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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Ye shall trouble no widow nor fatherless child: If ye shall trouble them, they shall cry unto me, and I will surely hear their cry; read more. and then will my wrath wax hot and I will kill you with sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.
but no widow nor divorced nor polluted whore. But he shall take a maiden of his own people to wife,
And rejoice before the LORD thy God: both thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant and thy maid, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to make his name dwell there.
Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widow's raiment to pledge.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand.
When brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be given out unto a stranger: but her brother-in-law shall go in unto her and take her to wife and marry her. And the eldest son which she beareth, shall stand up in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out in Israel. read more. But and if the man will not take his sister-in-law, then let her go to the gate unto the elders and say, 'My brother-in-law refuseth to stir up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not marry me.' Then let the elders of his city call unto him and commune with him. If he stand and say, 'I will not take her,' then let his sister-in-law go unto him in the presence of the elders and loose his shoe off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say, 'So shall it be done unto that man that will not build his brother's house.' And his name shall be called in Israel, the unshoed house.
And it is true that I am of thy next kin: howbeit, there is one nigher than I. Tarry all night. And when morning is come, if he will marry thee: it is good, so let him do. But if he will not have thee, as sure as the LORD liveth I will have thee. Lie still until the morning."
Then went Boaz unto the gate and sat him down there. And behold, the kinsman of which Boaz spake came by. Unto whom he said, "Come and sit down here, and called him by his name." And he turned in and sat down. Then he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit ye down here." And they sat down. read more. Then he said unto the kinsman, "Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, will sell a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to do thee to know, and bid thee buy it before the inhabiters and elders of my people, if thou be disposed to challenge it: but and if thou wilt not purchase it, then tell me that I may know it. For there is none to challenge it save thou, and I next after thee." And the other answered, "I will purchase it." Then said Boaz, "What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must take also Ruth the Moabite the wife of the dead, to stir up the name of the dead upon his inheritance." Then said the kinsman, "I cannot purchase it for marrying of mine own inheritance: take thou my right to thee, for I cannot purchase it." Now this was the manner of old time in Israel concerning purchase and changing, for to establish all things: that a man must pluck off his shoe and give it his neighbour, and this was a witness in Israel. And the kinsman said to Boaz, "Buy it thou": and so drew off his shoe. Then said Boaz unto the elders and unto all the people, "Ye 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. And moreover, Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, do I take unto me to wife to stir up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that his name be not put out from among his brethren, and from the gate of his city: ye are witnesses this day." And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said "We are witnesses: the LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and Lea, which twain did build the house of Israel: that she may do virtuously in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethlehem,
He is a father of the fatherless, he is a defender of widows; even God in his holy habitation.
Study to do righteously, and help the oppressed. Avenge the fatherless and defend the cause of widows. Come, let us show each his grief to other and make an atonement, saith the LORD.
wherethrough the poor are oppressed on every side, and the innocents of my people are therewith robbed of judgment: that widows may be your prey, and that ye may rob the fatherless.
Thus the LORD commandeth: Keep equity and righteousness, deliver the oppressed from the power of the violent: do not grieve nor oppress the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place.
The same day the Sadducees came to him, which say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him, saying, "Master, Moses bade, if a man die having no children, that the brother marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. read more. There were with us seven brethren, and the first married and deceased without issue, and left his wife unto his brother. Likewise the second and the third, unto the seventh: Last of all the woman died also. Now in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? For all had her." Jesus answered and said unto them, "Ye are deceived, and understand not what the scripture meaneth, nor yet the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are married: but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Woe be unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye devour widows' houses: and that, under a colour of praying long prayers, wherefore ye shall receive greater damnation.
