Bible Person
Male · 6 cross references
Onan is Judah's second son, remembered for refusing to fulfill his duty toward Tamar while exploiting the arrangement for himself. His story is brief but morally decisive in the Genesis account of Judah's household. First appears in Gen 38:4.1
AI summary: Onan matters because the cross references present him as a figure whose selfish refusal interrupts the preservation of his brother's line and deepens Tamar's vulnerability. He participates outwardly in the duty expected of him but acts inwardly against its purpose, drawing divine judgment. His death intensifies the instability already created by Er's death. Taken together, the material presents Onan as a warning figure whose self-serving disobedience worsens a family crisis with lasting consequences.1
Central Figure
Onan
Strong, the second son of Judah (Gen.
Strong, the second son of Judah (Gen. 38:4-10; comp. Deut. 25:5; Matt. 22:24). He died before the going down of Jacob and his family into Egypt. 3
AI-assisted summary prepared for ai-BIBLE and stored as page content, based on dictionary material, person metadata, and linked Bible cross references.
Alistair de Blacquiere-Clarkson, “ai-BIBLE Bible Names JSON Factsheet Aggregating Material from Smith’s Bible Dictionary & Hitcocks’s New and Complete Analysis of the Bible.” ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
M.G.Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, ai-BIBLE electronic edition, version 1.0.
Robert Rouse, “Theographic Bible Information,” Theographic-Bible-Metadata, 2020, https://github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata.