Luke 10:30

10:30-37 Jesus’ parable shows that true neighbors love even their enemies (10:29). Authentic spirituality is not based on ethnic identity or religious associations, but on love for God and for others.

10:30 The road from Jerusalem down to Jericho dropped 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) through rugged terrain where robbers often lay in wait for travelers.

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

Luk 10:30. Ὑπολαβὼν) So often the LXX. write in translating ענה, especially in Job, as applied to a full reply.—ἄνθρωπός τις, a certain man) A Jew, called however by the common (general) designation, man, for the sake of expressing the common tie of humanity which connected the Jews even with foreigners.—τυγχάνοντα)[99] Not caring whether the man should live or die.

[99] Leaving him to whatever might happen to be his state, which was that (if one half dead.—ED. and TRANSL.

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

Luk_10:30-31. Ὑπολαμβάνειν, in the sense of taking up the discourse of another by way of reply, occurs only here in the New Testament, and hence is probably taken by Luke from the source used by him. It is frequent in the LXX. (עָנָה) and in the classical writers. Comp. Herod. vii. 101: ὁ δὲ ὑπολαβὼν ἔφη; Dem. 594. 21, 600. 20; Polyb. iv. 85. 4, xv. 8. 1.

ἄνθρωπός τις] without any more definite limitation, which, however, is not to be regarded as intentional (Paulus thinks that it is meant to intimate that the Samaritan asked no questions about his nationality, comp. also Schenkel), but leaves it to be understood of itself, by means of the context, that a Jew is meant (not a heathen, as Olshausen takes it), in virtue of the contrast between Jew and Samaritan.

Ἱεριχώ] See on Mat_20:29. It was separated from Jerusalem by a desert region (Joseph. Bell. iv. 8. 3), which was unsafe because of robbers (Jerome on Jer_3:2). It was not a priestly city.

περιέπεσεν] he met with robbers, fell among them, as περιπίπτειν τινί, incidere in aliquem, is very often used in the classical writers (Herod. vi. 105, viii. 94, vi. 41; Dem. 1264. 26; Xen. Anab. vii. 3. 38; Polyb. iii. 53. 6). There is no question here about chancing upon unfortunate circumstances, for this would have required the dative of an abstract noun (such as συμφορή, τύχη κ.τ.λ.).

οἳ καὶ κ.τ.λ.] This and the subsequent καί correspond to one another; et … et. They took his clothes off him in order to rob him of them, and while doing so they beat him (because he resisted). The two participles therefore stand in the correct sequence of what actually occurred (in opposition to de Wette).

τυγχάνοντα] not equivalent to ὄντα, but: they left him when he was just half dead[137] (this was the condition to which he was reduced). Comp. Plat. Prot. p. 313 E, and elsewhere. See Ast, Lex. Plat. III. p. 420. ὄντα might have been added besides, Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 277.

ἀντιπαρῆλθεν] ex adverso praeteriit (Winer, de verb. compos. III. p. 18), he passed by on the opposite side. This ἀντι gives a clear idea of the cold behaviour of the hard-hearted passer-by. The word occurs elsewhere only in Strat. vii. 2 (Jacobs, Anthol. III. p. 70) and Wis_16:10 (in which place, however, it means ex adverso advenire; see Grimm). Comp. ἀντιπαριέναι, Xen. Anab. iv. 3. 17; Hell. v. 4. 38.

[137] The expression makes us feel the unconcernedness of the robbers about the unfortunate man whom they left to his fate just as he was.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 10:30-37 . The story of the good Samaritan , commonly called a parable, but really not such in the strict sense of natural things used as vehicle of spiritual truth; an example rather than a symbol; the first of several “parables” of this sort in Lk. ἄνθρωπός τις : probably a Jew, but intentionally not so called, simply a human being, so at once striking the keynote of universal ethics. κατέβαινεν , was descending; it was a descent indeed. λ . περιέπεσεν , “fell among” robbers, A. and R. VV.; better perhaps “fell in with,” encountered, so Field ( Ot. Nor. ). The verb is often joined with a noun singular ( περιέπεσε χειμῶνι ). Raphel cites from Polybius an instance in which robbers “fall in with” the party robbed: τούτους ( legatos ) λῃσταί τινες περιπεσόντες ἐν τῷ πελάγει διέφθειραν ( Reliquiae , lib. xxiv. 11). ἡμιθανῆ , half dead, semivivo relicto , Vulgate, here only in N. T.; he will soon be whole dead unless some one come to his help: cannot help himself or move from the spot.

