Lucas 10:30

The man in view may have been a real person and the incident Jesus described could have really happened. Yet the fact that Jesus told this story as He did, similar to other parables, has led most students of the passage to conclude that He invented it to teach a lesson.

Jesus left the man’s race and occupation unspecified, though His hearers would have assumed that he was a Jew. The 17-mile desert road that descended about 3,300 feet from Jerusalem to Jericho was treacherous, winding, and a favorite haunt of robbers. [Note: Liefeld, "Luke," p. 943; Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 447.] Clothing was a valuable commodity in Jesus’ society, and this fact probably explains why the bandits took the man’s clothes. Perhaps the man resisted his attackers, which would have been a common reaction, and suffered a near fatal beating.