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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 18:3 - 18:3
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3. χήρα. See Exo 22:22; Deu 10:18; Isa 1:17; Isa 1:23; Mal 3:5; 2Sa 14:2; 2Sa 14:5. The necessity for special justice and kindness to widows rose from the fact that in the East they were of all classes the most defenceless and oppressed. Hence the prominent place which they occupy in the arrangements of the early Church (Act 6:1; Act 9:41; 1Ti 5:3, &c.).
ἤρχετο πρὸς αὐτόν. ‘She kept coming to him.’ Grotius, ventitabat. The widow woman is a representative alike of the Christian Church and of the Christian soul.
ἐκδίκησόν με. ‘Do me justice.’ The word “avenge” is a little too strong. The technical term ἐκδίκησον implies ‘settle my case (so as to free me) from my adversary.’ The same word is found in Rom 12:19; Rev 6:10. There is again a curious parallel in Sir 35:14-17, “He will not despise … the widow when she poureth out her complaint. Do not the tears run down the widow’s cheeks? and is not her cry against him that causeth them to fall?… The prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds, and … he will not depart till the Most High shall behold to judge righteously and execute judgment.”
ἀπό. A constructio praegnans. ‘Avenge (and so deliver) me from. (Comp. Jdg 11:36.)