Matius 22:24

22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children ¹  for his brother.’ ² 

[22:24]  ¹ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for fathering children (L&N 23.59).

[22:24]  ² sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.