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

A certain man--a Jew.

from Jerusalem to Jericho--a distance of nineteen miles northeast, a deep and very fertile hollow--"the Temple of Judea" [TRENCH].

thieves--"robbers." The road, being rocky and desolate, was a notorious haunt of robbers, then and for ages after, and even to this day.

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 30. And Jesus answering] Rather, Then Jesus took him up. This I believe to be the meaning of the word υπολαβων; he threw out a challenge, and our Lord took him up on his own ground. See WAKEFIELD'S Testament.

A certain man went down from Jerusalem] Or, A certain man of Jerusalem going down to Jericho. This was the most public road in all Judea, as it was the grand thoroughfare between these two cities for the courses of priests, twelve thousand of whom are said to have resided at Jericho. See Lightfoot.

Fell among thieves] At this time the whole land of Judea was much infested with hordes of banditti; and it is not unlikely that many robberies might have been committed on that very road to which our Lord refers.

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

(30) A certain man went down.—Better, was going down. We enter here upon the first of a series of parables, which differ from those in St. Matthew in having more the character of actual human histories, illustrating a truth, rather than mere similitudes (“parables” in the usual sense of the word) composed for the purpose of illustration. There is obviously no reason why we should not believe them to have been (as in one case the mention of a proper name seems to imply, Lazarus, in Luk_16:20) statements of facts that had actually happened, and which had come under our Lord’s observation as He travelled on His work of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom.

From Jerusalem to Jericho.—The journey was one of about twenty-one miles, for the most part through a rocky and desert country, with caves that were then haunted by bands of robbers, as they have been, more or less, in later times by predatory Arabs. In Jerome’s time it was known as the “red” or the “bloody” way, in consequence of the frequency of such crimes.

Fell among thieves.—Better, robbers, as elsewhere.

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

30. A certain man] Clearly, as the tenor of the Parable implies, a Jew.

went down from Jerusalem to Jericho] A rocky, dangerous gorge (Jos. B. J. IV. 8, § 3), haunted by marauding Bedawin, and known as ‘the bloody way’ (Adommim, Jerome, De loc. Hebr. and on Jer_3:2). The “went down” is strictly accurate, for the road descends very rapidly from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley. The distance is about 21 miles. For Jericho, see Luk_19:1.

thieves] Rather, “robbers,” “brigands.” Palestine was notorious for these plundering Arabs. Herod the Great had rendered real service to the country in extirpating them from their haunts, but they constantly sprung up again, and even the Romans could not effectually put them down (Jos. Antt. Luk_20:6, § 1; B. J. xi. 12, § 5). On this very road an English baronet—Sir Frederic Henniker—was stripped and murdered by Arab robbers in 1820. “He was probably thinking of the Parable of the Samaritan when the assassin’s stroke laid him low,” Porter’s Palestine, I. 151.

wounded him] Rather, laying blows on him.

half dead] Some MSS. omit the τυγχάνοντα, ‘chancing to be still alive.’ So far as the robbers were concerned, it was a mere accident that any life was left in him.

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 by chance there came down a certain priest that way,.... Who had been at Jerusalem, to take his turn in the courses, and was now returning to Jericho, where the stationary men were, to which he belonged: for it is said (t), that

"the former prophets appointed twenty and four courses; and for every course there was a station at Jerusalem, of priests, and of Levites, and of Israelites; and when the time of the course came to go up, the priests and Levites went up to Jerusalem. The Rabbins teach, that there were twenty four courses in the land of Israel, and there were twelve at Jericho.''

And which is elsewhere (u) related thus;

"the former prophets appointed four and twenty courses, and for every course there was a station at Jerusalem, of priests, of Levites, and of Israelites; the tradition is, that four and twenty thousand were the station from Jerusalem, and half a station from Jericho; though Jericho was able to furnish out a perfect station itself; but for the sake of dividing the glory to Jerusalem, it produced but half a station.''

