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

On the other hand, Curkpatrick argues that widows are not only used here as examples of
faith and strength, but also as a prophetic image of Yahweh’s passion for justice. For him the
descriptions of widows in the Gospel of Luke are primarily from the LXX, which is full of
images of injustice and prophetic protest. He therefore argues that the parable is consonant
with the prophetic quest for justice, and functions as a challenge against unjust practices in
Luke’s community. 27 This seems, however, to be going too far, so as to elicit and emboss the
widow’s prophetic voice for justice. Rather than draw its connections from the LXX tradition,
it is in fact more common to find allusions to the parable in Sirach. 28
In the Mediterranean world, women did not go to the public offices of the court, and such
29
legal affairs were primarily performed by lawyers or some male relative of the woman. It is
surmised that the appearance of the woman in the court would evoke male attention. In any
rate, it is more likely that there is no male relative to represent her in court. 30 Although
Cotter tries to bring the widow’s boldness to the fore by focusing on her frequent visits to the
court in a public male domain, and her speaking in a commanding tone without respectful
wording toward the judge, 31
viewed from a different angle, however, we should take into
consideration the fact that her miserable living conditions could have caused such behaviour.
With respect to the judicial structure of ancient Judaism, Derrett argues that there were
pledged to her as an inheritance in the event of his death, according to the research of Jacob Neusner. See
Herzog, Parables as Subversive, 223-24.
27. Curkpatrick, “A Parable Frame-up and Its Audacious Reframing,” 24-26; Seim, The Double Message:
Patterns of Gender in Luke-Acts, 232, 243, 258; Freed, “The Parable of the Judge and the Widow,” 38, 56;
Nolland, Luke, 871.
28. See J.M. Creed, The Gospel According to Saint Luke (London: Macmillan, 1960), 222; Marshall, Luke, 673;
C.F. Evans, Saint Luke, 636; Schweizer, Luke, 279; Hendrickx, The Parables of Jesus, 219-20; Goulder, Luke: A
New Paradigm, 659-60; Scott, Hear Then the Parable, 185: Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, 269; Green, Luke,
638; J. Lieu, The Gospel of Luke (Peterborough: Epworth, 1997), 139; Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 128;
Hedrick, Parables as Poetic Fictions: The Creative Voice of Jesus,188 n. 3; Snodgrass, Stories with Intent, 456.
But, certainly, Bock is against to these arguments. See also Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, 9:51-24:53 (BECNT;
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1994/1996), 1445.
29. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 135; Raphael Taubenschlag, The Law of Greco-Roman Egypt in the Light of
the Papyri: 332 B.C-640 A.D. (Warszawa: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1955), 175-76; Cotter, “The
Parable of the Feisty Widow and the Threatened Judge,” 333-35; A.J. Marshall, “Ladies at Law: The Role of
Women in the Roman Civil Courts,” in ed., Carl Deroux, Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History V
(Brussels: Latomus. Revue D’Études Latines, 1989), 35-54.
30. P. Hiebert, “Widows,” in ed., B.M. Metzger and M.D. Coogan, Oxford Companion to the Bible (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1993), 795-98, here 793; Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, 135; Herzog, Parables as
Subversive, 232; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s Gospel, 202;
Hultgren, Parables, 255; Mary W. Matthews, Carter Shelley, and Barbara Scheele, “Proclaiming the Parable of
the Persistent Widow (Lk. 18:2-5),” in ed., Mary Ann Beavis, Lost Coin: Parables of Women, Work and Wisdom
(London: Sheffield Academic, 2002), 46-70, 49.
31. Cotter, “The Parable of the Feisty Widow and the Threatened Judge,” 332-36.
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