In those days, as the number of the disciples grew, there arose a grudge among the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were despised in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples together and said, "It is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve at the tables. read more. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, and full of the holy ghost and wisdom, which we may appoint to this needful business:
Honour widows which are true widows. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to rule their own houses godly, and to recompense their elders. For that is good and acceptable before God. read more. She that is a very widow, and friendless, putteth her trust in God, and continueth in supplication and prayer night and day: but she that liveth in pleasure, is dead even yet alive. And these things command, that they may be without fault. If there be any that provideth not for his own, and namely for them of his household, the same denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man, and well reported of in good works: if she have nourished children, if she have been liberal to strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have ministered unto them which were in adversity, if she were continually given unto all manner good works. The younger widows refuse. For when they have begun to wax wanton, to the dishonour of Christ, then will they marry, having damnation, because they have broken their first faith. And also they learn to go from house to house idle, yea not idle only, but also trifling and busybodies, speaking things which are not comely. I will therefore that the younger women marry and bear children, and guide the house, and give none occasion to the adversary to speak evil. For many of them are all ready turned back, and are gone after Satan. And if any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them minister unto them, and let not the congregation be charged: that it may have sufficient for them that are widows indeed.
Pure devotion, and undefiled before God the father, is this: To visit the friendless, and widows in their adversity, and to keep himself unspotted of 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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Ye shall trouble no widow nor fatherless child:
And let thine eye have no compassion, but life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widow's raiment to pledge.
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, the year of tithing - and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in thy gates and filled themselves
"'Cursed be he that hindereth the right of the stranger, fatherless and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
that drive away the ass of the fatherless; that take the widow's ox for a pledge;
He that should have been lost, gave me a good word, and the widow's heart praised me.
He is a father of the fatherless, he is a defender of widows; even God in his holy habitation.
The LORD careth for the strangers; he defendeth the fatherless and widow. As for the way of the ungodly, he turneth it upside down.
Study to do righteously, and help the oppressed. Avenge the fatherless and defend the cause of widows. Come, let us show each his grief to other and make an atonement, saith the LORD.
Woe be unto you, scribes and Pharisees, for ye devour widows' houses: and that, under a colour of praying long prayers, wherefore ye shall receive greater damnation.
And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher: which was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And she had been a widow about four score and four years of age, which went never out of the temple, but served God there with fasting and prayer night and day.
He put forth a similitude unto them, signifying that men ought always to pray, and not to be weary, saying, "There was a Judge in a certain city, which feared not God neither regarded man. read more. And there was a certain widow in the same city, which came unto him saying, 'Avenge me of mine adversary.' And he would not for a while. But afterward he said unto himself, 'Though I fear not God, nor care for man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her: lest at the last she come, and hag on me.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge sayeth. And shall not God avenge his elect, which cry night and day unto him? Yea though he defer them:
which devour widows' houses, and that under a colour of long praying: The same shall receive greater damnation."
As he beheld, he saw the rich men, how they cast in their offerings into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow, which cast in thither two mites. read more. And he said, "Of a truth I say unto you, this poor widow hath put in more than they all. For they all have of their superfluity added unto the offering of God: But she, of her penury, hath cast in all the substance that she had."
And he gave her the hand and lift her up, and called the saints and widows and showed her alive.
To the weak became I as weak, to win the weak. In all thing I fashioned myself to all men, to save, at the leastway, some.
Even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved.
Yea, and a bishop must be faultless, the husband of one wife, sober, discreet, honestly appareled, harborous, apt to teach,
Honour widows which are true widows.
Honour widows which are true widows. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to rule their own houses godly, and to recompense their elders. For that is good and acceptable before God.
Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man,
Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man, and well reported of in good works: if she have nourished children, if she have been liberal to strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have ministered unto them which were in adversity, if she were continually given unto all manner good works. read more. The younger widows refuse. For when they have begun to wax wanton, to the dishonour of Christ, then will they marry,
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/mstc'>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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but doeth right unto the fatherless and widow and loveth the stranger, to give him food and raiment.
and the Levite shall come because he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow which are within thy city, and shall eat and fill themselves: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hand which thou doest.
And rejoice before the LORD thy God: both thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant and thy maid, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to make his name dwell there.
