Reference: Widow
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A custom was prevalent in patriarchal times, Ge 38, and was afterwards confirmed by the Mosaic law, De 25:5-10, that a widow without children, in order to preserve the family name and inheritance, should marry the brother of her deceased husband; or he failing his nearest kinsman, Ru 3:12-13; 4:1-11; Mt 22:23-30. The high-priest was forbidden to marry a widow, Le 21:14. The humanity and justice of true religion are shown in the Bible, as might be expected, by numerous indications that God and the friends of God sympathize with the sorrows, supply the wants, and defend the rights of the widow, Ex 22:22-24; De 16:11; 24:17,19; Ps 68:5; Isa 1:17; 10:2; Jer 22:3; Mt 23:14. The apostolic church was not negligent in providing for widows, Ac 6:1-3; 1Ti 5:16; and James makes this duty an essential part of true piety, Jas 1:27. Heathenism, on the contrary, makes those who have been slaves to a husband's caprices during his life, either victims upon the funeral pile at his death, or forlorn and hopeless sufferers under destitution and contempt. The duties of Christian widows are specified in 1Ti 5:3-16.
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"You are not to mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, they'll certainly cry out to me, and I'll immediately hear their cry. read more. And I'll be angry and will kill you with swords, and your wives will become widows and your children orphans.
He is not to marry a widow or one who has been divorced, has been defiled, or has been a prostitute. Instead, he is to take a virgin from among his people as his wife.
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
"Don't deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow's garment as collateral for a loan.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel. read more. But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, "My husband's brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law.' Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, "I don't want to marry her,' then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, "May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage of his brother.' Then his family name in Israel will be known as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed.'"
It's true that I'm your related redeemer, but there is another related redeemer even closer than I. Stay the night, and if he fulfills his duty as your related redeemer in the morning, that will be acceptable. But if he isn't inclined to do so, then, as the LORD lives, I will act as your related redeemer myself. So lie down until morning."
Meanwhile, Boaz approached the city gate and sat down there. Just then, the very same related redeemer whom Boaz had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, "Come over and sit down here, my friend!" So the man came over and sat down. Boaz selected ten of the town elders and spoke to them, "Sit down here." So they sat down read more. and Boaz addressed the related redeemer directly: "A portion of a field belonging to our relative Elimelech is up for sale by Naomi, who recently returned from the country of Moab. So I thought to myself I ought to tell you that you must make a public purchase of this before the town residents and the elders of my people. So if you intend to act as the related redeemer, then do so. But if not, let me know, because except for you and I after you there is no one to fulfill the duties of a related redeemer." The man responded, "I will act as related redeemer." Boaz continued, "On the very day you buy the field from Naomi, you're also "buying" Ruth the Moabite woman, the wife of her dead husband, so the family name may be continued as an inheritance." At this, the nearer related redeemer replied, "Then I am unable to act as related redeemer, because that would complicate my own inheritance. You act instead as the related redeemer, because I cannot do so." During Israel's earlier history, all things concerning redeeming or changing inheritances were confirmed by a man taking off his sandal and giving it to the other party, thereby creating a public record in Israel. So when the nearer related redeemer told Boaz, "Make the purchase yourself," he then took off his sandal. At this, Boaz addressed the elders and all of the people: "You all are witnesses today that I hereby redeem everything from Naomi that belonged to Elimelech, including what belonged to Chilion and Mahlon, along with Mahlon's wife Ruth the Moabite woman. I will marry her to continue the family name as an inheritance, so that the name of the deceased does not disappear from among his relatives, nor from the public record. You are all witnesses today!" Then all of the assembled people, including the elders who were there, said, "We are witnesses! May the LORD make this woman who enters your house like Rachel and Leah, who together established the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrathah, and may you excel in Bethlehem!
A father to orphans and an advocate for widows is God in his holy dwelling place.
Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.
to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!
This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place.
