John Gill Commentary 1 Timothy 5:9

"Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, [having been] the wife of one man," — 1 Timothy 5:9 (ASV)

Let not a widow be taken into the number
That is, of widows, to be maintained by the church; though some choose to understand these words of the number of such who were made deaconesses, and had the care of the poor widows of the church committed to them; and so the Arabic version renders it, "if a widow be chosen a deaconess"; but the former sense is best, for it appears from (1 Timothy 5:1 1 Timothy 5:6) that the apostle is still speaking of widows to be relieved: now such were not to be taken under the church's care for relief, under threescore years old: for under this age it might be supposed they would marry, and so not be desolate, but would have husbands to provide for them; or they might be capable of labour, and so of taking care of themselves. The age of sixty years was by the Jews ^F24 reckoned (hnqz) , "old age", but not under.

Having been the wife of one man ;
that is, at one time; for second marriages are not hereby condemned, for this would be to condemn what the apostle elsewhere allows, (Romans 7:2Romans 7:3) . Nor is the sense only, that she should be one who never had more husbands than one at once; for this was not usual for women to have more husbands than one, even where polygamy obtained, or where men had more wives than one: this rather therefore is to be understood of one who had never put away her husband, and married another, which was sometimes done among the Jews; see (Mark 10:12) , and this being a scandalous practice, the apostle was willing to put a mark of infamy upon it, and exclude such persons who had been guilty of it from the number of widows relieved by the church.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F24: Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21.