And thou shalt rejoice in that thy feast; both thou and thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, thy maid, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are in thy cities.
Hinder not the right of the stranger nor of the fatherless, nor take widow's raiment to pledge.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand.
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, the year of tithing - and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in thy gates and filled themselves
"'Cursed be he that hindereth the right of the stranger, fatherless and widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
Thou hast sent widows away empty and oppressed the poor fatherless. Therefore art thou compassed about with snares on every side, and suddenly vexed with fear.
O that all compassion upon them were forgotten: that their dainties were worms, that they were clean put out of remembrance, and utterly hewn down like an unfruitful tree. For they maintain the barren, and make them that they cannot bear, and unto widows they do no good.
He that should have been lost, gave me a good word, and the widow's heart praised me.
"When the poor desireth anything of me, have I denied it them? Have I caused the widow stand waiting for me in vain?
He is the God that maketh men to be of one mind in a house, and bringeth the prisoners out of captivity, but letteth the renegades continue in scarceness.
They murder the widow and the stranger, and put the fatherless to death.
The LORD careth for the strangers; he defendeth the fatherless and widow. As for the way of the ungodly, he turneth it upside down.
The LORD will break down the house of the proud; but he shall make fast the borders of the widow.
Study to do righteously, and help the oppressed. Avenge the fatherless and defend the cause of widows. Come, let us show each his grief to other and make an atonement, saith the LORD.
Thy princes are traitors and companions of thieves. They love gifts altogether, and gape for rewards. As for the fatherless, they help him not to his right, neither will they let the widows causes come before them.
wherethrough the poor are oppressed on every side, and the innocents of my people are therewith robbed of judgment: that widows may be your prey, and that ye may rob the fatherless.
If ye will not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow; if ye will not shed innocent blood in this place; if ye will not cleave to strange gods to your own destruction; then will I let you dwell in this place, yea in the land that I gave afore time unto your fathers forever.
Thus the LORD commandeth: Keep equity and righteousness, deliver the oppressed from the power of the violent: do not grieve nor oppress the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, and shed no innocent blood in this place. And if ye keep these things faithfully, then shall there come in at the door of this house, kings, to sit upon David's seat: they shall be carried in Chariots and ride upon horses, both they and their servants, and their people.
Thou shalt leave thy fatherless children behind thee, and I will keep them, and thy widows shall take their comfort in me.
Do the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and poor no wrong: and let no man imagine evil against his brother in his heart."
but scattered them among all Gentiles, whom they knew not. Thus the land was made so desolate, that there traveled no man in it neither to nor fro, for that pleasant land was utterly laid waste."
I will come and punish you, and I myself will be a swift witness against the witches, against the adulterers, against false swearers: yea, and against those that wrongfully keep back the hireling's duty, which vex the widows and the fatherless, and oppress the stranger, and fear not me, sayeth the LORD of Hosts.
In those days, as the number of the disciples grew, there arose a grudge among the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were despised in the daily ministration.
Honour widows which are true widows.
Honour widows which are true widows. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to rule their own houses godly, and to recompense their elders. For that is good and acceptable before God.
If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to rule their own houses godly, and to recompense their elders. For that is good and acceptable before God. She that is a very widow, and friendless, putteth her trust in God, and continueth in supplication and prayer night and day:
She that is a very widow, and friendless, putteth her trust in God, and continueth in supplication and prayer night and day: but she that liveth in pleasure, is dead even yet alive. read more. And these things command, that they may be without fault. If there be any that provideth not for his own, and namely for them of his household, the same denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
If there be any that provideth not for his own, and namely for them of his household, the same denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man, read more. and well reported of in good works: if she have nourished children, if she have been liberal to strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have ministered unto them which were in adversity, if she were continually given unto all manner good works. The younger widows refuse. For when they have begun to wax wanton, to the dishonour of Christ, then will they marry, having damnation, because they have broken their first faith. And also they learn to go from house to house idle, yea not idle only, but also trifling and busybodies, speaking things which are not comely. I will therefore that the younger women marry and bear children, and guide the house, and give none occasion to the adversary to speak evil. For many of them are all ready turned back, and are gone after Satan.
