The Samaritan 'brought him to an inn': Revisiting πανδοχεῖον in Luke 10:34

This article traces the meaning of κατάλυμά and πανδοχεῖον in available Roman-Egypt papyri, the LXX, early-Jewish literature, and Greek writings to determine the meaning of πανδοχεῖον [inn] used in Luke 10:34. It is argued that a lexical study of κατάλυμά and πανδοχεῖον and available information on travel in the ancient world indicate that there is no evidence for the so-called non-commercial inns in the ancient world and that commercial inns and innkeepers, in principle, were all 'bad'. In conclusion, the implications of this understanding of πανδοχεῖον and πανδοκεύς (Lk 10:34, 35) for the possible intended meaning of the parable are discussed, a conclusion that begs further research regarding the identity of the protagonist in the parable.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: van Eck,Ernest, van Niekerk,Robert J.
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2018
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222018000400037
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!