In early times in Israel, a man was required to marry his brother's widow if his brother died without a son so as to carry on that brother's bloodline.  If the brother refused to marry the widow, "his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, 'This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line.'" (Deuteronomy 25:9).  Ouch.  They took the whole bloodline thing pretty seriously. 

Another funny thing is found in Deuteronomy 25:11-12 - "If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity."  Why on earth would she do that?  Was this a common problem?  Apparently it was the thing to do, seeing that it was important enough to write about in the Bible.  But like all weird and funny things in the Bible, it's there for a reason.  I'm not completely sure what that reason is, but I'm sure it's there. #religion