Luke 9:51-52

Rejection in Samaria

9:51 Now when ¹  the days drew near ²  for him to be taken up, ³  Jesus ⁴  set out resolutely ⁵  to go to Jerusalem. ⁶  9:52 He ⁷  sent messengers on ahead of him. ⁸  As they went along, ⁹  they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance ¹⁰  for him,

John 4:4

Conversation With a Samaritan Woman

4:4 But he had ¹¹  to pass through Samaria. ¹² 

[9:51]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:51]  ² tn Grk “the days were being fulfilled.” There is literary design here. This starts what has been called in the Gospel of Luke the “Jerusalem Journey.” It is not a straight-line trip, but a journey to meet his fate (Luke 13:31-35).

[9:51]  ³ sn Taken up is a reference to Jesus’ upcoming return to heaven by crucifixion and resurrection (compare Luke 9:31). This term was used in the LXX of Elijah’s departure in 2 Kgs 2:9.

[9:51]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:51]  ⁵ tn Grk “he set his face,” a Semitic idiom that speaks of a firm, unshakable resolve to do something (Gen 31:21; Isa 50:7).

[9:51]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[9:52]  ⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:52]  ⁸ tn Grk “sent messengers before his face,” an idiom.

[9:52]  ⁹ tn Grk “And going along, they entered.” The aorist passive participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken temporally. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:52]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to prepare (things) for him.”

[4:4]  ¹¹ sn Travel through Samaria was not geographically necessary; the normal route for Jews ran up the east side of the Jordan River (Transjordan). Although some take the impersonal verb had to (δεῖ, dei) here to indicate logical necessity only, normally in John’s Gospel its use involves God’s will or plan (3:7, 3:14, 3:30, 4:4, 4:20, 4:24, 9:4, 10:16, 12:34, 20:9).

[4:4]  ¹² sn Samaria. The Samaritans were descendants of 2 groups: (1) The remnant of native Israelites who were not deported after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 b.c.; (2) Foreign colonists brought in from Babylonia and Media by the Assyrian conquerors to settle the land with inhabitants who would be loyal to Assyria. There was theological opposition between the Samaritans and the Jews because the former refused to worship in Jerusalem. After the exile the Samaritans put obstacles in the way of the Jewish restoration of Jerusalem, and in the 2nd century b.c. the Samaritans helped the Syrians in their wars against the Jews. In 128 b.c. the Jewish high priest retaliated and burned the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim.