Luke 10:30

Luke 10:30. Making reply. Lit, ‘taking up,' i.e., making his question the basis of an extended reply.

A certain man. A Jew is meant; but this is not made prominent, since the main lesson of the parable is not love to enemies, but love to man as such, humanity, philanthropy.

Was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The journey was literally ‘down,' but it was usual to speak of ‘going up' to Jerusalem, the capital city. The distance was about one hundred and fifty Roman stadia, or seventeen English miles. The incidents of the story are all probable, as is usual in our Lord's parables. The place where the parable was uttered may have been quite near the region between Jerusalem and Jericho. Certainly it was not in Galilee or Samaria, but in Judea or Perea and the latter bordered on Jericho.

Fell among robbers, not ‘thieves,' but highway robbers, who were numerous in that vicinity. The road lay through a wilderness. According to Jerome, it was called the red or bloody way, and in his time a Roman fort and garrison were needed there, for the protection of travellers. This man is represented as being literally surrounded by such robbers, who both stripped him, i.e., of everything he had, and beat him, probably in consequence of his resistance.

Leaving him half dead. Without concern as to his condition, which is placed last to show his need of speedy help.