That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him, "Teacher, Moses said, "If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.' read more. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers. Finally, the woman died, too. Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?" Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power, because in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from God in order to wait on tables. read more. Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll put them in charge of this work.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight. read more. A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day. But the self-indulgent widow is just as good as dead. Continue to give these instructions, so that they may be blameless. If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry. They receive condemnation because they have set aside their prior commitment to the Messiah. At the same time, they also learn how to be lazy while going from house to house. Not only this, but they even become gossips and keep busy by interfering in other people's lives, saying things they should not say. Therefore, I want younger widows to remarry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them. For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.
A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Fausets
Cared for specially by the law, in the triennial tithes, etc. De 19:21; 24:17; 26:12; 27:19; Ex 22:22; Job 24:3; 29:13; Isa 1:17; Mt 23:14. God is "judge of the widows" (Ps 68:5; 146:9), therefore, the judge or righteous vindicator of His church, and of Israel especially (Isaiah 54), widowed by His physical absence, against her adversary Satan (Lu 18:1-7). For pious widows, see Anna, and the one who gave her all to the Lord's treasury (Lu 2:36-37; 20:47; 21:1-4). (See ANNA.) Three classes of widows are distinguished in 1 Timothy 5
(1) The ordinary widow.
(2) The widow indeed, i.e. destitute, and therefore to be relieved by the church, not having younger relatives, whose duty it is to relieve them (let them, the children or descendants, learn first, before calling the church to support them; to show reverent dutifulness toward their own elder destitute female relatives).
(3) The presbyteral widow (1Ti 5:9-11). Let none be enrolled as a presbyteral widow who is less than 60 years old. Not deaconesses, who were chosen at a younger age (40 was fixed as the limit at the council of Chalcedon) and who had virgins (latterly called widows) as well as widows among them, compare Dorcas (Ac 9:41). As expediency required presbyters to be but once married (1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6), so also presbyteresses. (The feeling among Jews and Gentiles being against second marriages, the desire for conciliation in matters indifferent, where no principle was compromised, accounts for this rule in the case of bishops, deacons, and presbyteresses, whose aim was to be all things to all men that by all means they might save some: 1Co 9:22; 10:33.) The reference in 1Ti 5:9 cannot, as in 1Ti 5:3, be to providing church maintenance, for then the restriction to widows above 60 would be harsh, as many might need help at an earlier age.
So the rules that she should not have been twice married, and that she must have brought up children and lodged strangers, would be strange, if the reference were to eligibility for church alms. Tertullian ("De velandis Virginibus," 9), Hermas (Shepherd 1:2), and Chrysostom (Horn. 31) mention an order of ecclesiastical widows, not less than 60 years old, who ministered to widows and orphans. Their experimental knowledge of the trials of the bereaved adapted them for such an office and for general supervision of their sex. Age was a requisite, as in presbyters, to adapt them for influencing younger women; they were supported by the church, but were not the only widows so supported (1Ti 5:3-4).
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"You are not to mistreat any widow or orphan.
Your eyes must not show pity life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot."
"Don't deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow's garment as collateral for a loan.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities.
""Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'
They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the ox of the widow as security for a loan;
A father to orphans and an advocate for widows is God in his holy dwelling place.
The LORD stands guard over the stranger; he supports both widows and orphans, but makes the path of the wicked slippery.
Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!
Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.
Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up. He said, "In a city there was a judge who didn't fear God or respect people. read more. In that city there was also a widow who kept coming to him and saying, "Grant me justice against my adversary.' For a while the judge refused. But later, he told himself, "I don't fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice. Otherwise, she will keep coming and wear me out.'" Then the Lord added, "Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won't God grant his chosen people justice when they cry out to him day and night? Is he slow to help them?
They devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!"
Now Jesus looked up and saw rich people dropping their gifts into the offering box. Then he saw a destitute widow drop in two small copper coins. read more. He said, "I tell you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than all of them, because all the others contributed to the offering out of their surplus, but she, in her poverty, dropped in everything she had to live on."
He extended his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the saints, including the widows, and gave her back to them alive.
To the weak I became weak in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some of them.
just as I myself try to please everybody in every way. I don't look out for my own benefit, but rather for the benefit of many people, so that they might be saved.
