Bible Dictionaries
Onan

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

Son of Judah. If the name be derived from Anoh, it signifies trouble. We have this man's short history, Genesis 38:8-10 and short as it is, it is awful. From this man's sin arose the name of Onanism to that particular offence which he was guilty of, and for which the Lord slew him. Who shall say the numbers which since his days have fallen into it? And who shall calculate the army which by Onanism have hastened the termination of a life of sin, and hurried themselves into eternity! Into how many streams of evil, diffusing themselves into all the parts of our poor fallen nature, hath that one deadly poison the old serpent put into Adam manifested itself through all our passions! Blessed Lord Jesus! what, but for thy gracious recovery of our nature, could have saved the wretched race of Adam from the wrath to come.

Bibliography Information
Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Onan'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​pmd/​o/onan.html. London. 1828.