Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come. Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 The seventy are sent as the second forewarners, of…
The seventy are sent as the second forewarners, of the coming of Christ.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy…
1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
Ver. 1. Other seventy also] As his heralds, to foreshow his coming to Jerusalem, and to proclaim the true Jubilee.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 16 We heard before of Christ’s first electing, then sending…
We heard before of Christ’s first electing, then sending out, twelve, Luk 6:13-16; 9:1-6; and we heard of their return, and giving an account of their trust to their Lord, Luk 10:10. What their particular account was we no where read, but it was such as our Saviour judged the harvest too great for the hands of the labourers. He therefore now resolves to send out seventy more. The names of these we have not in the evangelist, only that Christ sent them out, and that he sent them
two and two, which might be for their better mutual assistance of each other, and also for their mutual testimony one for another. When God sent out the first conductors, and governors of his people, he sent two, Moses and Aaron. John Baptist sent two of his disciples to Christ. Christ sent two of his disciples to prepare the passover, Luk 22:8. There seemeth to be nothing mysterious in this. Man is a sociable creature, and it is not good for him to be alone. We cannot determine that our Saviour had any regard to the numbers of twelve and seventy; though it is certain that both those numbers amongst the Jews seem to have had a more than ordinary character, twelve being the number of the tribes of Israel, according to the promise, Gen 17:20 49:28; at Elim they found twelve wells of water, Exo 15:27; according to the number of the tribes were the twelve pillars, Exo 24:4, and the twelve stones in the breastplate of judgment, Exo 28:21; and the number of the cakes for the shew bread was to be twelve, Lev 24:5. The princes of Israel were twelve, Num 1:44; and twelve men were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, Deu 1:23. So we shall observe that in a multitude of things they kept to the number of twelve: John in his description of the new Jerusalem, which he saw in his vision, says, it had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates were the names of the twelve tribes, Rev 21:12. And the wall had twelve foundations, &c., Luk 10:14. And for the number of seventy: Jacob’s family, when they went down into Egypt, were seventy souls, Gen 46:27; they mourned for Jacob seventy days, Gen 50:3; at Elim they met with seventy palm trees, Num 33:9; the posterity of Jacob was in Babylon seventy years. The Jewish sanhedrim, or great court chosen upon the advice of Jethro, is said to have consisted first of seventy, then of seventy-two persons. So as the numbers of twelve and seventy seem to have been numbers to which the Jews had some respect. Whether our Saviour, in the choice of those whom he first sent to preach the gospel, had any respect or not to the Jewish value for those numbers, or designed by it to show them, that he was about to set up a new kingdom and government, which, though differing from what they had exercised formerly, yet in some little things should have some conformity to them, we cannot determine. We shall find the same powers and authority given to these seventy as to the twelve, and the same instructions: how some come to imagine a difference of order betwixt them I cannot tell; no such thing appeareth from the instructions given the one or the other upon their first sending out.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 16 The Captain general of our salvation, Christ Jesus, having…
The Captain general of our salvation, Christ Jesus, having called, commissioned, and sent forth his twelve apostles, as great commanders to subdue his native kingom of Israel to himself, at the sixth chapter of this Gospel; Luk 6:12-16 in this chapter he sends after them a band of seventy auxiliary forces, to aid and assist them: After these things the Lord appointed other seventy disciples, and sent them two and two before his face.
Where note, 1. The person commissioning and sending them forth: Christ himself.
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Thence learn, that none ought to take upon them the office of preaching, or other ministerial functions in the church, until thereunto called by Christ himself. The twelve apostles and seventy disciples, had an immediate mission from Christ himself; all his ministers are now called mediately, and receive their authority from Christ by the hands of the governors of his church.
Note, 2. The manner of their sending: two and two in a company, partly to make their message of more authority, partly to testify their mutual consent in the doctrine they taught, and partly to comfort and encourage, to help and strengthen, to assist and support each other.
In imitation of this example, the Jesuits sent forth their emissaries by pairs.
Learn hence, that the ministers of the gospel do stand in great need of the mutual help and comfort, of the united assistance and encouragement of each other, in the weighty duties of their calling and function.
Our Saviour in the next verse compares his ministers to harvest laborers, who are to help and assist one another, the strong endeavoring to strengthen the hands of the weak.
But, Lord, what tears are sufficient to bewail the want of love and unity, yea, the prevalency of that envy and malignity, which is found too often among the ministers of the gospel; so that instead of going forth two by two, happy is he that is alone in a place.
Well might Melancthon bless God, when he lay dying, that he was going to a place where he should be freed from the implacable hatred of divines; this is, and ought to be, for a lamentation.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have here the sending forth of seventy disciples,…
We have here the sending forth of seventy disciples, two and two, into divers parts of the country, to preach the gospel, and to work miracles in those places which Christ himself designed to visit, to make way for his entertainment. This is not taken notice of by the other evangelists: but the instructions here given them are much the same with those given to the twelve. Observe,
I. Their number: they were seventy. As in the choice of twelve apostles Christ had an eye to the twelve patriarchs, the twelve tribes, and the twelve princes of those tribes, so here he seems to have an eye to the seventy elders of Israel. So many went up with Moses and Aaron to the mount, and saw the glory of the God of Israel (Exo 24:1, Exo 24:9), and so many were afterwards chosen to assist Moses in the government, in order to which the Spirit of prophecy came unto them, Num 11:24, Num 11:25. The twelve wells of water and the seventy palm-trees that were at Elim were a figure of the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples, Exo 15:27. They were seventy elders of the Jews that were employed by Ptolemy king of Egypt in turning the Old Testament into Greek, whose translation is thence called the Septuagint. The great sanhedrim consisted of this number. Now,
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1. We are glad to find that Christ had so many followers fit to be sent forth; his labour was not altogether in vain, though he met with much opposition. Note, Christ's interest is a growing interest, and his followers, like Israel in Egypt, though afflicted shall multiply. These seventy, though they did not attend him so closely and constantly as the twelve did, were nevertheless the constant hearers of his doctrine, and witnesses of his miracles, and believed in him. Those three mentioned in the close of the foregoing chapter might have been of these seventy, if they would have applied themselves in good earnest to their business. These seventy are those of whom Peter speaks as "the men who companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us," and were part of the one hundred and twenty there spoken of, Act 1:15, Act 1:21. Many of those that were the companions of the apostles, whom we read of in the Acts and the Epistles, we may suppose, were of these seventy disciples.
2. We are glad to find there was work for so many ministers, hearers for so many preachers: thus the grain of mustard-seed began to grow, and the savour of the leaven to diffuse itself in the meal, in order to the leavening of the whole.
II. Their work and business: He sent them two and two, that they might strengthen and encourage one another. If one fall, the other will help to raise him up. He sent them, not to all the cities of Israel, as he did the twelve, but only to every city and place whither he himself would come (Luk 10:1), as his harbingers; and we must suppose, though it is not recorded, that Christ soon after went to all those places whither he now sent them, though he could stay but a little while in a place. Two things they were ordered to do, the same that Christ did wherever he came: - 1. They must heal the sick (Luk 10:9), heal them in the name of Jesus, which would make people long to see this Jesus, and ready to entertain him whose name was so powerful. 2. They must publish the approach of the kingdom of God, its approach to them: "Tell them this, The kingdom of God is come nigh to you, and you now stand fair for an admission into it, if you will but look about you. Now is the day of your visitation, know and understand it." It is good to be made sensible of our advantages and opportunities, that we may lay hold of them. When the kingdom of God comes nigh us, it concerns us to go forth to meet it.
III. The instructions he gives them.
1. They must set out with prayer (Luk 10:2); and, in prayer, (1.) They must be duly affected with the necessities of the souls of men, which called for their help. They must look about, and see how great the harvest was, what abundance of people there were that wanted to have the gospel preached to them and were willing to receive it, nay, that had at this time their expectations raised of the coming of the Messiah and of his kingdom. There was corn ready to shed and be lost for want of hands to gather it in. Note, Ministers should apply themselves to their work under a deep concern for precious souls, looking upon them as the riches of this world, which ought to be secured for Christ. They must likewise be concerned that the labourers were so few. The Jewish teachers were indeed many, but they were not labourers; they did not gather in souls to God's kingdom, but to their own interest and party. Note, Those that are good ministers themselves wish that there were more good ministers, for there is work for more. It is common for tradesmen not to care how few there are of their own trade; but Christ would have the labourers in his vineyard reckon it a matter of complaint when the labourers are few. (2.) They must earnestly desire to receive their mission from God, that he would send them forth as labourers into his harvest who is the Lord of the harvest, and that he would send others forth; for, if God send them forth, they may hope he will go along with them and give them success. Let them therefore say, as the prophet (Isa 6:8), Here I am, send me. It is desirable to receive our commission from God, and then we may go on boldly.
2. They must set out with an expectation of trouble and persecution: "Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves; but go your ways, and resolve to make the best of it. Your enemies will be as wolves, bloody and cruel, and ready to pull you to pieces; in their threatenings and revilings, they will be as howling wolves to terrify you; in their persecutions of you, they will be as ravening wolves to tear you. But you must be as lambs, peaceable and patient, though made an easy prey of." It would have been very hard thus to be sent forth as sheep among wolves, if he had not endued them with his spirit and courage.
3. They must not encumber themselves with a load of provisions, as if they were going a long voyage, but depend upon God and their friends to provide what was convenient for them: "Carry neither a purse for money, nor a scrip or knapsack for clothes or victuals, nor new shoes (as before to the twelve, Luk 9:3); and salute no man by the way." This command Elisha gave to his servant, when he sent him to see the Shunamite's dead child, Kg2 4:29. Not that Christ would have his ministers to be rude, morose, and unmannerly; but, (1.) They must go as men in haste, that had their particular places assigned them, where they must deliver their message, and in their way directly to those places must not hinder or retard themselves with needless ceremonies or compliments. (2.) They must go as men of business, business that relates to another world, which they must be intent in, and intent upon, and therefore must not entangle themselves with conversation about secular affairs. Minister verbi est; hoc age - You are a minister of the word; attend to your office. (3.) They must go as serious men, and men in sorrow. It was the custom of mourners, during the first seven days of their mourning, not to salute any, Job 2:13. Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and it was fit that by this and other signs his messengers should resemble him, and likewise show themselves affected with the calamities of mankind which they came to relieve, and touched with a feeling of them.
4. They must show, not only their goodwill, but God's good-will, to all to whom they came, and leave the issue and success to him that knows the heart, Luk 10:5, Luk 10:6.
(1.) The charge given them was, Whatsoever house they entered into, they must say, Peace be to this house. Here, [1.] They are supposed to enter into private houses; for, being not admitted into the synagogues, they were forced to preach where they could have liberty. And, as their public preaching was driven into houses, so thither they carried it. Like their Master, wherever they visited, they preached from house to house, Act 5:42; Act 20:20. Christ's church was at first very much a church in the house. [2.] They are instructed to say, "Peace be to this house, to all under this roof, to this family, and to all that belong to it." Peace be to you was the common form of salutation among the Jews. They must not use it in formality, according to custom, to those they met on the way, because they must use it with solemnity to those whose houses they entered into: "Salute no man by the way in compliment, but to those into whose house ye enter, say, Peace be to you, with seriousness and in reality; for this is intended to be more than a compliment." Christ's ministers go into all the world, to say, in Christ's name, Peace be to you. First, We are to propose peace to all, to preach peace by Jesus Christ, to proclaim the gospel of peace, the covenant of peace, peace on earth, and to invite the children of men to come and take the benefit of it. Secondly, We are to pray for peace to all. We must earnestly desire the salvation of the souls of those we preach to, and offer up those desires to God in prayer; and it may be well to let them know that we do thus pray for them, and bless them in the name of the Lord.
(2.) The success was to be different, according to the different dispositions of those whom they preached to and prayed for. According as the inhabitants were sons of peace or not, so their peace should or should not rest upon the house. Recipitur ad modum recipientis - The quality of the receiver determines the nature of the reception. [1.] "You will meet with some that are the sons of peace, that by the operations of divine grace, pursuant to the designations of the divine counsel, are ready to admit the word of the gospel in the light and love of it, and have their hearts made as soft wax to receive the impressions of it. Those are qualified to receive the comforts of the gospel in whom there is a good work of grace wrought. And, as to those, your peace shall find them out and rest upon them; your prayers for them shall be heard, the promises of the gospel shall be confirmed to them, the privileges of it conferred on them, and the fruit of both shall remain and continue with them - a good part that shall not be taken away." [2.] "You will meet with others that are no ways disposed to hear or heed your message, whole houses that have not one son of peace in them." Now it is certain that our peace shall not come upon them, they have no part nor lot in the matter; the blessing that rests upon the sons of peace shall never come upon the sons of Belial, nor can any expect the blessings of the covenant that will not come under the bonds of it. But it shall return to us again; that is, we shall have the comfort of having done our duty to God and discharged our trust. Our prayers like David's shall return into our own bosom (Psa 35:13) and we shall have commission to go on in the work. Our peace shall return to us again, not only to be enjoyed by ourselves, but to be communicated to others, to the next we meet with, them that are sons of peace.
