Luke 18 Bible study: Always pray and not give up

Here is what almost everyone misses: twice in a row, before Jesus begins a story, Luke tells you why Jesus told it, or to whom. "He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray and not give up" (18:1). Then come the judge "who didn’t fear God and didn’t respect man" (18:2), and the widow who "often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’" (18:3) (tap Defend). Straight after it: "He also spoke this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others" (18:9). Then come the two men who "went up into the temple to pray" (18:10). And after each story, Jesus says, "I tell you": "I tell you that he will avenge them quickly" (18:8), and "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other" (18:14) (tap justified). Luke doesn't name the city, the judge, the widow or the two men. These notes explain each story only by what Luke and Jesus say of it (18:1, 18:6-8, 18:9, 18:14), don't say whom anyone in them stands for, and apply them to no one today.

Leviticus 5:5→leads toLuke 18:13-14

Before the offering comes confession: "he shall confess that in which he has sinned" (5:5). Jesus told of two men who "went up into the temple to pray" (Luke 18:10). The tax collector "beat his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’" (Luke 18:13). Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other" (Luke 18:14). Jesus' parable doesn't mention Leviticus or any offering. Setting the tax collector's prayer beside 5:5 is an interpretation.

ἐκδικέωekdikeosay ek-dik-EH-o

Thayer lists 18:3 under "to protect, defend, one person from another". The widow keeps coming to the judge, "saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’" (18:3), and the judge says to himself, "yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her" (18:5). Then Jesus asks, "Won’t God avenge his chosen ones" (18:7), and says, "I tell you that he will avenge them quickly" (18:8). Behind avenge in both verses is the noun ekdikesis, which Strong's gives as "from G1556", this verb; of the phrase it stands in there, Thayer gives "to vindicate one from wrongs, accomplish the avenging of". The Gospels have the verb only in 18:3 and 18:5 (counted in RP2018, the Byzantine text the WEB translates).