Biblical Views: Biblical Widows—Groveling Grannies or Teaching Tools?

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Widows. Are they not just an elderly, cranky, lonely and poverty-plagued group in the Bible always clamoring for justice? Well, sometimes. But they’re not all wizened whiners. And at least two—Abigail and Judith—are beautiful, financially secure and sexually desirable.

Throughout the Biblical text, widowhood signals a new season, a new time in a woman’s life. Lacking the protective care of husbands and grouped together with the fatherless, poor and resident alien, widows come under God’s protective care (Deuteronomy 24:17, 21; Ezekiel 22:7; James 1:27). Significantly, God commands that they not be oppressed (Zechariah 7:10). Jesus rebukes teachers of the law specifically for devouring widows’ houses (Mark 12:38, 40), a striking condemnation of the premeditated, predatory greed that targets this vulnerable group. Indeed, the poet of the Book of Lamentations captures this sense of vulnerability by using the word “widow” to describe Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar razed the city. Gone is her resemblance to a queen; vanished are her protectors, lovers, friends. Slavery, affliction and harsh labor await her in exile (Lamentations 1:1–3).

The Biblical authors recognize that widowhood usually presents incredible needs and a diminished ability to meet them. Widows, therefore, may serve as textual markers to alert savvy readers and listeners that something significant is about to be presented, such as a miracle in response to a need, a theological insight or a rebuke from God.

Consider three miracles, all of which concern widows, that show how needs are met. A prophet’s widow cries to the prophet Elisha for help because her sons are going to be sold as slaves to pay her husband’s debts. Elisha asks what she has in the house. A little oil, she replies. He commands her to gather vessels from her neighbors and to start pouring. A miracle of abundant oil occurs, thereby meeting her present and ongoing financial needs (2 Kings 4:1–7). The dead son of the widow of Zarephath is restored to life after Elijah, who has received the widow’s hospitality and lodges in the upper room of her house, complains to God for bringing this tragedy upon her (1 Kings 17:17–24). A funeral cortege in Nain suddenly becomes a jubilant, aborted procession when Jesus, seeing the tears of the widowed mother and feeling compassion for her, touches the coffin and commands her son to arise (Luke 7:11–17).

Sons ordinarily represent a woman’s provision in old age. But one of the delights of the Biblical text is its unexpected twists. For instance, Naomi enters the story as both a widow and a mother who has lost her sons—such an ominous set of misfortunes that she describes herself as bitter and afflicted by the Lord (Ruth 1:1–5, 20–21). Yet over four chapters, Naomi changes. Once home in Bethlehem and pampered with regular meals, she becomes her old self and even seeks long-term security for her widowed daughter-in-law Ruth, a Moabitess. Ruth provides for them by gleaning. Thanks to a combination of Naomi’s matchmaking skills and Ruth’s boldness, Ruth marries Boaz, Naomi’s wealthy kinsman. With the birth of their son Obed, Naomi’s neighbors remind her that her daughter-in-law is better to her “than seven sons” (Ruth 2–4, 4:15).

Throughout the Biblical text, widowhood invariably offers new opportunities. A widow suddenly becomes free to choose her own lifestyle because she is no longer supervised by a husband or father. But her choices can lead to shame or honor. Seizing the throne at her son’s death, Athaliah, the dowager queen of Judah, kills the royal family (except for one, a baby grandson who is saved and hidden), seizes power for six years and is herself deposed in a coup and slain (2 Kings 11). Fleeing the Temple, Athaliah is caught at the place where horses enter the palace grounds, a place no doubt associated with dung (2 Kings 11:16). On the other end of the spectrum is Anna the prophetess, who lives in the Temple or its environs (Luke 2:36–38) and uses her widowhood to serve the Lord. Married for only seven years, Anna has been a widow up to age 84 (or for 84 years; the Lucan text is ambiguous). Long a Temple fixture, she worships God day and night by praying and fasting. God seemingly acknowledges her decades of devotion. Grouped with Simeon, Elizabeth and Zechariah, three other elderly, devout and righteous members in the Birth Narrative (Luke 1–2:40), Anna meets Mary, Joseph and Jesus at their purification and speaks of the child Jesus to those “looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:22, 38).

And what about those beauties, Abigail and Judith? Well, as widows they also face opportunities. Abigail, very recently widowed from the surly and mean Nabal, accepts David’s marriage proposal. Joining him and his band in the wilderness and taking with her five maids, Abigail embraces adventure (1 Samuel 25:2–3, 1 Samuel 25:39–42). Judith, presented with an opportunity to save her people from destruction by the Assyrians, 071 seizes it.^a Using her beauty and charm as bait, Judith murders Holofernes, the Assyrian general besieging her town, thereby rescuing her nation and becoming “the glory of Jerusalem” (Judith 15:9–10).^b Declining all remarriage offers and remaining chaste, this widow becomes more and more acclaimed throughout her long life and dies at age 105 (Judith 16:21–23).