(6) The unjust judge.—Literally, the judge of injustice, as with the unjust steward in Luke 16:8, the usual adjective giving way to the stronger, more Hebraic idiom of the characterising genitive. read more
(7) And shall not God avenge his own elect?—There is at first something which jars on us in this choice of an extreme instance of human unrighteousness as a parable from which we are to learn the nature and the power of prayer. It is not as it was with the Unjust Steward, for there, according to the true interpretation of the parable, the unrighteous man stood for those who were relatively, at least, themselves unrighteous. It is a partial explanation that our Lord presses home upon the... read more
(8) When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith?—The question implies, it is obvious, an answer in the negative. When St. Luke wrote his Gospel, men were witnessing a primary, though partial, fulfilment of the prophecy. Iniquity was abounding, and the love of many was waxing cold. And yet in one sense He was near, even at the doors (James 5:8-9), when men thought that the wheels of His chariot drove slowly. So has it been, and so will it be, in the great “days of the Lord” in the Church’s... read more
Luke 18:1 That saying with others did encourage one to prayer. Then the Tempter again laid at me very sore, suggesting That neither the Mercy of God, nor yet the Blood of Christ did at all concern me, nor could they help me for my sin; therefore it was but vain to pray. Yet, thought I, I will pray. But, said the Tempter, your sin is unpardonable. Well, said I, I will pray. It is to no boot, said he. Yet, said I, I will pray. ... So I went to prayer to God.... And as I was thus before the... read more
lete_me Luke 18:1-14Chapter 11CONCERNING PRAYER.WHEN the Greeks called man ό ανθρωπος, or the "uplooking one," they did but crystallize in a word what is a universal fact, the religious instinct of humanity. Everywhere, and through all times, man has felt, as by a sort of intuition, that earth was no Ultima Thule, with nothing beyond but oceans of vacancy and silence, but that it lay in the over-shadow of other worlds, between which and their own were subtle modes of correspondence. They felt... read more
CHAPTER 18 1. The Unjust Judge and the Avenging of His Elect. (Luke 18:1-8 ) 2. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. (Luke 18:9-14 ) 3. The Little Children and the Required Lowliness. (Luke 18:15-17 ) 4. The Rich Young Ruler. (Luke 18:18-27 ) 5. Rewards Promised. (Luke 18:28-30 ) 6. The Renewed Prediction of His Suffering, Death and Resurrection. (Luke 18:31-34 ) 7. The Blind Man near Jericho Healed. (Luke 18:35-43 .) Luke 18:1-8 The parable of the unjust judge is closely... read more
18:1 And {1} he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to {a} faint;(1) God will have us to continue in prayer, not to weary us, but to exercise us; therefore we must fight against impatience so that a long delay does not cause us to quit our praying.(a) Yield to afflictions and adversities as those do who have lost heart. read more
18:2 {b} Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:(b) He does not compare things that are of equal stature, but the less with the greater: If a man receives what is rightfully his at the hands of a most unrighteous judge, much more will the prayers of the godly prevail before God. read more
18:5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she {c} weary me.(c) Literally, "beat me down with her blows", and it is a metaphor taken of wrestlers who beat their adversaries with their fists or clubs: in the same way those that are persistent beat the judge’s ears with their crying out, even as it were with blows. read more
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Luke 18:5
(5) Lest by her continual coming she weary me.—The latter verb is again one which takes its place in the vocabulary of unusual words common to St. Luke and St. Paul. It meets us in 1 Corinthians 9:27, and is there rendered “I keep under my body.” Literally, however, it expresses the act of the pugilist when he strikes a blow which leaves a livid bruise on his opponent’s face, and it would seem to have been transferred, in the natural transition of popular metaphor into the forms of colloquial... read more