Survey of the Letters of Paul:  1 Timothy 5:13

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.

Let us read verses 11-16
 
 11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
 12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.
 13 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.
 14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
 15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.
 16 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.
 
 Here is the Barclay commentary...
 
 THE PERILS OF IDLENESS
 1 Timothy 5:11–16
 
 Refuse to enroll the younger women as widows, for when they grow impatient with the restrictions of Christian widowhood, they wish to marry, and so deserve condemnation, because they have broken the pledge of their first faith; and, at the same time, they learn to be and bear children, and run a house and home, and give our opponents no chance of abuse. For, even as things are, some of them have turned aside from the way to follow Satan. If any believing person has widowed relations, let such a person help them, and let not the Church be burdened with the responsibility, so that it may care for those who are genuinely in the position of widows.
 
 A PASSAGE like this reflects the situation in society in which the early Church found itself.
 
 It is not that younger widows are condemned for marrying again. What is condemned is this. A young husband dies; and the widow, in the first bitterness of sorrow and on the impulse of the moment, decides to remain a widow all her life and to dedicate her life to the Church, but later she changes her mind and remarries. That woman is regarded as having taken Christ as her bridegroom. So, by marrying again, she is regarded as breaking her marriage vow to Christ. She would have been better never to have taken the vow.
 
 What complicated this matter very much was the social background of the times. It was next to impossible for a single or a widowed woman to earn her living honestly. There was practically no trade or profession open to her. The result was inevitable; she was almost driven to prostitution in order to live. The Christian woman, therefore, had either to marry or to dedicate her life completely to the service of the Church; there was no half-way house.
 
 In any event, the perils of idleness remain the same in any age. There was the danger of becoming restless: because a woman did not have enough to do, she might become one of those individuals who drift from house to house in an empty social round. It was almost inevitable that such a woman would become a gossip: because she had nothing important to talk about, she would tend to talk scandal, repeating tales idle and to run from house to house. Yes, they can become more than idle; they can become gossips and busybodies, saying things which should not be repeated. It is my wish that the younger widows should marry, from house to house, each time with a little more embellishment and a little more malice. Such a woman ran the risk of becoming a busybody: because she had nothing of her own to hold her attention, she would be very apt to be over interested and over-interfering in the affairs of others.
 
 It was true then, as it is true now, that, as the hymn-writer Isaac Watts had it, ‘Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.’ The full life is always the safe life, and the empty life is always the life in peril.
 
 So, the advice is that these younger women should marry and engage upon the greatest task of all, rearing a family and making a home. Here we have another example of one of the main thoughts of the Pastoral Epistles. They are always concerned with how Christians appear to the outside world. Do they give any opportunity to criticize the Church or reason to admire it? It is always true that ‘the greatest handicap the Church has is the unsatisfactory lives of professing Christians’ and equally true that the greatest argument for Christianity is a genuinely Christian life. ~The Barclay Commentary
 
 Now to the other commentaries.
 
 Depending on the commentary used, the verses can be separated into five phrases:
 
 1] And withal they learn to be idle
 2] Wandering about from house to house
 3] Tattlers also
 4] And busy-bodies
 5] Speaking things which they ought not
 
 1] And withal they learn to be idle
 Withal — “at the same time, moreover.” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 And withal - In addition to the prospect that they may marry again, there are other disadvantages which might follow from such an arrangement, and other evils to be feared which it is desirable to avoid. ~Barnes Notes
 
 They learn to be idle - That is, if supported by the church, and if without the settled principles which might be expected in those more aged and experienced, it may be feared that they will give themselves up to an indolent life. There would be a security in the age and established habits of these more advanced in life, which there could not be in their case. The apostle does not mean that widows are naturally disposed to be idle, but that in the situation referred to there would be danger of it. ~Barnes Notes
 
 Withal, they learn to be idle - They have not that gravity which is required for this work of visitation and ministration laid upon the "widows indeed," but wander from house to house to gossip. ~People's New Testament
 
 Learn — usually in a good sense. But these women’s “learning” is idleness, trifling, and busybodies’ tattle. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 And withal they learn to be idle - Being at ease, and without labour, living at the expense of the church: "wandering about from house to house"; having nothing else to do: such an one is what the Jews call אלמנה שובבית, "the gadding widow"; who, as the gloss says,
 
 "Goes about and visits her neighbours continually; and these are they that corrupt the world.''
 
