Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Behold (kai idou). The kai introduces the apodosis of the temporal sentence and has to be left out in translations. It is a common idiom in Luke, kai idou.
There was carried out (ecekomizeto). Imperfect passive indicative. Common verb in late Greek for carrying out a body for burial, though here only in the N.T. (ekkomizw). Rock tombs outside of the village exist there today.
One that was dead (teqnhkwv). Perfect active participle of qnhskw, to die.
The only son of his mother (monogenhv uiov th mhtri autou). Only begotten son to his mother (dative case). The compound adjective monogenhv (monov and genov) is common in the old Greek and occurs in the N.T. about Jesus (John 3:16, John 3:18). The "death of a widow's only son was the greatest misfortune conceivable" (Easton).
And she was a widow (kai auth hn xhra). This word xhra gives the finishing touch to the pathos of the situation. The word is from xhrov, bereft. The mourning of a widow for an only son is the extremity of grief (Plummer).
Much people (oxlov ikanov). Considerable crowd as often with this adjective ikanov. Some were hired mourners, but the size of the crowd showed the real sympathy of the town for her.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Luke 7:12:
Mark 5:35
Luke 8:42
Luke 9:38
Luke 23:27
John 1:14
John 5:21
Hebrews 11:18
1 John 4:9
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