God's concern for the vulnerable is evident in His commands to care for widows. In Exodus, He warns against mistreating them, promising to hear their cries and avenge their suffering. The Psalms portray God as a defender of widows, with Psalms 68:5 and 146:9 describing Him as a father to the fatherless and a champion of the oppressed. The New Testament, particularly 1 Timothy 5:3-6 and 5:8, emphasizes the importance of Christians supporting and honoring widows, especially those in their own families, demonstrating the heart of God towards these dear ones.
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You must not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will become widows and your children will be fatherless.
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
Honor the widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers. But she who lives for pleasure is dead even while she is still alive.
If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
If any believing woman has dependent widows, she must assist them and not allow the church to be burdened, so that it can help the widows who are truly in need.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”
The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but He protects the boundaries of the widow.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.” Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, get up!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.
As Jesus was sitting opposite the treasury, He watched the crowd putting money into it. And many rich people put in large amounts. Then one poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a small fraction of a denarius. Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more than all the others into the treasury. For they all contributed out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.
A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, as long as he belongs to the Lord.
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.