appointed fot the residence of Priests and Levites. No less than 12,000 of them, according to Lightfoot, lived there. At Jeitisa- lem was the temple, which Priests and Levites had to attend in monthly courses. Tliese circumstances make it quite natural for a Priest and a Levite to he on the road.
[Passed by on the other side,] Parkhurst suggests that the Priest was afraid of being legally polluted by touching a dead carcase, and thinks that his conduct is an example of hypocriti- cal pretence to excessive ceremonial purity, like that recorded in Matt, xxvii. 6 ; John xviii. 28.
32. — [Came and looked on him.] The conduct of the I-.evite, be it remarked, was worse than that of the Priest. Both " saw " the wounded man, but the Levite seems to have " come " to him, and then passed by.
33. — [Came where he ipas.] It may be doubted whether the Greek words here would not have been more literally r^idered, "came unto him."
34. — [Pouring in oil.] A note in Schoettgen throws light on this expression. He says, "Some one might naturally ask whence this traveller got his oil and wine on a journey ? It has occured to me that travellers in hot eastern countries made a point of carrying oil with them, that they might anoint and strengthen their limbs wearied with continual heat. We have an example in the case of Jacob, who, even when he slept on the bare ground in Bethel, and journeyed alone with only a staff, never- theless had oil with him, with which he anointed the stone, and oil which he poured out to the glory of God." (Gen. xxviii. 18.)
36. — [Two pence.] Let it be noted, that this sum was in reality much larger than it appears at first sight to an English reader. The value of money was very different then from what it is now. A "penny a day," according to Matthew xx. 2, was a fair day's wages.
36. — [Thinkest thou, was.] The Greek here is literally, " seems to thee to have been."
Before leaving this parable, a question of some importance demands consideration : — " Is the parable of the good Samaritan an allegory or not? Is it meant to teach the mercy of oiu* Lord Jesus Christ to man? Was the conduct of the good Samaritan intended to be interpreted by us as a type and figure of our Lord Jesus Christ's great work of redemption ?" — Let the question be rightly understood. The question is not whether the passage may be accommodated and fitted by man, so as to illustrate the work of Christ on behalf of sinners. The question is simply this: — "Did our Lord Jesus Christ speak the parable with Uiis double meaning, and intend us to interpret it in this way?"