So that it is no wonder to hear of priests and Levites passing to and fro in this road. Nor was this a chance matter with respect to God, by whose providence all things are ordered, directed, and governed; nor any wonderful thing with respect to men, which fell out in an uncommon way, beyond expectation; the phrase only signifies, that so it came to pass:

and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side: when he saw him naked, and in such a bloody condition, he might take him for one really dead, and therefore crossed the way on purpose, lest he should any ways touch him, and be defiled by him, and so break the law, and incur the penalty of it, mentioned in Num 19:16 or to shun so horrible a sight; or rather, through hardness of heart, and want of compassion.

(t) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 27. 1. (u) T. Hieros. Pesachim, fol. 30. 3. & Taanith, fol. 67. 4.

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

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Ver. 30. And Jesus answering] Gr. υπολαβων. Taking the tale out of his mouth, being ready with his answer. For he is that Palmoni Hammedabber, in Dan 8:13, that prime prolocutor.

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.

Jesus answering - Jesus answered him in a very different manner from what he expected. By one of the most tender and affecting narratives to be found anywhere, he made the lawyer his own judge in the case, and constrained him to admit what at first he would probably have denied. He compelled him to acknowledge that a Samaritan - of a race most hated of all people by the Jews - had shown the kindness of a neighbor, while a “priest” and a “Levite” had denied it “to their own countrymen.”

From Jerusalem to Jericho - Jericho was situated about 15 miles to the northeast of Jerusalem, and about 8 miles west of the river Jordan. See the notes at Mat 20:29.

Fell among thieves - Fell among “robbers.” The word “thieves” means those who merely take “property.” These were highwaymen and not merely took the property, but endangered the life. They were “robbers.” From Jerusalem to Jericho the country was rocky and mountainous, and in some parts scarcely inhabited. It afforded, therefore, among the rocks and fastnesses, a convenient place for highwaymen. This was also a very frequented road. Jericho was a large place, and there was much traveling to Jerusalem. At this time, also, Judea abounded with robbers. Josephus says that at one time Herod the Great dismissed 40,000 men who had been employed in building the temple, a large part of whom became highwaymen (Josephus “Antiquities,” xv. 7). The following remarks of Professor Hackett, who visited Palestine in 1852, will furnish a good illustration of the scene of this parable. It is remarkable that a parable uttered more than eighteen hundred years ago might still be appropriately located in this region.

Professor Hackett (“Illustrations of Scripture,” p. 215, 216) says of this region: “It is famous at the present day as the haunt of thieves and robbers. No part of the traveler’s journey is so dangerous as the expedition to Jericho and the Dead Sea. The Oriental pilgrims who repair to the Jordan have the protection of an escort of Turkish soldiers; and others who would make the same journey must either go in company with them, or provide for their safety by procuring a special guard. I was so fortunate as to be able to accompany the great caravan at the time of the annual pilgrimage. Yet, in spite of every precaution, hardly a season passes in which some luckless wayfarer is not killed or robbed in going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The place derives its hostile character from its terrible wildness and desolation. If we might conceive of the ocean as being suddenly congealed and petrified when its waves are tossed mountain high, and dashing in wild confusion against each other, we should then have some idea of the aspect of the desert in which the Saviour has placed so truthfully the parable of the good Samaritan. The ravines, the almost inaccessible cliffs, the caverns, furnish admirable lurking-places for robbers. They can rush forth unexpectedly upon their victims, and escape as soon almost beyond the possibility of pursuit.

“Every circumstance in this parable, therefore, was full of significance to those who heard it. The Saviour delivered it near Bethany, on the border of the frightful desert, Luk 10:25, Luk 10:38. Jericho was a sacerdotal city. The passing of priests and Levites between that place and Jerusalem was an everyday occurrence. The idea of a caravanserai or ‘inn’ on the way was not invented, probably, for the sake of the allegory, but borrowed from the landscape. There are the ruins now of such a shelter for the benighted or unfortunate on one of the heights which overlook the infested road. Thus it is that the instructions of our Lord derive often the form and much of their pertinence from the accidental connections of time and place.”

