Discovering Biblical Treasures November 14, 2016 Volume 01, Issue 7

The Hebraic Way LET’S DISCOVER LUKE 18:1-8 LINGUISTIC STRUCTURE

[Transition] 1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, A

2

saying, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. B

3

"There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me legal protection from my opponent.'

B1 4 "For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, 'Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.'" A’ 6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said;

SOMETHING ABOUT THE LINGUISTICS An interpretation of

this

parable is about receiving

B’

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fair justice. Verse 1 is a

now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?

transition verse. The question about requesting and receiving justice is emphasized by the repetition that

B1’

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"I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"

forms the “B” block of the chiasm having four statements

about

justice.

A

question will be is: Why did the judge refuse to give the widow justice then turned around and gave it?

Yeshua introduces this parable saying that we should be in constant prayer. How does not receiving jus ce fit into prayer? (v. 1) If we look at the parable and on its literal surface, it means that injustice is going to exist in our world then the prayer would be about bringing God’s kingdom into play where injustice does not occur. The parable of the unjust judge, given to us here in Luke 18, does not say anything about prayer, unjust except for the transition verse. Therefore, it would have to be inferred that we should pray that the word of God is followed by all people in all places and at all times.

What was legal protection? (v. 3) The legal protection for a widow is described in the cultural section.

Why did the judge initially decide

How did one become a judge in

not to assist the widow? (v. 4) The reason the judged initially did not assist the widow is described in the cultural section.

Yeshua’s day? (v. 2)

What does it mean to be an unrighteous judge? (v. 5)

If the judge was Jewish he was a part of a Jewish court. The assignment

would

have

given

been

To be unrighteous is not to revere God nor humankind. It is a judge who sits in that position because they wanted to earn an easy living and had political connections. The unrighteous judge would not follow the Torah laws.

through official channels that would lead to the Sanhedrin.

Worship the Lord Yeshua with a great big SMILE!

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Judges in Yeshua’s me? Judges were supposed to revere God and would do this by complying with all of God’s laws.

NAU

Exodus 18:21 " Furthermore, you shall select out of all the peo-

ple able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. (Exod. 18:21 NAU)

How were widows to be treated in Yeshua’s day? Widows in Yeshua’s day were to be respected and cared for. There were laws that protected widows, orphans, and for-

Many times judges would be called tax collectors and sinners. Because

eigners.

judges at times acted like tax collectors and did not do what was in the best interest of the people that they were supposed to serve. Rather they acted on bribes.

21

"You shall not wrong a

stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in 22

In some areas of the Middle East, at the time of Yeshua, judges did not

the land of Egypt.

"You

receive any salary for their services. Since they did not receive any sal-

shall not afflict any widow

ary, it was easy for them to accept bribes because they needed money

or orphan. (Exod. 22:21-

to live like everyone else. The people knew the situation and would

22 NAU)

send bribes a few days before they visited a particular judge. Judges could tell when a poor person was about to come before them because they did not send them a payment ahead of time.

Israel’s

prophets

also

cried out against injustices done to widows, or-

When a poor person came to see a judge his servants would tell the poor person that the judge was too busy and could not be bothered with them at that time. Many judges believed it would cost them money

phans

and

foreigners.

Many times judges would promise to give aid to the

to work with the poor and the widow opposed to receiving the bribe and

poor, and the widow, and

making money. On many occasions judges were forced to help the

then would not follow through with their promises. The poor and the widows would keep re-

turning to the judge’s home, begging and badgering him for a hearing and for help.

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MAIN POINT DISCOVERING BIBLICAL TREASURES

justice is done, then how much more would God offer

There is some humor and iro-

justice.

ny in this story that Yeshua

The purpose of Discovering Biblical Treasures is to teach students of the Bible how to learn the Bible in the same manner that our Lord and Savior Yeshua did. What did people think when they heard the Scriptures spoken by Yeshua.

presents to us. The irony is

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judge is humbled by a poor

It is also possibly telling us the

widow. This is irony. The

power of God may not be

judge became afraid of the

placed on display as some-

weakest member of society.

thing grand but is a nuance, a

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One interpretation of this pas-

his presence known with us.

sage is that God will extend

God’s Holy Spirit never gives

his mercy and grace to those

up trying to get us to accept

who come before him who

his grace. Justice for all will

seek justice. If a corrupt judge

prevail through God.

that the shameless judge, who does not care about honor, eventually gives in and helps the widow. He does this because of her constant pestering. In Yeshua’s day, the poor and the widow would have continued to pester judges to receive a fair hearing because of reasons that are explained in the cultural section. The unjust judge, we are told, did not

for this passage is the explanation that God’s kingdom is present everywhere, and constantly

wearing

down

re-

sistance. Those who resist the kingdom of God and the Messiah Yeshua will eventually be worn down and they will give in to an understanding that the LORD’s Word is in control of all things.

even revere God yet this

nudging, that will never go away and continues to make

can be talked into ensuring

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Another possible interpretation

HEBRAIC VIEW—PUTTING IT TOGETHER Life’s just not fair at times is it? We have to live with the understanding that God created the world and gave it to us but unfortunately human greed takes over at times and corrupts the world. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, evil and sin has been running rampant throughout our world. The other thing we need to note is that the Scripture calls out for judges and overseers to be placed over the people so that fairness and justice exists. However, the system that was created for the judges, being the Sanhedrin and working its way down, was something that humans created in order to fulfill a piece of Scripture from the Lord. Perhaps Jesus is telling us in this passage that it is these man-made devices that we need to be aware of and defend ourselves from. Perhaps we should be looking at our world today and saying if the system is corrupt and how can we fix it. By Yeshua introducing a statement about prayer before the parable begins, we may be led to the conclusion that we need to have faith in God that eventually God’s justice will emerge. Also, that the Holy Spirit is present on the earth and will nudge people but will not be like a sledgehammer to hit people.

Discovering Biblical Treasures

Is a part of BibleInteract and the Bible Learning University Author: Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz, D.Min, Ph.D.

Website: http://bibleinteract.com http://bibleinteract.tv

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