“Support widows who are genuinely in need.”
Paul dedicates the next 14 verses to the care of widows. He starts this section by saying support widows who are genuinely in need. Before we delve into how Timothy was to determine whether a widow was truly in need, I want to look at widows in both the Old and New Testaments.
The information that follows is from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. In the Old Testament, a widow is someone whose husband has died and who has no adult male relative to serve as her legal protector. She might find protection if, because she has no sons, she marries her husband’s brother (or another relative). This is called the law of levirate marriage. An example of this can be found in the book of Ruth when she marries Boaz. Another way she could find protection is by moving back to her father’s home. A third way would be to remarry.
Widows were often neglected or exploited. If a woman’s husband died when the children were young, she became a “widow” and the children became “orphans.” From the very beginning, God has been protective of widows and orphans. When He gave the law to Moses, He said this. “You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, they will no doubt cry to me, and I will certainly hear their cry” (Exodus 22:22-23). He also said this. “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 24:17-18).
God also commands His people in the Old Testament to care for widows. “Learn to do what is good. Pursue justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17). “Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another” (Zechariah 7:10). They were commanded to provide food for widows. “At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates. Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do” (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). “When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, do not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this” (Deuteronomy 24:19-22).
There are several well-known widows in the Old Testament. These include Tamar, the twice widowed daughter-in-law of Judah; Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law (and of course, Ruth and Orpah, her widowed daughters-in-law); and the widow with whom Elisha miraculously multiplied the oil. One of my favorite widows is found in 1 Kings 17. She is called the widow of Zarephath and we never get her name. Zarephath is a Gentile city. Elijah is not only called to go to a Gentile city, but to a poor widow to get his needs met. God used a desperately poor widow to provide for Elijah and He provided for her needs at the same time. Elijah later raised her son to life when he became ill and died. In answering the question of why God used a widow to help Elijah, Biblehub.com states it succinctly. “God chose a widow in Zarephath to display His sovereignty over false gods, to provide for His prophet through weakness, to prefigure Gentile salvation, to rehearse resurrection hope, and to confirm that His word alone sustains life.”
What about the New Testament? The first widow we meet is Anna. “There was also a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and was a widow for eighty-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began to thank God and to speak about him to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-37). Anna had been a widow for most of her long life. She spent her time at the temple fasting and praying. She was one of the first to see baby Jesus and recognize Him for who He was. She then began to spread the news to everyone around about who He was.
Next, we meet the widow of Nain. Jesus was traveling with his disciples when he encountered her. “Just as he neared the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the town was also with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, ‘Don’t weep.’ Then he came up and touched the open coffin, and the pallbearers stopped. And he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, get up!’” (Luke 7:12-14). Her son would have been her only provider. Jesus showed concern for the widow by raising her only son.
Jesus had harsh words for the Pharisees and scribes over their treatment of widows. He said, “Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes and who love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher judgment” (Luke 20:46-47. Gotquestions.org explains, “In ancient times widows held little or no power in the courts. It was not uncommon for a husband to appoint in his will a Jewish legal expert- a scribe or pharisee- to be the executor of his widow’s estate. Essentially, this gave the executor authority to oversee the widow’s finances and assets. It would not be hard for a corrupt lawyer to find legal ways to trick a widow out of her house and other property- and this is precisely what the religious leaders were doing.”
On one website I looked at (Jesusalive.cc), Steve Shirley answers Bible questions. Question #498 is “How many widows are mentioned in the Bible?” “A: the Bible uses the word widow(s) 81 times (55 times OT- Heb.= ‘almanah’ / 26 times NT- Gr.= ‘chera’).” I bring this up because widows are a group that God cares about. But why were there so many widows during this time? One of the reasons I discovered is that in Jewish, Greek, and Roman societies, men often married later than women. The age gap could be as much as 15 years. And of course, the life expectancy back then was much shorter due to disease and poor nutrition. When you add accidents and warfare to the men’s shortened lifespan, many women outlived their husbands. One estimate is that widows made up 20 to 30% of adult women. No wonder the Bible has so much to say about their care!
Paul’s letter to Timothy isn’t the first place that the care of widows in the early church has come up. In Acts 2, we read about the beginning of the church. In Acts 4, we read about everyone sharing their possessions and there not being a needy person among them (v.34). The church continued to grow, and by chapter 6, problems arise. The Greek Jews began to complain about the Hebrew Jews (even though they are called Greek and Hellenistic Jews, they are Christians- they just hadn’t been given that title yet. They were of Jewish background but had embraced Jesus as Messiah). “In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1). To solve the problem, “seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and wisdom” were chosen to take care of the duty of caring for widows.
As we see here in 1 Timothy 5, caring for the widows in the early church continues to be of great importance to Paul. But he wants to make sure that they are truly in need. Perhaps he is contrasting them with the elaborately dressed women he described earlier in this letter. “Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel, but with good works, as is proper for women who profess to worship God” 2:9-10).
We will look at what qualifications that a widow must have in order to receive support from the church in the next few posts.
Grace be with you!
Abundant Joy 