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 shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’
This practice seems so ridiculous. I can not believe people ever fell for this. If the Government came out with some kind of program to force people to have sex, what would you do. What if your city made a new policy about making sure that every family had at least one child? Royalty used to take the opportunity to bless a marriage by having sexual relations with the new wife.
So was there a logical and sensible reason for a brother to refuse to sleep with his sister-in-law? Well yeah she is your sister-in-law! Things do not just change that quickly because my brother is dead. But did God have a plan in this command? Yes! He desired for the name of the brother to continue. "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."
God desires for all our names to continue. The name of a person is passed on to their children. Their children then carry that name. So if a brother does not have a son, what happens to his name? It goes away. It is forgotten. This widow has sex with her brother-in-law so that she can keep the memory of her husband alive.
We do not have to worry about our name going on. We do not have to worry about being forgotten. We do not have to worry about no longer having a name. Jesus Christ has given us his name. He died so that you may have life. He was forgotten so that you may live forever. He is risen from the dead and will never die again, his name has been placed on you and it will never be forgotten.
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