God's care for widows is shown in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Levirate marriage in the Bible commanded men to provide a son and carry on the name and inheritance of a deceased brother by marrying the widowed wife.

https://youtu.be/z9BSqZmGdqQ
Levirate marriage in the Bible (Deuteronomy 25:5-10) commanded men to marry their deceased brother's widow to provide a son.

Table of contentsLevirate Marriage Cared for the WidowLevirate Marriage Carried on the Deceased Man’s NameLevirate Marriage Carried on the Deceased Man’s InheritanceThe Humiliating Ceremony If a Brother Refused to Fulfill His ResponsibilityWhen Onan Refused His Responsibilities with TamarBoaz and Ruth's Levirate MarriageLevirate Marriage Looks to Christ’s RedemptionFootnotes

Our nation provides many services to widows. Here are five, but there are more:

Hope for Widows helps financially and strives to build a community among widowed women worldwide.

Wings for Widows provides coaching and education to help widows achieve financial wellness.

Modern Widows Club provides in-person and virtual support groups, clubs, and travel opportunities.

The Widow Connection provides skill training for widows to build economic independence.

The Sisterhood of Widows is an online site offering compassion and encouragement for widows.

None of these services can replace losing a spouse, but they are intended to help financially, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

The ancient world was a cruel place to live. They didn’t have the social services we have today. Women, in general, had it bad. Widows had it worse. And widows with no sons to care for them had it worst of all. They were the picture of helplessness and vulnerability.

God expressed His heart for widows and commanded His people to care for them:

Psalm 68:5 Protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

Psalm 146:9 The Lord…upholds the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 [God says to], “Learn to do good [and] plead the widow's cause.”

Levirate Marriage Cared for the Widow

God commanded levirate marriage in the Mosaic law to care for widows: when a man died, his brother married his wife. This is also where the word “levirate” comes from: it has nothing to do with the tribe of Levi. The word comes from the Latin levir, which means “a husband’s brother.”

When I first learned about levirate marriage, to be honest, it seemed pretty weird to me: a man is commanded to marry his dead brother’s wife. And if we’re all honest, we would probably admit this isn’t the only part of the Mosaic law that seems weird. We look at other parts and say, “Why would God command this?” But as I studied levirate marriage this past week, it made sense to me. If we lived in the ancient world, we would see that levirate marriage was compassionate toward both the widow and her deceased husband.

When we encounter something in the Old Testament that seems weird or troubling, often it’s because of two things. First, we don’t live in that culture. If we did, the things we read would make more sense. Second, we aren’t familiar enough with what we are reading. If we study Scripture enough, we often see that what God did was wise and beneficial.

And with that, let’s take a look at Deuteronomy 25:5-10, which are the verses commanding levirate marriage:

Deuteronomy 25:5 “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

Notice God said it is the living brother’s “duty” to do this. God commanded Israelite men to care for Israelite women in this way. John MacArthur wrote, “Obviously, this required that the [living] brother be unmarried.”13

There are two requirements for levirate marriage.

The brothers must dwell together. This doesn’t mean they share the same house,