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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'Any widow or orphan ye do not afflict; if thou dost really afflict him, surely if he at all cry unto Me, I certainly hear his cry; read more. and Mine anger hath burned, and I have slain you by the sword, and your wives have been widows, and your sons orphans.
widow, or cast out, or polluted one -- a harlot -- these he doth not take, but a virgin of his own people he doth take for a wife,
And thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who is within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in thy midst, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there,
'Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of a fatherless sojourner, nor take in pledge the garment of a widow;
'When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in a field, thou dost not turn back to take it; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is; so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hands.
'When brethren dwell together, and one of them hath died, and hath no son, the wife of the dead is not without to a strange man; her husband's brother doth go in unto her, and hath taken her to him for a wife, and doth perform the duty of her husband's brother; and it hath been, the first-born which she beareth doth rise for the name of his dead brother, and his name is not wiped away out of Israel. read more. 'And if the man doth not delight to take his brother's wife, then hath his brother's wife gone up to the gate, unto the elders, and said, My husband's brother is refusing to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he hath not been willing to perform the duty of my husband's brother; and the elders of his city have called for him, and spoken unto him, and he hath stood and said, I have no desire to take her; 'Then hath his brother's wife drawn nigh unto him, before the eyes of the elders, and drawn his shoe from off his foot, and spat in his face, and answered and said, Thus it is done to the man who doth not build up the house of his brother; and his name hath been called in Israel -- The house of him whose shoe is drawn off.
And now, surely, true, that I am a redeemer, but also there is a redeemer nearer than I. Lodge to night, and it hath been in the morning, if he doth redeem thee, well: he redeemeth; and if he delight not to redeem thee, then I have redeemed thee -- I; Jehovah liveth! lie down till the morning.'
And Boaz hath gone up to the gate, and sitteth there, and lo, the redeemer is passing by of whom Boaz had spoken, and he saith, 'Turn aside, sit down here, such a one, such a one;' and he turneth aside and sitteth down. And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, 'Sit down here;' and they sit down. read more. And he saith to the redeemer, 'A portion of the field which is to our brother, to Elimelech, hath Naomi sold, who hath come back from the fields of Moab; and I said, I uncover thine ear, saying, Buy before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people; if thou dost redeem -- redeem, and if none doth redeem -- declare to me, and I know, for there is none save thee to redeem, and I after thee.' And he saith, I redeem it.' And Boaz saith, 'In the day of thy buying the field from the hand of Naomi, then from Ruth the Moabitess, wife of the dead, thou hast bought it, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance.' And the redeemer saith, 'I am not able to redeem it for myself, lest I destroy mine inheritance; redeem for thyself -- thou -- my right of redemption, for I am not able to redeem.' And this is formerly in Israel for redemption and for changing, to establish anything: a man hath drawn off his sandal, and given it to his neighbour, and this is the testimony in Israel. And the redeemer saith to Boaz, 'Buy it for thyself,' and draweth off his sandal. And Boaz saith to the elders, and to all the people, 'Witnesses are ye to-day that I have bought all that is to Elimelech, and all that is to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi; and also Ruth the Moabitess, wife of Mahlon, I have bought to myself for a wife, to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance; and the name of the dead is not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place; witnesses ye are to-day.' And all the people who are in the gate say -- also the elders -- 'Witnesses! Jehovah make the woman who is coming in unto thy house as Rachel and as Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and do thou virtuously in Ephrathah, and proclaim the Name in Beth-Lehem;
Father of the fatherless, and judge of the widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive for the widow.
To turn aside from judgment the poor, And to take violently away the judgment Of the afflicted of My people, That widows may be their prey, That the fatherless they may spoil.
Thus said Jehovah: Do ye judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, ye do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood ye do not shed in this place.
In that day there came near to him Sadducees, who are saying there is not a rising again, and they questioned him, saying, 'Teacher, Moses said, If any one may die not having children, his brother shall marry his wife, and shall raise up seed to his brother. read more. 'And there were with us seven brothers, and the first having married did die, and not having seed, he left his wife to his brother; in like manner also the second, and the third, unto the seventh, and last of all died also the woman; therefore in the rising again, of which of the seven shall she be wife -- for all had her?' And Jesus answering said to them, 'Ye go astray, not knowing the Writings, nor the power of God; for in the rising again they do not marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are as messengers of God in heaven.
'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye eat up the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, because of this ye shall receive more abundant judgment.
And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration, and the twelve, having called near the multitude of the disciples, said, 'It is not pleasing that we, having left the word of God, do minister at tables; read more. look out, therefore, brethren, seven men of you who are well testified of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may set over this necessity,
honour widows who are really widows; and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God. read more. And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day, and she who is given to luxury, living -- hath died; and these things charge, that they may be blameless; and if any one for his own -- and especially for those of the household -- doth not provide, the faith he hath denied, and than an unbeliever he is worse. A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after; and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry, having judgment, because the first faith they did cast away, and at the same time also, they learn to be idle, going about the houses; and not only idle, but also tattlers and busybodies, speaking the things they ought not; I wish, therefore, younger ones to marry, to bear children, to be mistress of the house, to give no occasion to the opposer to reviling; for already certain did turn aside after the Adversary. If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve.
religion pure and undefiled with the God and Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation -- unspotted to keep himself 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).
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'Any widow or orphan ye do not afflict;
and thine eye doth not pity -- life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
'Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of a fatherless sojourner, nor take in pledge the garment of a widow;
'When thou dost complete to tithe all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then thou hast given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates, and been satisfied,
Cursed is he who is turning aside the judgment of fatherless, sojourner, and widow, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
The ass of the fatherless they lead away, They take in pledge the ox of the widow,
The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing.
Father of the fatherless, and judge of the widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
Jehovah is preserving the strangers, The fatherless and widow He causeth to stand, And the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive for the widow.
'Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye eat up the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, because of this ye shall receive more abundant judgment.
And there was Anna, a prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, she was much advanced in days, having lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, and she is a widow of about eighty-four years, who did depart not from the temple, with fasts and supplications serving, night and day,
And he spake also a simile to them, that it behoveth us always to pray, and not to faint, saying, 'A certain judge was in a certain city -- God he is not fearing, and man he is not regarding -- read more. and a widow was in that city, and she was coming unto him, saying, Do me justice on my opponent, and he would not for a time, but after these things he said in himself, Even if God I do not fear, and man do not regard, yet because this widow doth give me trouble, I will do her justice, lest, perpetually coming, she may plague me.' And the Lord said, 'Hear ye what the unrighteous judge saith: and shall not God execute the justice to His choice ones, who are crying unto Him day and night -- bearing long in regard to them?
who devour the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, these shall receive more abundant judgment.'
And having looked up, he saw those who did cast their gifts to the treasury -- rich men, and he saw also a certain poor widow casting there two mites, read more. and he said, 'Truly I say to you, that this poor widow did cast in more than all; for all these out of their superabundance did cast into the gifts to God, but this one out of her want, all the living that she had, did cast in.'
and having given her his hand, he lifted her up, and having called the saints and the widows, he presented her alive,
I became to the infirm as infirm, that the infirm I might gain; to all men I have become all things, that by all means I may save some.
as I also in all things do please all, not seeking my own profit, but that of many -- that they may be saved.
it behoveth, therefore, the overseer to be blameless, of one wife a husband, vigilant, sober, decent, a friend of strangers, apt to teach,
honour widows who are really widows;
honour widows who are really widows; and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God.
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after; read more. and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry,
if any one is blameless, of one wife a husband, having children stedfast, not under accusation of riotous living or insubordinate --
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/ylt'>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 is doing the judgment of fatherless and widow, and loving the sojourner, to give to him bread and raiment.
and come in hath the Levite (for he hath no part and inheritance with thee), and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou dost.
And thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who is within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in thy midst, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there,
and thou hast rejoiced in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates.
'Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of a fatherless sojourner, nor take in pledge the garment of a widow;
'When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in a field, thou dost not turn back to take it; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is; so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hands.
'When thou dost complete to tithe all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then thou hast given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates, and been satisfied,
Cursed is he who is turning aside the judgment of fatherless, sojourner, and widow, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
Widows thou hast sent away empty, And the arms of the fatherless are bruised. Therefore round about thee are snares, And trouble thee doth fear suddenly.
Forget him doth the womb, Sweeten on him doth the worm, No more is he remembered, And broken as a tree is wickedness. Treating evil the barren who beareth not, And to the widow he doth no good,
The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing.
If I withhold from pleasure the poor, And the eyes of the widow do consume,
God -- causing the lonely to dwell at home, Bringing out bound ones into prosperity, Only -- the refractory have inhabited a dry place.
Widow and sojourner they slay, And fatherless ones they murder.
Jehovah is preserving the strangers, The fatherless and widow He causeth to stand, And the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
The house of the proud Jehovah pulleth down, And He setteth up the border of the widow.
Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive for the widow.
Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.
To turn aside from judgment the poor, And to take violently away the judgment Of the afflicted of My people, That widows may be their prey, That the fatherless they may spoil.
Sojourner, fatherless, and widow, ye oppress not, And innocent blood do not shed in this place, And after other gods do not walk, for evil to yourselves, Then I have caused you to dwell in this place, In the land that I gave to your fathers, From age even unto age.
