Matthew 22:23-27

Marriage and the Resurrection

22:23 The same day Sadducees ¹  (who say there is no resurrection) ²  came to him and asked him, ³  22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children ⁴  for his brother.’ ⁵  22:25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother. 22:26 The second did the same, and the third, down to the seventh. 22:27 Last ⁶  of all, the woman died.

[22:23]  ¹ sn See the note on Sadducees in 3:7.

[22:23]  ² sn This remark is best regarded as a parenthetical note by the author.

[22:23]  ³ tn Grk “and asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[22:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).

[22:24]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.

[22:27]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.