Thursday, August 13, 2020

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 17:11-19 comments: ten lepers





Luke 17:11 ¶  And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12  And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13  And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14  And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15  And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16  And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17  And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18  There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19  And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

This would seem simple enough. Maybe one in ten will be thankful to Christ for His mercy. There are many preaching sermons that have been made out of this passage. There is the idea, as presented by Matthew Henry in his commentary, that leprosy was considered a punishment for some sin so that since Christ, who came to take away sin and wrath for sin, chose to heal these men. See the rules regarding leprosy and its healing in Leviticus 13 and 14.

But, what is the point of this episode as recorded for us? Samaritans were considered non-Jews. I am going to repeat what I said earlier about them.

Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel after Israel and Judah split during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, as recorded in 1Kings, chapter 12. Then, see 1Kings 16:29. The Assyrians conquered Israel and removed the Jews from there to other territories, replacing them with others as was their custom in conquest. Jewish priests were brought in to teach them the religion of the Jews and a distinctly different sort of Judaism grew up with distinct customs and norms that underscored the divisions between the Jews and the Samaritans.

2Kings 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes…24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof…26  Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land…28  Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

The Samaritan religion is called Samaritanism and is based on the Samaritan Torah. They believed they most closely followed the true religion of the Jews that existed before the Babylonian captivity. They worshipped at the ruins of their temple in Mount Gerizim. The mount is mentioned in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. The temple was destroyed by the Jews in around 100BC. The Jews did not regard the Samaritans very favorably.

In fact, the Samaritans were hated. They worshipped in a different place. They had a different history than the Jews and the Jews regarded them as inferiors, spiritually, politically, and every other way. They were not just somebody else but they were somebody else the Jews expected nothing good out of and looked down their noses at.

Galilee also has some important characteristics for this episode in Jesus’ ministry. Isaiah 9:1 refers to Galilee of the nations and Matthew 4:15 refers to Galilee of the Gentiles, word substitution defining nations as equivalent to Gentiles. Galilee was inhabited pretty much by Gentiles. Nations is usually a reference to non-Jewish political, tribal, and ethnic groups. In 1Kings 9:11 Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 cities in the land of Galilee so you would naturally have an influx of Gentiles there. In 2Kings 15:29 the Assyrians removed the population in their practice of replacing conquered peoples. They would settle them someplace else and move another group into their homelands as per 2Kings 17:24. Galilee was originally in Naphtali’s domain according to Joshua 21:32.

If we consider the significance of numbers in the Bible ten is prominent. The steward of Abram’s (Abraham) house was Eliezer.

Genesis 15:2  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

If Abram is a type of God the Father and Eliezer is in type the Holy Ghost, he is sent out to obtain a bride for Isaac, his father’s beloved son, a type of Christ, with the willing bride, Rebekah, a type of the church. Read Genesis 24. He takes ten camels with him, perhaps signifying the Gentiles.

Genesis 24:10 ¶  And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.

Nevertheless, be careful when giving a certain number spiritual significance as the great danger of such things is then seeing that significance everywhere, even where it is not. But, here, in this passage we have ten lepers from an area of predominantly Gentiles and people who are considered a type of counterfeit Jew, hated and despised by the Jews. This is one of those threads of evidence that portends that Christ has not restricted His message to the Jews only but to others outside the fold of God’s chosen people. Jesus warned the Jews of His day on earth;

Luke 13:28  There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. 29  And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.

Only one in ten who have experienced Christ firsthand will give glory to God and be thankful. This reminds me of the people who come forward in a church service or raise their hands and pray the 1-2-3-repeat-after-me “salvation” prayer so popular among evangelicals and fundamentalists in America. Nine out of ten will never darken the door of a church again until they are carried in and out of it by the pallbearers at their funeral, if then.

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