Therefore, an elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, stable, sensible, respectable, hospitable to strangers, and teachable.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight.
A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband.
A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. read more. But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry.
Hastings
Widows from their poverty and unprotectedness, are regarded in OT as under the special guardianship of God (Ps 68:6; 146:9; Pr 15:25; De 10:18; Jer 49:11); and consequently due regard for their wants was looked upon as a mark of true religion, ensuring a blessing on those who showed it (Job 29:13; 31:16; Isa 1:17; Jer 7:6-7; 22:3-4); while neglect of, cruelty or injustice towards them were considered marks of wickedness meriting punishment from God (Job 22:9-10; 24:20-21; Ps 94:6; Isa 1:23; 10:2; Zec 7:10,14; Mal 3:5). The Book of Deut. is especially rich in such counsels, insisting that widows be granted full justice (De 24:17; 27:19), that they be received as guests at sacrificial meals (De 14:29; 16:11,14; 26:12 f.), and that they be suffered to glean unmolested in field, oliveyard, and vineyard (De 24:19 f.). See, further, Inheritance, i. 2 (c); Marriage, 6.
The earliest mention of widows in the history of the Christian Church is found in Ac 6:1, where the Grecian Jews murmured 'against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected' in the daily distribution of alms or food. In course of time these pensioners became an excessive burden on the finances of the Church. We thus find St. Paul dealing with the matter in 1Ti 5:3-16, where he charges relatives and Christian friends to relieve those widows with whom they are personally connected (1Ti 5:4,8,15), so that the Church might be the more able to relieve those who were 'widows indeed' (i.e. widows in actual poverty and without anyone responsible for their support) (5/3/type/isv'>1Ti 5:3,5,16). He further directs that 'none be enrolled as widows' except those who were sixty years of age, of unimpeachable character, and full of good works; and he adds that 'the younger widows' should be 'refused' (i.e. not enrolled); for experience had shown that they 'waxed wanton against Christ' and, re-marrying, 'rejected their first faith.' Since it could not have been the Apostle's wish that only widows over sixty should receive pecuniary help from the Church (for many young widows might be in great poverty), and since he could not describe the re-marriage of such a widow-pensioner as a rejection of her faith, it follows that the list of widows, from which the younger widows were to be excluded, was not the list of those who were in receipt of Church relief, but rather a list of those, from among the pensioner-widows, who were considered suitable by age and character to engage officially in Church work. Therefore we may see in this passage a proof of the existence thus early in the history of the Church of that ecclesiastical order of 'Widows' which we find mentioned frequently in post-Apostolic times.
Charles T. P. Grierson.
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He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing."
so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
"Don't deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow's garment as collateral for a loan.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities.
""Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'
You sent away widows empty-handed, and broke the outstretched arms of orphans. That's why disaster surrounds you, terror suddenly overwhelms you,
The womb will forget them. Maggots will find them to be a delicacy! They won't be remembered anymore, their iniquity will be cut to pieces like firewood. "They prey on the barren woman, and do no favors for widows.
"If I refused to grant the desire of the poor or exhausted the eyes of the widow,
God causes the lonely to dwell in families. He leads prisoners into prosperity, but rebels live on parched land.
The wicked kill widows and foreigners; they murder orphans.
The LORD stands guard over the stranger; he supports both widows and orphans, but makes the path of the wicked slippery.
The house of the proud the LORD will demolish, but he will protect the widow's boundary line.
Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don't bring justice to orphans, and the widow's case never comes up for review in their court."
to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!
and if you don't oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don't shed an innocent person's blood in this place, and if you don't follow other gods to your own harm, then I'll let you dwell in this land, the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.
This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place. Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people.
Leave your orphans. I'll keep them alive. Let your widows trust in me."
You are not to wrong the widow, orphans, the foreigner, or the poor, and you are not to plan evil against each other.
"I will scatter them to all of the nations, which they have not known.'" Now the earth was left desolate after them. As a result, no one came or went because they had turned a pleasant land into a desert.
"I'll come near to you for judgment. I'll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don't fear me," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight.
