What is the meaning of Mark 12:20? Now there were seven brothers • The Sadducees (Mark 12:18) spin a scenario involving seven siblings to challenge Jesus on the resurrection they deny. • Similar setups appear in Matthew 22:25–28 and Luke 20:29–33, underscoring that this was a well-worn hypothetical. • The number seven highlights repetition and completeness, stressing how hopeless the case looks to those who reject life after death. The first one married • Marriage is God-ordained (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6) and, in Israel, carried covenant responsibilities that extended beyond the couple. • Under the Levirate command (Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Ruth 4:5), marriage within a family line protected inheritance and preserved the deceased brother’s name. • The Sadducees cite this law, yet overlook its deeper purpose: safeguarding God’s promise of a future people—one ultimately fulfilled in resurrection life. and died • Death is the universal appointment for fallen humanity (Hebrews 9:27; Psalm 90:10). • The Sadducees use mortality to dismiss the possibility of eternal life, yet Jesus will soon declare, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:27). • Their story reveals a worldview that ends at the grave, contradicting Scripture’s consistent hope (Job 19:25-27; Isaiah 26:19). leaving no children • Childlessness in ancient Israel meant the family line—and its allotment—would vanish (Numbers 27:8-11). • The Levirate provision stepped in precisely when no offspring existed, as seen with Judah’s family (Genesis 38:8-10) and foreshadowed in Ruth’s redemption story (Ruth 4:13-17). • By ending the first brother’s life without heirs, the Sadducees set up their riddle about whose wife the widow will be “at the resurrection” (Mark 12:23), exposing their misunderstanding of both Scripture and God’s power. summary Mark 12:20 introduces a strategic hypothetical: seven brothers, the first dying childless after marriage. The verse anchors the Sadducees’ challenge, invoking the Levirate law to trap Jesus on the resurrection. Yet every detail—multiple brothers, marriage, death, and childlessness—underscores God’s sovereign design to preserve His people and point to a life beyond the grave. Rather than undermining resurrection hope, the scenario prepares the ground for Jesus to affirm it, revealing that God’s covenant purposes cannot be thwarted by death. |
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