In the parable of the Good Samaritan, who is the "Good Samaritan"? Who is the "enemy"? What does ...

Question

"half-dead" mean?
""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.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

We know that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. We also know that the Bible is spiritual Book. The Gospel or some aspect of the Gospel is hidden in the parable (Mark 4:33, 34).

Is the "Good Shepherd" the same as the "Good Samaritan"?

Curry Cat-if you are going to follow the Bible, you are not supposed to be teaching men (1 Timothy 2:12; Titus 2:3-5). You are supposed to teach the younger women or your children.

linda m--I do not want to offend you but the same message I gave to Curry is for you too.

Answer 1

So Jesus does not give any information about the 'certain man' other than he came down from Jerusalem. Why?

He has the man robbed and left for dead. Why?

Also the Samaratan poureed oil and wine into the wounds and "paid" for the guys lodgings and would also pay for further costs incurred when he "returned"

This is a story of the fall of man and his ressuraection.

The differentiation between the Priest and the Levite having failed the salvation of man. the thieves are Satan having robbed us of our inheritance through treachery. The Samaritan is Christ, come to the world to save us and heal us and pay for what befell us.

I consider that to be the foundation of a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven. All kinds as brothers.

Answer 2

The Jews of Jesus' time looked down on people from Samaria, next to Israel. (Many Samaritan's returned the favor, disliking Jews.) So when Jesus told a story about how pious Jews (some for reasons of their specific beliefs in sanitary practices) wouldn't help and injured man, probably also a Jew, he pointed out that the Samaritan had a better understanding of God's ordinances than the pious Jews.

Half-dead just means seriously injured.

No, Jesus is commonly thought of as the Good Shepherd, totally different than the Good Samaritan.

Answer 3

Jesus was showing the Jews how to show love for fellow brothers and to be a good neighbor. The Samaritans and Jews did not get along. So the fact that the Samaritan stopped and help the Jewish man, who was half dead, or would have died without help, shows that the Samaritan was the one who showed love of neighbor.

Jesus new commandment was to "love your neighbor as yourself" and to "love your enemy". Luke 10: 27; Matt 5: 44 This helped illustrate what he meant.

Answer 4

The point to the story is 2 guys who were supposed to be esteemed Christians passed the guy by and left him for dead. The Samaritan, meaning he was from sumaria, was just a regular dude stopped and helped him out. Just one of many jabs Jesus shot at people who talked a Christian life but didn't follow Christian behavior. The Good Samaritan was a black guy so make of that what you will.

Answer 5

The enemy would be complacency and being to busy to love your neighbor as Jesus commands.

Jews thought Samaritans were evil people based on past experiences.

Jesus was proving a point that even a priest and a Levite (the priestly tribal order) were passing by someone who was left to die.

Half dead would be on the verge of death if not helped by someone to get well.

The Good Sheppard is Jesus.

He leaves his flock of 99 safe sheep to go after the 1 gone astray.

Answer 6

The good Samaritan is a stranger that you wouldn't normally associate with because of prejudice. The Jews thought of the Samaritans as lower class citizens. They were even referred to as "dogs." So a Samaritan would normally not show kindness to a Jew.

The moral of the story is that we should show love to everyone, not just those who love us back. My neighbor is anyone who I might see today.

Answer 7

Don't over-analyze. The man was beaten nearly to death. Samaritans were the social and racial outcast of the first century. Samaritans were not considered 'children of God.' The Priest and Levite (both religious leaders) left the man. The Samaritan helped. Jesus says, in effect, "What kind of neighbor would you want? What kind of neighbor are you?"

Answer 8

The good Samaritan is anyone who helps his neighbor, regardless of who they are. The "enemy" is anyone who takes advantage of his neighbor. "Half dead" means just like it sounds: almost dead; seriously injured. No, the "Good Shephard" is not the same as the "Good Samaritan."

Hope that answers your questions. Have a good one!

Answer 9

The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to abandon good works as a means of getting eternal life. But this should not be pitted against the equally Biblical concept of "loving one's neighbor as one's self." God's Word never presents either of these as an "either/or" proposition. Rather, 1.) reliance on grace and 2.) showing kindness to our neighbor are "both/and" ideas.

It is helpful to remember a basic rule of thumb for reading parables in the New Testament. Parables are earthly (human) stories with a heavenly (spiritual) meaning. There might be one or more secondary points which can also be seen in the parable, but Jesus' reason for telling the story in the first place would be to make one specific point. Again, in this parable, that single point is that no one can love his neighbor so perfectly that he could deserve heaven as a result of that love. Therefore we are automatically reminded by the parable to rely only on God's grace.

But there is no doubt that the Bible teaches us to be kind to other people. St. Paul reminded the Galatian Christians to go out of their way to show love for all people, although they could prioritize the giving of that care to fellow Christians first. "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10). Jesus taught clearly that we should not restrict our love for others only to those who are nice to us. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:43-45). In fact, in the Good Samaritan text Jesus makes it very clear that showing such love to others is not optional, but is something we must continue doing on an ongoing basis.

But keep in mind that Jesus had to be speaking these instructions to believers, since we are reminded in Hebrews 11:6 that "without faith it is impossible to please God." Believers already have forgiveness and eternal life through faith in Jesus. So they aren't trying to earn anything by being kind and loving to other people.

A proper understanding of Law and Gospel makes it easy to see where Jesus was going with the parable of the Good Samaritan. When He said: "Do this and you will live..." Jesus was answering the question exactly as it was put to Him by the expert in the law. (What must I do...") By His own words, the man had already shown that he didn't obey these godly instructions nearly as well as God required. Jesus was simply driving home the point that this man needed to rely on God's grace for eternal life, not on anything he did.

Answer 10

the good Samaritan is the only one mentioned in the parable
there is no 'enemy'
the point of the parable was to answer a question
the question was this 'who is my neighbor?'
this question was asked of Jesus after He said that the most important commandment was "to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as your self'