Widows and Orphans Shall Be Provided for, as also the Poor
Historical Background and Reflections on Doctrine and Covenants Section 83
What is the historical background for Doctrine and Covenants Section 83?
In his book A Joseph Smith Chronology, J. Christopher Conkling shares the following events in a timeline leading up to this revelation:
Apr. 26, 1832
A conference is held at which Joseph is acknowledged as the President of the High Priesthood just as he had been at the Amherst conference on the previous January. He receives D&C 82.
Apr. 27, 1832
Joseph transacts business to make the Saints more independent of their enemies, who seem to be moving in all around them.
Apr. 28-29, 1832
Joseph visits and enjoys a reunion with the Colesville Saints, who have settled in Kaw Township.
Apr. 30, 1832
Joseph returns to Independence and receives D&C 83.
In his book The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lyndon W. Cook sheds more light on the historical background for this section:
Date. 30 April 1832.
Place. Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Historical Note. Section 83 was received during Joseph Smith’s visit to Jackson County, Missouri, in the spring of 1832. The Prophet’s party, consisting of himself, Sidney Rigdon, Jesse Gause, and Newel K. Whitney, had traveled to Independence (1) to incorporate the Missouri branch of the Gilbert-Whitney store into the United Firm, (2) to coordinate the printing activities of the Literary Firm, and (3) to assist local Missouri elders in establishing the law of consecration and stewardship.
Joseph Smith, Rigdon, and Whitney left Independence for Ohio on 6 May 1832. Rigdon arrived in Kirtland on 26 May, but the Prophet and Bishop Whitney were detained about four weeks in Greenville, Indiana, while Whitney recovered from a broken leg.
Section 83, received prior to the Prophet’s departure for Ohio, gave instructions concerning the rights of widows and their children to the benefits of the Church storehouse.
Regarding verse 3 of this revelation, the Prophet later wrote,
“Again concerning inheritances, you are bound by the law of the Lord, to give a deed, securing to him who receives inheritances his inheritance, for an everlasting inheritance, or in other words to be his own property, his private stewardship, and if found in transgression & should be cut off, out of the church, his inheritance is his still and he is delivered over to the buffetings of satan.
Publication Note. Section 83 was first published in the Evening and Morning Star (January 1833) and was included as section 88 in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants. (pp. 175-176)
This is Bruce R. McConkie’s brief section heading and introduction to D&C 83:
Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Independence, Missouri, April 30, 1832. This revelation was received as the Prophet sat in council with his brethren.
In his Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, Monte S. Nyman shares Joseph Smith’s own introduction to this section:
On the 27th [March 1832], we transacted considerable business for the salvation of the Saints, who were settling among a ferocious set of robbers, like lambs among wolves. It was my endeavor to so organize the church, that the brethren might eventually be independent of every incumbrance beneath the celestial kingdom, by bonds and covenants of mutual friendship and mutual love.
On the 28th and 29th, I visited the brethren above Big Blue River in Kaw township, a few miles west of Independence, and received a welcome only known by brethren and sisters united as one in the same faith, and by the same baptism, and supported by the same Lord. The Colesville branch, in particular, rejoiced as the ancient Saints did with Paul. It is good to rejoice with the people of God. On the 30th, I returned to Independence, and again set in council with the brethren, and received [Doctrine and Covenants 83]. [HC, 1:269] (Monte S. Nyman, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, Vol. 2, It Came from God, pp. 91-92)
Roy W. Doxey shares the same introduction to this section by Joseph Smith in his book Latter-day Prophets and the Doctrine & Covenants, Volume 2.
With this historical background in mind, let’s examine and appreciate the revelation itself:
Verily, thus saith the Lord, in addition to the laws of the church concerning women and children, those who belong to the church, who have lost their husbands or fathers:
Women have claim on their husbands for their maintenance, until their husbands are taken; and if they are not found transgressors they shall have fellowship in the church.
And if they are not faithful they shall not have fellowship in the church; yet they may remain upon their inheritances according to the laws of the land.
All children have claim upon their parents for their maintenance until they are of age.
And after that, they have claim upon the church, or in other words upon the Lord’s storehouse, if their parents have not wherewith to give them inheritances.
And the storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor. Amen. (D&C 83:1-6)
Bruce R. McConkie sums up this section well: Women and children have claim upon their husbands and fathers for their support, and widows and orphans have claim upon the Church for their support.
This is a remarkable revelation that manifests the great love and concern that our Savior Jesus Christ has especially for women and children, and even more especially for widows and orphans. It is the duty of husbands and fathers to provide for their wives and children, and it is the duty of the Church especially to assist widows and orphans, as the Apostle Paul also taught:
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.
And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
For some are already turned aside after Satan.
