Pharisees and Sadducees. Two of the religious divisions of the Jews. The Pharisees were earnest students of the law, and tried hard to do right. But they were proud, and thought their way of seeing God was the only true way. The Sadducees were not so religious. They were richer, cared less about the law, and did not try so hard to keep it as did the Pharisees. But they also were proud and haughty, and between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the common people found few friends, and many more were willing to tell them how bad they were than to show them the way to become good. That was one reason why, when Jesus came with kindness, "the common people heard him gladly."
Threshing floor. A flat piece of ground, trodden hard, where the oxen threshed out the grain by being driven back and forth over it. The "fan" was a sort of shovel with which the grain was tossed in the air for winnowing.
Weddings in the East were times of elaborate ceremonials. The weddings were in the night, and the friends of the groom went with him, bearing torches, to the house of the bride, then, with the bride and her friends, all returned to the house of the groom. Here a feast of several days was held, with singing of songs and much merriment.
Samaria had been partly settled by foreigners, more than seven hundred years before, but the Jews of Jesus' time still looked down upon the Samaritans, as not being pure Jews. They would not let them worship in the temple, and despised them greatly. To be obliged to say that a Samaritan had done a good deed was not pleasant for a Jew.
Raca. "Fool."
Jot, jod. The smallest Hebrew letter. Tittle. The little points on the letters like the projections from the top of our d.
Publican. A tax-gatherer for the Roman government. No patriotic Jew would take the office, and so the publicans were much despised; and indeed they were mostly not the best sort of men.
Leprosy. A loathsome and lingering disease, for which no remedy was known.