11 Top Attributes of the Woman with Seven Husbands in the Bible

The Bible tells the story of a popular woman with seven husbands in the Bible. She was known as Sarah in the book of Tabit. As pitiable as her story may appear it had been told and retold in all cultures and traditions.

The Bible in Luke 22 says that there was a woman who was legally married seven times by seven brothers, unfortunately, died after their wedding nights.

Her predicament made her community term her a witch, a cursed woman, unlucky and a woman filled with misfortune, these culminated in her community shunning and ostracising her from her people.

Woman with Seven Husbands in the Bible

This story of the woman with seven husbands in the Bible that was told by the Sadducees is the one that leaves so many with so many unanswered questions about the possibility of such happenings.

The story of the woman with seven husbands serves as a precautionary measure for both males and females to undertake spiritual examination on the persons and families they intend to marry.

Attributes of the Woman with Seven Husbands

The following are the attributes of the woman with seven husbands.

1. She was a Loyal Wife to all her Husbands

Luke 20:29

“29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children”.

Luke 20:29 (ESV)

The Bible said that the first (brother) took a wife and this denotes that initially, she was a wife to one man and that she did not marry the seven husbands at once.

The Woman was a loyal wife. she would have simply taken a decision to go ahead and marry from another family but she remained faithful and married the brothers.

The woman never married someone else apart from the seven brothers.

2. The Woman was Unfortunate

Luke 20:29

29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children.

Luke 20:29 (ESV)

The woman with the seven husbands was unfortunate. She buried her first husband without an heir to show that her husband lived and was married to her.

The woman endured so many pains and setbacks. One can only imagine how traumatized she must have been by the incident of her husband’s death.

3. The Woman was Choiceless

Luke 20:29-31

29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30. And the second. 31. And the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.

Luke 20:29-31 (ESV)

 

The woman with the seven husbands did not appear as if she had a choice or the courage of walking out or putting an end to the family relationship she was in.

While they were counting the number of the lifeless men she married, normally, a woman would have walked out of the vicious circle of untimely deaths of brothers but she appeared choiceless and stayed regardless.

4. She lacked a Mentor

Luke 20:32

“32. Afterward the woman also died”.

The Bible in this portion never captured the point in the woman’s life when she was happy. She died along with her husband without anyone intervening for her.

The woman had no one to speak in her favor or answer for her. The woman never had a role model. She had no mentor, adviser or guidance.

5. She lived according to the Societal Norms

Luke 5:28

28. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

Luke 5:28 (ESV)

The woman practised Moses’ law in a reverse form as a woman. She could not walk out of such a tearful marriage even when she saw the brothers’ serial deaths.

The woman lived according to societal norms. She allows society to validate marital life.

She cared so much about what society would say. That might have been one of the reasons she was scared of moving forward from such unfruitful marriage.

6. She was Patience

Luke 20:29-32

“29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30. And the second. 31. And the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32. Afterward the woman also died”.

Luke 20:29-32 (ESV)

The Bible has not mentioned the number of years she stayed to marry the seven brothers even with the kind of words that might have been thrown at her by the members of her community, making a mockery of her.

Staying with the seven husbands portrays a high level of patience in her marriage.

She patiently married the brothers and hoped that they might stop dying but they never stopped dying. She never walked out of her marriage and she remained faithful in her marriage.

7. She lacked Wisdom

Luke 20:29,32

“29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 32. Afterward the woman also died”.

Luke 20:29,32 (ESV)

Wisdom could have made her understand that something was wrong somewhere and it could have given her the glue on how to navigate through it without having to live all her life in tears and regrets, Pains and agony.

The woman with the seven husbands didn’t seek a solution to her problem. She did not take any wise decisions regarding her marriage and her life.

8. She was not proactive

Luke 20:31-32

“31. And the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32. Afterward the woman also died”.

Luke 20:29-32 (ESV)

The death simply continued until it took the last person without her proactively seeking measures to discover the root cause of the untimely death of her husband.

The woman with the seven husbands never looked for any solution to the death of her husbands. She remained in marriage even when the death of her husbands persisted.

9. She was Childless

Luke 20: 29, 31

“29. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 31. And the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died”.

Luke 20: 29, 31 (ESV)

The fact that she was childless all through the first, second, third, and fourth until the last marriage would have shown her things might get worse if she remains in the marriage.

The Bible says that the woman with the seven husbands was childless and it made it possible for the wife to remain in her marriage because no burden was attached to her.

10. She was stagnated

Luke 20:31-32

“31. And the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died.32. Afterward the woman also died”.

The woman with seven husbands stagnated. She lived all her years in marriages without having anything to show for in society until she finally died joining the husbands she married.

Aside from remaining in the sad marriage, she also stagnated spiritually.

It is believed if she had turned to God in prayers and looked for a solution to the untimely departure of her husbands, she would have found solutions to her problems and grown spiritually.

11. She was not Prayerful

The Bible never mentioned in any passage where she prayed to God and her prayer was not answered.

The Bible never mentioned that the woman was prayerful.  She could have proffered a solution to her problems if she was prayerful. Or maybe she would have abated going into such a marriage in the first place.

Conclusion

The story of the woman that was married to seven husbands clearly states that so many things happened in the Biblical era. The woman had a serious problem regarding the death of her husbands.

Her story encourages women to be proactive in turning to God for solutions when they find themselves in an unfortunate situation. It also serves as a precaution to put God first in all situations before embarking on a course.