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

A certain man, &c. This some would have to be a history: others rather judge it spoken by way of parable, to teach us to perform offices of charity towards all men without exception. (Witham) --- Were we to adhere to the mere words of this parable, it would seem to follow, that only those who do us good were to be esteemed our neighbours; for the context seems to intimate, that the Levite and the priest were not neighbours to the man who fell among the robbers, because they did not assist him. But according to the opinion of most fathers, the intent of this parable is the shew, that every person who has need of our assistance is our neighbour. (Maldonatus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It is certain that the principal scope of our Saviour in this history, or parable, was to convince the lawyer, that every one is our neighbour to whom God offereth us an opportunity of doing good, whether he be of our nation or region or not. Every object of our mercy is our neighbour, whom God requireth us to love as ourselves. This was quite contrary to the common doctrine of the scribes’ and Pharisees’ interpreting the law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, and excellently served our Saviour’s design, to show this lawyer that he understood not, much less observed, the law of God in that manner, as that he could justify himself from the violation of it. He also by the by showeth him, that the Samaritans, whom the Jews so much abhorred, better understood the law of God, than the ecclesiastical guides of those times, who yet pretended to be teachers of it to others; for some of them by the light of nature discerned themselves obliged to do good to every one that stood in need of their help, or if not by the light of nature, yet by the light of revelation in the law of Moses; but the scribes and Pharisees, by their false interpretation of the Divine law, had taught people to omit a great part of their duty required by the Divine law, and so could not hope to be justified, or to obtain eternal life and salvation, from the observation of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. A certain man—This man is doubtless to be supposed a Jew, since he goes from Jerusalem. But our Lord chooses to state him to be simply and purely a

man. Went down from Jerusalem to Jericho—From the heights of the mountains upon which Jerusalem was built, to the vale of the Jordan, in which Jericho stood, (eighteen miles distant,) is almost a constant descent. This man, we may suppose, takes the usual route. Starting from what is now St. Stephen’s gate, through the eastern wall of Jerusalem, he crosses the garden and the southern slopes of the Mount of Olives to Bethany. Thence he proceeds through the road, once the channel of a stream and now a deep ravine; and at about ten miles from the city he enters that gloomy road through the desert wilderness called by St. Jerome the bloody way, and which from that time to the present has been the haunt of Arab and other robbers. “If we might conceive the ocean,” says Professor Hackett, “as being suddenly congealed when its waves are tossed mountain-high and pitching in wild confusion against each other, we should then have some idea of the scene of the desert in which the Saviour has placed so truthful a parable as that of the good Samaritan. The ravines, the almost inaccessible cliffs, the caverns, furnish admirable lurking-places for robbers; they can rush forth upon their victims unexpectedly and escape as soon almost beyond the possibility of pursuit.” Scarce a season at the present day passes in which some murder does not vindicate its title to the name of the bloody way.

Should the traveller have escaped unharmed, as the priest and Levite did, in due time there would open before him in rare beauty the plains of Jericho and the distant towers of that city of palms. It had been lately raised to its highest pitch of splendour by Herod the Great, who here built a favourite palace; and here, smitten, not by the vengeance of man, but by the hand of God, he died a most loathsome and terrible death. At the present day scarce do the ruins themselves remain to tell the spot where its towers, walls, and palaces stood.

Thieves—Rather robbers. The thief takes by stealth, the robber by force.

Stripped him of his raiment—The word raiment is not in the Greek. The stripping included, by force of the word, his property as well as his

raiment. Half dead—So near dead as to be unable to help himself; and yet not without hope if he were but helped.

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

And Jesus answering said. For reply the Master told him and the listening by-standers the parable-story we know so well as the "good Samaritan the parable, which has been "the consolation of the wanderer and the sufferer, of the outcast and the heretic, in every age and country" (Stanley). The story was one of those parables especially loved by Luke (and Paul), in which instruction is conveyed, not by types, but by example. It was very probably a simple recital of a fact which had happened, and at some period in the Lord"s life had come under his own observation. The local scenery, the characters of the story, would all lead to the supposition that the parable was spoken in or near Jerusalem. A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. We are not told who the traveller was, Jew or Gentile; not a word about his rank, descent, or religion; simply that he was a man, a human being. It seems, however, from the whole tone of the story, most probable that the wounded traveller was a Jew. The way he was travelling was the road leading down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a distance of twenty-one miles not the only way, but the most direct. It was a rugged, rocky pass, well adapted for the purposes of thieves and desperadoes, and was known, owing to the many dark deeds of which it had been the scene, as "The Way of Blood." The Lord"s words tell the story. The traveller, likely enough a Jew peddler, bad fallen among thieves, who had robbed him, and then had left their victim dying or dead, what cared they? lying in the pass.

