Difference between revisions of "Widow"

<p> <em> 'Almânâh </em> (אַלְמָנָה, Strong'S #490), “widow.” Cognates of this word appear in Aramaic, Arabic, Akkadian, Phoenician, and Ugaritic. Biblical Hebrew attests it 55 times and in all periods. </p> <p> The word represents a woman who, because of the death of her husband, has lost her social and economic position. The gravity of her situation was increased if she had no children. In such a circumstance she returned to her father’s home and was subjected to the [[Levirate]] rule whereby a close male relative surviving her husband was to produce a child through her in her husband’s behalf: “Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-inlaw, [[Remain]] a widow at thy father’s house, till [[Shelah]] my son be grown …” (Gen. 38:11 the first occurrence of the word). These words constitute a promise to Tamar that the disgrace of being without both husband and child would be removed when Shelah was old enough to marry. Even if children had been born before her husband’s death, a widow’s lot was not a happy one (2 Sam. 14:5). Israel was admonished to treat “widows” and other socially disadvantaged people with justice, God Himself standing as their protector (Exod. 22:21-24). </p> <p> [[Wives]] whose husbands shut them away from themselves are sometimes called “widows”: “And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood” (2 Sam. 20:3). </p> <p> Destroyed, plundered Jerusalem is called a “widow” (Lam. 1:1). </p>

<div> ''': ''' (Strong'S # — — — ) </div> <p> &nbsp;Matthew 28:13 (in some texts); &nbsp; Mark 12:40,42,43; &nbsp;Luke 2:37; &nbsp;4:25,26 , lit., "a woman a widow;" &nbsp;Luke 7:12; &nbsp;18:3,5; &nbsp;20:47; &nbsp;21:2,3; &nbsp;Acts 6:1; &nbsp;9:39,41; &nbsp;1 Timothy 5:3 (twice),4,5,11,16 (twice); &nbsp; James 1:27; &nbsp;1 Timothy 5:9 refers to elderly "widows" (not an ecclesiastical "order"), recognized, for relief or maintenance by the church (cp. &nbsp; 1 Timothy 5:3,16 ), as those who had fulfilled the conditions mentioned; where relief could be ministered by those who had relatives that were "widows" (a likely circumstance in large families), the church was not to be responsible; there is an intimation of the tendency to shelve individual responsibility at the expense of church funds. In &nbsp;Revelation 18:7 , it is used figuratively of a city forsaken. </p>

