– Since the OT, the Mosaic law protected widows:
Deut 10:18 : He gives justice to the orphan and the widow, and loves the stranger, to whom he gives food and clothing.
Ps 67,6 : He is the father of orphans and the protector of widows, this God who dwells in a holy temple.
Ps 145,9 : The Lord protects the pilgrims, protects the orphan and the widow.
Pr 15:25 : The Lord destroys the house of the proud, but establishes the boundaries of the widow.
Jr 49,11 : Abandon your orphans, I will give them something to live on; let your widows put their trust in me!
Mal 3,5 : I will come to you to judge […] those who withhold wages from the worker, who oppress the widow and the orphan.
– Therefore they should be assisted:
Leviticus 23:22 : When you reap in your land, you shall not reap to the extreme […] Leave that for the poor and the foreigner.
Deut 14:28-29 : The stranger, the orphan and the widow, who are within your walls, may eat to their fullness.
Deut 24:19-20 : Leave him for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless him.
Deut 26:12 : When you have finished separating the tithe, […] and you have distributed it to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow.
Job 29:13 : The dying man’s blessing came upon me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice.
– And condemned who wronged them:
Ex 22,21-23 : Do not harm the widow or the orphan.
Deuteronomy 24:17 : Thou shalt not violate the right of a foreigner or of an orphan, and thou shalt not take a widow’s garment as pledge.
Deut 27:19 : Cursed is he who violates the right of the foreigner, the orphan and the widow!
Ps 93,5-6 : They crush your people, Lord, […] They slaughter the widow and the foreigner, they take the lives of orphans.
Jr 7,6 : If you do not oppress the foreigner, the orphan, the widow.
Ez 22,7 : In you, father and mother are despised, the foreign guest is violated, the orphan and the widow are mistreated.
Job 24.21 : Iniquity is broken like a tree. He mistreated the barren, childless woman and did no good to the widow.
Is 1:23 : Your princes are rebellious […] they do not give justice to the orphan, and the cause of the widow is not invoked before them.
Is 10,1-2 : Woe to those who make unjust laws […] to make widows their prey and spoil orphans.
– There were norms for their marriage:
Leviticus 21:14 : He shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman […], but he shall marry a virgin from among his people.
Deut 25,5-6 : The wife of the deceased must not marry a stranger outside.
Ez 44,22 : Widows shall not marry […]; they may, however, marry the widow of a priest.
– In the NT, likewise, from the beginning of the Church, the apostles took care that they were not wronged:
Mk 12:40 : They devour the wealth of widows and give the appearance of long prayers.
Luke 20:47 : Who devour widows’ houses, pretending to make long prayers.
Acts 6:1 : There were complaints from the Greeks […], because their widows would have been neglected in the daily distribution.
Acts 9,39-40 : All the widows surrounded him, weeping and showing him their tunics and dresses.
1Tm 5,3.16 : Honor the widows who are really widows.
Jas 1,27 : Pure religion […] in the eyes of God and our Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.
– And their work in the communities was valued:
1Tm 5,3.16 : Honor the widows who are really widows.
– There were also recommendations regarding second marriages:
Mt 22:24 : “Master”, Moses said, “if a man dies childless, let his brother marry his widow”.
1Cor 7,8 : I say to singles and widows that it is good for them if they remain like me.
