in jewish culture, contact with a dead body was understood to be defiling. priests were particularly enjoined to avoid uncleanness. the priest and levite may therefore have assumed that the fallen traveler was dead and avoided him to keep themselves ritually clean. on the other hand, the depiction of travel downhill (from jerusalem to jericho) may indicate that their temple duties had already been completed, making this explanation less likely, although this is disputed. since the mishnah made an exception for neglected corpses, the priest and the levite could have used the law to justify both touching a corpse and ignoring it. in any case, passing by on the other side avoided checking "whether he was dead or alive". indeed, "it weighed more with them that he might be dead and defiling to the touch of those whose business was with holy things than that he might be alive and in need of care."