A.T. Robertson Commentary Luke 4:38

"And he rose up from the synagogue, and entered into the house of Simon. And Simon`s wife`s mother was holden with a great fever; and they besought him for her." — Luke 4:38 (ASV)

He rose up (αναστας). Second aorist active participle of ανιστημ, a common verb. B. Weiss adds here "from the teacher's seat." Either from his seat or merely leaving the synagogue. This incident of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law is given in Mr 1:29-34 and Mt 8:14-17, which see for details.

Into the house of Simon (εις την οικιαν Σιμωνος). "Peter's house" (Matthew 8:14). "The house of Simon and Andrew" . Paul's reference to Peter's wife (1 Corinthians 9:5) is pertinent. They lived together in Capernaum. This house came also to be the Capernaum home of Jesus.

Simon's wife's mother (πενθερα του Σιμωνος). The word πενθερα for mother-in-law is old and well established in usage. Besides the parallel passages (Matthew 8:14; Luke 4:38) it occurs in the N.T. only in Lu 12:53. The corresponding word πενθερος, father-in-law, occurs in Joh 18:13 alone in the N.T.

Was holden with a great fever (ην συνεχομενη πυρετω μεγαλω). Periphrastic imperfect passive, the analytical tense accenting the continuous fever, perhaps chronic and certainly severe. Luke employs this verb nine times and only three others in the N.T. (Matthew 4:24 passive with diseases here; 2 Corinthians 5:14 active; Php 1:23 passive). In Ac 28:8 the passive "with dysentery" is like the construction here and is a common one in Greek medical writers as in Greek literature generally. Luke uses the passive with "fear,"Luke 8:37, the active for holding the hands over the ears (Acts 7:57) and for pressing one or holding together (Luke 8:45; Luke 19:43; Luke 22:63), the direct middle for holding oneself to preaching (Acts 18:5). It is followed here by the instrumental case. Hobart (Medical Language of Luke, p. 3) quotes Galen as dividing fevers into "great" (μεγαλο) and "small" (σμικρο).