1 Timothy 5:3
3 Honour [timao] widows [chera] that are widows [chera] indeed. [ontos] KJV-Interlinear
3 Honor widows who are widows
indeed; NASB
A widow is one who has
lost her husband, and is now alone and without any means of support in this
world.
Honor, timao, means to respect, to care for, to support, to treat
graciously, and is used in Matt. 15:1-6 to incorporate financial support for
widows, which the Scribes and Pharisees attempted to force donations to the
church as more holy than financial support to widows. Jesus equates financial support to widows as
in fact giving to the church, and He reprimanded the
Pharisees for their heartless attitude toward widows. Ex. 20 expands on this concept.
The word for indeed, ontos, expresses the idea of true widows, or women who
have lost all means of support.This
does not include widows who have some adequate means of support, as many women
receive insurance or an inheritance or have family or other means with which to
survive comfortably in life, once their husband has gone away or died. Typically family has the first obligation to
help widows or women in distress.
Likewise, death is not the
only means of causing a woman to become a widow. The broad definition of widow, chera, is an adjective used as a noun, and means bereft,
robbed, having suffered loss, left alone.
This does not describe how the wife has been left, but includes all
manner of loss which causes her to be helpless in life.
The loss could be
through the death of her husband, imprisonment of her husband, abandoned by her
husband, and so forth.In any case the
wife is now without any means of support, and one of the strongest Christian
principles is the support of those who have no means. This is a far cry from the likes of Islam
which attempts to force extreme hardships on divorced or widowed women, forbidding
them virtually all opportunities in life to have a life, except begging and starving
on the streets.Islam is probably the
most brutal religions when it comes to the treatment of women,
and especially widows.
God designed women to
be special recipients of care.Whether
you agree with it or not, women in history and in this world are under the
umbrella of male protection, provision, authority and direction. And as such, men and families are obligated to
take extra special care in protecting women, of all ages, and their rights.
The Bible gives us a
picture of just how fragile life can be when a person is alone and
helpless.This is a picture of the
believer in this world, with Christ absent for the moment, but still making
provision for each one of us (men and women), while He is absent from this
world.We are helpless and He provides. The world is heartless, but God cares deeply.
The world attempts to destroy Christians and people in general, but God
controls history and has a better plan for everyone.
Several verses give
details of the plight and care of widows, Ex 22:22-24, Psa
68:5, Deut 27:19, Isa 1:17, Ps 146:9, Gen
38:11, Ruth 1:16, 3:12; 4:1-10, Deut 25:5-10, Mark 12:41-44, Luke 7:11-17, 18:1,
20:47.
Just as God helps each
one of us individually and collectively as helpless Christians in this world,
so too, we have an obligation to help those who have lost all of their means of
self support, and certainly to never take or seek advantage over them for our
own selfish interests.
If you
are a Facebook member, then please join the Bible Study Group that best suits
you:
Two subscription options to receive these daily studies everyday via e-mail, are available here.
Previous Page
|
Table of Contents
|
Next Page |
