Presumably this was a yinkalik marriage; it differs from some of those chronicled and also from a levirate marriage in not being made with a childless wife.
That is, by the law of the Levirate simply, this would have been required, but by the exception of the above verse it is forbidden.
But it may not improbably be, that the penalty attached was meant to secure the custom from contempt, by deterring the kinsman from excusing himself on grounds which the law of the Levirate (i.
And, therefore, if the connection between the law of the Levirate and the 18th verse of Lev.
Who does not see that the whole scope and intention of the law of the Levirate was Judaical, and limited to and exhausted by that economy.
But among Christians I cannot believe that any one seriously believes for a moment that the law of the Levirate remains, and so no one can suppose, if the 18th verse of Lev.
The nearest resemblance to the levirate in Greece is the occasional custom at Sparta, mentioned already, of a wife being “commissioned” to bear children by another man into the family of her husband.
In the Ordinances of Manu, the limitations of the levirate are very strictly defined.
But this exists in Manu, side by side with the above-mentioned custom oflevirate proper.
The object of the book has been supposed by some to be to commend the so-called levirate marriage.
In Polynesia the levirate has the force of law, and it is common throughout America and Asia.
Yet another suggested origin of the levirate is agrarian, the motive being to keep together under the levirate husband the property which would otherwise have been divided among all the brothers or next of kin.
The abandonment of a woman and her children in the nomadic stage of civilization would be equivalent to death for them; hence with some peoples the leviratebecame a duty rather than a right.
Finally the custom is forbidden in Leviticus, though in New Testament times the levirate law was still observed by some Jews.
McLennan, however, would assume the levirate to be a relic of polyandry, and in his argument lays much stress on the fact that it is the dead man's brother who inherits the widow.
Of the origin and primitive purpose of the levirate marriage various explanations have been put forward:-- 1.
Jewish law, of his levirate marriage to Catharine of Braganza, and was invited by him to England.
The probability is, indeed, that levirate marriage was a pre-Mosaic custom connected with ancestor-worship.
But elsewhere Spencer thinks the levirate may arise in the duty of caring for the brother's children--a general cause of polygyny: op.
The earnest desire of the ancients for male issue to perpetuate the family rites has tended to foster adoption, and it probably accounts for the levirate and other similar expedients to provide an heir.
Mayne explains the Niyoga on the theory that the lord and owner of the wife is the lord of the child, physical paternity not being essential; and the levirate is an extension of the Niyoga.
For the literature relating to the levirate and similar customs, see above p.
By a Levirate marriage if a man died without heirs his remaining brother married his widow and raised up heirs to him.
It is assumed by some that a Levirate marriage had taken place between the parents of Joseph, and that the one genealogy belonged to the natural, the others to the legal father of Joseph.
The Levirate and Polyandry'; in The Fortnightly Review, new ser.
It is fairly clear that a form of marriage does not determine nomenclature univocally, as the facts relating to the levirate indicate.
There are certain other objections to the levirate hypothesis.
Of the specific forms of marriage the levirate has already been considered and the cross-cousin marriage briefly mentioned.
Since my father is brother to my father’s father’s brother’s son, the latter is my potential father under the levirate rule, and so forth.
Levirate extends only to the elder brother’s, not to the younger brother’s, wife, and quite consistently these affinities are distinguished by distinct words.
In other words, the action of the levirate is equivocal.
It is not necessary for the natives to look at the levirate from the point of view hitherto assumed.
The Hopi system conforms to the essentials of the Dakota type, but neither the levirate nor the marriage with two sisters is in vogue.
The practice of the Levirateseems to be very widespread.
This means that levirate was valid in case of betrothal.
As early as Julius Africanus it was suggested that the two lines had united in accordance with the law of Levirate marriage.
Matthew's Matthan and Luke's Mattathias are identified as one, and the law of Levirate marriage comes into service with Jacob and Heli.
This is certainly possible, although it rests on the hypothesis of the Levirate marriage.
The custom of Levirate marriage enforced upon the brother or nearest of kin to the deceased husband the obligation of taking the widow of his brother to wife, in order that the brother might not be without heir and memory in the land.
This story is chiefly of interest to us as it shows the continuation, even into the period of exile, of the Levirate marriage custom.
Then follows the custom of spitting in the face of the "man with the loosed shoe," which became a term of reproach, and was applied to the man who refused to fulfil toward a deceased kinsman the duties of the Levirate marriage.
The so-called Levirate marriage which was in vogue among the Hebrews is perhaps the strongest evidence that the customs of polyandry and mother-right were practised among them.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "levirate" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
