Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 13:16

"And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, [these] eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath?" — Luke 13:16 (ASV)

A daughter of Abraham. A descendant of Abraham. See Barnes on Matthew 1:1.

She was therefore a Jewess; and the ruler of the synagogue, professing a peculiar regard for the Jewish people, considering them as especially favored by God, should have rejoiced that she was loosed from this infirmity.

Whom Satan hath bound. Satan is the name given to the prince or leader of evil spirits, called also the devil, Beelzebub, and the old serpent (Matthew 12:24; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2).

By his binding her is meant that he had inflicted this disease upon her. It was not properly a possession of the devil, for that commonly produced derangement; but God had permitted him to afflict her in this manner, similar to the way in which he was permitted to try Job. See Barnes on Job 1:12 and Job 2:6-7.

It is no more improbable that God would permit Satan to inflict pain, than that he would permit a wicked man to do it; yet nothing is more common than for one man to be the cause of a disease in another which may end only with life. He who seduces a virtuous man and leads him to intemperance, or he who wounds him or strikes him, may disable him as much as Satan did this woman. If God permits it in one case, he may, for the same reason, permit it in another.