 Of this sort of women must the Jews be understood, when they say, it is one of the properties of them to be יוצאניות "going out", or gadding abroad, as Dinah did; and that it is another to be דבריות, "talkative", which agrees with what follows: ~John Gill
 
 And withal they learn to be idle - They do not love work, and they will not work. ~Adam Clarke
 
 They learn (μανθάνουσιν)
 To be taken absolutely, as 1 Corinthians 14:31; 2 Timothy 3:7. They go about under the influence of an insatiable curiosity, and meet those who “creep into houses and take captive silly women” (2 Timothy 3:7), and learn all manner of nonsense and error.
 
 Quoted verses:
 1 Corinthians 14:31
 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
 
 2 Timothy 3:7
 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ~Vincent's Word Studies
 
 
 2] Wandering about from house to house
 Wandering — Greek, “going about.” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 From house to house — of the members of the Church (2 Timothy 3:6). “They carry the affairs of this house to that, and of that to this; they tell the affairs of all to all” [Theophylact]. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 Quoted verse:
 2 Timothy 3:6
 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
 
 Wandering about from house to house - A natural consequence of supposing that they had nothing to do, and a practice not only profitless, but always attended with mischief. ~Barnes Notes
 
 Wandering about from house to house - Gadding, gossiping; never contented with home; always visiting. ~Adam Clarke
 
 
 3] Tattlers also or "and not only idle, but tattlers"
 tattlers — literally “trifling talkers.” In 3 John 1:10, translated “prating.” ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 Tattlers also - Literally, “overflowing;” then overflowing with talk; praters, triflers. They would learn all the news; become acquainted with the secrets of families, and of course indulge in much idle and improper conversation. Our word “gossipers” would accurately express the meaning here. The noun does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. The verb occurs in 3 John 1:10; rendered, “prating against.” ~Barnes Notes
 
 Quoted verse:
 3 John 1:10
 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. ~Barnes Notes
 
 And not only idle, but tattlers also - full of talk, who have always some news to tell, or report to make of the affairs of this, or the other person, or family: ~John Gill
 
 And not only idle - If it went no farther, this would be intolerable; but they are tattlers - tale-bearers; whisperers; light, trifling persons; all noise and no work. ~Adam Clarke
 
 4] And busy-bodies
 And busy-bodies - see the notes on 2 Thessalonians 3:11. The word means, probably, “working all round, overdoing,” and then “an intermeddler.” Persons who have nothing to do of their own, commonly find employment by interesting themselves in the affairs of their neighbors. No one likes to be wholly idle, and if anyone is not found doing what he ought to do, he will commonly be found engaged in doing what he ought not.
 
 Quoted verse
 2 Thessalonians 3:11
 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. ~Barnes Notes
 
 And busy bodies - in the matters of other persons, which do not concern them: ~John Gill
 
 Busybodies - Persons who meddle with the concerns of others; who mind every one’s business but their own. ~Adam Clarke
 
 Busybodies — mischievously busy; inconsiderately curious (2 Thessalonians 3:11). Acts 19:19, “curious,” the same Greek. Curiosity usually springs from idleness, which is itself the mother of garrulity [Calvin]. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 Quoted verses:
 2 Thessalonians 3:11 [mentioned above]
 
 Acts 19:19
 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 5] Speaking things which they ought not
 Speaking — not merely “saying.” The subject-matter, as well as the form, is involved in the Greek word [Alford]. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
 
 Speaking things which they ought not - Revealing the concerns of their neighbors; disclosing secrets; magnifying trifles, so as to exalt themselves into importance, as if they were entrusted with the secrets of others; inventing stories and tales of gossip, that they may magnify and maintain their own consequence in the community. No persons are commonly more dangerous to the peace of a neighborhood than those who have nothing to do. ~Barnes Notes
 
 Speaking things which they ought not - which either are not true, and, if they are, are not to be spoken of, and carried from place to place: this is a very great inconvenience, the apostle observes, arising from the admission of such young widows to be relieved and maintained at the church's charge. ~John Gill
 
 Speaking things which they ought not - Lies, slanders, calumnies; backbiting their neighbors, and everywhere sowing the seed of dissension. ~Adam Clarke
 
 Which they ought not — (Titus 1:11).
 
 Quoted verse:
 Titus 1:11
 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. ~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown

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