And he would not for awhile: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
All Commentaries on Luke 18:4 Go To Luke 18
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And he would not for a while. Partly from his own wickedness and partly because he hoped for a great bribe from the opponent.
But afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard Prayer of Manasseh , i.e, Although I am unjust and without scruple or shame yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her of her adversary, and give her back her right, lest continually (in novissimo) coming she weary me out (sugillet me). The Syriac has "omni tempore;" the Arabic "semper." Sugillo is properly to bruise the face and make it livid by blows. The Greek is Ïποπιάζω. The metaphorical meaning Isaiah , firstly, to deafen the head and ears with noise, and many so understand it. The Syriac has, "Lest she continually trouble me." The Arabic, "Lest she be always coming to trouble me." S. Augustine (, Ephesians 121to Proba): "She moved the unjust judge by her persistence to listen to her. Not that he was influenced by justice or mercy, but he was overcome by weariness." So Bede, Euthymius, Lucas and others from the Greek. "As therefore this widow by the assiduity and importunity of her supplications conquered the Judges , so do we overcome God. What fear cannot effect prayer can. Threats and the fear of punishment have not moved men to justice; but when the widow came as a suppliant, from a savage she made the judge humane. What then may we not conjecture of a beneficent God, if the widow by her prayers changed a judge who had been cruel before, into a humane one?" S. Chrysostom adds that Christ here wishes to show that the chief strength of prayer consists in turning unjust and cruel judges to piety and mercy. Sugillare, applied from the body to the mind, means to brand with a Mark , to affect with disgrace, to accuse. Although this senseless judge regarded neither God nor Prayer of Manasseh , he feared for himself and his office, lest he should be deposed from his judgeship, and deprived of honour and profit; he therefore gave the widow her due.
A1legorically, S. Augustine (Lib. ii. Qust. Evangel. qu45), says, "The widow is the Church, which seems desolate until her bridegroom Christ, who now bears her griefs in secret, return from heaven to judgment."
In trope, "The widow," says Theophylact, "is the soul which has put away her former husband. He was hostile to her because she came to God. God is a judge Who fears no one, and regards not the persons of men. The widow represents every soul that is desolate and afflicted, and who prays to the Judges , that is God, to be delivered from her adversary. But because it is incongruous to compare God to the unjust and wicked Judges , as Euthymius rightly says, from S. Chrysostom, we should rather say that it is Christ who is here spoken of; and not in comparison but as concluding from the less to the greater. That is: If the unjust judge were overcome by the importunity of the widow to change injustice into justice, and give her her rights, how much rather should God do this, who is most just, nay who is justice itself, punishing all injustice?" So S. Augustine above—S. Chrysostom and Theophylact—as will be clearly shown on verse7.
