When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her’, then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.’ (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, NRSV)
How many husbands could one woman have?
Many brothers could die without leaving woman a son to take care of her, so she could be married to many men…
This scripture is confusing to us today, because most of us would never think of marrying our brothers’ wives. I mean I have some really great sister-in-laws but not really up on the marrying part of that. I would be up for what the text is telling us though…
This law was put into place so that they women would be care for. The women would be taken care of. Because in the day this was written, women could not earn money from a decent job, or enough to take care of themselves. They were considered property and needed the protection of a provider. And that is what this passage is telling us, Take Care!
Take care of those who need our assistance.
Take care of the down trodden.
Take care of the less fortunate.
That is why I would not want to marry my sister-in-laws but I would do what those who read this were told to do, help make sure their needs were met…
So take care!
aSacredRebel 