Among the parables delivered by Jesus, two of the most famous in the Gospel of Luke are the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the good Samaritan. In Christian history, the early church fathers approached the parable of the Good Samaritan with an allegorical interpretation, understanding that the Samaritan in the story referred to Jesus Christ. Until 1888, the allegorical method reigned supreme in the interpretation of the parables; the modern period of parable interpretation began with the publication of the first volume of Adolf Jülicher’s Die Gleichnisreden Jesu in 1888.1) Jülicher defined a parable as a similitude that has only a single point of comparison, each parable is, therefore, a single picture which seeks to portray a single object or reality.
The parable of the Good Samaritan, a unique material in the Gospel of Luke, is a complete story in itself. Panim Kim sees Luke 10:30-35 as an independent story and says that it is a perfect novelistic plot consisting of a beginning (30a)-development (30b)-climax (31-34)-finale (35), even though this parable is a short story of six verses.2)
Since then, many papers have presented various interpretations of this parable, focusing on the good deeds of the Samaritan.
But, Jesus, the narrator, uses the word “καταδέω” in Luke 10:34 to connect it with Ezekiel 34:16. The Hebrew word for “bind up” in Ezekiel 34:16 is “חבש” (Habash), which is translated “καταδέω” in the Septuagint. In the New Testament, the word “καταδέω” is used only once in this passage. Therefore, we should not interpret the parable of the Good Samaritan by ignoring the intention of Jesus, the narrator, in using the word “καταδέω”. Ezekiel chapter 34 reveals the image of a shepherd and sheep. Therefore, the parable of the Good Samaritan must also be interpreted by applying the images of the shepherd and the sheep.
Footnotes
- Robert H. Stein, An Introduction to the Parables of Jesus (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981), 53.
- Panim Kim, A study on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35) 「Korean New Testament Studies」 Vol.14 No.4 (2007), 1021.