In our modern self-righteous disdain of historic gender arrangements, the idea of levirate marriage probably gives many great excuse for looking down their noses at our ancestors. A question that "liberated" moderns avoid is why our families are so broken in comparison. We have no reasons to brag. When Jesus was challenged with a riddle about levirate marriage in Luke 20:27-40, we may ask, what was that all about? We live in a world where marriage legalities have been taken over by the church and government. It once was strictly a family affair. The same is true of welfare. The well-being of widows was taken care of via family arrangements. In a world where clan and family were very important, marrying a brother’s widow to provide for her was common. Rather than disdain their culture, can we learn something?
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