5. They must receive the kindnesses of those that should entertain them and bid them welcome, Luk 10:7, Luk 10:8. "Those that receive the gospel will receive you that preach it, and give you entertainment; you must not think to raise estates, but you may depend upon a subsistence; and," (1.) "Be not shy; do not suspect our welcome, nor be afraid of being troublesome, but eat and drink heartily such things as they give; for, whatever kindness they show you, it is but a small return for the kindness you do them in bringing the glad tidings of peace. You will deserve it, for the labourer is worthy of his hire, the labourer in the work of the ministry is so, if he be indeed a labourer; and it is not an act of charity, but of justice, in those who are taught in the word to communicate to those that teach them" (2.) "Be not nice and curious in your diet: Eat and drink such things as they give (Luk 10:7), such things as are set before you, Luk 10:8. Be thankful for plain food, and do not find fault, though it be not dressed according to art." It ill becomes Christ's disciples to be desirous of dainties. As he has not tied them up to the Pharisees' superstitious fasts, so he has not allowed the luxurious feasts of the Epicureans. Probably, Christ here refers to the traditions of the elders about their meat which were so many that those who observed them were extremely critical, you could hardly set a dish of meat before them, but there was some scruple or other concerning it; but Christ would not have them to regard those things, but eat what was given them, asking no question for conscience' sake.
6. They must denounce the judgments of God against those who should reject them and their message: "If you enter into a city, and they do not receive you, if there be none there disposed to hearken to your doctrine, leave them, Luk 10:10. If they will not give you welcome into their houses, do you give them warning in their streets." He orders them to (Luk 9:5) do as he had ordered the apostles to do: "Say to them, not with rage, or scorn, or resentment, but with compassion to their poor perishing souls, and a holy dread of the ruin which they are bringing upon themselves, Even the dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you, Luk 10:11. From them do not receive any kindnesses at all, be not beholden to them. It cost that prophet of the Lord dear who accepted a meal's meat with a prophet in Bethel, Kg1 13:21, Kg1 13:22. Tell them that you will not carry with you the dust of their city; let them take it to themselves, for dust they are." It shall be a witness for Christ's messengers that they had been there according to their Master's order; tender and refusal were a discharge of their trust. But it shall be a witness against the recusants that they would not give Christ's messengers any entertainment, no, not so much as water to wash their feet with, but they were forced to wipe off the dust. "But tell them plainly, and bid them be sure of it, The kingdom of God is come nigh to you. Here is a fair offer made you; if you have not the benefit of it, it is your own fault. The gospel is brought to your doors; if you shut your doors against it, your blood is upon your own head. Now that the kingdom of God is come nigh to you, if you will not come up to it, and come into it, your sin will be inexcusable, and your condemnation intolerable." Note, The fairer offers we have of grace and life by Christ, the more we shall have to answer for another day, if we slight these offers: It shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for that city, Luk 10:12. The Sodomites indeed rejected the warning given them by Lot; but rejecting the gospel is a more heinous crime, and will be punished accordingly in that day. He means the day of judgment (Luk 10:14), but calls it, by way of emphasis, that day, because it is the last and great day, the day when we must account for all the days of time, and have our state determined for the days of eternity.
Upon this occasion, the evangelist repeats,
(1.) The particular doom of those cities wherein most of Christ's mighty works were done, which we had, Mat 11:20, etc. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, all bordering upon the sea of Galilee, where Christ was most conversant, are the places here mentioned. [1.] They enjoyed greater privileges. Christ's mighty works were done in them, and they were all gracious works, works of mercy. They were hereby exalted to heaven, not only dignified and honoured, but put into a fair way of being happy; they were brought as near heaven as external means could bring them. [2.] God's design in favouring them thus was to bring them to repentance and reformation of life, to sit in sackcloth and ashes, both in humiliation for the sins they had committed, and in humility and a meek subjection to God's government. [3.] Their frustrating this design, and their receiving the grace of God therein in vain. It is implied that they repented not; they were not wrought upon by all the miracles of Christ to think the better of him, or the worse of sin; they did not bring forth fruits agreeable to the advantages they enjoyed. [4.] There was reason to think, morally speaking, that, if Christ had gone to Tyre and Sidon, Gentile cities, and had preached the same doctrine to them and wrought the same miracles among them that he did in these cities of Israel, they would have repented long ago, so speedy would their repentance have been, and that in sackcloth and ashes, so deep would it have been. Now to understand the wisdom of God, in giving the means of grace to those who would not improve them, and denying them to those that would, we must wait for the great day of discovery. [5.] The doom of those who thus receive the grace of God in vain will be very fearful. They that were thus exalted, not making use of their elevation, will be thrust down to hell, thrust down with disgrace and dishonour. They will thrust in to get into heaven, in the crowd of professors, but in vain; they shall be thrust down, to their everlasting grief and disappointment, into the lowest hell, and hell will be hell indeed to them. [6.] In the day of judgment Tyre and Sidon will fare better, and it will be more tolerable for them than for these cities.
(2.) The general rule which Christ would go by, as to those to whom he sent his ministers: He will reckon himself treated according as they treated his ministers, Luk 10:16. What is done to the ambassador is done, as it were, to the prince that sends him. [1.] "He that hearest you, and regardeth what you say, heareth me, and herein doeth me honour. But," [2.] "He that despiseth you doth in effect despise me, and shall be reckoned with as having put an affront upon me; nay, he despiseth him that sent me." Note, Those who contemn the Christian religion do in effect put a slight upon natural religion, which it is perfective of. And they who despise the faithful ministers of Christ, who, though they do not hate and persecute them, yet think meanly of them, look scornfully upon them, and turn their backs upon their ministry, will be reckoned with as despisers of God and Christ.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–16 Therefore said he unto them,.... That is, the "Lord…
Therefore said he unto them,.... That is, the "Lord Jesus", as the Ethiopic version expresses it; he said to the seventy disciples, what he had before said to the twelve apostles in Mat 9:37 where are the same words as here:
the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest; for though there was such a number of disciples called to the ministerial work, and sent out, there was still need of more; so great was the harvest of souls, or number of hearers, that the labourers were yet but few; and therefore the Lord of the harvest and whose all souls are, was to be prayed unto to send forth more laborious preachers; See Gill on Mat 9:37. See Gill on Mat 9:38.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16 Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he…
Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would thrust forth labourers - For God alone can do this: he alone can qualify and commission men for this work. Matt. ix, 37.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16 Christ appoints seventy disciples to go before him, two…
CHAPTER X.
Christ appoints seventy disciples to go before him, two by two,
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to preach, heal, c., 1-12.
Pronounces woes on Chorazin and Capernaum, 13-16.
The seventy return, and give account of their mission, 17-20.
Christ rejoices that the things which were hidden from the wise
and prudent had been revealed unto babes, and shows the great
privileges of the Gospel, 21-24.
A lawyer inquires how he shall inherit eternal life, and is
answered, 25-29.
The story of the good Samaritan, 30-37.
The account of Martha and Mary, 38-42.
NOTES ON CHAP. X.
Verse 1. The Lord appointed other seventy] Rather, seventy others, not other seventy, as our translation has it, which seems to intimate that he had appointed seventy before this time, though, probably, the word other has a reference to the twelve chosen first: he not only chose twelve disciples to be constantly with him but he chose seventy others to go before him. Our blessed Lord formed every thing in his Church on the model of the Jewish Church; and why? Because it was the pattern shown by God himself, the Divine form, which pointed out the heavenly substance which now began to be established in its place. As he before had chosen twelve apostles, in reference to the twelve patriarchs, who were the chiefs of the twelve tribes, and the heads of the Jewish Church, he now publicly appointed (for so the word ανεδειζεν means) seventy others, as Moses did the seventy elders whom he associated with himself to assist him in the government of the people. Ex 18:19; Ex 24:1-9. These Christ sent by two and two:
1. To teach them the necessity of concord among the ministers of righteousness.
2. That in the mouths of two witnesses every thing might be established. And,
3. That they might comfort and support each other in their difficult labour. See on Mr 6:7.
Several MSS. and versions have seventy-two. Sometimes the Jews chose six out of each tribe: this was the number of the great Sanhedrin. The names of these seventy disciples are found in the margin of some ancient MSS., but this authority is questionable.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16 Luk 10:1. The Lord appointed other seventy also —…
Luk 10:1. The Lord appointed other seventy also — Or rather, seventy others, as ετερους εβδομηκοντα, should certainly be translated; for the expression, other seventy, implies that seventy had been sent before, which certainly was not the fact, (those sent before being no more than twelve,) nor is it implied in the Greek. So inconsiderable a difference in the words makes a great alteration in the sense. “The scene of Christ’s ministry being, from this time forth, to lie in Judea, and the country beyond Jordan, it was expedient that his way should be prepared in every city and village of those countries whither he was to come. He therefore sent out seventy of his disciples on this work, mentioning the particular places which he intended to visit, and in which they were to preach; whereas, the twelve had been allowed to go where they pleased, provided they confined their ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Luke is the only evangelist who has given us this account of Christ’s sending out the seventy; and it is the less to be wondered at, that he should do it so particularly, if the ancient tradition be true, which Origen and Epiphanius have mentioned, that he was himself one of the number. It is remarkable that our Lord assigns the same reason for the mission of the seventy which he had assigned for the mission of the twelve disciples. The harvest was plenteous in Judea and Perea, as well as in Galilee, and the labourers there also were few. Hence his exhortation, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth (Greek, εκβαλλη, thrust out) labourers. For God alone can do this: he alone can qualify and commission men for this work, and incline them to undertake it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16 After these things - After the appointment of the…
After these things - After the appointment of the twelve apostles, and the transactions recorded in the previous chapters.
Other seventy - Seventy others besides the apostles. They were appointed for a different purpose from the apostles. The apostles were to be with him; to hear his instructions; to be witnesses of his miracles, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection and ascension, that they might “then” go and proclaim all these things to the world. The seventy were sent out to preach immediately, and chiefly where he himself was about to come. They were appointed for a temporary object. They were to go into the villages and towns, and prepare the way for his coming. The number “seventy” was a favorite number among the Jews. Thus, the family of Jacob that came into Egypt consisted of seventy, Gen 46:27. The number of elders that Moses appointed to aid him was the same, Num 11:16, Num 11:25. The number which composed the great Sanhedrin, or council of the nation. was the same. It is not improbable that our Saviour appointed this number with reference to the fact that it so often occurred among the Jews, or after the example of Moses, who appointed seventy to aid him in his work; but it is evident that the office was “temporary” - that it had a specific design - and of course that it would be improper to attempt to find now a “continuation” of it, or a parallel to it, in the Christian ministry.
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Two and two - There was much wisdom in sending them in this manner. It was done, doubtless, that they might aid one another by mutual counsel, and that they might sustain and comfort one another in their persecutions and trials. Our Lord in this showed the propriety of having “a religious friend,” who would be a confidant and help. Every Christian, and especially every Christian minister, needs such a friend, and should seek some one to whom he can unbosom himself, and with whom he can mingle his feelings and prayers.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 15 Other seventy-two. Most Greek copies, and the Syriac version,…
Other seventy-two. Most Greek copies, and the Syriac version, have seventy, as in the Protestant translation. Yet there seems no doubt but the true number was seventy-two. For seventy-two may be called seventy; but had they been only seventy, they could never have been called seventy-two. This was also the exact number of the judges chosen to assist Moses; (Exodus xxiv. 1.) though called seventy, (Numbers xi. 16.) as it is evident, because there were six chosen out of every one of the twelve tribes. In like manner the exact number of the interpreters called the Septuagint must have been seventy-two; and also the just number of the Sanhedrim. --- Two and two, that one might be a help and comfort to the other; as also a witness of the carriage and behaviour of his companion. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Luke Chapter 10
Luke Chapter 10
The mission of the seventy follows in chapter 10, a mission important in its character for the development of the ways of God.
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This character is, in fact, different in some respects from that of the beginning of chapter 9. The mission is founded on the glory of Christ manifested in chapter 9. This of necessity, settles the question more decisively of the Lord’s relations with the Jews: for His glory came after, and, as to His human position, was the result of His rejection by the nation.
This rejection was not yet accomplished: this glory was only revealed to three of His disciples; so that the Lord still exercised His ministry among the people. But we see these alterations in it. He insists on that which is moral and eternal, the position into which it would bring His disciples, the true effect of His testimony in the world, and the judgment about to fall upon the Jews. Nevertheless the harvest was great. For love, unchilled by sin, saw the need through the outward opposition; but there were few moved by this love. The Lord of the harvest alone could send forth true labourers.
