Deuteronomy 25:5-10 "Leverite Marriage"

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5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.’ 10 And the name of his house[a] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Text Explained

In verses 5-6 we have what is known as the Law of Leverite Marriage. Leverite comes from the Latin meaning brother in law. So what we are discussing is the Marrying her brother in law. This Law would also regulate a societal custom that would already have been happening. 5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. Here is the setting. There is a husband and a wife and they have no children. The husband then dies. The husband’s brother is responsible to go and marry the widow and give her a child. 6 And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. The first son the brother has with his now wife will take on the name and lineage of the dead brother. In this way, the family line of the dead brother would be able to continue on. This is the Law. If a man dies without having a son, then his brother is to marry the widow and raise up an heir to the dead brother. However, our passage continues by answering the question, what if the brother doesn’t want to marry the widow? How important is this to the Israelites?

Verse 7-10 7 And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ If the brother refuses to fulfill this obligation, the widow was responsible to take it before the court. Remember the city gate and the elders were the towns courtroom so she was responsible to take legal action against the brother in law in an effort to force the man to marry her. So now the Law is involved and the Law speaks to the man 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, However, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ The man refuses to marry her, 9 then his brother's wife (the widow) shall go up to him in the presence of the elders in the court room, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. She is publicly shaming the brother in law for his refusal to uphold his responsibilities And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.’ And this is not the end of the matter. 10 And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’ So the shame went beyond a one time event, but he would bear that shame in the community for the rest of his life as a man who refused to take care of his familial obligations. This is the Law of Leverite Marriage and the consequences of a man who fails to uphold his responsibilities. Let’s look closer at the particulars. “First, the two brothers must have been living together for the law to be applicable; they would thus be part of a large family unit, and both would already be sharing certain responsibilities. Second, the widow was to be childless in a particular sense—she was not to have had a son; apparently the law would still be in effect if she had a daughter, but not a son, for the first-born son was the legal and responsible inheritor of his father’s estate.” (Craigie, P. C. (1976). The Book of Deuteronomy (p. 314). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) This means that there is a widow in charge of a portion of land that is without an inheritor. This was vital for the Israelites b/c God’s promises were tied to the Land. So here we have as Jay Vernon McGee puts it: “Here is a case where the widow does the proposing. What she was to do was to go and claim one of her husband’s brothers... ask him to marry her.” (McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Law (Deuteronomy) (electronic ed., Vol. 9, p. 156). Thomas Nelson.) Side note: What if he was already married? Many scholars agree that this Law is referring to the next unmarried brother and not a requirement for polygamy. We see this from Naomi’s statement in Ruth 1:12 “Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons,” (plural) This would indicate that more than one son was required for more than one daughter-in-law.

Now in scripture we have two close illustrations of this Law in action. Now I say close b/c the first illustration of this happens prior to the giving of the Law and the second is by a goel/kinsmen redeemer and not specifically by a brother in law.

Illustration 1: Our first look of this is found prior to the giving of the Law in Genesis 38. There we find Judah, one of the twelve patriarchs, having a son named Er. Genesis 38:6–8 “And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” Now this one verse raises several questions, but the point for today is that Er died without an heir and so the custom was already there for Onan to go, marry, and have a son to carry on his brother’s name. However, Onan did not want to raise up a son for his brother, yet he also did not refuse to marry her and have relations with her. And to put it tactfully, Onan used birth control to prevent him from having a son. Genesis 38:10-11 says “And what he/Onan did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and He/God put him/Onan to death also. Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.” Tamar is now left waiting for Judah’s next available son to become old enough to marry her while Judah is trying to figure out how to get his next son out of this b/c being married to Tamar seems to be killing his sons. Now the account of Judah and Tamar goes downhill from here, but suffice it to say this is the first illustration of this Law being played out prior to it being placed into a regulated legal code.

