Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 9:52

"and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him." — Luke 9:52 (ASV)

Jesus “sent messengers on ahead” (cf. 10:1–16), who were not told to preach but simply to “get things ready for him.” 53–54 The residents of the Samaritan village reciprocated the hostile attitude of the Jews (cf. Jn 4:9). They were especially negative because they knew that Jesus was going to Jerusalem, which they refused to acknowledge as a valid center of worship (cf. Jn 4:20).

The history of the Samaritans is uncertain. Many hold that they were a mixed race since the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. The king of Assyria deported the leaders of Israel, among them the religious teachers, and replaced them with foreigners (2 Kings 17:6, 24–26). From that time on, the inhabitants of the northern kingdom received no further prophetic instruction, nor did they recognize God’s revelation to the southern kingdom. The Samaritans were a fringe segment of the Jewish world for which Jesus, and Luke, had a concern (17:11–19). James and John may have thought that Jesus would respond as Elijah had (v.54; 2 Kings 1:9–12).