Luke 10:34 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Brought him to an inn,— In ancient times travellers used to carry their provisions along with them, because there were no inns for the entertainment of strangers, but only houses for lodging them; such as the khanes, or karavanseras in the eastern countries are to this day. These, as travellers tell us, consist of a capacious square, on all sides of which are a number of rooms on a ground floor, used occasionally for chambers, warehouses, and stables. Above stairs there is a colonnade, or gallery, on every side of which are the doors of a number of small rooms, wherein the merchants, as well strangers as natives, transact most of their business. In these karavanseras travellers can sometimes purchase straw and provender for their horses, mules, or other beasts, though, generally speaking, they supply them with nothing but rooms to lodge in. The Πανδοχειον, or inn here mentioned, was of this kind; for the Samaritan, while he was there, furnished the wounded Jew with all things necessary out of his own stores, and only committed him to the care of the innkeeper when he went away. We have two instances in scripture of the custom now mentioned. See Judges 19:19. Dr. Shaw, in the Preface to his Travels, p. 14 mentions another sort of inn, called connack: this, he says, denotes the place itself, whether covered or not, where travellers, or caravans halt, to refresh themselves and their beasts. Thus the malon or inn, Genesis 42:27; Genesis 43:21 where the sons of Jacob opened their sacks to give their asses provender, was no other than one of these resting-places. In the parable it is the other sort of inn that is mentioned, as is plain from its having an innkeeper, which the connack in the deserts of Arabia has not.