And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it [is] an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
Ver. 21. They shall be childless.] Either barren or bereft; for this is a sin, saith Job, that roots out all a man's increase. Job 31:12 Hence that of Hosea, They shall commit whoredom, velo iepparedu, they shall not increase. Pered is a mule, which is a beast very libidinous, but begetting nothing. Solomon had many concubines, yet but one son and two daughters. So had our Henry VIII. He had uncovered his brother's nakedness, and was well-nigh childless by her. Afterwards he married many wives, and was blameworthy for women, but left no more children than Solomon did. More happy he was in them than Solomon; for he had Rehoboam, a man neither wise nor fortunate, as they call it: his daughters but obscure, and both of them subjects. But Henry had a peerless prince to his son, viz., Edward VI, and his two daughters were both sovereigns of an imperial crown.