In Ezekiel 44:22 priests were told not to take as a wife a widow or a divorced woman. What’s the teaching or the example in this passage? Was this command just to the priests? Could other men marry widows and divorced women? Why were divorced women put in the same context with the widows?
The cited passage reads, “They shall not take as wife a widow or a divorced woman, but take virgins of the descendants of the house of Israel, or widows of priests” (Ezekiel 44:22 NKJV). This is similar to divine regulation of Jewish priests (Leviticus 21:7) and high priests (Leviticus 21:13-14) found near the inception of the Jewish priesthood. Additional requirements imposed by God on the Jewish priests promoted a higher level of purity and holiness to distinguish them from the rest of the people. This higher standard also included regulation whom the priests could marry, which differed somewhat from divine regulation respecting non-priests.
Both divorced women and widows (except for “widows of priests”) did not meet the model of innocence or ceremonial purity that God desired to impress on the Jews respecting the distinction of holiness between the priests and the rest of the people. The widows of priests would have previously met the stipulation of innocence from their virginity until they had wed their priestly husbands.
There is no direct example in this Old Testament instruction applicable today under Christianity. However indirectly in principle, one could note especially for special servants of God today (e.g., ministers, elders, deacons, teachers) that the character of one’s spouse may help or hinder his area of service. The qualifications found in the New Testament for elders and deacons argue the same general concept.
