Special Punishments
- Noah cursed Canaan to be a servant to his brother's servants and a servant to his fathers brothers. (see Curse of Ham)
- Lot's wife "became a pillar of salt" when she "looked back" when fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction.
- God killed Onan for depriving his sister-in-law of child by having sex with her with no intention of impregnating her as agreed. After Onan's brother Er died, his father Judah told him to fulfill his duty as a brother-in-law to Tamar, by giving her offspring. Centuries later, in the days of Moses, this practice was formulated into a law of a Levirate marriage, where the brother of the deceased would provide offspring to the childless widow to preserve the family line. However, when Onan had sex with Tamar, he disregarded this principle when he withdrew before climax and "spilled his seed on the ground", since any child born would not legally be considered his heir. He was slain for his wickedness. (Genesis 38:3-10)
Read more about this topic: Crime And Punishment In The Bible
Famous quotes containing the words special and/or punishments:
“When we walk the streets at night in safety, it does not strike us that this might be otherwise. This habit of feeling safe has become second nature, and we do not reflect on just how this is due solely to the working of special institutions. Commonplace thinking often has the impression that force holds the state together, but in fact its only bond is the fundamental sense of order which everybody possesses.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Not only do I disbelieve in the need for compensation, but I believe that the seeking for rewards and punishments out of this life leads men to a ruinous ignorance of the fact that their inevitable rewards and punishments are here.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)