Levirate Marriage – An Overview of an Ancient Matrimonial Custom

Abstract

This paper utilizes historical-critical analysis to elucidate the ancient institution of levirate marriage, a type of marital union attested in Assyria, Ugarit, Hatti, ancient Israel, and beyond. It investigates the socio-cultural logic underlying levirate practices as well as their ramifications upon communal dynamics. Through examination of biblical episodes concerning Judah and Tamar along with Boaz and Ruth, two illuminating case studies emerge that reveal the complex interplay of kinship ties, lineage preservation, inheritance rights, and evolving cultural mores governing this marital custom over time. Expanding the historical lens, the study explores post-antiquity manifestations of levirate ideals resurfacing during the Middle Ages and modern period. Yet despite sporadic echoes across human civilization, levirate marriage remains an almost extinct phenomenon today – one largely confined to antiquity. By training a spotlight on ancient Near Eastern sources alongside salient biblical narratives, this investigation unveils the once prominent but now obscure levirate tradition which empowered past generations while also spurring social tensions, informing timeless tropes of sexuality and widowhood, and catalysing legal reforms over successive epochs.