Mark 12:23

23 When the dead come back to life, whose wife will she be? The seven brothers had married her."

Mark 12:23 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 12:23

In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise
This last clause, "when they shall rise", is omitted in two copies of Beza's, and in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, because, perhaps, it might be thought superfluous; but this is agreeably to the way of speaking and writing with the Jews: so in the Targum on ( Zechariah 3:7 ) : (Knyxa aytym twyxab) , "in the quickening of the dead I will quicken thee"; or, in the resurrection of the dead I will raise thee. The question put on supposition of a resurrection, and that these seven brethren, and the wife they all had should rise, then is,

whose wife shall she be of them?
of the seven brethren;

for the seven had her to wife.
She was, according to law, the lawful wife of all seven; what particular and special claim could one have to her above the rest? (See Gill on Matthew 22:28).

Mark 12:23 In-Context

21 The second married her and died without having children. So did the third.

22 None of the seven brothers had any children. Last of all, the woman died.

23 When the dead come back to life, whose wife will she be? The seven brothers had married her."

24 Jesus said to them, "Aren't you mistaken because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power?

25 When the dead come back to life, they don't marry. Rather, they are like the angels in heaven.