What Does Luke 11:7 Mean?

(7) **Trouble me not.**—As afterwards in the parable of the Unjust Judge, so here, the illustrative matter cannot be pressed into an interpretation. It seems, indeed, to have been purposely so stated that it could only suggest an *à fortiori* argument. Thus man might answer, but so does not God. If prayer prevails over apathy and impatience, how much more will it prevail when we pray to One who knows our necessities before we ask Him? The picture drawn is obviously from a poor man’s house, children and parents sleeping in the same room, the younger children (the Greek word is a diminutive) in the same bed. The word here, however, differs from the other two commonly translated “bed” (*e.g.,* Matthew 9:2; Matthew 9:6; Mark 2:4; Mark 2:9), and probably means the *divan* or raised platform, which often filled nearly half a room in a Jewish or Eastern house.