Viúvas
A Bíblia revela um cuidado especial de Deus pelas viúvas. Ao longo das Escrituras, encontramos mandamentos claros de proteção, justiça e compaixão, refletindo o caráter amoroso do Senhor.
A proteção divina
Deus se apresenta como defensor das viúvas, garantindo que não fiquem desamparadas. Ele acolhe os que sofrem e sustenta os que perderam seu amparo terreno.
4 Sing ye to God -- praise His name, Raise up a highway for Him who is riding in deserts, In Jah [is] His name, and exult before Him.5 Father of the fatherless, and judge of the widows, [Is] God in His holy habitation.
9 Jehovah is preserving the strangers, The fatherless and widow He causeth to stand, And the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
12 For I deliver the afflicted who is crying, And the fatherless who hath no helper.13 The blessing of the perishing cometh on me, And the heart of the widow I cause to sing.
Justiça e compaixão
A Palavra ordena que seu povo pratique a justiça, protegendo os mais frágeis e defendendo a causa dos necessitados.
9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, Both the cause of the poor and needy!
9 Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.10 And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart.
22 Any widow or orphan ye do not afflict;23 if thou dost really afflict him, surely if he at all cry unto Me, I certainly hear his cry;24 and Mine anger hath burned, and I have slain you by the sword, and your wives have been widows, and your sons orphans.
17 Seek judgment, make happy the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, strive [for] the widow.
O chamado da Igreja
No Novo Testamento, o cuidado com as viúvas é expressão genuína da fé cristã. Tiago declara que a religião pura inclui visitar os necessitados.
27 religion pure and undefiled with the God and Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation -- unspotted to keep himself from the world.
3 honour widows who are really widows;