The Parable of The Good Samaritan

andThe Importance of Background

IVP NTBC

• 10:25. The lawyer’s question about inheriting eternal life was a common Jewish theological question, and legal and other challenges to rabbis were common in ancient rabbinic debate.

• 10:26. Teachers often responded to questions with counterquestions. “How do you read?” was a fairly standard rabbinic question.

• 10:27. The legal expert offers the answers sometimes given by Jewish teachers (and by Jesus; see Mk 12:29-31), citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

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IVP NTBC

• 10:28. Some texts in the law promised life for those who kept the law. This “life” meant long life on the land the Lord had given them, but many later Jewish interpreters read it as a promise of eternal life. Jesus applies the principle to eternal life as well (cf. v. 25). “You have answered rightly” serves aptly as a prelude to a parable’s application, driving the point home in the respondent’s own case (4 Ezra 4:20; cf. 2 Sam 12:7; 1 Kings 20:40-42).

• 10:29. Jewish teachers usually used “neighbor” to mean “fellow Israelite.” Leviticus 19:18 clearly means “fellow Israelite” in the immediate context, but the less immediate context applies the principle also to any non-Israelite in the land (19:34).

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IVP NTBC

• 10:30. Like most parables, this story has one main point that answers the interlocutor’s question; the details are part of the story and are not meant to be allegorized. Jericho was lower in elevation than Jerusalem; hence one would “go down” there. Robbers were common along the road and would especially attack a person traveling alone. Many people did not have extra clothes, which were thus a valuable item to steal.

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IVP NTBC

• 10:31. Priests were supposed to avoid especially impurity from a corpse; Pharisees thought one would contract it if even one’s shadow touched the corpse. Like the man who had been robbed, the priest was “going down” (v. 31), hence he was heading from Jerusalem and did not have to worry about being unable to perform duties in the temple. But rules were rules; although the rule of mercy would take precedence if the man were clearly alive, the man looked as if he might be dead (v. 30), and the priest did not wish to take the chance. The task was better left to a Levite or ordinary Israelite. Jesus’ criticism of the priesthood here is milder than that of the Essenes and often that of the prophets (Hos 6:9).

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IVP NTBC

• 10:32. Rules for Levites were not as strict as for priests, but the Levite also wished to avoid defilement.

• 10:33. Jews and Samaritans traditionally had no love for each other; although violence was the exception rather than the rule, the literature of each betrays an attitude of hostility toward the other. Jesus’ illustration would offend Jewish listeners, striking at the heart of their patriotism, which was religiously justified.

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IVP NTBC

• 10:34-35. Oil was used medicinally and for washing wounds; wine was also apparently used to disinfect wounds. Jewish people commonly avoided Gentile, and probably Samaritan, oil. “I will repay” was a standard formula guaranteeing a debt.

• 10:36-37. Jesus’ questioner would hate Samaritans, yet he is forced to follow the moral example of a Samaritan in Jesus’ story. This parable forced him to answer his own question, “Who is my neighbor?” (10:29).

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ZIBBCNT

See the material directly presented in Accordance

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