LEVIRATE
The levirate (lat. “lege vir”, “husband’s brother”). The Law of Moses prescribed that the widow of a dead brother without children had to be taken as a wife by the surviving brother. The firstborn of the children of this new union was to inherit the property and name of the deceased (Deut. 25:5-6).
The interested party could be freed from this obligation, but in that case he had to endure a public rebuke (Deut. 25: 7-10); the duty to marry could then be transmitted to a more distant relative (cf. Rt. 4:1-10).
This sought to maintain the integrity of the family, and prevent the extinction of the race and name of a man who died prematurely or was deprived of offspring.