If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
Deuteronomy 25:5-6
Many people have, in our modern day wondered why this was a practice back in the day. God believes in monogamy. Why would His people practice this? We usually assume it was for less than…noble reasons. The practice, which was not permission to establish a harem, has nothing to do with a man’s (not) freedom to take multiple wives. This was also more than a practice. It is a command of our God and King.
The reason for the command is given right there in the text: so that [the brother’s] name will not be blotted out from Israel.
God wants the names of all people to continue on forever. This specifically is talking about people of Israel, but those of us that understand basic New Testament Covenant know that Israel was a root that has become a plant, which we now refer to as the “Church”. God wants the names of all people to carry on forever, not just those that are Jewish biologically. We know it won’t happen for everybody but it’s still God’s desire. I would refer to this desire of God’s as a “value” of God’s or a “priority” of God’s or a “purpose” of God’s.
God gave this command so that all people’s names would continue on. He didn’t give this command because men can’t have self control. That’s a lie. The law is there to reveal what we should do even when we don’t. The law doesn’t accommodate sin.
Also this command is not about about marrying multiple women in general. Men can’t just marry multiple women. A man can marry his brother’s widow if he has the ambition to not only work to provide for his own family so they can enjoy their lives and carry on the family name, but to also do the same for his brother that has passed away.
The children born wouldn’t go by his name. They’d go by his brother’s even though they are biologically his. He wouldn’t be working to build up his own reputation or his own wealth, but rather his brother’s and that of his brother’s children. That takes selflessness. Anybody want to raise someone else’s kids? Anybody want to take your own kid and refer to it as someone else’s until the day you die? I really wouldn’t. That would be tough.
It’s interesting that in this scenario, the authority of the name given overrides the biology. God created the biology and is pleased with it, but at the end of the day He is the final authority over it, and can do with it as He pleases. It obeys Him, not the other way around. In this case the child’s identity actually becomes that of the brother that has passed regardless of its biology.
To me, all of this flies in the face of the atheist doctrine of “survival of the fittest”.
When I was a child I loved watching National Geographic. It was so real. I didn’t know how to describe the feeling, but it just felt so real compared to the rest of television. I loved the first version of Planet Earth by BBC. However, annoyingly, much of what is being shown on nature shows and series today comes chained to 2 core atheist dogma messages: the bigger males get all the females while the smaller ones get zero, and therefore only the genes of the fittest survive. These are both lies.
Nature can reveal some things about Jesus. Jesus taught in parables about nature consistently, but He did so as someone who knew what Heaven was like. He wasn’t referring to nature as a final authority or model for us to follow. The Earthly metaphors He used were merely used as a means of communicating something about Heaven to people that were pretty disconnected from it.
Christians have been taught that all people have sinned, but even more so, all animals have been corrupted by sin. We don’t look to animals to understand what’s natural and healthy for us. They aren’t the one whose image we bear. I don’t want to be like an animal when I grow up. I want to be like Jesus.
God created marriage to be between one man and one woman, and therefore for the names of all people to be carried on forever. He doesn’t want only the supposed “fittest” to survive.
Anybody can get fit if they understand their royal identity in the image of God and if they learn to act on their royal identity by making healthy choices. There’s nobody that is ugly or stupid. Maybe they’re out of shape and uneducated, but those are temporary states. Some people have not taken care of themselves and some people wear sadness or anger on their faces, seemingly permanently, but it’s not actually permanent. God the Father can heal our daddy and mommy wounds. I guarantee it. Dogma debunked.
God wants everyone to reproduce sexually. Maybe not until after He gets back, because we know we live in a tumultuous time right now, and the more people the world has like Paul the better. But it is God’s longing that the names of all people are carried on through their family lineages.
I feel so honored by that. I feel so fought for. God’s not willing that someone big and mean should steal my family from me and take multiple wives. He is willing that, if needed, my brother should lay down His life for me and my family and cause my name to live on forever. He wants me to be remembered with honor and dignity.
Did I mention that we are all as precious as the blood of Jesus?
