Luke 18:2

a judge Rather, a certain judge. The little story is not improbably taken from life, and doubtless the inferior judges under such a sovereignty as that of the Herods might afford many instances of carelessness and venality.

which feared not God, neither regarded man The description of a character perfectly abandoned. He is living in violation of both of the two great commandments; in contradiction to the spirit of both Tables of the Decalogue. His conduct is the reverse of the noble advice of Jehoshaphat to his judges, 2 Chronicles 19:6-7; (2 Corinthians 8:21).

a widow See Exodus 22:22; Deuteronomy 10:18; Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 1:23; Malachi 3:5; 2Sa 14:2; 2 Samuel 14:5. The necessity for specialjustice and kindness to them rose from the fact that in the East they were of all classes the most defenceless and oppressed. Hence the prominent place which they occupy in the arrangements of the early Church (Acts 6:1; Act 9:41; 1 Timothy 5:3, &c.).