Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

A woman which had a spirit of infirmity - Relative to this subject three things may be considered: -

I. The woman's infirmity.

II. Her cure. And

III. The conduct of the ruler of the synagogue on the occasion.

I. The woman's infirmity.

What was its origin? Sin. Had this never entered into the world, there had not been either pain, distortion, or death.

Who was the agent in it? Satan; Luke 13:16. God has often permitted demons to act on and in the bodies of men and women; and it is not improbable that the principal part of unaccountable and inexplicable disorders still come from the same source.

What was the nature of this infirmity? She was bowed together, bent down to the earth, a situation equally painful and humiliating; the violence of which she could not support, and the shame of which she could not conceal.

What was the duration of this infirmity? Eighteen years. A long time to be under the constant and peculiar influence of the devil.

What was the effect of this infirmity? The woman was so bowed together that she could in no case stand straight, or look toward heaven.

II. The woman's cure.

Jesus saw her, Luke 13:12. Notwithstanding her infirmity was great, painful, and shameful, she took care to attend the synagogue. While she hoped for help from God, she saw it was her duty to wait in the appointed way, in order to receive it. Jesus saw her distress, and the desire she had both to worship her Maker and to get her health restored, and his eye affected his heart.

He called her to him. Her heart and her distress spoke loudly, though her lips were silent; and, as she was thus calling for help, Jesus calls her to himself that she may receive help.

Jesus laid his hands on her. The hand of his holiness terrifies, and the hand of his power expels, the demon. Ordinances, however excellent, will be of no avail to a sinner, unless he apprehend Christ in them.

Immediately she was made straight, Luke 13:13. This cure was -

A speedy one - it was done in an instant.

It was a perfect one - she was made completely whole.

It was a public one - there were many to attest and render it credible.

It was a stable and permanent one - she was loosed, for ever loosed from her infirmity.

Her soul partook of the good done to her body - she glorified God. As she knew before that it was Satan who had bound her, she knew also that it was God only that could loose her; and now, feeling that she is loosed, she gives God that honor which is due to his name.

III. The conduct of the ruler of the synagogue on the occasion.

He answered with indignation, Luke 13:14. It would seem as if the demon who had left the woman's body had got into his heart. It is not an infrequent case to find a person filled with rage and madness, while beholding the effects of Christ's power upon others. Perhaps, like this ruler, he pretends zeal and concern for the honor of religion: "These preachings, prayer meetings, convictions, conversions, etc., are not carried on in his way, and therefore they cannot be of God." Let such take care, lest, while denying the operation of God's hand, they be given up to demonic influence.

He endeavors to prevent others from receiving the kind help of the blessed Jesus - He said unto the people, etc., Luke 13:14. Men of this character who have extensive influence over the poor, etc., do immense harm: they often hinder them from hearing that word which is able to save their souls. But for this also they must stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Reader, hast thou ever acted in this way?

Jesus retorts his condemnation with peculiar force; Luke 13:15, Luke 13:16. Thou hypocrite to pretend zeal for God's glory, when it is only the workings of thy malicious, unfeeling, and uncharitable heart. Wouldst thou not even take thy ass to water upon the Sabbath day? And wouldst thou deprive a daughter of Abraham (one of thy own nation and religion) of the mercy and goodness of God upon the Sabbath? Was not the Sabbath instituted for the benefit of man?

His adversaries were ashamed, Luke 13:17. The mask of their hypocrisy, the only covering they had, is taken away; and now they are exposed to the just censure of that multitude whom they deceived, and from whom they expected continual applause.

His indignation and uncharitable censure, not only turn to his own confusion, but are made the instruments of the edification of the multitude - they rejoiced at all the glorious things which he did. Thus, O Lord! the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder thereof thou shalt restrain.

A preacher will know how to apply this subject to general edification.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

There was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity - Was infirm, or was weak and afflicted. This was produced by Satan, Luke 13:16.

Eighteen years - This affliction had continued a long time. This shows that the miracle was real; that the disease was not feigned. Though thus afflicted, yet it seems she was regular in attending the worship of God in the synagogue. There in the sanctuary, is the place where the afflicted find consolation; and there it was that the Saviour met her and restored her to health. It is in the sanctuary and on the Sabbath, also, that he commonly meets his people, and gives them the joys of his salvation.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up.

If this had been all that was recorded on the object of this miracle, hers could be understood as a natural disability, one of the ailments to which all flesh is susceptible. However, the Lord's declaration (Luke 13:16) that this woman was one whom Satan had bound casts it in a different light. As Trench said, "Her calamity had a deeper spiritual root; though her type of possession was infinitely milder than others, as is plain from her permitted presence in God's worship."[13]

ENDNOTE:

[13] Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), p. 350.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And behold there was a woman,.... In the synagogue, who, as infirm as she is hereafter described, got out to the place of worship; and which may be a rebuke to such, who, upon every trifling indisposition, keep at home, and excuse themselves from an attendance in the house of God:

which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; or a weakness that was brought upon her by an evil spirit, by Satan; as appears from Luke 13:16 who, by divine permission, had a power of inflicting diseases on mankind, as is evident from the case of Job; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "whom a demon had made infirm": and this disorder had been of a long standing; she had laboured under it for the space of eighteen years, so that it was a known case, and had been given up as incurable, which made the following miracle the more illustrious and remarkable.

And was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself; or lift up her head, look up, or stand upright; it was a thing utterly impossible, which she could by no means do; her body was convulsed, and every part so contracted, that, as the Persic version renders it, "she could not stretch out a hand or foot".

Geneva Study Bible

And, behold, there was a woman which had a ^d spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up [herself].

(d) Troubled with a disease which Satan caused.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

spirit of infirmity — Compare Luke 13:17, “whom Satan hath bound.” From this it is probable, though not certain, that her protracted infirmity was the effect of some milder form of possession; yet she was “a daughter of Abraham,” in the same gracious sense, no doubt, as Zacchaeus, after his conversion, was “a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9).

John Lightfoot's Commentary on the Gospels

11. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

[Having a spirit of infirmity.] I. The Jews distinguish between spirits, and devils, and good angels. "All things do subserve to the glory of the King of kings, the holy blessed One, even spirits, also devils also ministering angels."

The difficulty is in what sense they take spirits, as they are distinguished from angels and devils: when it is probable they did not mean human souls. But these things are not the business of this place.

II. Therefore, as to this phrase in St. Luke, a spirit of infirmity, let us begin our inquiry from this passage: "It is written, 'If I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your inheritance.' R. Judah saith, 'This foretells such plagues to come upon them.' R. Simeon saith, 'He excepts those violent plagues that do not render a man unclean.'" Where the Gloss is, If those plagues come by the insufflation of the devil, which do not defile the man. And the Gemara a little after; "Rabba saith, He excepts the plagues of spirits. Rabh Papa saith, 'He excepts the plagues of enchantments.'" Where the Gloss again hath it; "Those plagues which are inflicted by the insufflation of the devil, not by the hands of men."

I. You see, therefore, first, that it was a most received opinion amongst the Jews, that diseases or plagues might be inflicted by the devil. Which is plain also from the evangelists; because our Saviour, in this very place, tells us, that the bowing together of this woman was inflicted upon her by Satan.

II. They conceived further, that some diseases were inflicted that were unclean, and some that were not unclean. The unclean were the leprosy, issues, &c.; not unclean, were such as this woman's infirmity, &c.

III. They distinguish betwixt an evil spirit, and an unclean spirit. Not but they accounted an unclean spirit ill enough, and an evil spirit to be unclean enough; but that they might distinguish the various operations of the devil, as also concerning the various persons possessed and afflicted by him.

1. They acknowledged that evil spirits might inflict diseases. "Whomsoever either the Gentiles, or evil spirit drive," i.e. beyond the bounds of the sabbath. Where the Gloss is; "The evil spirit is the devil that hath entered into him, disturbs his intellectuals, so that he is carried beyond the bounds." But Rambam saith, "They call all kind of melancholy an evil spirit." And elsewhere: an evil spirit, i.e. a disease.

2. The unclean spirit amongst them was chiefly and more peculiarly that devil that haunted places of burial, and such-like, that were most unclean. The unclean spirit, i.e. the devil that haunts burying-places. "Thither the necromancer betook himself" (as the Gemara hath it, which I have also quoted in another place); "and when he had macerated himself with fasting, he lodgeth amongst the tombs, to the end that he might be the more inspired by the unclean spirit." Nor is it much otherwise (as they themselves relate it) with the python or prophesying spirit. "For the Rabbins deliver: the python is he that speaks within the parts." The Gloss is, "He that raiseth a dead person, and sits between the parts of the bones," &c.

Hence that reason of our conjecture concerning that demoniac, Luke 4:33; that he was either a necromancer or pythonist, taken from that unusual way of expressing it which is there observable, not having an unclean spirit, nor having an unclean devil, but having a spirit of an unclean devil.

There were therefore two sorts of men whom they accounted under the possession of an unclean spirit, in their proper sense so called: those especially who sought and were ambitious to be inspired of the devil amongst tombs and unclean places; and those also, who, being involuntarily possessed by the devils, betook themselves amongst tombs and such places of uncleanness. And whether they upon whom the devil inflicted unclean diseases should be ranked in the same degree, I do not determine. There were others who were not acted by such diabolical furies, but afflicted with other kind of diseases, whom they accounted under the operation of an evil spirit of disease or infirmity. Not of uncleanness; but of infirmity. And perhaps the evangelist speaks according to this antithesis, that this woman had neither a spirit of uncleanness, according to what they judged of a spirit of uncleanness; nor a disease of uncleanness; but a spirit of infirmity.

Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament

A spirit of infirmity (πνευμα αστενειας — pneuma astheneias). A spirit that caused the weakness (αστενειας — astheneias lack of strength) like a spirit of bondage (Romans 8:15), genitive case.

She was bowed together (ην συνκυπτουσα — ēn sunkuptousa). Periphrastic imperfect active of συνκυπτω — sunkuptō old verb, here only in the N.T., to bend together, medical word for curvature of the spine.

And could in no wise lift herself up (και μη δυναμενη ανακυπσαι εις το παντελες — kai mē dunamenē anakupsai eis to panteles). Negative form of the previous statement. Ανακυπσαι — Anakupsai first aorist active infinitive of ανακυπτω — anakuptō (ανα κυπτω — ana συν — kuptō same verb above compounded with εις το παντελες — sun). Unable to bend herself up or back at all (eis to panteles wholly as in Hebrews 7:25 only other passage in the N.T. where it occurs). The poor old woman had to come in all bent over.

Vincent's Word Studies

Spirit of infirmity

A spirit which caused infirmity. An evil demon, see Luke 13:16, though it is not certain that it was a case of possession. The details of the disease, and the noting of the time of its continuance, are characteristic of a physician's narrative.

Bowed together ( συγκύπτουσα )

Only here in New Testament.

Lift herself up ( ἀνακύψαι )

Only here in New Testament, unless John 8:7-10 be accepted as genuine. Used by Galen of strengthening the vertebrae of the spine.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

She was bowed together, and utterly unable to lift up herself — The evil spirit which possessed her afflicted her in this manner. To many doubtless it appeared a natural distemper. Would not a modern physician have termed it a nervous case?

Abbott's Illustrated New Testament

A spirit of infirmity. This was a case, apparently, of spinal distortion produced, according to the literal import of this language, by the agency of an evil spirit. So (Luke 13:16) she is spoken of as bound by Satan.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

Ver. 11. And was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself] This infirmity might proceed from the gonorrhoea; but, besides that, the devil had a hand in it, for she was bound by Satan, Luke 13:16. Novi quandam mulierem (saith Dr Garenceires) quae adhuc in vivis est-quae cum tribus abhinc annis gonorrhaea simplici laboraret, ea neglecta, tantam seminis iacturam intra annum passa est, ut quae prius erectae et firmae staturae fuerat, luxatis vertebris non solum gibbosa facta est, verum etiam in tantum κυβωσιν incidit, ut mentum umbilico (stupendum dictu) ferme insideat: vicinis interea illud pro miraculo habentibus. (De Tabe Anglicana.)

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Luke 13:11. There was a woman, &c.— Jesus happening to preach in one of the synagogues of Perea on a sabbath-day, cast his eyes upon a woman in the congregations, who had not been able to stand upright during the space of eighteen years. Wherefore pitying her affliction, he restored her body to its natural soundness. What the evangelist means by a spirit of infirmity, we learn from our Lord himself, Luke 13:16.—a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years. The last clause of this verse is better rendered by Dr. Heylin, Could by no means raise herself up; or, was utterly unable to raise herself upright.

Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary

11. πν. ἀσθ.] Her weakness was the effect of permitted power of the evil one (Luke 13:16); but whether we are to find here a direct instance of possession, seems very doubtful. There is nothing in our Lord’s words addressed to her, to imply it: and in such cases He did not lay on His hands, or touch,—but only in cases of sickness or bodily infirmity.

εἰς τὸ παντελές belongs to ἀνακύψαι, not to δυναμ.: see note on ref. Heb.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament

Luke 13:11. γυνὴ, a woman) This seems to have been a pious woman; for she was one to whom it was not said in this passage [as in the case of others], Thy sins are forgiven thee: nay, even she is called a daughter of Abraham in Luke 13:16.— συγκύπτουσα, bowed together) The state and posture of her body, which turned her face from the gaze of heaven, was in consonance with her misery in having a “spirit of infirmity” ( πνεῦμα ἀσθενείας).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

See Poole on "Luke 13:10"

Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture

имевшая духа немощи Это предполагает, что ее физическая болезнь, от которой она не могла стоять прямо, была вызвана злым духом. Однако Христу здесь не нужно было противостоять бесу и изгонять его, Он просто объявил ее свободной (ст. 12). Ее случай, по-видимому, отличается от других случаев бесовской одержимости, с которой Иисус часто сталкивался (ср. 11:14; см. пояснение к ст. 16).

Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament

A spirit of infirmity; a spirit that kept her bowed together; for her infirmity is ascribed to the power of Satan, verse Luke 13:16.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

11.Spirit of infirmity—Not perhaps a case of complete possession, but of bodily debility produced under Satanic influence. Stier denies that subjection to Satanic influence is any proof of wickedness, and claims that this woman was afflicted by Satan in spite of her piety, like Job of old. She is found in the synagogue on the Sabbath to hear the words of life; not a word is said of the pardon of her sins; when she is healed she breaks forth in devout songs of praise to God, and she is pronounced by the Saviour, with manifest tenderness, a “daughter of Abraham.”

Eighteen years—For that long period Satan had been destroying, but God had been keeping her alive. She had lived and suffered to some purpose; for she had survived to prove, by the very length and obstinacy of her disorder, the true power of Jesus to heal.

Bowed together’ lift up herself—Her body, if not her soul, bowed to the earth. So does the power of Satan bind the souls of sensual men to the earth. They are unable to look up to the God above them. It is the power of the Redeemer that can loosen their bonds if they apply to him, and give them power to raise themselves up and to use their tongues in praise of his strange mercy.

 

 

 

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

‘And behold, a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up.’

‘And behold.’ This may well indicate that He suddenly spotted her while He was teaching. What He spotted was a woman who was bent double and could not straighten herself. In view of the connection with an evil spirit it was probably skoliasis hysterica, a partly psychological condition. Others see it as spondylitis ankylopoietica indicating a fusion of the spinal bones. The one may, of course, have resulted in the other.

The woman had been affected in this way by an evil spirit for ‘eighteen years’. A connection with the ‘eighteen’ who perished at Siloam may well be in mind, with the thought that she too was suffering because of sin in the world. She was bowed double and could not lift herself up. She was a picture of a world bent double by sin, and unable to stand tall.

Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Luke 13:11. A spirit of infirmity eighteen years. This suggests a form of demoniacal possession; and Luke 13:16 shows that Satanic influence was present in her case. Our Lord, however, did not heal demoniacs by laying on of hands, but by a word of command. Yet in this case He both speaks (Luke 13:12) and lays hands upon her (Luke 13:13). The effect of her disease was that she was bowed together; her muscular power was so deficient, that she could in no wise lift herself up. She had some power, but it was insufficient to allow her to straighten herself up. This view represents the woman, not as remaining passively bowed, but ever attempting and failing to stand straight.

The Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 13:11_{. : the Jews saw the action of a foreign power in every form of disease which presented the aspect of the sufferer’s will being overmastered. In this case the woman was bent and could not straighten herself when she tried.— , bent together, here only in N.T.— goes with , and implies either that she could not erect her head, or body at all, or entirely. The former is more in keeping with the idea of bondage to a foreign spirit (Schanz). Similar use of the phrase in} Hebrews 7:25_.

 

 

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

spirit. Greek. pneuma. An evil demon. App-101.12.

of = causing. Genitive of Origin. App-17.

eighteen years. A type of the condition of the nation. A long-standing case, as "Signs" "C" and "C". App-176.

bowed together = bent double. Occurs only here in N.T.

could in no wise lift = wholly unable to lift, &c.

in no wise. Not. Greek. ou me, as in Luke 13:35; but me eis to panteles = not unto the furthest extent = unable to the uttermost. Occurs only here (complete human inability), and Hebrews 7:25(complete Divine ability).

lift up. Occurs only here, Luke 21:28 and John 8:7, John 8:10 in the N.T.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. From the expression used in Luke 13:16, "whom Satan hath bound," it has been conjectured that her protracted infirmity was the effect of some milder form of possession; but this is a precarious inference. At all events she was "a daughter of Abraham," in the same gracious sense, no doubt, as Zaccheus after his conversion was "a son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9).

And was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Behold, there was a woman. . . .—The description indicates the accuracy of the trained observer. The duration of the affliction (as in Acts 9:33), the symptoms of permanent curvature of the spine, the very form of the two participles, bent together. . . . unable to unbend, are all characteristic. The phrase a “spirit of infirmity,” i.e., an evil spirit producing bodily infirmity, implies a diagnosis that the seat of the powerlessness, as in some forms of catalepsy and aphasia, was in the region in which soul and body act and react on each other. The presence of such a sufferer in the synagogue may, perhaps, be held to imply habitual devotion, and therefore the faith that made her receptive of the healing power.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

a spirit

16; 8:2; Job 2:7; Psalms 6:2; Matthew 9:32,33

eighteen

8:27,43; Mark 9:21; John 5:5,6; 9:19-21; Acts 3:2; 4:22; 14:8-10

bowed

Psalms 38:6; 42:5; *marg:; Psalms 145:14; 146:8

Reciprocal: Matthew 9:6 - Arise;  Mark 5:25 - twelve;  Acts 14:10 - Stand

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

11.And, lo, a woman Here is related a miracle performed on a woman who was cured, and the offense which the malignity of the Jews led them to take up, because our Lord had cured her on a Sabbath -day Luke says that the woman was held by a spirit of infirmity, so that her body was bent by the contraction of her nerves. As the nature of the disease is no farther described, it is probable that it was not one of an ordinary kind, or which was understood by physicians; and, therefore, he calls it a spirit of infirmity. We know that diseases of an unusual and extraordinary kind are, for the most part, inflicted on men through the agency of the devil; and this gave the more striking display of the divine power of Christ, which triumphed over Satan. Not that Satan rules over men according to his pleasure, but only so far as God grants to him permission to injure them. Besides, as the Lord, from whom alone all our blessings flow, makes his glory to shine with peculiar brightness in those blessings which are more remarkable, and of rare occurrence; so, on the other hand, it is his will that the power and tyranny of Satan should be chiefly regarded in extraordinary chastisements, though his agency is likewise employed in those more gentle applications of the rod, which we experience from day to day.