Reference: Widow
American
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 shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; read more. And my wrath shall grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
A widow, or a divorced woman, or defiled, or a harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife.
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger, nor the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as pledge:
When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn that she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. read more. And if the man desires not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stands to it, and says, I desire not to take her; Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that has his shoe loosed.
And now it is true that I am your near kinsman: however there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto you the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then will I do the part of a kinsman to you, as the LORD lives: lie down until the morning.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. And they sat down. read more. And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to advise you, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it besides you; and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it. Then said Boaz, The day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead through his inheritance. And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: redeem you my right to yourself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, for to confirm all things; a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for yourself. So he took off his shoe. And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of this place: you are witnesses this day. And all the people that were at the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and may you do worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
To turn aside the needy from justice, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
Thus says the LORD; Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up children unto his brother. read more. Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no child, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. read more. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and so repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. read more. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And these things give in a charge, that they may be blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith. And at the same time they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but gossips also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believes has widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from 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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
And your eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger, nor the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as pledge:
When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled;
Cursed be he that perverts the justice due the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
The LORD preserves the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
Learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.
And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
And he spoke a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, who feared not God, neither regarded man: read more. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for awhile: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she wearies me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bears long with them?
Who devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater condemnation.
And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in there two mites. read more. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow has cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her poverty has cast in all the living that she had.
And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Honor widows that are widows indeed.
Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and so repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. read more. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry;
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of rebellion or unruly.
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/kj2000'>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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, in giving him food and clothing.
And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates.
You shall not pervert the justice due the stranger, nor the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing as pledge:
When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled;
Cursed be he that perverts the justice due the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear troubles you;
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. He evil treats the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow.
The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
God sets the solitary in families: he brings out those who are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
The LORD preserves the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
The LORD will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the boundary of the widow.
Learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.
To turn aside the needy from justice, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever.
Thus says the LORD; Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if you do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me.
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land became desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.
And I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
Honor widows that are widows indeed.
Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and so repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and so repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. read more. And these things give in a charge, that they may be blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, read more. Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith. And at the same time they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but gossips also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan.
For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believes has widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
If any man or woman that believes has widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
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
And the Levite, (because he has no part nor inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD your God has chosen to place his name there.
And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within your gates.
When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. read more. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn that she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
When you have finished tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled;
The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up children unto his brother. read more. Now there were with us seven brothers: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no child, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. read more. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch: Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
Honor widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety at home, and so repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. read more. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And these things give in a charge, that they may be blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Let not a widow be put on the list under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.
Well reported of for good works; if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry; read more. Having judgment, because they have cast off their first faith. And at the same time they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but gossips also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believes has widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. read more. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto your brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up descendants to your brother. And Onan knew that the descendant would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give a descendant to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: therefore he slew him also. Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow at your father's house, till Shelah my son is grown: for he said, Lest perhaps he die also, as his brothers did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.
If brethren dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.