The comparison expresses loneliness and sadness: a widow who once had companionship with her husband but now is alone and sad after his death. In biblical times it also expressed the decline of social status. See also Deuteronomy 24:19–21, 1 Kings 17:9–24, Isaiah 10:2, Isaiah 47:8, Isaiah 54:4–5, and Ezekiel 22:7. A married woman enjoyed solid social standing when her husband was alive but lost it when she became a widow. As marriage was an image of fullness, widowhood was an image of emptiness.1 Also, a widow no longer has a legal protector and is therefore vulnerable to the unthinkable and unscrupulous (see Psalm 94:6; Malachi 3:5). Therefore, the figure of a widow evokes pity.2
1 How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.