How much would you pay for a genuine Shakespeare autograph? The going price seems to be around $5,000,000 since there are only six originals known to exist. The price would be ten times that if it was attached to one of his plays. Who knows, perhaps tucked away in an old chest of papers in a London basement someone unwittingly has that $50,000,000 document. After all with the number of plays he wrote during his days in London it’s likely one got put away among other papers of the day.

Unfortunately most were thrown away. Just like many of our old papers they were tossed out with the trash. Sadly there have always been throw away people too; folk considered useless or valueless to society. Two such groups are widows and prostitutes, of which there were plenty during Shakespeare’s day. Throughout time most people have been unconcerned about their plight and easily ignored them. Fortunately there was one person who was very concerned about them – God. A demand that His people protect widows was written into the Law of Moses. “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled,” (Ex 22:22-24). Do you think watching out for widows and orphans comes within the meaning of the Lord's command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31)?

Just to show that these “throw away” people were more valuable than a Shakespeare autograph look how many show up in the lineage of Jesus. Matthew lists four in his genealogy of Jesus. First there was the widow Tamar, who tricked her father-in-law Judah into making her a mother. Then there was the Jericho harlot Rahab. Third was the Moabite widow Ruth who married a descendant of Tamar and Rahab named Boaz. From that marriage came a boy named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David, who had a son named Solomon by an adulterous woman named Bathsheba, and he had a son named Jesus (Ruth 4:17, Matthew 1:1).

Only God could write that story and his signature is a priceless treasure! How much are we willing to give for the precious word of God? It's worth everything we have and are, so hold nothing back.