Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37; Who is my neighbor? To the Jews among whom Jesus ministered, this was one of the most important and yet difficult questions. They had been commanded by Moses to love God with all the strength and power their whole souls possessed (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and also to love their neighbors as themselves. (Leviticus 19:18.)

Luke 10:25-37; Since they worshiped one God only, no problem of misplacing their love arose where Deity was concerned. But who among earth's teeming hosts were their neighbors? Traditionally they had loved their neighboring kindred in Israel and hated the pagan Gentiles, with whom they also frequently found themselves engaged in armed conflicts.

Luke 10:25-37; Foreigners and Samaritans were not neighbors according to rabbinical teachings. "The rabbis said, 'He excepts all Gentiles when he saith His neighbour.' 'An Israelite killing a stranger-inhabitant doth not die for it by the Sanhedrin, because it is said, If any one lifts up himself against his neighbour.' 'We are not to contrive the death of the Gentiles, but if they are in any danger of death we are not bound to deliver them, e.g. if any of them fall into the sea you need not take him out, for such a one is not thy neighbour.'" (Dummelow, p. 751.)

Luke 10:25-37; But Jesus in this parable drew from one trained in the spirit—killing letter of the Jewish law the instinct-born gospel truth that all of our Father's children with whom we have contact are our neighbors. The parable presupposes that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men" (Acts 17:26); it teaches the lesson that each member of this great brotherhood of man should exhibit an active benevolence toward every other one of his Father's children.

Luke 10:25-37; From the standpoint of weaving a plausible account of common happenings into a story that teaches a great spiritual truth, this is a perfect parable. The Jews esteemed themselves as a chosen race, superior to the religiously degenerate Samaritans whom they hated, whom they classified as foreigners, and whom they expressly refused to accept as neighbors. Between Jerusalem and Jericho lay a thief-infested highway that was often bathed in blood. Jericho itself was a city of priests and Levites. Wine, to cleanse wounds, and oil, as a salve to assuage their smarting, were the common remedies of the day. The two pence equaled two days' wages for a laborer and would have kept the injured man for several days. Indeed, so realistic is the story that it well may be a recitation of an actual happening well known to Jesus' hearers.

Luke 10:25. Eternal life] See John 17:3.

Luke 10:27; 27. See Matthew 22:34-40.

Luke 10:31; 31. A priest] A literal descendant of Aaron who held the office of priest in the Aaronic Priesthood and served as a minister among the people.

Luke 10:32; 32. A Levite] One of the tribe of Levi who was ordained to office in the Aaronic Priesthood and was called to be a minister and light to the people.

Luke 10:33; 33. Samaritan] See John 4:9.