📖 Biblical Definition
Levirate marriage (from Latin levir, "husband’s brother") is the Mosaic provision in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 requiring a man to marry his brother’s childless widow to raise up offspring in the dead brother’s name. The arrangement protected the widow, preserved the brother’s line, and kept inheritance within the family. Refusal carried public shame: the widow loosed his shoe and spat in his face, and his house was called "the house of him that hath his shoe loosed". The institution underlies the Ruth-Boaz narrative (where Boaz acts as goel after a nearer kinsman declines), and the Sadducees’ trick question to Jesus about the seven brothers (Matthew 22:23-33). It is one of many old-covenant laws Christ fulfilled in His own redemption of the widowed bride.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Marriage to a brother's childless widow.
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The Mosaic law commanding a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother who died childless, that the firstborn might bear the dead brother's name and inherit his property — preserving the family line and inheritance.
📖 Key Scripture
Deuteronomy 25:5 — "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child... her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife."
Genesis 38:8 — "And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother."
Matthew 22:24-28 — "Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Read as ancient peculiarity, missing how it preserved family inheritance and pointed to gospel-themes of seed and widow.
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Levirate marriage is not random — it preserves the dead brother's name, his land, and his line. Tamar fights for it; Onan refuses it; Boaz fulfills it; the Sadducees use it to attack the resurrection. Trace the thread.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Latin levir — brother-in-law.
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['Latin', '—', 'levir', "husband's brother"]
['Hebrew', 'H2992', 'yabam', 'brother-in-law']
Usage
"Levirate marriage preserved name and land."
"Boaz fulfilled what Onan refused."