Already the Lord announces that they are as lambs among wolves. What a change from the presentation of the kingdom to the people of God! They were to trust (like the twelve) to the care of the Messiah present on the earth, and who influenced the heart with divine power. They were to go as the Lord’s labourers, openly avowing their object, not toiling for their food, but as having claims on His part. Wholly devoted to their work, they were to salute no one. Time pressed. Judgment was coming. There were those in Israel who were not children of peace. The remnant would be distinguished by the effect of their mission on the heart, not yet judicially. But peace should rest on the children of peace. These messengers exercised the power gained by Jesus over the enemy, and which He could thus bestow (and this was much more than a miracle); and they were to declare unto those whom they visited that the kingdom of God had come nigh unto them. Important testimony! When the judgment was not executed, it required faith to recognise it in a testimony. If they were not received, they were to denounce the city, assuring them that, received or not, the kingdom of God had come nigh. What a solemn testimony, now that Jesus was going to be rejected-a rejection that filled up the measure of man’s iniquity! It would be more tolerable for infamous Sodom, in the day that judgment should be executed, than for that city.
This clearly points out the character of the testimony. The Lord denounces [30] the cities in which He had wrought, and assures His disciples that to reject them in their mission was the same thing as to reject Him, and that, in rejecting Him, He who had sent Him was rejected-the God of Israel-the Father. On their return they announce the power that had accompanied their mission; demons were subject to their word. The Lord replies that in effect these tokens of power had made present to His mind the full establishment of the kingdom-Satan cast out entirely from heaven (an establishment of which these miracles were only a sample); but that there was something more excellent than this, and in which they might rejoice-their names were written in heaven. The power manifested was true, its results sure, in the establishment of the kingdom but something else was beginning to appear-a heavenly people were dawning, who should have their portion with Him, whom the unbelief of the Jews and of the world was driving back to heaven.
This very clearly unfolds the position now taken. The testimony of the kingdom rendered in power, leaving Israel without excuse, Jesus passed into another position-into the heavenly one. This was the true subject of joy. The disciples, however, did not yet understand it. But the Person and the power of Him who was to introduce them into the heavenly glory of the kingdom, His right to the glorious kingdom of God, have been revealed to them by the Father. The blinding of human pride, and the Father’s grace towards babes, became Him, who fulfilled the counsels of His sovereign grace through the humiliation of Jesus, and were in accordance with His heart who came to fulfil them. Moreover all things were given to Jesus. The Son was too glorious to be known, save by the Father, who was Himself only known by the revelation of the Son. To Him must men come. The root of the difficulty in receiving Him lay in the glory of His Person, who was known only to the Father, and this action and glory of the Father, which needed the Son Himself to reveal it. All this was in Jesus there on earth. But He could tell His disciples in private that, having seen in Him the Messiah and His glory, they had seen that which kings and prophets had in vain desired to see. The Father had been proclaimed to them, yet they but little understood it. In the mind of God it was their portion, realised afterwards by the presence of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of adoption.
We may remark here, the power of the kingdom bestowed on the disciples; their enjoyment at that moment (by the presence of the Messiah Himself, bringing with Him the power of the kingdom which overthrew that of the enemy) of the sight of those things of which the prophets had spoken; at the same time the rejection of their testimony, and the judgment of Israel among whom it was rendered; and, finally, the call of the Lord (while acknowledging in their work all the power that shall establish the kingdom) to rejoice, not in the kingdom thus established on earth, but in that sovereign grace of God who, in His eternal counsels, had granted them a place and a name in heaven, in connection with their rejection on earth. The importance of this chapter is evident in this point of view. Luke constantly brings in the better and unseen part in a heavenly world.
The extent of the dominion of Jesus in connection with this change, and the revelation of the counsels of God that accompanied it, are given us in Luk 10:22, as well as the discovery of the relationships and the glory of the Father and of the Son; at the same time also the grace shewn to the humble according to the character and the rights of God the Father Himself. Afterwards we find the development of the change as to moral character. The teacher of the law desires to know the conditions of eternal life. This is not the kingdom, nor heaven, but a part of the Jewish apprehension of the relationship of man with God. The possession of life was proposed to the Jews by the law. It had, by scriptural developments subsequent to the law, been discovered to be eternal life, which they then, at least the Pharisees, attached as such to the observance of that law-a thing possessed by the glorified in heaven, by the blessed on earth during the millennium, which we now possess in earthen vessels; which the law, as interpreted by conclusions drawn from the prophetic books, proposed as the result of obedience: [31] “The man that doeth these things shall live by them.”
The lawyer therefore asks what it is that he must do. The answer was plain: the law (with all its ordinances, its ceremonies, all the conditions of God’s government, which the people had broken, and the violation of which led to the judgment announced by the prophets-judgment that should be followed by the establishment, on God’s part, of the kingdom in grace)-the law, I say, contained the kernel of the truth in this respect, and distinctly expressed the conditions of life, if man was to enjoy it according to human righteousness-righteousness wrought by himself, by which he himself should live. These conditions were summed up in a very few words-to love God perfectly, and one’s neighbour as oneself. The lawyer giving this summary, the Lord accepts it and repeats the words of the Lawgiver: “This do, and thou shalt live.” But man has not done it and is conscious that he has not. As to God he is far away; man easily gets rid of Him; he will render Him some outward services and make his boast in them. But man is near; his selfishness makes him alive to the performance of this precept, which, if observed, would be his happiness-make this world a kind of paradise. Disobedience to it is repeated every moment, in the circumstances of each day, which bring this selfishness into play. All that surrounds him (his social ties) makes man conscious of these violations of this precept, even when the soul would not of itself be troubled about it. Here the lawyer’s heart betrays itself. Who, he asks, is my neighbour?
The Lord’s answer exhibits the moral change which has taken place through the introduction of grace-through the manifestation of this grace in man, in His own Person. Our relationships with one another are now measured by the divine nature in us, and this nature is love. Man under the law measured himself by the importance he could attach to himself, which is always the opposite of love. The flesh gloried in a nearness to God which was not real, which did not belong to participation in His nature. The priest and the Levite pass by on the other side. The Samaritan, despised as such, did not ask who was his neighbour. The love that was in his heart made him a neighbour to any one who was in need. This is what God Himself did in Christ; but then legal and carnal distinctions disappeared before this principle. The love that acted according to its own impulses found the occasion of its exercise in the need that came before it.
Here ends this part of the Lord’s discourses. A new subject begins in Luk 10:38.
From that verse to the end of verse 13 in chapter 11 the Lord makes known to His disciples the two great means of blessing-the word and prayer. In connection with the word, we find the energy that attaches itself to the Lord, in order to receive it from Himself, and that leaves everything in order to hear His word, because the soul is laid hold of by the communications of God in grace. We may remark that these circumstances are connected with the change that had been wrought at that solemn moment. The reception of the word takes the place of the attentions that were due to the Messiah. These attentions were demanded by the presence of a Messiah on the earth; but, seeing the condition man was in (for he rejected the Saviour), he needed the word; and Jesus, in His perfect love, will have nothing else. For man, for the glory of God, but one thing was needful; and it is that which Jesus desires. As to Himself, He would go without everything for that. But Martha, though preparing for the Lord, which was right surely, yet shews how much self is inherent in this kind of care; for she did not like to have all the trouble of it.
Footnotes for Luke Chapter 10
30: In Luk 10:25 of this chapter, as well as in Luk 13:34, we have examples of the moral order in Luke, of which we have spoken (p. 232). The testimonies of the Lord are perfectly in place. They are of infinite assistance in understanding the whole connection of the passage, and their position here throws great light on their own meaning. Historical order is not the question here. The position taken by Israel-by the disciples-by all, through the rejection of Christ, is the subject of which the Holy Ghost treats. These passages relate to it, and shew very plainly the condition of the people who had been visited by Jesus, their true character, the counsels of God in bringing in the heavenly things through the fall of Israel, and the connection between the rejection of Christ and the introduction of the heavenly things, and of eternal life, and of the soul. Nevertheless the law was not broken. In fact its place was taken by grace, which, outside the law, did that which could not be done through the law. We shall see this in going on with our chapter.
31: It is to be remarked, that the Lord never used the word eternal life in speaking of the effect of obedience. “The gift of God is eternal life.” If they had been obedient, that life might have been endless; but in fact and truth, now that sin had entered, obedience was not the way to have eternal life, and the Lord does not so state it.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 B. The Seventy Disciples. Luk_10:1-24
B. The Seventy Disciples. Luk_10:1-24
(Partial parallel to Mat_11:20-30.)
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1After these things the Lord appointed other seventy [seventy others1] also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would [was about to] come. 2Therefore said he [And said, V. O.2] unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. 3Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4Carry neither purse, nor scrip [wallet], nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. 5And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. 6And if the [a] son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn [return] to you again. 7And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 8And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: 9And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 10But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 11Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth [from your city, transferred from last clause] on us [to us upon our feet3], we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you [om., unto you, V. O.4].12But [om., But, V. O.5] I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. 13Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works [αί δυνάμεις, Kräfte, V. O.] had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had [would have] a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. 15And thou, Capernaum, which art [who hast been 6] exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. 16He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth [despiseth—in all four places—ἀθετῶν, lit., sets at nought] him that sent me. 17And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils [demons] are subject [subjected] unto usthrough [lit., in] thy name. 18And he said unto them, I beheld7 Satan as lightning fall 19[fallen, πεσόντα] from heaven. Behold, I give [I have given, δέδωκα8] unto you power [ἐξουσίαν] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power [δύναμιν] of the20enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject [subjected] unto you; but rather [om., rather9] rejoice, because your names are written in heaven [the heavens]. 21In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. [And turning himself to his disciples, he said, V. O.10] 22All things are delivered to me of [by] my Father: and no man [one] knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. 23And he turned him unto his disciples, and said [turning himself…, he said] privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: 24For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
General Remarks.—From different quarters the credibility of the account of Luke respecting the Seventy has been disputed (Strauss, De Wette, Theile, Weisse, Von Ammon, Baur, Köstlin, Schwegler, a. o.). Inner improbability appeared to cast doubt on this account, while the silence of the other Synoptics was also suspicious. Commonly, however, the attacks have been directed against a manner of viewing the fact, which is demanded neither by the letter nor the spirit of the evangelical narrative. The Seventy, namely, have been too much regarded as a fixed number, as a continually active circle of the Saviour’s servants besides the Twelve, and exclusive of them, and were supposed to have preached the kingdom of God afterwards also. In this case, it certainly would have been extremely surprising that there is no other trace to be found of this circle of disciples, nay, that even Eusebius was no longer able (H. E. i. 12) to give the catalogue of the names of these disciples. But on attentive consideration it soon appears that the Seventy received no other commission than at this particular time to prepare for the coming of the Saviour in some towns and villages, and that they, after the accomplishment of their charge, were absorbed in the wider circle of His followers. Thus are they a remarkable luminary in the public life of the Saviour, whose brilliancy, however, endured only a brief time, and Luke therefore cannot be justly charged with having here, for the first time, not “precisely investigated” everything. That Jesus, besides the Twelve, had yet a wider circle of disciples, appears also from Joh_6:66; Act_1:15-26; 1Co_15:6. But if we had here to understand an intentional invention, then, without doubt, many more particulars respecting the great deeds of these men would have appeared both here and in the Acts. The number Seventy also occasions not the least actual difficulty. Perhaps it is an indefinite round number (comp. Mat_18:22), or the Saviour may have had His reasons for sending out neither more nor less than thirty-five pairs of such ambassadors in different directions. But even if we assume that we have here a symbolical number before us, which referred to the elders of Israel (Exo_24:9), or to the members of the Sanhedrim with the exclusion of their president, or finally to the seventy heathen nations, according to the ancient Israelitish reckoning, the symbolism is not, therefore, by any means unhistoric (Schwegler). The number of the apostles also was a symbolical one, and if we assume that this number Seventy is to indicate the universal direction of the gospel, it then becomes doubly intelligible that Luke, the Paulinist, brings forward this circumstance so distinctly. Matthew and Mark might the more readily pass over these, as they had already communicated more in detail the discourse of the Saviour in the sending out of the Twelve, which in many points coincided with this one.
Luk_10:1. Seventy others.—If this circle existed only a few days or weeks, it is the less surprising that it soon became uncertain who had belonged to it. Fancy had then free play, and very soon men used this company as a charitable foundation in order to provide for men who did not belong to the Twelve, but who were of some account [in the church], such as Mark, Luke, Matthias. (Strauss). A peculiar list of candidates is found in Sepp, iii. 26, who here, at the same time, finds prefigured the number of the cardinals of the papal see.
