Mark 12:23

23 When they are raised at the resurrection, whose wife is she? All seven were her husband."

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. He died, and still no child. The same with the third.

22 All seven took their turn, but no child. Finally the wife died.

23 When they are raised at the resurrection, whose wife is she? All seven were her husband."

24 Jesus said, "You're way off base, and here's why: One, you don't know your Bibles; two, you don't know how God works.

25 After the dead are raised up, we're past the marriage business. As it is with angels now, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.