Footnote

a God executed Onan for ‘wasting his semen on the earth.’ However, interrupted intercourse, not masturbation, was involved. Furthermore, Onan was executed because he selfishly failed to perform brother-in-law marriage in order to continue his deceased brother’s family line. (Genesis 38:1-10) What of the “emission of semen” mentioned at Leviticus 15:16-18? This apparently refers, not to masturbation, but to a nocturnal emission as well as to marital sexual relations.