Some believe that all you need to understand the Bible is the Bible itself. And there’s certainly plenty there to keep you very busy without learning about the language and culture of Jesus day.
Let’s consider the parable of the Good Samaritan:
And behold [a] certain lawyer stood up testing him saying: Having done what will I inherit eternal life? 26 But he said to him: What is written in the law? How do you read [it]? 27 So answering he said: You will agape-love the Lord your God in your whole heart and in your whole psyche and in your whole strength and in your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself. 28 So he said to him: You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live. 29 But he wishing to justify himself said to Jesus: And who is my neighbor?
A certain man came down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, who stripped him and having laid blows they departed leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance [a] certain priest came down in that road, and seeing him passed by on the opposite side. 32 And likewise also [a] Levite having come by the place and seeing him passed by on the other side. 33 Now [a] certain Samaritan journeying came by him and seeing [him] had compassion, 34 and having come to him bound his wounds, pouring upon [them] olive oil and wine, and having put him on his own beast brought him to [an] inn and cared for him. 35 And upon the morrow having taken out two denarii he gave [them] to the inn keeper and said: Care for him, and whatever you spend in addition I when I return will repay you. 36 Who of these three seems to you to have become neighbor of the [one] having fallen among the thieves? 37 So he said: The [one] having done mercy to him. Jesus said to him: Be going and you be doing likewise. (Luke 11:25-37)
The story stands on its own just fine. But let’s dig a little deeper. First of all, some Jews (the Pharisees) believed the entire “Old Testament” was divinely inspired, others (the Sadducees) limited inspiration to the first five books only — the “books of Moses”, known in Jesus’ day as the “Law” for short. The lawyer (an expert in Jewish law/the Torah) answers Jesus’ question with two verses from the Torah, namely Deut.6:5 and Lev.19:18. Both these verses would be regarded as divinely authoritative to both the Sadducees AND the Pharisees. So far so good.
The punchline of the parable revolves around the Samaritan: Samaria was a region of central Palestine that was once the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. In 721 BCE it was captured by the Assyrians who deported much of the population and replaced them with foreign colonists. The colonists were pagans who eventually intermarried with the remaining Jews. They adopted the religion of Israel, but they also continued to worship their pagan idols. The Samaritans offered to help rebuild the Jewish temple, but their offer was rudely rebuffed (Ezra 4:1-3). Finally the Samaritans built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim and proclaimed it, rather than the Jewish temple, to be the true house of God. Then, in 128 BCE, the Jewish ruler John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan temple. By the time of Jesus, the Jews and Samaritans had been enemies for hundreds of years. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be half-gentile heretics and would have no contact with them. The Samaritans never forgave the Jews for destroying their temple.
So with His “Samaritan” punch-line, Jesus packs three lessons into one parable:
1) Who is my neighbor? Why, anyone you’re “near by”.
2) Jesus skewers the hypocrisy of religious elite (the priest and the Levite) who ignore their own Law to pass by on the other side.
3) Jesus skewers the deep racism of His day: Take any two groups that hate each other, and have someone from the ‘underdog’ group help someone in the ‘overdog’ group (the OTHER group being the ‘underdog’, and YOURS the ‘overdog’): the “illegal alien” stops to help the “white supremacist” beaten up by the side of the road; the super-Trump supporter stops to help a super-Liberal (and vice versa). Jesus is saying our common humanity supersedes all our differences, however passionate about them we may be.
So although just Lesson 1 by itself is plenty to keep us busy, we’d miss Lessons 2 & 3 if we didn’t understand who Samaritans were. To me the payoff of Lessons 2 & 3 is well worth the effort of learning (and sharing!) about the language and culture of His day.