Luk 10:30-35 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Luke 10:30-37: 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.

Summary for Luke 10:30-37: 10:30-37 ^a Jesus’ parable shows that true neighbors love even their enemies (10:29 ^b). Authentic spirituality is not based on ethnic identity or religious associations, but on love for God and for others. 10:30 ^c 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.
10:31 ^d a priest: Priests were descendants of Aaron from the tribe of Levi (Exod 28:1-3 ^e). They served in the Temple and offered sacrifices to God.

• passed him by: A priest or a Levite became unclean and unable to serve in the Temple if he touched a dead body. This priest was unwilling to risk ritual impurity by helping a person in desperate trouble.
10:32 ^f A Temple assistant (literally a Levite): Levites were members of the tribe of Levi. They were not given a tribal homeland in Israel but were dedicated to God (Num 3:41 ^g, 45 ^h; 8:18 ⁱ; 35:2-3 ^j; Deut 18:1 ^k; Josh 14:3 ^l) as assistants to the priests in the service of the Temple.
10:33 ^m a despised Samaritan: This reversal in the story must have left the listeners aghast. Jews and Samaritans hated each other (see 9:52-53 ⁿ; 17:16 ^o; John 4:4-42 ^p). After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, Assyrian colonists intermarried with Israelites left in Samaria; these inhabitants became known as Samaritans. After the Judeans returned from Babylon, conflict arose between the Jews and the Samaritans (Ezra 4:1-24 ^q), who built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim and used their own version of the Pentateuch (Genesis—Deuteronomy) as their Scripture. Hatred between the two increased dramatically when the Jewish king John Hyrcanus attacked the Samaritans and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim (about 128 BC). In this context of mutual animosity, no first-century Jew would expect a despised Samaritan to help a wounded Jew. But in God’s Kingdom, a despised foreigner becomes a helping neighbor!
10:34 ^r Oil soothed the wound; wine was a disinfectant.