And sent them.—The chief purpose of this sending was not to fashion and train these messengers for a later independent activity (Hase, and after him Krabbe, who appeals, N. B., for proof of it to Luk_10:20), but it was a new attempt, in order to influence to decision at least a part of the people, and by word and deed to prepare the coming of the kingdom of God in the midst of them. “This whole journey of Jesus was intended, before the departure of the Lord from His previous theatre of activity, to present to the people the last decision, to be everywhere the Messianic entrance, which, in connection with the final entry into Jerusalem, was to culminate in the latter.” Meyer.
Into every city and place whither He Himself was about to come.—According to Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. p. 1057, we are to understand exclusively towns in Samaria, and to consider this whole mission as a noble vengeance for His rejection, Luk_9:51-56. It is, however, a question whether the Saviour really had the intention of visiting so many as thirty-five towns and villages of the Samaritans. If we keep in mind the direction of His own journey, we should undoubtedly rather have to assume that the Seventy preceded Him to Judæa. In this whole investigation, however, we must not overlook the fact that it is as yet very much in question whether Luke communicates this whole sending forth of the Seventy in its exact historical connection. The expression μετά ταῦτα, Luk_10:1, is at least very indefinite, and since he in Luk_10:17 relates also the return of these messengers immediately after their departure, it brings us almost to the conjecture that he here as frequently follows rather the order of subject than that of time. If we are obliged to assume that our Saviour afterwards actually visited all the places whither these messengers had gone before Him, this probably would have happened shortly after the feast of Tabernacles, John 7 But in no case are we obliged to conceive the matter as Von Ammon, ad loc., does, who, from very peculiar sources, seems to know that the Saviour on this journey sent forth a great number of His disciples, and selected them to give special probationary instructions in the nearest synagogues!! Better Riggenbach: “The seventy disciples are to be regarded as a net of love which the Lord threw out in Israel.”
Luk_10:2. And said.—As the Seventy are distinct from the Twelve, so is the instruction which is communicated to both distinct. The difference between the two inauguration addresses is great enough to refute the conjecture that transferences and transpositions of single expressions have taken place from one discourse into the other. It is noticeable how these admonitions of the Saviour to the Seventy agree with the precepts which He, according to Luke, Luk_9:1-6, gave to the Twelve in sending them forth. If the Evangelist is not to be charged with very great inconsistency, we shall be forced to assume that the words of Jesus on the second occasion were at least partially the same. But the distinction comes much more strongly into view in comparing this with Matthew 10. The gift bestowed on the Twelve of working miracles is far more extended than that which is here bestowed in Luk_10:9 on the Seventy. Of the persecutions which He foretells the Twelve, and of the extraordinary help of the Holy Spirit which He promises them, Mat_10:17-24, and of which there was to be further speech only after the day of Pentecost, the Seventy in entering upon their only momentary and soon accomplished work, have communicated to them not a word. The earlier command not to go into a town of the Samaritans is this time omitted, as the journey perhaps went through a part of Samaria. On the other hand, the remarkable injunction given to the Seventy alone, to salute no man on the way, appears doubly congruous, as the Saviour sees His public life hurrying to an end. Such differences are as far from being unimportant as accidental, but have sprung rather from the different nature of the persons and facts. The Twelve had to return upon the traces of Jesus, in order to gather in the harvest of that which He had sown. The Seventy must go before His face, in order to prepare a way for Him.
The harvest truly is great.—According to Mat_9:37-38, the Saviour uttered this word before the sending of the Twelve, and it is very possible that He now repeated it. But if we assume that it was only spoken once, then undoubtedly its position in Matthew is the most exact.
Luk_10:3. As Lambs.—According to Mat_10:16, the Twelve are sent out ὡς πρόβατα. It is undoubtedly possible that this distinction is to be explained merely from a different form of the tradition (Meyer); on the other hand, however, it is quite as conceivable that the Saviour, for this case, intentionally modified the figurative language. But if He did, it was certainly not to attribute to the Seventy a lower place than to the Twelve (Euth. and Zigab.), but “in order this time to lay emphasis on simplicity together with defencelessness (Matthew has ‘doves’).” Stier.
Luk_10:4. Salute no man.—It is well known that salutations in the Orient were much more essential than with us, and that, e.g., inferiors remained standing until their superiors had passed by. Comp. 2Ki_4:29. Respecting the different formulas of salutation among the Jews, see Lightfoot, ad loc.
Luk_10:5. And into whatsoever house.—The preliminary investigation enjoined in Matthew, Luk_10:11, is here omitted. From everything it appears that the Saviour’s affairs demanded haste. His whole instruction may be comprehended in the saying, Joh_13:27 b.
Luk_10:6. A son of peace.—Not pace dignus (Bengel), but one for whom peace is prepared, because the needful receptivity for the word of peace is found in his heart. Upon this one is the salutation of peace to rest, for peace shall fill his heart, Php_4:7. In the opposite case it was only an empty sound in his ear, and returned without delay to him from whom it had proceeded.
Luk_10:7. And in the same house.—In the one, that is, where they are received by children of peace. They must thus avoid even the appearance of seeking from the inhabitants theirs instead of them, and are not permitted, therefore, even in a meagre entertainment to find any cause of speedy departure. Comp. Mat_10:11; Luk_9:4.
Luk_10:9. Heal the sick.—The brevity of this commission in comparison with the detailed instruction to the Twelve (Mat_10:8) is not to be overlooked. It is remarkable, however, that the Seventy, on their return, speak of no other healing of the sick than the casting out of the demons. The connection of healing and preaching here gives the former a symbolical character.
Luk_10:11. Even the very dust.—See the remarks on Luk_9:5, and Lange on Mat_10:14. “What there was not yet enjoined on the Twelve is here prescribed to the Seventy: to follow even this last act of displeasure with the repetition of the word of love, that the kingdom of God was come near. But now no longer: “To you” (spurious), but quite generally. “It is and remains true that it is come near, even though you contemn it.”
Luk_10:12. I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom.—According to the common conception, the judgment of retribution has already smitten Sodom and Gomorrah. According to the steady teaching of the New Testament, on the other hand, this judgment, terrific though it was, is only a foretaste of that which is to be expected at the end of days. Comp., for instance, Jude Luk_10:7. The terrible judgment, moreover, with which the Lord here threatens those who reject His servants, is an unequivocal proof of the high rank which He ascribes to them, compared with the most eminent men of God, and indirectly, at the same time, a striking revelation of His own entirely unique self-consciousness.
Luk_10:13. Woe unto thee, Chorazin!—Comp. Mat_11:20-24. Here again it is as before; whoever assumes that the Saviour uttered this Woe only once, will, at the same time, have to concede that it is communicated by Matthew in the most natural connection. Luke then introduces this saying on this occasion apparently because he had just given the exclamation over Sodom, and also communicates it with less fulness and particularity. On the other hand, no one can dispute our right to assume here too that the judgment of these Galilean towns lay so heavily on the heart of Jesus that He more than once uttered forth, the exclamation of woe (Meyer). Something subjectivistic in remarks of this kind is indeed hardly to be wholly avoided. Respecting the locality of the here-mentioned places, see Lange on Mat_11:20-24. It is noticeable, and at the same time wise, that the Saviour, among the towns whose judgment He denounces, does not speak expressly of Nazareth. This might have had the appearance of a personal revenge.
They would have … repented.—“These words are remarkable inasmuch as the Saviour, even as respects the past, speaks of nothing as absolutely necessary. He here plainly recognizes the freedom of self-determination and possibility of the contrary event.” Olshausen.—Undoubtedly, there must have been so many miracles performed as well at Chorazin as at Bethsaida, that this judgment was fully deserved. And yet the Evangelists relate nothing whatever of them. A proof certainly that they have been rather frugal than lavish in the writing of their accounts of miracles. Comp. Joh_21:24-25.
Luk_10:16. He that heareth you.—As the Seventy, although they were not invested with the apostolic office, nevertheless saw themselves called for a time to an apostolic activity so weighty, we cannot be surprised that the Saviour gives also to them an assurance similar to that with which He had formerly sent forth the Twelve, Mat_10:40.
Luk_10:17. Returned again with joy.—Although it is of course evident that the return of the different messengers could not have taken place at the same time, Luke, however, so represents the matter as if they had simultaneously rendered account to the Lord of the result of their journey, and had received His approbation and indeed His eulogy. Not a solitary trace of the permanent gain which they brought to the kingdom of God has been preserved to us; yet a single hint is given of the momentary impression which they elicited.—“Even the demons.”—To their eye every other fruit of their labors recedes before this recollection. If we consider that a command to cast out demons had not been expressly given them, and that this attempt a little before had failed even when made by nine apostles, Luk_9:37 seq., we can still better understand this joy of the Seventy, and must at the same time entertain the most favorable ideas of their courage and of their strength of faith. Their righteous joy is in the answer of the Saviour confirmed, augmented, and sanctified.
Luk_10:18. I beheld Satan.—That in this figurative speech the whole fall of the kingdom of darkness in and with its personal head is portrayed, can as little be contested as that here it is a beholding with the eye of the spirit that is spoken of. The answer to the question, when or how long previously the Saviour had seen this spectacle, is determined entirely by the connection of the discourse. If this saying stood entirely alone there would not be the least difficulty in understanding an earlier period in the public life of our Lord (Lange), or even in going back before His Incarnation (Hofman). In a very sound sense of the word we may call the whole inner life of Jesus a continuous spiritual beholding of the discomfiture of the kingdom of darkness; one which is to be restricted to no particular time. But when the Saviour utters this word in answer to the Seventy, He can scarcely mean to say anything else to them than that they have by no means deceived themselves, since He, accompanying them in spirit, had seen the sudden downfall of Satan, whose servants the demons were. It is not an isolated vision which is here spoken of, but a spiritual intuition of the God-man, before whom even the secrets of the world of spirits are discovered and lie open.
Luk_10:19. I have given unto you power.—Thus does the Saviour, by a new assurance, augment the joy which He had just confirmed. Δέδωκα, according to the corrected reading of Tischendorf. The Preterite is not merely a reminiscence of the previously given plenitude of power, but also a confirmation and renewal of the same.—“To tread on serpents and scorpions.”—Undoubtedly here also similar miracles are indicated to those related in Mar_16:17-18; Act_28:5; Psa_91:13, yet only so far as they were revelations of the higher spiritual ability which Christ had bestowed upon them. Not only to shake off poisonous serpents and adders, which, comparable to intertwining lightning-streams, are types of the fallen Evil One, but to cast down all might in the spiritual world which exalted itself in hatred against Christ—this was their holy function. Through the Spirit of truth they had to make subject to themselves the spirits of lies; but in this noble task there lurks also a dark danger. The Lord knows how the nets of temptation are first stretched for the favored among His own, and therefore does He sanctify their righteous and augmented joy by a word of most earnest warning.
Luk_10:20. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not … are written in heaven.—The word μᾶλλον appears here added to the text only to bring more clearly into view that the Saviour disapproves their joy at the subjection of the spirits not unconditionally, but only relatively. This, however, even without such an addition, is sufficiently obvious from the whole spirit and connection of this admonition. The Saviour wishes them not to rejoice too much over anything which they may accomplish for the kingdom of God. For this joy might easily and unconsciously be joined with self-seeking and pride, and besides, would not always dwell in their hearts, and might perhaps be followed by conflict and disappointment; and it must moreover at last lead them to keep their eye directed more without than within and above. Besides, what any one does is a very deceiving standard for the judgment of his inner worth. One may cast out devils and yet himself be still a child of darkness (Mat_7:22); therefore our Lord gives to their joy a better direction. Even the greatest talents and gifts cannot be compared with the prerogative of him who obtains in heaven a place of honor.—“That your names.”—The Seventy knew undoubtedly, as we also do, the beautiful figure of the Old Testament which depicts to us the Eternal One with a book before His face, wherein He notes down the names and deeds of His faithful servants. Exo_32:32-33; Mal_3:16. Comp. Rev_3:5. Our Lord now rejoices them with the transporting assurance that their names also shone there, and directs their attention in this way to the truth that their own deliverance from the power of the devil ought to dispose them far more to thankful joy than their most glorious triumph over his disarmed servants. This prerogative should remain to them even though Satan should again exalt himself, even though their name should not be renowned upon earth, even though it should be there forgotten. “Contrarium de prœvaricatoribus, in terra scribentur, Jer_17:13.” Bengel. Comp. also Psa_69:28; Php_4:3.
Luk_10:21. In that hour.—Comp. Mat_11:25-26. That the here-following words of the Saviour are given by Matthew in a far more significant connection is admirably proved by Lange, ad loc. That, however, Luke states correctly the definite occasion on which the Saviour gave utterance to this God-glorifying declaration, appears not only from the ἐν αὐτῇ τῇὥρᾳ, but also from the whole connection, unless one should also wish to reckon this saying among the bis repetita, which undoubtedly has its difficulties if too often resorted to.