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

From Jerusalem to Jericho - The road from Jerusalem to Jericho (about eighteen miles from it) lay through desert and rocky places: so many robberies and murders were committed therein, that it was called the bloody way. Jericho was situated in the valley: hence the phrase of going down to it. About twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt there, who all attended the service of the temple.

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

30–37. A certain man. A Jew of Jerusalem. Went down. It was a constant descent from Jerusalem to Jericho, over 3,000 feet in eighteen miles. Fell among robbers. The road is a dark, desolate, mountain pass, dangerous then, so beset by robbers still that no traveler dares go through it without a guard. Which stripped him. Not only of raiment, but of all he had; then left him, stunned, bleeding, unconscious, nearly dead.

A certain priest. Jericho was a city of priests. A priest ought to be a holy man. The law commanded mercy and help to a neighbor (Exod. 23:4–5; Deut. 22:1–4). The priest and Levite both disregarded the law in passing the poor sufferer.

Likewise a Levite. A temple minister. He probably excused himself by the example of his priest.

A certain Samaritan. The hereditary enemy of the Jews; despised and hated by the latter. “The Jews and Samaritans have no dealings” (John 4:9). If any man had excuse for passing the wounded Jew by it was the Samaritan. But he, unlike the priest and Levite, had compassion. His compassion leads to action, to self-denial, and inconvenience. He dresses the man's wounds, sets him on his own beast, carries him to the inn, and when he left, left money for his care. For ancient inns, see note on Luke 2:7.

Two pence was two days' wages, and there was promise of more.

Which of these three … proved neighbour? The stranger became the neighbor. So we are to be neighbors to all who need help. Christian love must know no narrow bounds of race or sect. Genuine philanthropy is a Christian spirit.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

30. ἄνθρωπός τις. Clearly, as the tenor of the Parable implies, a Jew.

κατέβαινεν ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς Ἱερειχώ. A rocky, dangerous gorge (Jos. B. J. IV. 8, § 3), haunted by marauding Bedawin, and known as ‘the bloody way’ (Adommim, Jerome, De loc. Hebr. and on Jer 3:2). Some explain this name by the dark red colour of the overhanging rocks. The “went down” is strictly accurate, for the road descends very rapidly from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley. The distance is about 21 miles. For Jericho, see Luk 19:1.

λῃσταῖς περιέπεσεν. ‘Fell among robbers, or brigands.’ The phrase is a classical one, Hdt. VI. 105, &c. Palestine was notorious for these plundering Arabs. Herod the Great had rendered real service to the country in extirpating them from their haunts, but they constantly sprung up again, and even the Romans could not effectually put them down (Jos. Antt. XX. 6, § 1; B. J. XI. 12, § 5). On this very road an English baronet—Sir Frederic Henniker—was stripped and murdered by Arab robbers in 1820. “He was probably thinking of the Parable of the Samaritan when the assassin’s stroke laid him low,” Porter’s Palestine, I. 151.

πληγὰς ἐπιθέντες. ‘Laying blows on him.’

ἡμιθανῆ. Some MSS. omit the τυγχάνοντα, ‘chancing to be still alive.’ So far as the robbers were concerned, it was a mere accident that any life was left in him. The τυγχάνοντα with one graphic touch expresses the absolute indifference of these bandits to so small a matter as his living or dying.

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.

30.] ὑπολ., taking him up, implies that the question was made an occasion of saying more than the mere answer. See Herod. vii. 101: Thucyd. v. 49.

κατέβ., both because Jerusalem was higher, and because ‘to go up’ is the usual phrase for journeying towards a metropolis.

ἀπὸ Ἱερ. εἰς Ἱεριχώ, about 150 stadia distant. The road passed through a wilderness (Jos 16:1) which was notorious for the robberies committed there. “Arabas … quæ gens, latrociniis dedita, usque hodie incursat terminos Palestinæ, et descendentibus de Hierusalem in Hiericho obsidet vias, cujus rei et Dominus in Evangelio recordatur.” Jerome, Comment. on Jer 3:2, vol. iv, p. 857. The same Father mentions that a part of the road was so infamous for murders, as to be called the red or bloody way, and that in his time there was a fort there garrisoned by Roman soldiers, to protect travellers (De locis Hebræis, under Adommim, vol. iii. p. 150).

περιέπ., exactly fell among. They surrounded him.

