source. The word ערירים (Aririm), childless, occurs only four times in the Old Testament, namely, Lev. xx. 21, 22, in reference to one taking his uncle's wife, "they shall die childless"; and in reference to one taking his brother's wife, "they shall be childless." But these are precisely the two passages in which the meaning of "childless" is not quite clear, and about which, as we have seen, different opinions exist. We have, therefore, only two other passages to fall back upon. In Gen. xv. 2, Abram says, "Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless." In this passage, the meaning is perfectly clear, as the context plainly indicates, for in verse 3, Abram says, "Behold to me hast thou given no seed." But in the remaining passage, viz., Jer. xxii. 30, the term "childless" is applied to Coniah, who evidently had children,—"Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David." And in verse 28, it is distinctly stated, "Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land which they know not? "In modern history, too, we have, for example, the marriage of Henry the VIII. with his brother's widow, Catharine of Arragon, a marriage which, although unfortunate, was certainly not childless. On the whole, however, it appears to me that the expressions "they shall die childless," "they shall be childless," point to a supernatural retribution, that God would visit such alliances with punishment Himself In the Septuagint version, the Hebrew word ערירי (Ariri) is rendered always by ἅτεκνος, i.e., childless, or bereaved of children. I have dwelt upon this point at some length, since from the severity of the punishment we may generally infer the degree of guilt, and as it likewise brings the importance of the prohibition more prominently before us.