Jesus rejoiced.—If from the preceding words, Luk_10:20, it might appear as though the Saviour did not wholly share the transport of His disciples, and regarded the joy which they reaped in their work with less satisfaction than they themselves, we see here the contrary, and by the one word ἠγαλλιάσατο, Luke offers to our heart and our imagination the most delightful conception: the hour of joy in the life of Jesus.
That Thou hast hid.—That by the wise and prudent here only fancied wise men, and by the νήπιοι not ignorant persons in themselves, but simply childlike souls, are understood, is evident. It is also evident that as well in the time of the Saviour as in the following ages, it has been commonly rejected by the former and received by the latter. But what are we to understand by this, that God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent? To say that God has permitted it, but in no wise ordained it, is a confession that testifies of perplexity; was it then only permission that God revealed it to the simple? To maintain that God has arbitrarily so ordained it, would sound like a blasphemy of God; can God Himself blind me, and at the same time make my blindness the ground of my condemnation? Without doubt we have here to understand a direct, yet at the same time a holy, wise, and loving disposition of things by the Father, one which is thoroughly grounded in the nature of things. To the haughty man it is morally impossible to bow before Christ, and the connection between his inner corruption and his great destitution is effected by God Himself. God has connected the participation in His kingdom with a condition which lay within the reach even of the most simple: namely, lowliness and humility of heart; wise and prudent men wantonly made themselves unreceptive of this blessing, and became in consequence of this obnoxious to this judgment, that God hid these things from them. And if our Lord gives thanks therefor, it is not for this hiding in and of itself, however deserved it may be, but for this, that even if these things were hidden to the wise, they at least did not remain concealed for all. An example of similar construction we find, among others, Rom_6:17. This Divine ordinance, by which so many stood outside of His kingdom, was at the same time the source of manifold conflict in His life, and yet the Saviour is not only perfectly at one with the will of the Father, but rejoices thereat, and declares: ναί, ὁ πατήρ, κ.τ.λ.—In the idea of a εὐδοκία of course everything arbitrary must be avoided, which really indeed appears also from what follows, ἔμπροσθέν σου. The counsel of the Father may be sovereign, but never tyrannical.
Luk_10:22. All things are delivered to Me by My Father.—Again, one of those passages where the Christology of the Synoptics and that of John surprisingly concur. Comp. Joh_17:2. By the limitation of the πάντα to the teaching of Jesus, Grotius has prepared the way for the rationalistic interpretation of this saying, an interpretation which may be named arbitrariness and superficialness itself. It appears, moreover, that the most original form of this saying is found in Matt. Luk_11:27. Comp. Lange ad loc. and that the form in Luke: οὐδείς γινώσκεί, τίς ἐστιν ὁ υἱός must be considered as an (undoubtedly correct) interpretamentum. The peculiar phenomenon that this saying of the Lord is, in the writings of Justin Martyr, even three times, as also in the Clementines, and in Marcion and Tertullian, read in exactly the reverse order: “No one knows the Father but the Son,” is sufficiently explained by that with which Irenæus, adv. Hœr. iv.14, prefaces the mention of this deviation: “Hi autem, qui peritiores Apostolis esse volunt, sic scribunt,” &c. See Olshausen, “Genuineness of the Four Gospels,” p. 295.—“No one knoweth.”—The Saviour declares therefore that a man can be guided only by the knowledge of the Son to that of the Father, but also conversely that a man can be guided only by the Father to the knowledge of the Son. And that the complete form of the expression would also require the addition, “No one knoweth the Son but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveal Him,” appears evident from Luk_10:21 b, and from Mat_16:17. Respecting the conception of Revelation here presented, Dr. Von Bell, Diss. Theol. de vocibus φανεροῦν et ἀποκαλύπτειν, L. B. 1849, p. 51, deserves to be compared. Of the Seventy and of all who had believed through their word, it could without doubt be said that the Father had revealed Himself through the Son in their souls. This whole expression of the most exalted self-consciousness might at the same time serve to counteract the scandal which one or another might take at the rejection of the Gospel by the wise and prudent.
[The exact correspondence, in substance, spirit, and form, of this passage, Luk_10:21-22, and the parallel passage, Mat_11:25-27, with the Gospel of John, has always attracted attention. Yet its isolated character in the two Synoptical Gospels is equally apparent. It is not in the least discordant with their contents, and in Luke especially is seen to be in thorough harmony with the context. Nevertheless, it is in an essentially different vein from the general tone of our Lord’s discourses as given by the Synoptics. Yet that our Lord only once in His public life broke forth into a distinct declaration of His inner relation to the Father, to which, nevertheless, in the Synoptics, He so frequently alludes, is hard to believe. This passage lies embedded in the Synoptical discourses as a vein of rich ore, which by a sudden “fault” breaks off, showing us that a continuous mass of it exists somewhere, and at the same time that it is at a considerable remove from this isolated fragment. This original matrix we find in the Gospel of John.—C. C. S.]
Luk_10:23. Unto His disciples … privately.—Already here and there one (see Luk_10:25) presses more closely to the circle of the Seventy who gather around Jesus and receive His exalted eulogy. The Saviour unites the highest wisdom with the holiest transport of soul, and therefore addresses the words now following to them apart. In Mat_13:16-17 also this saying is found: yet surely it appears on this occasion doubly congruous. Whether the Saviour originally named kings or righteous men along with the prophets, is on internal grounds exceedingly difficult, and on external grounds not at all, to be determined.
Luk_10:24. Many prophets and kings.—One of the sublimest utterances of our Lord which appear in the Synoptical Gospels. He proclaims Himself as Him in whom alone not only the expectation of the earlier time is fulfilled, but in whom also the Ornament and Crown of mankind has appeared. The image of a David and Hezekiah, of an Isaiah and Micah, rises clearly before His soul, and their inner life stands before His spirit as a life of expectation, as whose centre and fulfilment He recognized Himself. Over against all these He looks upon the scanty circle of His disciples, who are infinitely higher privileged, and as if He feared even the appearance of self-exaltation when He testifies of Himself, He says unto them in the ear what soon is to be proclaimed upon the housetops: “More than Solomon, more than Jonah is here.” At the same time this felicitation for the Seventy is an indirect admonition not only to look with continual faith upon Him, but also moreover to listen to Him with all the devotion of which kings and prophets would certainly have counted Him worthy. Doubly fitting is this intimation, since the messengers now receded again into the circle of His ordinary hearers, and the placing of such a saying at the conclusion of the interview with the Seventy appears therefore on internal grounds exact.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See Exegetical and Critical remarks.
2. The sending forth of the Seventy is a new revelation of the glory of the King of the kingdom of Heaven. It is a repetition of that which had already begun in smaller measure in the journeyings of the Twelve through Galilean towns and villages; an evangelization in a field that is yet strange or hostile, a Home Mission upon a continually enlarging scale. Here also do the messengers of Christ go two and two, as it were in remembrance of the word of the Preacher, Ecc_4:9-10. According to the Lord’s own word, Luk_10:18, their journey at the same time bears the character of a vigorous assault upon the powers of darkness; there is something moreover indescribably naïve and touching in the manner in which they reveal their joy over the success of their momentous undertaking. But especially is this new preaching a powerful voice of awakening for the lost sheep of the house of Israel to come to the Good Shepherd, and the Woe over towns in which such works were done was certainly doubly deserved.
3. The image of the genuine minister of the Gospel is, in the address of the Saviour to the Seventy, placed vividly before our eyes. The substance of His preaching is a message of peace, comp. Isa_52:7, which finds echo in the heart of the son of peace, and in his heart alone. The demeanor which becomes him is meekness, contentment, self-denial, on the one hand—see as an example of the manner in which the precepts here given were applied by Paul, 1Co_9:5; 2Co_10:16; Rom_15:20—on the other hand a demeanor of dignity when despised and opposed. The authority which is bestowed upon him is, since he stands in the service of the truth, in a certain sense like that of the apostles, nay, like that of the Lord Himself, notwithstanding all other differences in office and sphere of activity. And his honor, which is continually unacknowledged by the world, will be brilliantly established by Him that hath sent him, when once the judgment upon the rejector of the Gospel shall be revealed.
4. The enduring might which the Saviour has bestowed on His witnesses in the spiritual sphere is at the same time an indirect argument against the correctness of the limited view of those who would restrict the gift of miracles almost exclusively to the circle and the age of the Apostles, instead of believingly receiving the Saviour’s word, Joh_14:12. Comp. the weighty dissertation of Tholuck upon the miracles of the Catholic Church, in the first part of his miscellaneous writings.
5. In the well-known letter of Publius Lentulus to the Roman Senate, which is alleged to contain a description of the person of the Saviour, there is contained among other things the testimony: qui nunquam visus est ridere, flere autem sœpius. To this rigoristic and ascetic view, what Luke here relates of the Saviour’s joy of soul is strikingly opposed. Here at least His countenance is refulgent with inmost joy, His head He raises triumphantly towards Heaven, and from His whole being shines forth a glow of blessedness. The sublimity of this joy we feel the more, when we compare with it that of the Seventy. They rejoice in the great things, He in the good brought to pass; they have their joy directed to the outer, Jesus His to the moral, world; they rejoice alone in the present, Jesus also in the past and the future; they are disposed to self-praise, Jesus to thankful adoration. Only once besides do we hear Him with such complete publicity glorify the name of the Father. It is just before the raising of Lazarus (Joh_11:42), both times, therefore, when spiritually dead awake to higher life. The subject and the character of His joy is, therefore, a proof of the saying, Joh_14:9.
6. The utterance, “No one knows the Son save the Father,” is one of the most convincing testimonies for the true Godhead of Christ. One who was only a created spirit or an immaculate man could not possibly without blasphemy against God testify this of Himself. If only the Father knows perfectly who the Son is, we must then give up all hope of searching out, on this side of the grave, so much of this depth that the object of faith shall have become wholly the object of the Christian Gnosis. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out, Job_37:23. On the other hand, we must be careful to make a distinction between cognitio vera et adœquata, and doubt only of the latter and not of the former. It is therefore as over-precipitate as superficial when this saying of the Saviour has not seldom been used as a catchword in order to repress as impossible or unprofitable a more than superficial investigation of the person and work of the Saviour. The saying, “No one knows the Son but the Father,” can at most be a result but never a hindrance of a renewed Christological investigation, and least of all a cloak for indifferentism or ignorantism. The remark of Otto Von Gerlach on Mat_11:27 is well worthy of being compared here.
7. The Gospel stands not below but above the understanding of the wise and prudent in their own eyes. One misuses the word of the Lord concerning babes and the simple if he reads therein an authorization of stupidity and narrowness, and a sentence of condemnation against science and a true Christian depth of apprehension. True wisdom, however, can only be that which is joined with child-like simplicity, and as true knowledge leads to faith, so can faith alone bring us to true science. It is, however, no shame but an honor to the Gospel that it can be nothing for those who will not learn but judge, will not humble themselves but bear rule, comp. 1 Corinthians 1, 2.
8. “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” a dictum probans for the doctrine of the Evangelical Church that a believer even in this life may be assured of his eternal salvation. When Möhler [the eminent Roman Catholic Symbolist] asserts that he “in the neighborhood of a man who without any restriction declared himself sure of his salvation should be in a high degree uneasy,” nay, “that he could not repel the thought that there was something diabolical beneath this,” he thereby affords us a deep glance into the comfortlessness of a heart which seeks the ultimate ground of its hope in self-righteousness [as many Protestants do, who agree with the Roman Catholic church in making their own assurance of salvation depend upon their attainments in holiness, instead of resting in simple faith in the consciousness that they have committed themselves to Christ.—C. C. S.], but he shows at the same time that he has not comprehended the word of the Lord to the Seventy in its whole depth. It is well known that this, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven,” was the worthy answer of the dying Haller to the friends who congratulated him on the honor of a visit in his last hours from the Emperor Joseph II.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The Saviour’s work of love an unwearied and continual work of love.—The preaching of the word of the kingdom of Heaven must be continued in ever-increasing measure.—Even yet the Lord often sends forth His servants two and two.—Value and difficulty of collegial relations among the ministers of the Gospel.—The husbandry of God: 1. Great is the harvest; 2. few are the laborers; 3. God alone can restore the just relation between harvest and laborers.—God the Lord of the harvest, who 1. Determines the time of the harvest; 2. appoints the laborers for the harvest; 3. guards the success of the harvest; 4. deserves the thank-offering of the harvest.—Prayer to the Lord of the harvest: 1. Its contents; 2. its ground; 3. its blessing.—The vocation of the messengers of the Gospel on its bright and dark side; 1. Christ Himself sends them out, but, 2. as lambs in the midst of wolves.—The Christian freedom from care of those who serve the kingdom of Heaven.—The preaching of the Gospel at the same time a salutation of peace and a declaration of war.—Only the son of peace can receive and appropriate the salutation of peace.—The coming of the Gospel into the circle of domestic life.—“We seek not yours but you.”—The fundamental features of a future Halieutics and Poimenics [or, in other words, of a theory of the two branches of the minister’s work, the conversion of men as a fisher of souls, and the training of converts as a shepherd of souls.—C. C. S.] comprised in the instructions given to the Seventy.—The laborer is worthy of his hire: 1. However imperfect he be he certainly deserves it; 2. however late it may come he always receives it.—Ἰατρὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πολλῶν ἀντάξιος ἅλλων.—Even the severest utterance of the rejected witnesses of Christ may never bear the character of a personal vengeance.—Holy wrath and inexhaustible love united in the ambassadors of Christ.—The greater the privileges the greater the responsibility.—The wrath of the Lamb, Rev_6:16.—What the desolated cities of antiquity testify to unbelieving posterity.—A future judgment awaits even sinners already condemned.—Capernaum the image of unbelieving Christendom: 1. The darkness resting upon Capernaum; 2. the light rising upon Capernaum; 3. the enmity reigning in Capernaum; 4. the judgment passed upon Capernaum.—The Saviour regards the cause of His ambassadors as His own.—Whoever rejects the Gospel rejects not man but God.—Whoever as the servant of Christ seeks not his own honor, him, sooner or later, shall his Master bring to honor.