ἐκδύσ., not merely of his clothing, but of all he had;—‘despoliaverunt eum,’ Vulg.

τυγχάνοντα is not = ὄντα: ὄντα is understood with ἡμιθ., in a state of (being) half-dead.

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

30-37. § The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Entirely in harmony with the general character of this Gospel as teaching that righteousness and salvation are not the exclusive privilege of the Jew. The parable is not an answer to the original question (ver. 25), and therefore in no way implies that works of benevolence secure eternal life. It is an answer to the new question (ver. 29), and teaches that no one who is striving to love his neighbour as himself can be in doubt as to who is his neighbour. We may believe that the narrative is not fiction, but history. Jesus would not be likely to invent such behaviour, and attribute it to priest, Levita, and Samaritan, if it had not actually occurred. Nowhere else does He speak against priests or Levites. Moreover, the parable would have far more point if taken from real life.1

30. ὑπολαβών . “Took him up” to reply to him. Here only in N.T. has ὑπολαμβάνω this meaning, which is quite classical and freq. in Job (2:4, 4:1, 6:1, 9:1, 11:1, 12:1, 15:1, 16:1, etc.). Contrast 7:43; Act 2:15; Job 25:3, where it means “I suppose.”

Here Vulg. has suscipiens, with suscipiens as v.l. in many MSS. Besides these two, Lat. Vet. has subiciens (e) and respondens (f); but not excipiens, which would be an equivalent. Syr-Sin. omits.

Ἄνθρωπός τις κατέβαινεν . The road is downhill; but besides this we commonly talk of “going down” from the capital. The narrative implies that the man is a Jew. Jericho is about twenty miles from Jerusalem; and the road still, as in Jerome’s day, has a bad name for brigandage from “the Arabian in the wilderness” (Jer 3:2), i.e. the Bedawin robbers who infest the unfrequented roads. Sir F. Henniker was murdered here in 1820.2 It is possible that Jesus was on this road at the time when He delivered the parable; for Bethany is on it, and the next event takes place there (vv. 38-42).

λῃσταῖς περιέπεσεν . Change from imperf, to aor. “Fell among robbers,” so that they were all round him. Quite classical; comp. Jas 1:2. Wetst. gives instances of this very phrase in profane authors, and it is in correct to classify περιπίπτειν as a medical word. For λῃστής, “robber” (19:46, 22:52; Joh 18:40), as distinct from κλέπτης, “thief” (12:33, 39; Joh 12:6), see Trench, Syn. xliv.

οἳ καὶ ἐκδύσαντες. “Who, in addition to other violence, stripped him.” Robbers naturally plunder their victims, but do not always strip them. Comp. Mat 27:28; with double accusative, Mat 27:31; Mar 15:20. It was because he tried to keep his clothes, and also to disable him, that they added blows to robbery. For the phrase πληγὰς ἐπιθέντες comp. Act 16:23; Rev 22:18: in class. Grk. πλ. ἐμβάλλειν. Cicero has plagam alicui imponere (Pro Sest. xix. 44); also vulnera alicui imponere (De Fin. iv. 24, 66). For ἠμιθανῆ comp. 4 Mac. 4:11.

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

Answering [υπολαβων] . Used by Luke only, and in this sense only here. See on ch. Luk 7:43. It means, strictly, to take up; and hence, of conversation, to take up another's discourse and reply.

Fell among. See on Jas 1:2.

Thieves [λησταις] . See on Mt 26:55; and Luk 23:39 - 43. These were not petty stealers, but men of violence, as was shown by their treatment of the traveler. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho passed through a wilderness (Jos 16:1), which was so notorious for robberies and murders that a portion of it was called "the red or bloody way," and was protected by a fort and a Roman garrison.

Stripped. Not of his clothing only, but of all that he had.

Wounded [πληγας επιθεντες] . Lit., having laid on blows. Blows or stripes is the usual sense of the word in the New Testament. See ch. Luk 12:48; Act 16:23. It has the metaphorical sense of plagues in Rev 14:1, 6, 8, etc.

Half dead [ημιθανη τυγχανοντα] . The full force of the expression cannot be rendered into English. The word tugcanonta throws an element of chance into the case. Lit., happening to be half dead; or "leaving him half dead, as it chanced;" his condition being a matter of unconcern to these robbers. The word hJmiqanh, half dead, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The best texts, however, omit tugcanonta.

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