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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Luke 10:29 - 10:29
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Desiring to justify himself (thelōn dikaiōsai heauton). The lawyer saw at once that he had convicted himself of asking a question that he already knew. In his embarrassment he asks another question to show that he did have some point at first:
And who is my neighbour? (kai tis estin mou plēsioṉ). The Jews split hairs over this question and excluded from “neighbour” Gentiles and especially Samaritans. So here was his loop-hole. A neighbour is a nigh dweller to one, but the Jews made racial exceptions as many, alas, do today. The word plēsion here is an adverb (neuter of the adjective plēsios) meaning ho plēsion ōn (the one who is near), but ōn was usually not expressed and the adverb is here used as if a substantive.