Whoever has gone forth into the service of the Lord owes Him first of all an account thereof.—Before the name of Jesus all the powers of darkness must bow.—Satan’s fall: 1.Perceived by Jesus; 2. effected by Jesus; 3. celebrated by Jesus.—The falling of Satan and the falling of lightning: 1. The height of both; 2. the quickness of both; 3. the depth of both.—The greatest triumphs over the might of darkness are known to the King alone, not to the servants.—Jesus, treading on serpents, gives the same power also to His church, Rom_16:20.—Naught can harm him who harms not himself.—Dominion over the world of spirits, however desirable it may be, is yet not the deepest ground for the joy of the disciples of Jesus.—The highest eulogy: “Your names are written in Heaven:” 1. How it is to be understood; 2. how desirable it Isaiah 3. how alone it is to be obtained.—The certainty of salvation: 1. Its only ground; 2. its all-surpassing worth.—Can even a name written in the book of life be blotted out of it again? Rev_3:5.
“In the same hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit:” 1. An example of the joy which the Lord sometimes experiences upon earth; 2. an image of the joy which He now experiences in Heaven; 3. a presage of the blessedness which He shall hereafter taste when the kingdom of God shall be fully perfected.—The joy of the Saviour and the joy of His people.—How true Christian joy elevates itself to praise and thanks.—The sovereignty of the Father of light: 1. The Father in Heaven at the same time Lord of Heaven and earth; 2. the Lord of Heaven and earth at the same time a heavenly Father.—The kingdom of God, now as ever, hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes: 1. This is not different, a. in the days of the Saviour, b. in later ages, c. in our time; 2. this cannot be different, a. objective cause in the nature of the Gospel, b. subjective in the human heart, c. supernatural in the counsel of God; 3. this may not be different, for even in this way, a. the divinity of the Gospel is confirmed, b. the requirements of the Gospel are satisfied c. the trial of the Gospel is assured.—God’s good pleasure in concealing and revealing the truth of salvation: 1. An uncensurable, 2. an unalterable, 3. an adorable good pleasure.—Even though it appear enigmatical, yet must faith approve the good pleasure of the Father.—It is possible to be wise and prudent and at the same time to be a child and simple, 1Co_14:2.—Not the developed understanding but the soul longing for salvation is the first point of attachment for the things of the kingdom of God.—The power bestowed on the Lord Christ by the Father: 1. An unlimited; 2. a legitimate; 3. a beneficent; 4. an ever-enduring power.—The whole unique relation between the Son and the Father: 1. How far it is the object of our faith: 2. how far it can be the object of our knowledge.—How: 1. The Son reveals to us the Father, but also, 2. the Father reveals to us the Son.—The relation between the Father and the Son: 1. The highest mystery; 2. a revealed mystery; 3. even after the revelation yet continually a partially concealed mystery.—The blessed lot of the sincere disciples of the Lord.—In Christ: 1. The highest expectation of antiquity fulfilled; 2. the highest ideal of mankind realized; 3. the highest revelation of the Godhead bestowed.—No prophet or king of the Ancient Covenant so blessed as the heir of the new.—In order to see that which is highest on earth, there is no need to be prophet or king, but only a disciple of Jesus.
Starke:—Hedinger:—For faithful teachers God must be entreated.—Faithful laborers in church and school grow not of themselves, nor are they taken from the trees; God gives and sends them.—Those who are sent of God must possess the qualities of sheep and lambs, 1Ti_3:3.—Osiander:—Preachers should be content with little, and remain mindful of this, that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, Rom_14:17.—When the common usages of the country have nothing sinful in them, they are undoubtedly by all means to be observed.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Happy are they who are sons of peace, on whom rests the peace of the children of God, Gal_6:16.—Woe to the houses where the blessing brought turns back again.—“If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?” 1Co_9:11.—Cramer:—In hell there will doubtless be grades of damnation, Luk_12:47-48.—Quesnel:—This is a holy abyss of the judgment of God, that the Gospel is preached even to those who reject it, and that it has not been preached for those who would have repented, Rom_11:33.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—By repentance one can avert from himself temporal and eternal destruction, 1Ki_21:29; Jer_26:3; Jon_3:10.—The condition of very great exaltation is dangerous, for it is exposed to very heavy falls, Oba_1:4.—Brentius:—Joy from divine blessings bestowed must keep within bounds, and lead to the watchword, Psa_115:1.11—Majus:—The holy ministry has the destruction of the kingdom of Satan as its design.—Canstein:—That God’s children often rejoice more over lesser than greater heavenly benefits is a sign of their imperfection.—Hedinger:—Not gifts but faith saves.—In the kingdom of God one has not only occasion to weep, but also heartily to rejoice over the goodness of God and the marvellous things which He does for the children of men.—Osiander:—Not all the wise are rejected, and not all the simple enlightened; they who lay off their wisdom and go to Christ to school shall be instructed unto the kingdom of Heaven.—Canstein:—The natural knowledge of God is not enough to salvation, else had we needed no special revelation.—Zeisius:—Oh, what an admirable preëminence of the New Testament above the Old, but also much heavier condemnation of unthankful Christians than of the Jews, Heb_2:2.—Brentius:—The fathers of the Old Testament were saved as much by the cross of Jesus Christ as we, only that for us the light shines clearer than for them, Act_15:11.
Heubner:—With Christ man can do more than he believes; our faintheartedness is often put to shame. How many simple missionaries accomplish by faith what the profoundest theologians without faith would not lay hand to.—Christ plainly took the kingdom of evil spirits for something real.—If we are purely bound to Christ no enemy is dangerous to us.—How different worldly and heavenly praise.—Bengel:—How can one know whether his name is written in the book of Life? With this point one must not make the beginning of the salutary doctrine, which first brings forward repentance and faith, but make a conclusion thereunto, as the epistle of Paul to the Romans in particular exhibits. Only look to it that thou ever hold faithful to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the rest let Him take care. If thy name appears with renown in human registers, that helps thee nothing, but hurts thee rather.—Schleiermacher:—Rejoice not over what you accomplish (Sermon 3, page 24), for the reason: 1. That it cannot be the standard of our own value; 2. that it conflicts with love to judge any one according to this; 3. that we cannot always hold fast this joy.
Von Gerlach:—There comes the hour of fulfilment of all longings and hopes, as it has come for the world in Jesus Christ. What the prophets had portrayed in individual, ever-clearer traits of His image in their prophecies, this appeared in Him Himself in full glory. Thus could no prophet have conceived Him, and still less have portrayed Him. Although there is no doctrine of the New Testament, of which the beginnings were not already to be found in the Old, although everything concerning Christ has been said, scattered here and there; yet who, before His appearance, could have had even a presentiment of this union of the highest, holiest, Divine majesty and the deepest lowliness of humility, of the most powerful might and the fieriest zeal with the stillest meekness and patience. Of the inestimable privileges of the true Christian, the word of Saint Bernard holds good:
Quocumque loco fuero,
Jesum meum desidero,
Quam lætus, quum invenero!
Quam felix, quum tenuero!
Footnotes:
[1]Luk_10:1.—The δύο added here and in Luk_10:17, which the Vulgate has received and Lachmann bracketed, is too slenderly attested to be received into the text, and is, therefore, correctly rejected by most critics. [Om., Cod. Sin., A., C., L., Ξ.—C. C. S.]
[2]Luk_10:2.—According to the better reading δέ instead of οὗν. See Tischendorf ad locum. [Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregelles read δἑ, Alford οὖν, regarding δέ as substituted, because the more common copulative. For οὖν are A., E., 11 other uncials; Cod. Sin., B., C., D., L. have δέ.—C. C. S.]
[3]Luk_10:11.—With Griesbach and Tischendorf we believe that we may receive the words εἰς τοὺς πόδας ἡμῶν without scruple into the text. They have been omitted from many manuscripts only because they appeared to be superfluous [ins. A., B., C., D., R., Ξ., Cod. Sin.—C. C. S.]
[4]Luk_10:11.—The reading of the Recepta ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς is only a repetition from Luk_10:9, by which the force of the word of leave taking, which is here put into the mouth of the Seventy, is without reason weakened- [Om., ἐφ̓ ὑμᾶς, B., D., L., Cod. Sin.—C. C. S.]
[5][Luk_10:12.—Cod. Sin. retains δἐ with D., M., V.—C. C S.]
[6]Luk_10:15.—The reading of Tischendorf: μὴ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ, finds, it is true, in B., D., L., [Cod. Sin., E.,] and in the Ethiopic and Coptic versions, and in the Itala, important support, and, superficially considered, it may appear as if the pathos of the address is heightened by the interrogative form. On the other hand, however, such a reflection appears less congruous, indeed has even more or less a sarcastic and ironical character, which accords as little with the solemnity of the occasion as with the frame of mind of the Saviour. [As Bleek and Meyer remark, this reading, so weakening to the sense and real solemnity of the denunciation, has arisen from an inadvertent doubling of the last letter of καφαρναουμ, thus changing the following η into μη, and involving afterwards the necessity of changing υψωθεισα into υψωθησῃ to make sense. This change was supported by the fact that the original reading in the parallel passage, Mat_11:24, was probably η…υψωθης, which passage both acted upon this and was acted upon by it.—C. C. S.]
[7]Luk_10:18.—Ἐθεώρουν. Imp., [I already] beheld [when you wents forth]. Meyer.]
[8]Luk_10:19.—Δέδωκα is the reading approved by the author, following Tischendorf, and agreeing with Meyer and Alford. I see that Cod. Sin. also gives the Perfect.—C. C. S.]
[9]Luk_10:20.—The word μᾶλλον, which Elzevir here receives into the text in addition to the other adversatives [with S., X.], and which from his Greek text has passed over into several translations, is critically worthless and logically a hindrance, since it weakens the force of the exquisite antithesis.
[10]Luk_10:22.—There is no ground whatever for omitting this beginning of Luk_10:22, as has been done, inter al., by Luther and also by Griesbach. The words have but few authorities against them (D., L., cursives, versions), and appear to have been neglected on account of the similar commencement of Luk_10:23. That, however, they have not been transferred from this latter verse, appears from the fact that here κατ ̓ ἰδίαν is wanting. [The uncials omitting the words are, however, more numerous and weighty than he states, being in addition to D. and L., M., Ξ., and especially the two important Codd., Cod. Sin. and, according to Alford and Tischendorf, B., although the latter hesitates, as in woide’s and Mai’s editions: at least, they are omitted.—C. C. S.]
[11][The German here has lösung, which appears to be a misprint for “losung.”—C. C. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 10, 12, 16 The harvest, &c.--(See on Mat 9:37).
The harvest, &c.--(See on Mat 9:37).
pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest--(See on Mat 9:38).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 7, 13, 15 § 80.—COMMISSIONING OF THE SEVENTY, Luk_10:1-16.
§ 80.—COMMISSIONING OF THE SEVENTY, Luk_10:1-16.
Our Lord having finally withdrawn his rejected ministry from Northern Palestine, and having arrived at the northern boundary of Judea on his last setting his face in that direction, proceeds to perform, in the midst of apparent dejection, a public symbol of future triumph. He selects from the messengers mentioned in the last chapter, from the candidates so well sifted in its closing verses, and probably from some of his friends in Judea, a body of Seventy to perform a mission of heralding his name and preaching through city and country.
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Of the commissioning of the SEVENTY, Luke gives the sole account; and his narrative is limited to three paragraphs. Of the brevity of the account, imaginative men, especially among papists, have taken advantage, to fill up the number with names like Mark, Matthias, and Luke himself, and a sufficient catalogue of fictitious names. Rationalists, on the other hand, have used the fact that no reference is ever afterwards made to the Seventy in apostolic history, to discredit the truth of the account. To this cavil it may be perhaps a sufficient reply to say, that Luke is the sole author of later apostolic history; and it can hardly be supposed that he would by such omission slight or throw discredit on his own statement. And a still more conclusive reply is furnished, as will soon appear, from the transient character of the symbol. But why the precise number Seventy?
