Luke 10:30

A certain man Clearly, as the tenor of the Parable implies, a Jew.

went down from Jerusalem to Jericho A rocky, dangerous gorge (Jos. B. J.IV. 8, § 3), haunted by marauding Bedawin, and known as -the bloody way" (Adommim, Jerome, De loc. Hebr.and on Jeremiah 3:2 ).The "went down" is strictly accurate, for the road descends very rapidly from Jerusalem to the Jordan valley. The distance is about 21miles. For Jericho, see Luke 19:1.

thieves Rather, "robbers," "brigands."Palestine was notorious for these plundering Arabs. Herod the Great had rendered real service to the country in extirpating them from their haunts, but they constantly sprung up again, and even the Romans could not effectually put them down (Jos. Antt.Luke 20:6, § 1; B. J.xi. 12,§ 5). On this very road an English baronet Sir Frederic Henniker was stripped and murdered by Arab robbers in 1820. "He was probably thinking of the Parable of the Samaritan when the assassin's stroke laid him low," Porter's Palestine,I. 151.

wounded him Rather, laying blows on him.

half dead Some MSS. omit the τυγχάνοντα, -chancing to be still alive." So far as the robbers were concerned, it was a mere accident that any life was left in him.