Illustration 2: Our second illustration comes from the book of Ruth. We have already noted Naomi’s statement in Ruth 1:12 that she cannot fulfill this specific Law with Orpah and Ruth for she could no longer have kids and even if she could it would be years before they would be able to marry. This is another reason why Naomi is so far into bitterness. There is no-one for her to go to. There is no hope. Yet, while Orpah goes home, Ruth stays with Naomi. They return to Naomi’s home and Ruth begins to take part in the welfare program of the day by going into the field to glean. Ruth 2:3 “So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.” Side note: Folks never forget that Providence of God is always working even if it doesn’t look like it. The Providence of God is this: He takes the billions of decisions made by billions of people every day and without coercion, weaves them together to do His will and that ought to astound us. From our perspective, “It just so happened” yet it was planned from God’s perspective. We so often want to be amazed by seeing some type of sign, yet we ignore the truly spectacular Providence of God that happens daily all around us. End Side note. Now most of us know the account of Ruth, Boaz just so happens to be an eligible bachelor who is also from the same clan and would just so happen to be able to be a goel/kinsman redeemer. And while Boaz is not a brother under this law, his position as a goel/kinsman redeemer would allow him to do the same task as the brother was supposed to do. Let us fast forward to the end of the account of Ruth. Boaz has married Ruth, Ruth has a son, then in Ruth 4:16–17 “Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” You see, while Obed was the biological son of Ruth and Boaz, he was legally the inheritor of Elimelech. Boaz had raised up a son to continue the family line of Elimelech.

Text Applied

Now this is all well and good but what does this have to do with my life today?

1) God Gives Hope amidst the tragedies of life. In the time of Israel, family lines were vital and so God codified a way for the family to continue even if death should take one. In this way, even in the face of tragedy, there was hope. You see, our lives are filled with the unexpected. Car problems, sickness, injury, and even death often come when we least expect. Yet what we see from the Leverite Law is that God made a way for a family to have hope and to continue even in the face of death without an heir. In the account of Ruth, when there were no other brothers, God gave hope by bringing a kinsmen redeemer, someone outside the scope of this Law to give hope for a future. God is a God who gives hope. Not some cross your fingers type of hope but a settled knowledge that God will make a way. Often that way is not the way we desire or intend, nevertheless He makes a way through the trials of life. You see for those who follow Christ, there will be heartache and pain, there will be those who leave you and walk away, there will be times when you feel like there is no hope. There will be times sorrow overwhelms your soul and you wish to be like Naomi and say “call me bitter”. Illustration Bike Trail: When I was in youth group, every summer we would go and ride the Elroy-Sparta bike trail. On the trail there were tunnels and the third tunnel was about 3/4 of a mile long. There were no lights in the old train tunnels, so we had to get off our bikes and walk them through the tunnel using only our flashlights. The thing with the last tunnel in specific, is that often you couldn’t even see the light at the end of the tunnel. You had to walk by faith/trust that there was an end to the tunnel, and using your flashlight to see the next step you would take. If you shut your flashlight off, it became pitch black and you could easily get turned around and walk into the wall. Yet if you continued to take it step by step, you would eventually see the pinprick of a light and then you would get closer and closer and that light would grow brighter and brighter until you stepped into the sun once again. You see this Law was designed to give hope to a widow by making a way through that darkness of loss trusting in the Law of God to be her guide until she could once again say Ruth 4:14 ...“Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may His name be renowned in Israel!” Dear one, there will be pain, loss, heartache, yet let us do as the Psalmist says Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Let God’s word be that light which allows us to take the next step and then the step after that, until one day we are able to step into the sun and bless the Lord for guiding us through the darkness. God gives Hope amidst the tragedies of life.

2)God Gives Hope for Eternity. Dear one, I would be remiss if I did not tell you about the hope we have in our Redeemer. We were lost like Naomi, yet our Redeemer died for you and I to pay our debt to set us free. All we need do is trust in His finished work on the Cross. When the Apostles were asked the question What must we do to be saved? Acts 16:31 “And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” In this you will have hope not only for this life but also for eternity. If you have questions, or want someone to pray with you about anything, there will be a couple up here available to speak with you and pray with you.