For many of them are all ready turned back, and are gone after Satan. And if any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them minister unto them, and let not the congregation be charged: that it may have sufficient for them that are widows indeed.
And if any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them minister unto them, and let not the congregation be charged: that it may have sufficient for 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.
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and the Levite shall come because he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow which are within thy city, and shall eat and fill themselves: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the works of thine hand which thou doest.
And rejoice before the LORD thy God: both thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy servant and thy maid, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to make his name dwell there.
And thou shalt rejoice in that thy feast; both thou and thy son, thy daughter, thy servant, thy maid, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow that are in thy cities.
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again and fetch it: But it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand. When thou beatest down thine olive trees thou shalt not make clean riddance after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. read more. And when thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather clean after thee: but it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow.
When brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be given out unto a stranger: but her brother-in-law shall go in unto her and take her to wife and marry her. And the eldest son which she beareth, shall stand up in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out in Israel.
When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, the year of tithing - and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and they have eaten in thy gates and filled themselves
The same day the Sadducees came to him, which say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him, saying, "Master, Moses bade, if a man die having no children, that the brother marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. read more. There were with us seven brethren, and the first married and deceased without issue, and left his wife unto his brother. Likewise the second and the third, unto the seventh: Last of all the woman died also. Now in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? For all had her." Jesus answered and said unto them, "Ye are deceived, and understand not what the scripture meaneth, nor yet the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are married: but are as the angels of God in heaven.
In those days, as the number of the disciples grew, there arose a grudge among the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were despised in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples together and said, "It is not meet that we should leave the word of God and serve at the tables. read more. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, and full of the holy ghost and wisdom, which we may appoint to this needful business: but we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministration of the word." And the saying pleased the whole multitude well. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the holy ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a convert of Antioch, which they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
Honour widows which are true widows. If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to rule their own houses godly, and to recompense their elders. For that is good and acceptable before God. read more. She that is a very widow, and friendless, putteth her trust in God, and continueth in supplication and prayer night and day: but she that liveth in pleasure, is dead even yet alive. And these things command, that they may be without fault. If there be any that provideth not for his own, and namely for them of his household, the same denieth the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man,
Let no widow be chosen under sixty years old, and such a one as was the wife of one man, and well reported of in good works: if she have nourished children, if she have been liberal to strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have ministered unto them which were in adversity, if she were continually given unto all manner good works.
and well reported of in good works: if she have nourished children, if she have been liberal to strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have ministered unto them which were in adversity, if she were continually given unto all manner good works. The younger widows refuse. For when they have begun to wax wanton, to the dishonour of Christ, then will they marry, read more. having damnation, because they have broken their first faith. And also they learn to go from house to house idle, yea not idle only, but also trifling and busybodies, speaking things which are not comely. I will therefore that the younger women marry and bear children, and guide the house, and give none occasion to the adversary to speak evil. For many of them are all ready turned back, and are gone after Satan. And if any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them minister unto them, and let not the congregation be charged: that it may have sufficient for 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.
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And Judah gave Er, his eldest son, a wife whose name was Tamar. But this Er, Judah's eldest son, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; wherefore the LORD slew him. read more. Then said Judah unto Onan, go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, and stir up seed unto thy brother. And when Onan perceived that the seed should not be his: therefore when he went into his brother's wife, he spilled it on the ground, because he would not give seed unto his brother. And the thing which he did, displeased the LORD, wherefore he slew him also. Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown." For he feared lest he should have died also, as his brethren did. Thus went Tamar and dwelt in her father's house.
When brethren dwell together and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not be given out unto a stranger: but her brother-in-law shall go in unto her and take her to wife and marry her.