Mark 12:23

23 Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?"

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 So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother.

22 All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too.

23 Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?"

24 Jesus answered, "Why don't you understand? Don't you know what the Scriptures say, and don't you know about the power of God?

25 When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven.