How does God include the needs of widows in his instructions?
Exodus 22:22“You must not exploit a widow or an orphan.”
Deuteronomy 10:18“He [the Lord] ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.”
In Israel’s earliest system of laws, God showed deep concern for people groups often overlooked or even abused in societies of the time (in particular here, widows and orphans). God declared himself to be on their side. Vulnerable people continue to be overlooked in today’s world. Those who seek to obey God must show concern for all those whom God takes seriously.
Deuteronomy 16:9-14“Count off seven weeks from when you first begin to cut the grain at the time of harvest. Then celebrate the Festival of Harvest to honor the Lord your God. Bring him a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings you have received from him. This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees. You must observe the Festival of Shelters for seven days at the end of the harvest season, after the grain has been threshed and the grapes have been pressed. This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns.”
God’s instructions for celebrating his blessings at Israel’s annual festivals included specific instructions for including many who might have been easily overlooked, including orphans and widows. A key motivation for taking care of vulnerable people was the memory that they all had once been slaves and that God had freed them.
Deuteronomy 24:19-22“When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.”
Wealthy farmers were not to strip their fruit trees and fields bare at harvest in order to maximize their profits. Late ripening fruit and missed grain in the field was to be left for the poor among them. The vulnerable were allowed to glean what was left to ensure their survival. With this practice, the wealthy were encouraged to be generous and the poor were encouraged to work.
Psalm 68:5Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
Isaiah 1:17-23“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!” See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers. Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered-down wine. Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them love bribes and demand payoffs, but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows.
God condemns as sinful the failure to help others—to seek justice, defend the oppressed, support orphans, and fight for the rights of widows. The deepest solution for our sin problem is something only God can supply, but he also calls us to participate in his redeeming work with his Spirit’s help. And obeying God involves more than just making him happy. God wants us to help him renew everything sullied by sin, to participate in the restoration of our broken world. Part of that work involves helping the helpless.
Jeremiah 22:3“This is what the Lord says: Be fair-minded and just. Do what is right! Help those who have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop murdering the innocent!”
Zechariah 7:10“Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other.”
Malachi 3:5“At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The prophets repeatedly railed on God’s behalf against the flagrant injustices that followed from the people’s disregard for God and his ways. Those who suffer the most are those less able to fend for themselves. Those who care what God thinks will care for those God cares for.
Mark 12:38-44Jesus also taught: “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.” Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
The contrast between the heartless treatment of widows in Jesus’ day and the simple faithfulness of the actual widow they observed giving her meager sacrificial offering highlighted Jesus’ warning about superficial religiosity that lacks compassion.
Luke 4:22-30Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.” When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
Jesus used two foreigners (the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the leper) to point out how little the people of his own generation really understood the heart of God. Just as the Israelites of Elijah’s time rejected God and experienced the consequences, so the people in Jesus’ audience failed to realize their own distance from God. Their angry response at being reminded of their ungodly condition simply demonstrated the truth of Jesus’ words.
