cal Sadducees, in which seven brothers in succession had as
wife and left as childless widow the same woman, was possible under the
Mosaic code relating to levirate marriages; but it was a most improbable
instance.

Jesus stopped not, however, to question the elements of the problem as
presented to Him; whether the case was assumed or real mattered not,
since the question "Whose wife shall she be?" was based on an utterly
erroneous conception. "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not
knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection
they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of
God in heaven." The Lord's meaning was clear, that in the resurrected
state there can be no question among the seven brothers as to whose wife
for eternity the woman shall be, since all except the first had married
her for the duration of mortal life only, and primarily for the purpose
of perpetuating in mortality the name and family of the brother who
first died. Luke records the Lord's words as follows in part: "But they
which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and
are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." In the
resurrection there will be no marrying nor giving in marriage; for all
questions of marital status must be settled before that time, under the
authority of the Holy Priesthood, which holds the power to seal in
marriage for both time and eternity.[1116]

From the case presented by His treacherous questioners, Jesus turned to
the actuality of the resurrection, which was involved in and implied by
the inquiry. "But as touching the resurrection of the dead," said He,
"have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am
the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is
not the God of the dead, but of the living." This was a direct assault
upon the Sadducean doctrine of negation concerning the literal
resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees were distinctively the zealous
upholders of the law, wherein Jehovah affirms Himself to be the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;[1117] yet they denied the possible
resurrection of these patriarchs, and made the exalted title, under
which the Lord had revealed Himself to Moses, valid only during the
brief mortal existence of the proge