If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. (1 Tim. 5:8-16)
The great prophet Isaiah taught a similar truth:
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17)
Indeed, such commandments reflect the mission that our Savior Jesus Christ fulfilled:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
The Lord’s special love and concern for women and children, for widows and orphans, is a theme throughout all of scripture, from the Old Testament, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon, to the Doctrine and Covenants and modern revelation. For example, listen to the Lord’s declarations and commandments in the Book of Deuteronomy:
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. (Deut. 10:18)
and
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. (Deut. 14:29)
and
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. (Deut. 24:19)
The Lord never minces words, but especially when it comes to how we treat women and children, widows and orphans, and the poor, the Lord speaks very clearly:
Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. (Exodus 22:22)
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. (Psalm 68:5)
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. (Psalm 146:9)
The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow. (Prov. 15:25)
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. (Jeremiah 49:11)
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. (Zechariah 7:10)
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. (Micah 3:5)
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. (Matt. 23:14, see also Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47)
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
To turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? (2 Nephi 20:1-3)
Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads? (Mormon 8:40)
Let each company bear an equal proportion, according to the dividend of their property, in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army, that the cries of the widow and the fatherless come not up into the ears of the Lord against this people. (D&C 136:8)
The Lord has special love and concern for the poor and the afflicted too.
In addition to the cries of the blood of the innocent that has been shed, the cries of the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the afflicted rise up into the ears of the Lord. He hears their cries. How long will widows remain the prey of the wicked? How long will the wicked cause widows, orphans, the poor and the afflicted to mourn before the Lord? How long will the Lord suffer their cries?
The authors of the LDS Come Follow Me manual share the following insights and pose the following questions in relation to this section:
“Widows and orphans shall be provided for.”
In April 1832, as instructed by the Lord, Joseph Smith traveled nearly 800 miles to visit the Saints who had gathered in Missouri (see Doctrine and Covenants 78:9). While he was there, he visited a community where several widows were raising their children alone. Among them were Phebe Peck and Anna Rogers, whom the Prophet knew personally. In Missouri in the 1830s, state laws gave widows limited rights to their deceased husbands’ property. What do you learn from section 83 about how the Lord feels about widows and orphans? Do you know anyone in this situation who would benefit from your love or care? What are some ways you can share what you have with widows, orphans, single mothers, and others in need?
See also Isaiah 1:17; James 1:27.
This is Smith’s and Sjodahl’s commentary on D&C 83:
1-6. After the council meeting on the 26th of April, 1832, the Prophet visited the Saints of the Colesville Branch, situated in Kaw township, and other Saints, and transacted a great deal of business necessitated by the fact that the Church members were settling among bitter opponents. “It was my endeavor,” he says, “to so organize the Church, that the brethren might eventually become independent of every incumbrance beneath the celestial kingdom, by bonds and covenants of mutual friendship and mutual love” (Hist. of the Church, Vol. 1., p. 269). On the 30th, the council meeting was resumed. It is probably that the question came up, “What, under the law of Enoch, would be the status of women and children, whose natural protectors were dead?” In answer to some such inquiry, the Revelation in this Section was received. Widows, if faithful, have fellowship in the Church, and, therefore, a claim on the Church; if not in the Church, they were, nevertheless, to remain on their inheritances, according to the law (1-3). Children have claim upon the Church, if the parents are unable to provide for them (4-6).
The rule laid down in the New Testament, for the support of widows, is found in I. Tim. 5:8-11). There Paul teaches that it is the duty of the husband to provide for “his own,” and not leave the family destitute at his death, and that he who neglects this, is “worse than an unbeliever,” having fallen below the normal standard recognized even among the pagans. But when it was necessary to support the widows from public funds, none under sixty years should be enrolled as a widow; and they were to have a good reputation as mothers, neighbors, and church members.
They have claim upon the church] The children. This is a wise provision. If the Church undertakes to care for orphans and poor children in the spirit of the gospel, they will be saved from the curse of child-labor in factories; and also from the curse of that idleness which is the mother of crime. They will be given necessary education and training to become good and useful citizens. (p. 495)
Like Enoch of old, the Prophet Joseph Smith labored diligently to lead and establish Zion, the Pure in Heart, a people of one heart and of one mind, with no poor among them. He endeavored to organize the Church to make the members thereof independent and to bind their hearts together in mutual love and mutual friendship. People who abound in these Christlike qualities and characteristics will naturally care for widows, orphans, the poor, and the afflicted. They will naturally eliminate poverty from among them. This is the pure religion of which James wrote. It is what Isaiah meant by his exhortations to us to repent and to learn to do well.
The Lord will be a swift witness against those who reject these commandments. He will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless. He will be a swift witness against those who turn aside the stranger from his right, and who do not fear Him. He has pronounced woes upon those who turn away the needy from judgment, who take away the right from the poor of His people, who prey upon widows and rob the fatherless.
Much of the evil that befalls innocent women and children, widows and orphans, the poor and the afflicted comes as a direct result of the secret combinations that infest our communities, our states, our nation, and the world. Moroni saw it. He saw how the modern American obsession with riches and the evil men who build up secret combinations to get gain causes the Lord’s precious children to suffer and mourn before Him.
I conclude this post with Moroni’s sobering warning:
Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer. (Mormon 8:41)