation.pdf|journal=Sexuality & Culture|volume=9|issue=4|pages=80–127|issn=1095-5143|quote=While nowhere in the Bible is there a clear unchallenged reference to masturbation, Jewish tradition was always seriously concerned about the loss of semen. The Book of Leviticus, for example states: [Bible quote Lev 14:16-18]...Although masturbation is not mentioned in the Bible or Book of Mormon, absence of scriptural authority on the matter, Kimball said, is irrelevant: "Let no one rationalize their sins on the excuse that a particular sin of his is not mentioned nor forbidden in scripture" (p.25).|doi=10.1007/s12119-005-1003-z|s2cid=145480822|access-date=2015-06-26|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110812181340/http://www.mormonstudies.net/pdf/mormon_masturbation.pdf|archive-date=2011-08-12|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name= vines>{{cite book|last1=Vines|first1=Matthew|year=2014|chapter=4. The Real Sin of Sodom|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTS0AAAAQBAJ&q=traditional+christian+interpretation+onan&pg=PT72|title=God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday Religious Publishing Group|page=72|isbn=9781601425171|oclc=869801284|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2021-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815162649/https://books.google.com/books?id=bTS0AAAAQBAJ&q=traditional+christian+interpretation+onan&pg=PT72| url-status=live|quote=Most Christians today understand that masturbation was not the sin of Onan. What's more, many also recognize that masturbation is not inherently sinful.}}</ref>

Although the story of Onan does not involve masturbation, according to [[Peter Lewis Allen]], some theologians found "a common element" in both ''coitus interruptus'' (also known as onanism) and masturbation, as well as anal intercourse and other forms of nonmarital and nonvaginal sexual acts, which are considered wrongful acts.<ref name="Allen">{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Peter Lewis|title=The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present |date=2002| publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn=0226014614}}</ref>{{rp|81–82}}

==Onanism==
The term ''[[wikt:onanism|onanism]]'' has come to refer to "[[masturbation]]" in many modern languages – for example [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] (אוננות, ''onanút''), [[German language|German]] (''Onanie''), [[Greek language|Greek]] (αυνανισμός, ''avnanismós''), [[Japanese language|Japanese]] (オナニー, ''onanī''), and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] (''onani'') – based on an interpretation of the Onan story.

The word ''onanism'' is not based on the biblical story of Onan itself but on an interpretation of that biblical story, nor is the word ''onanism'' found in any form in the biblical texts. Thus the etymological connection of onanism (in the sense of masturbation) with Onan's name is misleading.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Victor P. |url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31604392 |title=The book of Genesis. Chapters 18-50 |date=1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co |isbn=0-8028-2309-2 |location=Grand Rapids, Mich. |oclc=31604392 |quote=This is clearly a reference to withdrawal to prevent conception, rather than a reference to masturbation.Thus the etymological connection of "onanism" (in the sense of masturbation) with Onan's name is misleading.}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

The ''[[Merriam-Webster]]'' online dictionary defines onanism as:
#masturbation 
#[[coitus interruptus]]
#[[self-gratification]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Book of Genesis people]]
[[Category:Masturbation]]
[[Category:Obsolete medical terms|Onanism]]
[[Category:Sexuality in the Bible]]
[[Category:Tribe of Judah]]