Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

The controversy over Jesus’ Sabbath activities now comes to the fore as the synagogue ruler speaks to the people on the ground of Ex 20:9–10. He avoids addressing Jesus directly. There was ample evidence of rabbinic precedent for helping animals in emergencies on the Sabbath. So Jesus used a lesser-to-greater argument to move from helping animals to helping human beings (cf. 12:6–7, 24–28). “A daughter of Abraham” means a Jewess. In keeping with Luke’s purpose, this designation highlights the priority of the Jews in the program of the Gospel. As he often does, Luke gives us the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ response (v.17; cf. 4:15, 22, 32, 36–37; 5:26).