Grotius tells us that as the Jews, for smaller bodies of select men customarily used the number twelve, so in the larger they used the number seventy. The former number was doubtless founded upon that of the twelve sons of Jacob, and thence the twelve tribes of Israel; the latter had some respect to the seventy souls who came with Jacob into Egypt; or, rather, we may perhaps say that the reckoning of this seventy was so adjusted in reckoning Jacob’s family, as to make a customary significant number. In the same manner Matthew so adjusts the reckoning of Christ’s genealogy as thrice to produce twice the sacred seven; just as seventy is that sacred number decimally multiplied. See supplementary note to chap. 6.
But there was something of a vibrating between the number seventy and seventy-two. The seventy translators of the Septuagint were in full seventy-two, (p. 10;) and seventy was in fact put simply as the round expression of the fuller number. As twelve was the number of the phylarchs or tribe-chiefs, so seventy-two was the number of elders chosen by Moses, being six from each tribe; which makes the sacred number twelve multiplied by its own half. And then seventy (the round for seventy-two) were the palms, and twelve the springs of Elim. Exo_15:27. Seventy was the number of the Jewish Sanhedrim. So Josephus tells us that Varus sent twelve Jewish legates to the Jews of Ecbatana; and by the Jews of Ecbatana seventy legates were sent to Varus to plead their cause, all of whom he slew. Josephus himself, when sent to regulate the affairs of Galilee, choose seventy colleagues. In the siege of Jerusalem there were seventy citizens chosen as a body of judges. As twelve was the number of the tribes of Israel, so seventy is the ritual number of the nations of the earth, and seventy the ritual number of Gentile dialects. At the Feast of Tabernacles, whither Jesus was now going, the Jews were accustomed to sacrifice seventy bullocks in behalf of the Gentile nations.
We may now see the reason for the selection of the number Seventy, and the probable significance of this body. This college of ministry, next in rank to the twelve, was appointed to herald the way of Jesus. But as the twelve had reference to the tribes of Jews, so the Seventy were the symbol of the preaching of the universal gospel to all the nations of the earth. It is true that the twelve, independently considered, were the ministry for the whole world. But just as Peter, though a universal minister, was the apostle of the circumcision in comparison with Paul the apostle of the Gentiles, so the twelve, though absolutely a universal ministry, were a Jewish ministry in comparison with the Seventy. This general view (adopted by such scholars as Weiseler, Tischendorf, and Ellicott) will perhaps increase in apparent probability as we proceed.
What the Seventy were to Christ, his missionaries, that the demons were to Satan, his emissaries. The downfall of the emissaries is revealed to the missionaries; the downfall of the prince of darkness is revealed to the prince of light. See notes on Luk_10:17.
1. After these things—The preparatory doings of the last chapter.
Appointed—In the Greek set forth, or publicly exhibited. The proper word to indicate the exhibition of a significant symbol. But inasmuch as ministers were so set forth or publicly inducted into their dignities, the word becomes synonymous with ordain, or to publicly appoint to office.
Two and two—So that there were thirty-five different couples to go thirty-five different ways. Two were suited for mutual support and counsel; and, also, that by the mouth of two witnesses every thing might be established. Compare the two witnesses of Rev_11:3; upon which Bishop Newton remarks, that reformers in different ages seem to come in pairs; as Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha, Huss and Jerome, Luther and Melancthon; and, we may add, in a later reformation, Wesley and Fletcher.
Whither he himself would come—In Greek whither he was about to come; that is, provided the proper conditions should exist. It is not likely that our Lord would, or did, in fact, expect to visit the thirty-five different localities. But these Seventy are a miniature of the progress of the gospel in the Gentile world. They are the representatives of the preachers of the gospel, to herald the goings of Jesus in all the earth.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Luk_10:1-24. The Mission of the Seventy.
Luk_10:1-24. The Mission of the Seventy.
1. After these things] i.e. after finally leaving Galilee, and starting on His great Peraean progress.
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other seventy also] Rather, also others (besides the Twelve) seventy in number. Some MSS. read seventy-two (B, D, M, &c.). The number had evident reference to the Elders of Moses (Num_11:16), where there is the same variation; the Sanhedrin; and the Jewish belief (derived from Genesis 10) as to the number of the nations of the world. The references to Elim with its 12 wells and 70 palm-trees are mere plays of allegoric fancy.
two and two] The same merciful provision that we see in the brother- pairs of the Twelve.
into every city, &c.] Clearly with the same object as in Luk_9:52. It may have been all the more necessary because hitherto He had worked less in the Transjordanic regions.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 (1) After these things the Lord appointed other seventy…
X.
(1) After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also.—Some MSS. of importance give “seventy-two,” but the evidence preponderates in favour of the reading “seventy.” The number had a threefold significance. (1) Seventy elders had been appointed by Moses to help him in his work of teaching and judging the people (Num_11:16), and to these the spirit of prophecy had been given that they might bear the burden with him. In appointing the Seventy our Lord revived, as it were, the order or “school” of prophets which had been so long extinct. The existence of such men in every Church is implied in well-nigh every Epistle (e.g., Act_13:1; Act_15:32; 1Co_12:28; 1Co_14:29; 1Th_5:20), and the fact that St. Paul and others join together the “Apostles and Prophets” as having been jointly the foundation on which the Church was built (Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5; Eph_4:11; 2Pe_3:2), makes it probable that the latter words, no less than the former, pointed in the first instance to a known and definite body. The Seventy presented such a body. They, though not sharers in the special authority and functions of the Twelve, were yet endowed with like prophetic powers, and the mysteries of the kingdom were revealed to them (Luk_10:21). (2) As the Sanhedrin or great Council of scribes and priests and elders consisted of seventy members besides the president, the number having been fixed on the assumption that they were the successors of those whom Moses had chosen, our Lord’s choice of the number could hardly fail to suggest the thought that the seventy disciples were placed by Him in a position of direct contrast with the existing Council, as an assembly guided, not by the traditions of men, but by direct inspiration. (3) But the number seventy had come to have another symbolical significance which could not fail to have a special interest. Partly by a rough reckoning of the names of the nations in Genesis 10, partly on account of the mystical completeness of the number itself, seventy had come to be the representative number of all the nations of the world; and so, in the Feast of Tabernacles, which in any harmonistic arrangement of the Gospel narrative must have almost immediately preceded the mission of the Seventy (see Note on Joh_7:2), a great sacrifice of seventy oxen was offered as on behalf of all the non-Israelite members of the great family of mankind (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in Joann. 7). Bearing this in mind, and remembering the words that our Lord had spoken during that feast as to the “other sheep, not of that fold” (Joh_10:16), which He had come to gather, we may see in what is here recorded a step full of meaning, a distinct and formal witness of the future universality of the Church of Christ. The omission, in the charge addressed to them, of the command given to the Twelve against entering into the way of the Gentiles or any city of the Samaritans (Mat_10:5) is on this view full of interest.
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The question, of course, occurs to us how it was that such a mission should have been omitted by St. Matthew and St. Mark. To this, only partial answers can be given. (1) The mission belonged to the last period of our Lord’s ministry, where their records are comparatively scanty, and was confined to the region, apparently of Peræa and Judæa, which He was then about to visit. (2) It was one in which, from the nature of the case, the Twelve were not sharers, and which, therefore, naturally came to occupy a less prominent place in the recollections of those from whom the narratives of the first two Gospels were primarily derived.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15 Vers. 1-24. The mission of the seventy. The Lord"s…
Vers. 1-24. The mission of the seventy. The Lord"s words to them of instruction and direction and warning.
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also. That is to say, after the events just related which had taken place in the north of the Holy Land. "Alter these things" formally began the solemn marches in the direction of Jerusalem, which ended, as we have stated, in the last Passover. Roughly speaking, the seventy were first sent out about the October of the last year of the public ministry. The manuscripts vary between seventy and seventy two. The preponderance of authority is in favour of seventy. The Sanhedrin numbered seventy-one. The elders appointed by Moses were seventy. There was a Jewish saying also that the number of peoples on earth were seventy or seventy-two. Fourteen descended from Japhet, thirty from Ham, twenty-six from Shem. In the "Clementine Recognitions," a writing of the first half of the third century, the number of peoples is given as seventy-two. The Fathers dwell on the sacred symbolism of the desert-wanderings especially mentioned at Elim wells and seventy palm trees," alluding to the two groups of Christ-sent missionaries, the twelve apostles and the "seventy" here mentioned. Two and two. As in the case of his apostles sent forth previously, for mutual help and comfort. Before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. By their means, as the time left him was now so short, all the needful preparations should be made before he personally visited the place. Villages and towns, too, where his presence was found, as in the case of the Samaritan village, unwelcome, would be thus carefully noted, and no time would needlessly be lost.
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Luk_10:1-11 and Luk_9:2 and Luk_10:9 give us the word "heal." And the meaning of this word "heal" may be learned from the life and sacrifice of Christ himself. In both the sending of the twelve and the sending of the seventy, the spring of the action is the perception of a harvest waiting to be reaped. (cf. Mat_9:36-38) He sees the multitude around him tired and worn out, like sheep exhausted and scattered over a plain, with no shepherd. "The harvest truly is plenteous." It is the emotion thus expressed which always beats within his breast. "I am come," he cries, "that they might have life, and have it more abundantly." His presence is that of the Healer in a charnel-house of corruption. Before him evil spirits exclaim, "What have I to do with thee?" Foul shapes of sin and want are expelled by his touch. His works are more than wonders; they are signs of redemption, of healing the overflow of that fountain of life which was enclosed in his Person. Now, it is in this, the sphere of the Lord"s love and power, that the servant is to labour. He is sent to save. He is to calm the troubled. He is to exorcise the demons which prey on the life of man. He is to be a channel of the love which is neighbour to man in all man"s need. "The world"s a room of sickness, where each heart Knows its own anguish and unrest; The truest wisdom there and noblest art Is his who skills of comfort best.
Notice what this healing includes. The apostles (ver. 1) were endowed with authority over all devils, and power to cure diseases. "Go and preach," commands Jesus; but also, "Go and heal the sick." The clergyman and the medical man represent the two halves of the Christian ministry. We shall never rise to the height of the Church"s calling until we realize more systematically the conjunction of these aspects. To some extent we do. In our medical missions we do, In the increased care of Christian communities as to sanitary regulations, nursing, and so forth, we do, But much remains to be developed. And what we need, as the sustaining spirit of all work, is the conviction that Christ has given his Church power to heal, to cure diseases. Those who magnify "faith-healing" have hold of a truth, though they press it unduly, and indeed often give it a twist which makes it practically an untruth. They are right in the contention that it is Jesus Christ who makes whole, that the power of the cure is with him, and that, in respect of the cure, as of all else, the way of blessing is the way of prayer. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. On this, undoubtedly, faith should build. But why oppose this to the use of means? Or why suppose that there is a higher faith in trusting him and dispensing with ordinary means, than in trusting him and availing ourselves of the medicinal properties with which he has endowed things in nature, or of the knowledge and skill which also are gifts of God? God answers prayer as really in making the means effectual, as in restoration without the application of surgeon"s or physician"s art. The essential point is that the power over body and soul is his, and delegated by him to men. Let the Church"s devotion be, not less theological, but less polemical; more emphatic, first in the requirement of personal righteousness, and next in such work as shall deliver the poor and him that crieth, the fatherless, and him that hath none to help him.
