Matthew 22:24-28
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The Sadducees frame their question around "raising up offspring," which, while sounding practical, subtly twists the law. This law wasn't primarily about the widow's future happiness or her marital status in an afterlife, but about preserving the deceased brother's lineage on earth.
saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, approach Jesus with a complex scenario based on the Mosaic law regarding levirate marriage. They present a hypothetical situation involving seven brothers, each marrying and dying childless, and ask whose wife the woman will be in the afterlife, aiming to trap Jesus with this legalistic puzzle. This encounter follows Jesus' parable of the wedding feast and his earlier confrontations with the Pharisees and chief priests.
The Sadducees trot out a law from Moses, sounding very practical, about marriage. But what was the real purpose behind it?
The Sadducees use the law of the levirate marriage (found in Deuteronomy 25) as their weapon. This law required a man to marry his deceased brother's widow if that brother died childless.
Why This Law?
This was a very earthly concern, focused on family structure, inheritance, and continuity in this life.
They thought they had Jesus cornered with this hypothetical, seven-times-married woman. But their whole argument missed the point of God's kingdom.
The Sadducees' trap hinges on a misunderstanding of God's kingdom and the resurrection. They assume that the conditions of earthly life – like marriage for procreation and family continuity – will simply continue into the next life.
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Their Mistake:
Jesus will later show them that in the resurrection, people are changed and live differently – they 'neither marry nor are given in marriage.'
Jesus turns their argument on its head, using the very law they cited to prove a truth they denied. How is that even possible?
Jesus brilliantly reframes the debate by pointing to a foundational truth about God, using an Old Testament passage they supposedly revered.
The Core Argument:
This profound statement reveals that God's relationship with His people transcends physical death.
Understand the original words
didaskalos · Greek Noun
An authoritative instructor of the Law. While used here as a title for Jesus, it identifies one as a master of biblical interpretation and religious instruction.
Moyses · Greek Noun
The human mediator of the Old Covenant, the prophet and lawgiver through whom God delivered the Torah. His name is synonymous with the authority of the Law of God.
sperma · Greek Noun
Descendants or children; in a biblical and legal context (specifically levirate marriage), it refers to the continuation of a family line and the preservation of an inheritance.
anastasis · Greek Noun
The future event in which the dead will be bodily raised to life, marking the final stage of God's redemptive work. It encompasses both the resurrection of the righteous to eternal life and the unrighteous to judgment.
The Sadducees used a specific Mosaic law, designed to maintain family lineage in ancient Israel, to challenge Jesus' teaching on the resurrection. Jesus masterfully turned their own argument and the Scriptures against them, demonstrating that their understanding of God and afterlife was limited by their earthly perspective.
c. 1400 BC
Law of Levirate Marriage Given
The law of levirate marriage, requiring a brother to marry his deceased brother's widow and raise children for him, is given in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. This was to keep family lines and property within the original tribe.
c. 1st century BC - 1st century AD
Sadducees Deny Resurrection
The Sadducees, a Jewish sect, emerge as prominent figures who reject the resurrection and the existence of spirits. They primarily accept only the Torah and challenge doctrines not explicitly found there.
c. AD 30-33— this verse
Jesus Confronted by Sadducees
During Jesus' final week in Jerusalem, Sadducees approach him with a hypothetical scenario based on the levirate marriage law. They aim to trap him into admitting the absurdity of the resurrection.
c. AD 30-33
Jesus Refutes Sadducees
Jesus responds by explaining that the resurrection involves a different order of existence where marriage is not practiced. He then uses God's statement to Moses ('I am the God of Abraham...') to prove that God is the God of the living, thus affirming the resurrection.
This is the specific passage from the Mosaic Law that the Sadducees are referencing to construct their hypothetical scenario. It outlines the requirement for a brother to marry a childless widow to perpetuate the deceased's family line.
Luke 20:27-33This passage in Luke recounts the same encounter with the Sadducees, providing a parallel narrative that further emphasizes their challenge to Jesus regarding the resurrection and the levirate law.
Exodus 3:6Jesus uses this declaration of God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to prove the resurrection. It shows that God's covenant relationship implies life, not death, for those he calls His own.
1 Corinthians 15:50-54Paul discusses the nature of the resurrected body, stating that 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.' This resonates with Jesus' point that resurrected bodies will be transformed and will not function like earthly bodies with their relational and biological needs.
bensonMatthew 22:24: "Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother."
Matthew 22:24-28 . Master, Moses said, If a man die, &c. — “The argument by which the Sadducees endeavoured to confute the notion of a future state was taken from the Jewish law of marriage, which, to give their objection the better colour, they observed was God’s law, delivered by Moses. As they believed the soul to be nothing but a more refined k…
calvinMatthew 22:23-33: "The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,"
- The same day came to him the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, and interrogated him, 24. Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, not having a child, [64] his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed to his brother. 25. Now there were amongst us seven brothers, and the first, having married a wife, died, and, having no seed, left his wife to his brother…
The Sadducees frame their question around "raising up offspring," which, while sounding practical, subtly twists the law. This law wasn't primarily about the widow's future happiness or her marital status in an afterlife, but about preserving the deceased brother's lineage on earth.
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, approach Jesus with a complex scenario based on the Mosaic law regarding levirate marriage. They present a hypothetical situation involving seven brothers, each marrying and dying childless, and ask whose wife the woman will be in the afterlife, aiming to trap Jesus with this legalistic puzzle. This encounter follows Jesus' parable of the wedding feast and his earlier confrontations with the Pharisees and chief priests.
The Sadducees, who deny the resurrection, approach Jesus with a complex scenario based on the Mosaic law regarding levirate marriage. They present a hypothetical situation involving seven brothers, each marrying and dying childless, and ask whose wife the woman will be in the afterlife, aiming to trap Jesus with this legalistic puzzle. This encounter follows Jesus' parable of the wedding feast and his earlier confrontations with the Pharisees and chief priests.
"saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his…" — The Sadducees frame their question around "raising up offspring," which, while sounding practical, subtly twists the law. This law wasn't primarily about the widow's future happiness or her marital…
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Last reviewed October 2026
