Why is nothing found in the New Testament concerning Onan who “emitted upon the ground”? “The thing which he did displeased the Lord; therefore He killed him also” (Genesis 38:9-10).
One must realize that everything written in the Old Testament is not repeated in the New Testament, but the principles remain in the Old Testament for our learning (Romans 15:4). Yet, every passage needs to be studied in its total context. The context of this text is that Onan refused to carry out God’s rule of inheritance. In Deuteronomy 25:5-6 we read:
If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5-6 NKJV)
Note that this has not been repeated in the New Testament. It only applied to Israel as that nation long ago inherited its promised land. Spilling of seed upon the ground wasn’t the sin there, but Onan’s failure to follow God’s law was the sin that he committed. The lesson for us today is to obey God’s will in everything. Otherwise, God’s wrath is reserved for us.
