Calvin on Levirate Marriage.

Status
Not open for further replies.

Peairtach

Puritan Board Doctor
From memory, I believe Calvin in his "Commentary on a Harmony of the Four Last Books of Moses" believed that Levirate Marriage was not instituted by God to be between the widow and her brother-in-law, because relations between them were forbidden elsewhere in the law. It would only be between her and other suitable kinsmen.

Is there any traction in this?
 
It would seem there wouldn't be much, given the Sadducees' stumper scenario that they presented to the Lord.
 
And was that a correct application of this law by the Sadducees, to the brother-in-law? Presumably Calvin would have demurred.
 
Their plan to entrap Christ would have been extremely feeble if the situation they proposed was a non-starter. It was an insoluble problem under the terms they presented (so Christ showed the true terms, that in the resurrection there is no marriage), but would have had quite an easy solution if the reply could be, "That situation would never come about."

And you would have to argue that "brethren" means "wider family" and you might run into some difficulty in reconciling the genealogies of Jesus.
 
I'll check out Calvin's comments on the Four Last Books of Moses again, and I'll also check out what he says about the Sadducee incident.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top