An Example of Caring For Widows

610 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Sa 20:3 Now David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in seclusion and supported them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. (2 Sam 20:3) There is so much wrong here in regards to the treatment of women. Concubines were nothing more than trophies and chattel of powerful men. I do not intend to excuse David's use of concubines, Solomon's use of concubines, or any other example found in Scripture. The practice of accumulating concubines is sin, plain and simple. It is not the way God intended relationships to be between a man and a woman. Remember, by definition a concubine is any illicit lover. Because of the sin of Absalom, these women were now relegated to the status of widowhood, in that they would never know a man again. That's the facts. They are indisputable. So how can we make some good out of this situation? The only good thing I see here is the fact that David “supported” them. They lived out there days with their material needs being met by David. We can use it as an example of how to treat widows in the church today. Jas 1:27 reminds us that, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” And in 1Ti 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. It starts with our own households, our own families. Believers are to make the effort to care for their own who like these concubines, through no fault of their own, find themselves in unsupported situations. It is part of pure religion before God to visit the unsupported in their time of trouble. When things get a little wobbly for those who are alone, we need to be pillars of support to help them through. Father, you have a heart for the unsupported, give us that same heart.