<p> (אִלְמָנָה, χήρα '').'' The benevolent influence of the Bible is in nothing more apparent than in the superior treatment which woman has experienced among those nations where it has prevailed; especially in that most forlorn; and helpless class of females who have been deprived of the support and protection of a husband. Among pagans, on the contrary, and conspicuously in Oriental lands, the condition of widows is most deplorable. They are generally regarded with suspicion and contempt, and, in many countries, with positive abhorrence, as if the cause of their husbands' death. In India this oppression seems to have reached its culmination of misery; and the atrocious custom of widow-burning or [[Suttee]] (q.v.), was for ages the doom of this unfortunate class. (See Woman). </p> <p> '''I.''' ''Widows Among The Hebrews.'' — Besides the general law against their hard treatment (&nbsp;Exodus 22:22-24), there was special legislation respecting them. </p> <p> '''1.''' Their rights should always be respected (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 10:18; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 27:19); nor should their clothing or cattle be pledged (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 24:17), nor their children be sold for debt (&nbsp;2 Kings 4:1; &nbsp;Job 24:9). According to [[Maimonides]] ''(Sanedr.'' 21, 6) their cases must be tried next after those of orphans. </p> <p> '''2.''' They must be invited to the feasts accompanying sacrifices and tithe- offerings (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 14:29; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 16:11-14; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 26:12 sq.). Childless priest- widows living in their fathers' houses had a right to the priests' meat (&nbsp;Leviticus 22:13). In later times it was the custom that the rich sent them wine for the passover meal; in the time of the [[Maccabees]] widows were also allowed to deposit their property in the temple treasury (2 Macec. 3:10). </p> <p> '''3.''' Gleanings were left for them (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 24:19-21), and they shared in the battle spoils (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 8:28-30). Their remarriage was contemplated (&nbsp;Leviticus 21:14, but the high-priest was forbidden to marry one), and only on the childless widow did the Levirate law operate (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 25:5; (See Levirate) ). The later [[Judaism]] greatly facilitated the remarriage of widows ''(Jebanloth,'' 15:1 sq., 4 sq.; 16:4 sq.), but this was to be done not less than ninety days after the husband's demise. According ''To Kethuboth,'' 12:2 sq.; ''Gittin,'' 4:3, if the widow remained in her husband's house the heirs had to provide her with the necessary rooms and means for her support; but if she went to her father's home she forfeited her right to support more than was absolutely necessary, and neither she nor the heirs could lay claim to her dowry until the expiration of twenty-five years, provided she could prove by oath that she had not yet received anything of it. In order to get subsistence, widows were allowed to sell the property of their husbands, both real and personal (Kethuboth, 8:8; 9:9; Maim. Ishuth, 16:7 sq.). In case a man left two widows, the first wife had prior claims (ibid. Cosj. 17:1). [[Betrothed]] women whose prospective husbands died were considered as widows, and such a one the high-priest was also forbidden to marry. In spite of these laws and regulations, complaints of the unljust treatment of the widows in Israel were heard at different times (&nbsp;Isaiah 1:17; &nbsp;Isaiah 1:23; &nbsp;Isaiah 10:2; &nbsp;Jeremiah 7:6; &nbsp;Jeremiah 22:3; &nbsp;Ezekiel 22:7; &nbsp;Malachi 3:3), and even in the New Test. period (&nbsp;Matthew 23:14). </p> <p> See Selden, De Succ. ad Leg. Ebr. in bona Defunct.; Mendelsohn, Rit. Gesetze, 4; Gans; Erbrecht, 1:152 sq.; Saalschutz, Mosaisches Recht, 831 sq., 860 sq.; Fronmuller, De [[Vidua]] Hebraea (Wittenberg, 1714); Dassovius, Vidua Hebraea, in Ugolino's Thesaurus, 30:1025 sq.; Herzog, Real-Encyclop. s.v.; Lichtenberger, Encyclop. des Sciences. Religieuses, s.v. (B.P.) </p> <p> '''II.''' ''Widows Among Christians'' . — </p> <p> '''1.''' In the early Church abundant and careful provision was made for them by special ministration appointed under the apostles themselves (&nbsp;Acts 6:1-6); and Paul gives particular directions concerning them (&nbsp;1 Timothy 5:3-16) in terms which have been understood by some commentators as ranking them in a special class of Church officials, but which rather seem to indicate their general maintenance at the expense of the body of believers, after a careful discrimination, such as the nature of the times then dictated. The writers who immediately succeeded the apostles often refer to the duty and practice of caring for the poor widows of the Church (Hermas, AMand. 8:10; Sin7. 1:8; 5:3; Ignlatius, [[Ad]] Smyrn. 6; Ad Polycarp. 4; Polycarp, Ad Philip. 4, etc.). In still later times the [[Apostolical]] ''Constitutions'' and other authorities speak of a distinct order by this name (τὸ χηρικόν ), but these appear to have held an eleemosynary office, rather than to have been themselves beneficiaries. (See [[Deaconess]]). They eventually took vows like nuns, and, in fact, devoted themselves to a conventual, or, at least, continent and actively benevolent life. See Smith, ''Dict. Of Christ. Antiq.'' s.v. At the same time this body formed a convenient refuge for the destitute widows of those days, and in the Roman [[Catholic]] Church nunneries have largely been recruited from the ranks of bereaved or disappointed women. But, aside from this, Christian churches have in all ages exerted themselves with a praiseworthy diligence and liberality to furnish shelter and maintenance for believing widows whose relatives have been found unable or unwilling to provide for them. In more recent times special retreats, called "Old Ladies' Homes," have been established, where, for a moderate charge or entirely gratuitously, indigent widows are comfortably and pleasantly taken care of, without compelling them to become objects of public charity. (See [[Poor]]). </p>