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight. A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day.
A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day. But the self-indulgent widow is just as good as dead. read more. Continue to give these instructions, so that they may be blameless. If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband. read more. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry. They receive condemnation because they have set aside their prior commitment to the Messiah. At the same time, they also learn how to be lazy while going from house to house. Not only this, but they even become gossips and keep busy by interfering in other people's lives, saying things they should not say. Therefore, I want younger widows to remarry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them. For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan.
For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.
If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.
Smith
Widow.
Under the Mosaic dispensation no legal provision was made for the maintenance of widows. They were left dependent partly on the affection of relations, more especially of the eldest son, whose birthright, or extra share of the property, imposed such a duty upon him, and partly on the privileges accorded to other distressed classes, such as a participation in the triennial third tithe,
De 14:29; 26:12
in leasing,
De 24:19-21
and in religious feasts.
De 16:11,14
With regard to the remarriage of widows, the only restriction imposed by the Mosaic law had reference to the contingency of one being left childless in which case the brother of the deceased husband had a right to marry the widow.
De 25:5-6; Mt 22:23-30
In the apostolic Church the widows were sustained at the public expense, the relief being daily administered in kind, under the superintendence of officers appointed for this special purpose,
Particular directions are given by St.Paul as to the class of persons entitled to such public maintenance.
Out of the body of such widows a certain number were to be enrolled, the qualifications for such enrollment being that they were not under sixty years of age; that they had been "the wife of one man," probably meaning but once married; and that they had led useful and charitable lives. vs.
We are not disposed to identify the widows of the Bible either with the deaconesses or with the presbutides Of the early Church. The order of widows existed as a separate institution, contemporaneously with these offices, apparently for the same eleemosynary purpose for which it was originally instituted.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."
Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.
Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.
"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake. When you harvest the olives from your trees, don't go back to the branches a second time. What remains is for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. read more. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don't go back a second time. What remains are for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.
"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel.
"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities.
That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him, "Teacher, Moses said, "If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.' read more. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers. Finally, the woman died, too. Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?" Jesus answered them, "You are mistaken because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power, because in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from God in order to wait on tables. read more. Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll put them in charge of this work. Then we'll devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." This suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight. read more. A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day. But the self-indulgent widow is just as good as dead. Continue to give these instructions, so that they may be blameless. If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband.
A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way.
She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry. read more. They receive condemnation because they have set aside their prior commitment to the Messiah. At the same time, they also learn how to be lazy while going from house to house. Not only this, but they even become gossips and keep busy by interfering in other people's lives, saying things they should not say. Therefore, I want younger widows to remarry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them. For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.
Watsons
WIDOW. Among the Hebrews, even before the law, a widow who had no children by her husband was to marry the brother of her deceased spouse, in order to raise up children who might inherit, his goods and perpetuate his name and family. We find the practice of this custom before the law in the person of Tamar, who married successively Er and Onan, the sons of Judah, and who was likewise to have married Selah, the third son of this patriarch, after the two former were dead without issue, Ge 38:6-11. The law that appoints these marriages is De 25:5, &c. Two motives prevailed to the enacting of this law. The first was, the continuation of estates in the same family: and the other was to perpetuate a man's name in Israel. It was looked upon as a great misfortune for a man to die without an heir, or to see his inheritance pass into another family. This law was not confined to brothers-in-law only, but was extended to more distant relations of the same kind; as we see in the example of Ruth, who married Boaz after she had been refused by a nearer kinsman. See SANDALS.
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Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er. Her name was Tamar. But the LORD considered Er, Judah's oldest son, to be wicked so he put him to death. read more. So Judah instructed Onan, "You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother's wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother." But Onan knew that the offspring wouldn't be his own heir, so whenever he had sexual relations with his brother's wife, he would spill his semen on the ground to avoid fathering offspring for his brother. The LORD considered what Onan was doing to be evil, so he put him to death, too. After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Go live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." But he was really thinking, ""otherwise, Shelah might die like his brothers." So Tamar left and lived in her father's house.
"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law.