Thus said Jehovah: Do ye judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, ye do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood ye do not shed in this place. For, if ye certainly do this thing, Then come in by the gates of this house Have kings sitting for David on his throne, Riding on chariot, and on horses, He, and his servants, and his people.
Leave thine orphans -- I do keep alive, And thy widows -- on Me trust ye,
And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart.
And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!
And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.
And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration,
honour widows who are really widows;
honour widows who are really widows; and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God.
and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God. And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day,
And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day, and she who is given to luxury, living -- hath died; read more. and these things charge, that they may be blameless; and if any one for his own -- and especially for those of the household -- doth not provide, the faith he hath denied, and than an unbeliever he is worse.
and if any one for his own -- and especially for those of the household -- doth not provide, the faith he hath denied, and than an unbeliever he is worse. A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, read more. in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after; and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry, having judgment, because the first faith they did cast away, and at the same time also, they learn to be idle, going about the houses; and not only idle, but also tattlers and busybodies, speaking the things they ought not; I wish, therefore, younger ones to marry, to bear children, to be mistress of the house, to give no occasion to the opposer to reviling; for already certain did turn aside after the Adversary.
for already certain did turn aside after the Adversary. If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve.
If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve.
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 come in hath the Levite (for he hath no part and inheritance with thee), and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou dost.
And thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who is within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in thy midst, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there,
and thou hast rejoiced in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates.
'When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in a field, thou dost not turn back to take it; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is; so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hands. 'When thou beatest thine olive, thou dost not examine the branch behind thee; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is. read more. 'When thou cuttest thy vineyard, thou dost not glean behind thee; to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, it is;
'When brethren dwell together, and one of them hath died, and hath no son, the wife of the dead is not without to a strange man; her husband's brother doth go in unto her, and hath taken her to him for a wife, and doth perform the duty of her husband's brother; and it hath been, the first-born which she beareth doth rise for the name of his dead brother, and his name is not wiped away out of Israel.
'When thou dost complete to tithe all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, the year of the tithe, then thou hast given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates, and been satisfied,
In that day there came near to him Sadducees, who are saying there is not a rising again, and they questioned him, saying, 'Teacher, Moses said, If any one may die not having children, his brother shall marry his wife, and shall raise up seed to his brother. read more. 'And there were with us seven brothers, and the first having married did die, and not having seed, he left his wife to his brother; in like manner also the second, and the third, unto the seventh, and last of all died also the woman; therefore in the rising again, of which of the seven shall she be wife -- for all had her?' And Jesus answering said to them, 'Ye go astray, not knowing the Writings, nor the power of God; for in the rising again they do not marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are as messengers of God in heaven.
And in these days, the disciples multiplying, there came a murmuring of the Hellenists at the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily ministration, and the twelve, having called near the multitude of the disciples, said, 'It is not pleasing that we, having left the word of God, do minister at tables; read more. look out, therefore, brethren, seven men of you who are well testified of, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may set over this necessity, and we to prayer, and to the ministration of the word, will give ourselves continually.' And the thing was pleasing before all the multitude, and they did choose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they did set before the apostles, and they, having prayed, laid on them their hands.
honour widows who are really widows; and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God. read more. And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day, and she who is given to luxury, living -- hath died; and these things charge, that they may be blameless; and if any one for his own -- and especially for those of the household -- doth not provide, the faith he hath denied, and than an unbeliever he is worse. A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after;
in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after; and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry, read more. having judgment, because the first faith they did cast away, and at the same time also, they learn to be idle, going about the houses; and not only idle, but also tattlers and busybodies, speaking the things they ought not; I wish, therefore, younger ones to marry, to bear children, to be mistress of the house, to give no occasion to the opposer to reviling; for already certain did turn aside after the Adversary. If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve.
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 taketh a wife for Er, his first-born, and her name is Tamar; and Er, Judah's first-born, is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah doth put him to death. read more. And Judah saith to Onan, 'Go in unto the wife of thy brother, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother;' and Onan knoweth that the seed is not reckoned his; and it hath come to pass, if he hath gone in unto his brother's wife, that he hath destroyed it to the earth, so as not to give seed to his brother; and that which he hath done is evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and He putteth him also to death. And Judah saith to Tamar his daughter-in-law, 'Abide a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son groweth up;' for he said, 'Lest he die -- even he -- like his brethren;' and Tamar goeth and dwelleth at her father's house.
'When brethren dwell together, and one of them hath died, and hath no son, the wife of the dead is not without to a strange man; her husband's brother doth go in unto her, and hath taken her to him for a wife, and doth perform the duty of her husband's brother;