Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 18:3

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

3. she came unto him ] Rather, she kept coming to him. The widow woman is a representative alike of the Christian Church and of the Christian soul.

Avenge me of mine adversary ] Rather, Do me justice. The word ‘ avenge ’ is a little too strong. The technical term ekdikeson 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.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

A widow – This is a circumstance that gives increasing interest to the parable. Judges were bound to show special attention to widows, Isa 1:17; Jer 22:3. The reason of this was that they were defenseless, were commonly poor, and were liable to be oppressed by those in power.

Avenge me – This would have been better translated, Do me justice against my adversary, or vindicate me from him. It does not denote vengeance or revenge, but simply that she wished to have justice done her – a thing which this judge was bound to do, but which it seems he had no disposition to do.

Adversary – One opposed in law. In this case it seems that the judge was unwilling to do justice, and probably took advantage of her condition to oppress her.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original, , had better be translated, Do me justice against, or vindicate me from, my adversary. If the woman had come to get revenge, as our common translation intimates, I think our blessed Lord would never have permitted her to have the honour of a place in the sacred records. She desired to have justice, and that only; and by her importunity she got that which the unrighteous judge had no inclination to give, but merely for his own ease.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

3. camekept coming. See Lu18:5, “her continual coming.”

Avenge methat is, ridme of the oppression of.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And there was a widow in that city,…. Poor and helpless, and none among men to counsel, direct, and assist her, and take her part: now as in the accommodation of this parable, the elect of God answer to this widow; such an one is rather pitched upon to represent the helpless, desolate, and forlorn condition they are in among men in this world, though they are espoused to one husband, Christ; and especially to signify the state and condition of God’s elect among the Jews in those sad times, before the destruction of Jerusalem, this parable has respect unto. Christ is the bridegroom of his church and people; he is their husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and they are espoused as a chaste virgin to him; and whilst he was here on earth, his disciples, who were the children of the bridegroom, could not fast and mourn, for which they had no reason; but upon the death of Christ, when he was removed from them, they had great sorrow of heart; they were left like widows and orphans; hence those words of Christ, Joh 14:18 and were persecuted by the Jews in their own land; and wherever they went, they stirred up the Gentiles against them; and so things continued till near the destruction of Jerusalem; during which time many a request was made to God, the judge of the widows and fatherless, to the following purport:

and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of my adversary; or do me justice in the cause depending between me, and him that has wronged me; hear the cause, and do right; vindicate, and deliver me. Many are the adversaries of God’s people, as the sins and corruptions of their own hearts, Satan, and his angels, wicked oppressors, and persecutors; the last seem, in the mystical sense, to be designed here: it is lawful to pray for vengeance on them; it is right to apply to God, and leave it with him, to whom it belongs; and it has been the suit and cry of the best of men; see Re 6:9. It does not become the people of God to avenge themselves, even when it is in the power of their hands; nor should they desire it for their own sakes, so much as for the glory of God; they should ask it, not to gratify a revengeful spirit in them, but for the honour or divine justice; and this should be always with submission to the will of God, leaving it to his own time and way, to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said it is mine, and I will repay it; as he certainly will sooner or later: the purity of his nature, his abhorrence of sin, and sinful men, and his love to his own people engage him to it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Came oft (). Imperfect tense denotes repetitions, no adverb for “oft” in the Greek.

Avenge me of ( ). A late verb for doing justice, protecting one from another (note both and , here). Deissmann (Light from the Ancient East, pp. 420ff.) quotes a of the second century B.C. with a prayer for vengeance for a Jewish girl that had been murdered which has this very verb .

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Avenge [] . The word is too strong. It means do me justice. See on Rom 12:19.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And there was a widow in that city;” (chera de hen en polei ekeine) “Then there was a widow in that city,” whether Israel to whom God had given a bill of divorcement, later to take her back, or the church, temporarily bereft of her groom, (Jesus Christ) in this age, is not certain.

2) “And she came unto him, saying,” (kai ercheto pros auton legousa) “And she came to him, saying,” appealing to him for help, for mercy, as widows were so often exposed to gross injustices in the middle eastern societies, Jer 22:3.

3) “Avenge me of mine adversary.” (ekdikeson me apo tou antidikou mou) “Vindicate me from my opponent,” 1Pe 5:8, one who is troubling me, continually vexing me; Consider my case, and free me from my oppressor as expressed, Luk 18:5; Luk 18:7-8.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(3) There was a widow in that city.The neglect of the cause of the widow had always been noted by Lawgiver and Prophetand it was one of the notes of a high ethical standard in bothas the extremest form of oppressive tyranny (Exo. 22:22; Deu. 10:18; Deu. 27:19; Isa. 1:17; Isa. 1:23; Eze. 22:7). Comp. also the speech of the widow of Tekoah (2Sa. 14:2; 2Sa. 14:5).

She came unto him.The tense implies continual coming.

Avenge me of mine adversary.The term is used in its legal sense. She was plaintiff, and he defendant, or, it may be, vice vers. The judge put off his decision, and the laws delay was worse to her than the original wrong had been.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. A widow This widow, we find by Luk 18:7, is God’s own elect. It is the Church of the truly justified from Christ’s First Coming to his Second. The Church is the bride of Christ; and to indicate our deprivation during his absence on high she is held

a widow. Avenge me of mine adversary The Church’s word avenge, according to the Greek, properly signifies justice, not revenge. It is the cry of the oppressed and martyr Church against her persecuter. It is represented by St. John in the Apocalypse with wonderful grandeur as coming up to God from the souls of the martyrs under the altar. “How long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood?”

Rev 6:9-10. But the Church is thus guilty of no unholy passion. This cry is but the utterance of divine justice in her behalf to the divine Ruler.

Mine adversary The plaintiff or accuser. Here is perhaps an allusion to the name Satan, which signifies accuser, and as the name of him who is called the accuser of the brethren.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments