Luke 13:11

13:11 crippled by an evil spirit: See study note on 11:14.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 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 Luk 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).

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 13:11 . πνεῦμα ἀσθενείας : 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. συγκύπτουσα , bent together, here only in N.T. εἰς τὸ παντελές goes with ἀνακύψαι , 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 Heb 7:25 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Troubled with a disease which Satan brought.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

WOMAN OF EIGHTEEN YEAR'S INFIRMITY HEALED ON THE SABBATH. (Luk 13:10-17)

spirit of infirmity--Compare Luk 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 Zaccheus, after his conversion, was "a son of Abraham" (Luk 19:9).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. 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.

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

2. Who was the agent in it? Satan; Lu 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

1. Jesus saw her, Lu 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

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

1. A speedy one - it was done in an instant.

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

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

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

5. 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 honour which is due to his name.

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

1. He answered with indignation, Lu 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 honour of religion: "These preachings, prayer meetings, convictions, conversions, c., 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.

2. He endeavours to prevent others from receiving the kind help of the blessed Jesus - He said unto the people, c., Lu 13:14. Men of this character who have extensive influence over the poor, &c., 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?

3. Jesus retorts his condemnation with peculiar force Lu 13:15-16. 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?

4. His adversaries were ashamed, Lu 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.

5. 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) Behold, there was a woman. . . .—The description indicates the accuracy of the trained observer. The duration of the affliction (as in Act_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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. a spirit of infirmity] Her curvature is thus directly attributed to Satanic agency. Job_2:6-7; Act_10:38.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Luk 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".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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, Luk 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.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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. The description of the sufferer, so accurate in its details, marks the medical training of the compiler here. The malady was evidently a curvature of the spine of a very grave character. Her presence in the synagogue that day gives us a hint, at least, that this poor afflicted one loved communion with her God. Doubtless the faith and trust on her side necessary to the cure were there. Her first act, after she was sensible of the blessed change wrought in her poor diseased frame, was an outpouring of devout thanks to God.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

11. πνεῦμα … ἀσθενείας. Her curvature is thus directly attributed to Satanic agency. Job 2:6-7; Act 10:38.

ἦν. Aderat; she had doubtless come there on purpose.

μὴ δυναμένη. The μὴ can hardly be here explained, except as due to the tendency to use μὴ with participles.

εἰς τὸ παντελές. Heb 7:25.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. πν. ἀσθ.] Her weakness was the effect of permitted power of the evil one (ver. 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.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. πνεῦμα ἔχουσα ἀσθενείας. “Who had a spirit that caused infirmity.” See Sanday on Rom 8:15. Similarly a demon that caused dumbness is called a “dumb spirit” (11:14; Mar 9:17, Mar 9:25). Weiss would have it that this expression is the Evangelist’s own inference, and a wrong inference, from ἥν ἔδησεν ὁ Σατανᾶς (ver. 16), which probably means that Jesus knev, her malady to be the consequence of her sinful life. Therefore Satan, who caused the sin, caused the malady. Weiss asserts that the laying on of hands never occurs in the case of demoniacs. And he appeals to θεραπεύεσθε (ver. 14), observing that exorcisms are not healings (L. J. 2. p. 53, Eng. tr. 2. p. 239). But we know too little to affirm that Jesus never laid His hands on demoniaces; and both θεραπεύειν (8:2; Mat 17:16) and ἰᾶσθαι (9:42) are used of healing them. Jesus generally cured ordinary diseases with a touch or laying on of hands (4:40, 5:13, 8:44, 54, 14:4, 22:51); but He sometimes healed such with a word (4:39, 5:24, 6:10, 7:10). Although He commonly healed demonises with a word (4:35, 41, 8:29, 9:42), He may sometimes have touched them. And it should be noted that ἀπολέλυσαι, which implies that she has already been freed from the πνεῦμα ἀσθενείας (comp. 5:20), precedes the laying on of hands. Therefore this act, like the laying hold of the demoniac boy (Mar 9:27), may have been added in order to complete the physical cure. There is nothing to show that the woman had come expecting to be healed by Jesus. For συνκύπτουσα see Ecclus. 12:11, 19:26.

ἔτη δέκα ὀκτώ. To suggest that this is a reminiscence of the eighteen on whom the tower fell, and that the twelve in 8:43 is a reminiscence of the twelve in 8:42, is hardly sober criticism. Do numbers never come a second time in real life? And he must be a poor inventor or incapable of varying numbers. Syr-Sin. has “had a spirit eighteen years.”

μὴ δυναμένη. As usual in N. T., we have μή with the participle, although it refers to a matter of fact. Comp. 1:20; Act 9:9; and see Simcox, Lang. of N. T. p. 188.

ἀνακύψαι εἰς τὸ παντελές. “Wholly to lift up herself, to straighten herself properly.” Nearly all English Versions follow the Vulgate in taking εἰς τὸ παντελές with νὴ δυναμένη; nee omnino poterat, “could not in any wise, could not at all.” But it may go with ἀνακύψαι, after which it is placed: “coulde not well loke up” (Cov.); konnte nicht wohl aufsehen (Luth.). Comp. σώζειν εἰς τὸ παντελὲς δύναται (Heb 7:25), the only other passage in N. T. in which it occurs. Not in LXX. Josephus always has it next to the word to which it belongs (Ant. i. 18. 5, iii. 11. 3, 12. 1, vi. 2. 3, vii. 13. 3).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Spirit of infirmity. A spirit which caused infirmity. An evil demon, see ver. 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 [συγκυπτουσα] . Only here in New Testament.

Lift herself up [ανακυψαι] . Only here in New Testament, unless Joh 8:7 - 10 be accepted as genuine. Used by Galen of strengthening the vertebrae of the spine.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.