Lk. 9:51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.
“Set His face” is a Hebraic way of saying that He departed in a very determined way to go to Jerusalem.
Jn. 7:10 But when His brothers had gone up, then also He went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Lk. 9:52 And sent messengers before His face, and as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for Him.
Lk. 9:53 But they did no receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.
The rejection in Samaria comes out of anti-Semitism. It is because the Samaritans hated Jerusalem and the worship there. Because they knew that Yeshua was heading for Jerusalem they wouldn’t give Him passage.
Lk. 9:54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
Josephus mentions that Jewish guerillas staged raids into Samaria, and on one occasion the Samaritans reportedly murdered Galilean pilgrims going to a feast in Jerusalem (Josephus Antiquities). With this background we can better understand Yeshua’s disciples who held the Pharisaic attitude when they asked Him if they could call down fire from Heaven on a group of Samaritans. They even referenced Elijah doing this same thing in the O.T. (II Kings 1:10).
Lk. 9:55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.”
Lk. 9:56 “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
