Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 18

That men ought always to pray, and not to faint.—The latter of the two verbs is noticeable as being used in the New Testament by St. Luke and St. Paul only (2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Galatians 6:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:13). The whole verse is remarkable as being one of the few instances (Luke 18:9 being another) in which a parable is introduced by a distinct statement as to its drift and aim.

There was in a city a judge.—These words have historical interest, as they testify to the general disorganization and corruption of justice that prevailed under the government of Galilee and Perea at that time. Under the direct administration of the Roman Procurator, severe as his rule was, there was probably a better state of things.

The case presented for the purpose of the parable was obviously an extreme one. Every motive that ordinarily leads men in office to act rightly was absent. Conscience was dead, and there was no love of approval or fear of blame to take its place.

There was a widow in that city.—The neglect of the widow's cause had always been noted by the Lawgiver and Prophet—and it was one of the notes of a high ethical standard in both—as the extremest form of oppressive tyranny (Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 27:19; Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 1:23; Ezekiel 22:7). Compare also the speech of the widow of Tekoah (2 Samuel 14:2; 2 Samuel 14:5).

She came to 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 versâ. The judge put off his decision, and the “law’s delay” was worse to her than the original wrong had been.

He would not for a while.—The judge was callous and dead to pity, even for that extremest wretchedness. The pleadings of the widow were simply an annoyance, which at first he bore with indifference.

Though I fear not God, nor regard man.—Here, also, there is a graphic touch of intensity. The man had passed beyond the stage of hypocrisy, conscious or unconscious, and saw himself even as others, even as God, saw him.

Lest by her continual coming she weary me.—This latter verb is again one that takes its place in the vocabulary of unusual words common to Saint Luke and Saint Paul. It meets us in 1 Corinthians 9:27, where it is rendered, I keep under my body.

Literally, however, it expresses the act of a boxer who strikes a blow that leaves a livid bruise on an opponent’s face, and it appears to have been transferred from the arena to common life through the natural transition of popular metaphor into the forms of colloquial language.

So, we speak of people “hitting hard” or “giving a knock-down blow” in controversy or debate. What is described here is a continuous shower of blows, each of which falls short of a “knock-down,” while their cumulative effect is, in the nearest modern English equivalent, that a person is so “punished” that they are glad to yield at any cost.