the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

The Old Testament taught the Israelite that fearing God and keeping the commandments
make one pious (Lev 19:14, 32; Deut 4:10; 5:29; 6:13; 8:6; 10:12; 13:4; 14:23; 17:13; 19:20;
31:12). The just judge should base a judgment on the Torah, in fear of the Lord, since a
righteous and wise judgment is directed by the Torah, which teaches how to fear God. 21
What is more, the just judge judges not on behalf of human beings, but on God’s behalf. The
verb here means that the judge lacked concern for others who came before him,
still more, had contempt for them. This portrait of the judge is reiterated in the same terms in
v. 4, and he is eventually given the title of “unrighteous judge” in v. 6.
The story introduces the widow who comes before the judge, without a description of her
character, in contrast to the sketching out of the judge’s character. In Old Testament, widows
22
in the triadic formula “widows, orphans, and foreigners”, were objects of special care by
God’s commands. God protects them and executes justice for them (Exod. 22:21-24; Deut
10:17-18, 27:19; Ps. 68:5; 146:9; Isa. 1:17, 23; Mal. 3:5). In the spite of these commands
from God, widows were still objects of oppression and exploitation. Luke shows special
concern to widows in Luke-Acts (Lk. 2:37; 4:25-26; 7:12; 20:47; 21:2-3; Acts 6:1; 9:39,
41). 23 Widows were often left with no means of making a living or lost their livelihood
altogether. If the husband left an estate, she could receive provision for her living through it,
although she did not inherit the estate which her husband left. 24 If she returned to her family,
she would not only have lost the right of provision for her living, but would also have to give
back the money exchanged at the wedding. Widows and their children who had come to
poverty were even sold occasionally as slaves for debt. 25 In view of the circumstances of
widows, it is most likely that the widow’s case had to do with money. 26
21. Boven feels that the judge who neither fears God nor respects humans commits a violation of the double
love command. Bovon, Das Evangelium nach Lukas (Lk 15:1-19:27), 190.
22. Scott, Hear Then the Parable, 181.
23. One might expect that widows are, of course, singled out as special concern by all the gospel writers. Yet
that is not true. There is no such saying in Matthew, and in case of Mark, just two sayings (Mk. 12:40, 41-44).
24. Shemuel Safrai, “Home and Family: Religion in everyday life,” Jewish People in the 1the Century (1976),
728-833, here 787-91. The widow, according to Safrai, could choose to remain in the house of her husband, but
on the whole she would choose to return to her father’s or brother’s house because of kinship patterns.
25. G. Stählin, “,” TDNT, IX, 440-465, here 441-48.
26. Plummer, St. Luke, 412; Jeremias, Parables, 153; Marshall, Luke, 672; Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 133;
Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 202; Hultgren,
Parables, 254; Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus, 191. Jeremias argues that the case seems to be a money matter:
“a debt, a pledge, or a portion of an inheritance is being withheld from her,” since a single judge could decide
such a case. Still, according to Mishnah (Sanh. 1:1), cases concerning property require at least three judges. On
the other hand, Herzog contends that the case may be either to claim her provision for living from the estate,
which was left by her husband, or to reclaim her ketubah, that is to say, the amount of money her husband
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