Dr. Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt University explains how getting an accurate answer to the question “Who were the Samaritans?” can shed light on how shocking the Good Samaritan parable would have been for Jesus’ audience.
The Good Samaritan parable is one of the most beloved gospel stories for young and old alike. The story is told in Luke 10:29–37: A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by robbers who strip him and beat him. A priest and a Levite pass by without helping him. But a Samaritan stops and cares for him, taking him to an inn where the Samaritan pays for his care.
As Dr. Amy-Jill Levine discusses in a column in the January/February issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, the story has proven a popular one for sermons over the years, and it has been interpreted in many different ways—ranging from a tale about ritual purity to lessons about personal safety and even freedom fighters or universal healthcare. These sometimes-unusual interpretations are no doubt an attempt to find meaning in the parable for the times and concerns of a changing audience. And although that may be a worthy cause, Levine notes that in order to grasp the full import of the story, one must understand the times and concerns of first-century Judea, where Jesus and his followers lived. To do this, one must understand the relationship between Jews and Samaritans. This is sometimes hinted at in modern interpretations of the parable but rarely fully grasped.
So who were the Samaritans, really? Levine explains that they were not simply outcasts; they were the despised enemies of the Jews. Yet where listeners would have expected a Jew to be the hero of Jesus’ story, instead they would have been shocked to hear that it is a Samaritan. Only by understanding this reality does the powerful message of the parable come through about loving one’s neighbor.
Read more from Dr. Amy-Jill Levine about interpreting the Good Samaritan parable in Biblical Views, “The Many Faces of the Good Samaritan—Most Wrong,” Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 2012.
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The narrative of the Good Samaritan was written well after the event. The word Samaritan doesn’t only mean the member of this community, it also simply designs in general an inhabitant of the region of Samaria, in Israel. The story wants to underline that after some priestly Cohen or Levi, just a common man had mercy. Even today, when a Jew wants to get married, he is asked if he is a Cohen, a Levi or ISRAEL, because the laws of getting married are different. Evidently, to the transcribers of the Gospel it did sound difficult to write the story of the “good Israel”!
It is interesting to see the manner in which various groups interpret the same story. It reminds one of the concept of “spin”. We tend to forget that while all of the parables have meaning beyond the time in which they occurred, we should not lose sight of their historical context.
From a non-scholar’s view I see a story with many facetted meanings. First, it is the story of man with God (Jerusalem=Garden), his fall, redemption and life until the ‘Samaritan’s’ return. Second, halfway through he was beset upon to ultimately kill him. Taking of his outer garment left him without his true identity. Priest (religion) could not save him. Self-righteousness by observance could not (Levite = Law). Only compassion from one who did not owe it (Jews only neighbor was another Jew) had the means (wine=blood of sacrifice; oil=Spirit). Inn is God’s favor toward believer in this life. Two denarii (days wages = two God Days). Samaritan’s return will assure every requirement settled by Him, not man.
Most all the sermons are still valid. It is just without First Century ‘ears’ much of the story’s impact is missed, including the discussion with the lawyer leading up to Jesus telling the story.
I much appreciated Professor Levine’s enlightened historical explanation of the Inn and where it was on the road. I thought it was near the end of the journey. Her explanation brings much more clarity to my understanding of the Good Samaritan.