How the society, family and church should treat widowsĬhristian children and grandchildren have a special privilege and opportunity to manifest or put their faith in action by giving back love and support to their parents and grandparents, and especially to lonely widows. First and foremost, the widow to be helped had to be truly in need and completely alone in the world as we can read from 1 Timothy 5:4 – “ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.” Here, Apostle Paul is saying that it is the duty and obligation of families to care for their aging and needy family members. According to Apostle Paul, a widow who received financial and material support from the church had to first meet certain qualifications. In 1 Timothy 5, Apostle Paul clearly gives details on how the church and individual families are to care for widows. During harvest time, widows were allowed to glean in the fields of grain so as to gather leftover grapes and olives. Luckily enough, God recognized the widow’s plight and rose to her defense as we can read from Psalm 68:5 – “ A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” To remedy to some of the widow’s plight, Deuteronomy 27:19 tells us that anyone who denied justice to a widow was cursed by God: “ Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.” Likewise, Laws and special provisions were put in favor of the widows to safeguard them from abuse and neglect. Most were mocked at, rejected, unjustly treated, and left to suffer on their own. Life was quite difficult for widows as they struggled to single-handle the upbringing of their children. This was obviously difficult as it left them vulnerable in the society. For sure, there were also women whose husbands died young thereby living them behind with young children to cater for all alone. Such a women might have been considered a disgrace to her family and abandoned in a perilous position.
With this in mind, we can say that a childless widow endured double adversity, with no husband to provide for and protect her, and no son to go further with the family name and cater for her in her old age. In ancient or Biblical times, the primary purpose of women in marriage was to produce children and heirs to carry-on with the family line. Widows are to be offered protection so that no one dares take advantage of their vulnerability.
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