Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 7:12

"Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, there was carried out one that was dead, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her." — Luke 7:12 (ASV)

The only son of his mother, and she was a widow.—The two facts are obviously stated as enhancing the bitterness of the mother’s sorrow. The one prop of her life, the hope of her widowhood, had been taken from her. The burial, as was the invariable practice in the East, took place outside the city.