Page "Parable of the Good Samaritan" Paragraph 9

I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem.

We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho.

And as soon as we got on that road I said to my wife, " I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable.

" It's a winding, meandering road.

It's really conducive for ambushing.

You start out in Jerusalem, which is about twelve hundred miles, or rather, twelve hundred feet above sea level about 2100 feet or 640 metres.

And by the time you get down to Jericho fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about twenty-two feet below sea level 846 feet or 258 metres.

That's a dangerous road.

In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the " Bloody Pass.

" And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around.

Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking, and he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure.

And so the first question that the priest asked, the first question that the Levite asked was, " If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?