II Now, this general position assumed, observe, secondly, THE CONDITIONS WHICH CHRIST LAYS DOWN AS REGULATIVE OF ALL TRUE CHRISTIAN WORK. Putting ourselves alongside of the twelve and the seventy, let us listen to our marching orders, our code of instructions. Condition the first: "Begin at the point next you." The twelve (Luk_9:6) are sent through the towns preaching the gospel. The seventy (Luk_10:1) are sent "into every city" and place, whither the Lord himself would. "come." Let us not mistake. These are special embassies. By-and-by the word is, Witness in Jerusalem, and Judaea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." The principle is this there are times when attention should be concentrated on the field that is at our own door. And generally, the beginning, though not the end, of all work, is with our own. We are to work outwards from the circle that is next us; thence are to be extended, outwards, ever outwards, the golden pipes through which the healing oil empties itself. Condition the second: "Proclaim, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." The twelve (cf. Mat_10:6, Mat_10:7) are to speak this to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The seventy (Luk_10:9) are to stand by the sick, and, while they heal, preach the advent of the kingdom. They are to raise a supreme expectation. Not halting to give elaborate courtesies. As men hastening, full of a great word, they are to sound in the ear, now in trumpet-tones, now in gentle whispers, "God"s kingdom is coma close to you." To tell poor weary men and women of the Christ who is behind them, of the love that is seeking them; to hold before their gaze the reality of a kingdom which is, not a name in a book, not a Utopia of priest or poet, but a living fact, a kingdom which "is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, this is the burden of the preaching the free giving of that which they have freely received. Condition the third: "Willingly, wholly, give yourselves to the work, trusting in the Lord whose it is." The pith of the Master"s charge is, Be not anxious as to worldly provision scrip, shoes." Confer not with flesh and blood. Lo! I have sent you." Let us distinguish between the letter and the spirit. To act on the mere letter, in the conditions of nineteenth-century civilization, would be fanaticism. "The sterility of missionary labour," writes Dr. Farrar, "is a constant subject of regret and discouragement among us. Would it be so if all our missions were carried out in this wise and conciliatory, in this simple and self-abandoning, in this faithful and dauntless spirit? Was a missionary ever unsuccessful who, being enabled by the grace of God to live in the light of such precepts as these, worked as St. Paul worked, or Francis Xavier, or Henry Martyn, or Adoniram Judson, or John]Eliot, or David Schwartz?" Undoubtedly not; yet, are Christian people to demand of missionaries what they are not, in some measure, practising themselves? Are they to insist that the missionary shall have all the self-denial whilst they take all the ease? Is it not better for each person to aim at levelling up to the mark required of the missionary? to ask what his or her Christianity amounts to? what is given for it? what living, working force is in it? what of self sacrifice is really prompted by it? Oh for a more heroic trust in the King, and devotion to the kingdom! "Lord, here am I" And condition the last: "Your whole conduct in the discharge of your mission is to be marked by courtesy." "Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house". (Luk_10:5) First before the character of its inmates is declared. The house is the home of men and women. No matter what it may prove to be, it is to be treated with respect. Christ"s disciples are to be pre-eminent for the kindly courtesies which are the beauty of Eastern life. Contrast the sketch in the Book of Ruth, of Boaz coming to the reapers, "The Lord be with you," and the reapers answering, The Lord be with thee;" with the picture of our worlds of capital and labour, each too often addressing the other in tones suspicious, if not defiant. All that is rude and bitter in speech and thought should be alien to the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. There is a time to be firm. "The wisdom which cometh from above is first pure, then peaceable." He who commands the gracious politeness tells the seventy that against the city which will not receive them, they are to testify, "The very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you." But first, and always, let the Christian see that the name of gentleman is not, in service for Christ, soiled by any "ignoble use.
So much for the nature and conditions of Christian ministry. Note, in conclusion:
1. The twelve and the severity go in the strength of the Lord God. They are solemnly appointed to the work. God is a God of order; and ordinance is always honoured. But, with the ordination, they receive the power; and the power is in Christ for them, and from Christ into them. Let us recollect that Christ is risen. He has received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. The Church is his body fulness of him who filleth all in all." The strength which inspired apostle and evangelist in the first days is waiting for all who will to serve the Lord.
2. The seventy are sent, two and two, before his face. Economy and helpfulness in ministry are thus secured. The order of the "two and two" in the ranks of the apostles is given by St. Matthew Simon and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, James and Jude, Simon and the son of Carioth. By some law of affinity these Companionships were formed. In the Church there are alliances also. For two are better than one, and mutual sympathy and tenderness are Christ"s rule.
HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-24. The mission of the seventy.
Jesus, as we have seen, is now going up on his last journey to Jerusalem, and he is anxious that the places he is to visit for the last time, and some possibly for the first as well as last, should be ready to receive him. On this account he organizes the mission of the seventy in addition to that of the twelve already noticed. They are to be forerunners, going to announce his advent in the different cities and villages. Let us study the mission as here presented to us. And
I THEY ARE TO GO FORTH IN A SPIRIT OF PRAYER FOR ADDITIONAL LABOURERS. (Ver. 2) The desire in the world to limit and regulate the number of laborers, to keep up wages, is to have no counterpart in the Church of Christ. The needs of men are so great, the harvest of souls is so enormous, that as many reapers as can possibly be equipped are needed and should be prayed for. Narrow-mindedness and jealousy are, therefore, out of place in Christian work. Those already laboring for God are to be the chief intercessors for more workers, and it is the inspiration of God which can alone fit men for such work.
II THEY ARE TO GO FORTH PREPARED FOR OPPOSITION EVEN UNTO DEATH. (Ver. 3) It seems at first a foolish policy to send lambs among wolves. Will they not be torn to pieces instantly? Is it not to court defeat and failure? But it so happens that it is the manifestation of a meek and lamblike spirit among ravenous and wolfish men which wins the battle for Christ and conquers the world. Were it not for such exhibitions of meekness the world would never be won. Hence the martyr-spirit is the safety of the Church.
III THEY ARE TO DEPEND UPON THE PEOPLE FOR SUPPORT. (Vers. 4-8) Some of the seventy, like some of the twelve, might have taken some provision or money with them. They were not all absolutely poor. The Lord himself might have brought from heaven or furnished miraculously all that he needed during his ministry on earth, but he preferred to depend upon his Father in heaven, and to accept of the loving ministrations of his friends on earth. The same rule he prescribes for his servants. They are to receive their support from those among whom they labor. And in the reception of support, they are to be content with whatever hospitality comes first. Peacefully are they to dwell in the house of their host, and they are not to be choosing some better hospitality and showing a mean and worldly spirit.
IV THEY ARE TO GIVE THEMSELVES UNRESERVEDLY TO THE KING"S BUSINESS. (Vet. 4) The instruction, Salute no man by the way," does not advise any discourtesy, but as the Eastern salaams are protracted pieces of etiquette, they are to show so clearly that their "King"s business requireth haste," that such cumbrous formalities must be dispensed with. It is a great thing gained if the Lord"s servants are so concentrated upon their work that nothing is allowed in the least degree to interfere with it. God"s work must be paramount.
V THEY ARE TO HEAL THE SICK AND ANNOUNCE THE KINGDOM. (Ver. 9) It is the advent of salvation to these cities and villages of Palestine; hence the healing of the sick is performed as a sign of the higher salvation which is included in the coming of the kingdom. Physical miracles are spiritual signs. The health of the soul is to follow that of the body, if the people will only trust the King. The delegated miraculous power is the sign and announcement of coming spiritual power and salvation.
VI THE PENALTIES ATTACHED TO THE REJECTION OF THESE AMBASSADORS. (Vers. 10-16) The Lord directs them, as in the case of the twelve, to simply shake off the dust of their feet against them. This was the sign of separation complete and final. But he indicates that in the judgment it shall be more tolerable for such cities as Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, than for the cities which reject them. Now, the doom of Sodom and of Tyre was terrible. In the one case God destroyed the cities of the plain by fire; in the other case by siege and bombardment. But for Sodom and for Tyre meaning, of course, for their inhabitants there yet remains a judgment in the great day. Yet their sin, though heinous, was not so great as that of rejecting Jesus and his ambassadors. Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum will experience a deeper doom than even Tyre and Sodom, because they repented not. The solemn position of an ambassador of Christ cannot be over-estimated. To speak for Christ, in his Name, in some way worthy of him, is surely a great commission. What an altitude in ministration should we reach before we can conscientiously adopt the attitude of the apostles!
VII THE JOY OF THE SEVENTY AT THEIR SUCCESS. (Ver. 17) They delighted in the thought that the devils had become subject unto them through the Name of Jesus. How natural it is to rejoice in the success the Lord grants! But as Jesus here shows, it is dangerous. While assuring them of triumph over Satan and all the power of the enemy, he also would have them to rejoice rather in this, that their names are written in heaven. The meaning of this seems to be that they should rejoice in what the Lord has done for them rather than what they have done for the Lord. In the one case, they are liable to be puffed up and to think highly of themselves; in the other case, they are kept in wholesome humility. Let the Lord"s work and the Lord"s part of the works, rather than ours, be the source of our spiritual joy.
VIII THE JOY OF JESUS ABOUT THE ARRANGEMENTS OF HIS KINGDOM. (Vers. 21-24) While Jesus advised them to rejoice in God"s salvation of them, he himself proceeds to rejoice in their successful work. His reason for this was:
1. That it put to confusion the wise and prudent, through the revelation being made to babes. Those who are proud and self-confident miss the meaning of the gospel and the kingdom, while those who are babe-like in their docility get an apprehension of both.
2. It is in virtue of his mediatorial commission. The Father has committed all things to Jesus, and he proceeds, as Son, to reveal the Father to whomsoever he will. Without such a revelation we should never know the Father.
3. Christ"s joy is also because of the distinguished privileges enjoyed by the disciples. Many prophets and kings desired to see such things as they saw, but the prophets and kings had been passed by, and these weak ones selected. Hence it is that Jesus rejoices in such God-glorifying arrangements. The more humble we are in heart, the fuller shall be the revelation which God will make to us through Jesus Christ R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 13, 16 The Lord appointed other seventy
Luk_10:1
The Lord appointed other seventy
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Our Lords instructions to the severity
I.
CHRIST SENT OUT THE SEVENTY BY PAIRS.
II. OUR BLESSED LORD FAIRLY AND FAITHFULLY WARNED THE SEVENTY OF THE DIFFICULTY AND DANGER OF THE CHARGE WHICH THEY WERE UNDERTAKING.
III. OUR LORD CAUTIONS HIS MISSIONARIES AGAINST AN OVER CURIOUS AND MINUTE REGARD TO ACCOMMODATION PREPARATORY TO THEIR ENTERING ON THEIR MISSION, AND WHILE EMPLOYED IN EXECUTING THE BUSINESS OF IT.
IV. OUR LORD RECOMMENDS TO THE DISCIPLES UNDIVIDED, UNDEVIATING ATTENTION TO WHAT WAS SPECIALLY COMMITTED TO THEM.
V. OUR LORDS INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SEVENTY RESPECTING THEIR WORK AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY WERE TO PERFORM IT.
VI. CHRIST ENCOURAGES HIS DISCIPLES WITH THE ASSURANCE THAT HE SHOULD CONSIDER THE RECEPTION WHICH THEY MET WITH, AS GIVEN TO HIMSELF. (H. Hunter, D. D.)
Two and two
Two and two before His face
Yet questions of high interest immediately arise. Why should there be any forerunners? What were they sent to do? In order to the full, personal influence and reign of Christ anywhere, there is a law of necessary preparation. Very impressive it is to see that God, when He has any great gift to communicate, proceeds by pre-arrangement. He never bursts into His family with thunders of revelation too sudden or loud for them to bear. Take the one signal event which stands in the centre of all history,--the personal coming of the Son of God on the earth. The prophetic spirit of His nation had been looking out for Him, as nightly watchers on Mount Moriah looked out for the dawn toward Hebron, two thousand years. In fact, to eyes that see the divinity in the Saviours face at all, it is not difficult to discern, all along those earlier ages, heralds like the other seventy also, going before that Face into the places whither He Himself was afterward to come. Now on that great scale of time and space we have a picture, in colossal proportions, of what goes on in every one of our own breasts. Conscious of it or not, agencies are at work in us to make ready, if we only will for the entrance of the Lord of the heart into His home and dwelling-place there. Having created us for Christian service, as the true end and real glory of our being, our Father takes pains to fit and to fashion us for that destiny, with all its honour and all its joy. By secret influences, untraceable as the wind that bloweth where it listeth, silently pressing on the springs of feeling and principle within us; by strange sorrows and misgivings there. That we may become wise and strong and pure in our grief, this process of personal preparation is in continual operation. The heralds are out, sent by Him who is coming after them. The other seventy are proceeding on their errand. We ourselves are the cities and places whither He would come. Again, it appears from the Lords sending of the seventy that all personal efforts and public movements for extending truth and increasing righteousness in the world are really parts of His work, and are dependent on His spiritual power. Christendom everywhere is full of beneficent activities. The benefactions of this late age, half-blind though they may be, or forgetful of their Author, were born at Bethlehem, and grew in stature at Nazareth, and conquered their enemies--selfishness and pride and wrath--at Calvary, and went out among thenations with the apostles, if we had seen one of the seventy walking in some by-way of Jericho or Bethany, we might have seen no badge of Christ upon him, and wondered at his eager gait or absorbed expression. But he was going where the Master sent him, and the Masters mantle was on him, and the Masters secret in his soul. Thither, after him, the Master Himself would come, to reaffirm and fulfil his words, to deepen, sanction, complete his work. (Bishop F. D. Huntington.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 13, 16 1. After these things. All that we can be…
1. After these things. All that we can be certain of as to the time when the seventy were appointed is that it was after the events Luke has already related. There are reasons for thinking that it was near the close of our Lord's ministry. It is usually located in the country east of the Jordan, when the Lord began his last journey to Jerusalem. Appointed seventy others. He had already sent forth the apostles (Luke 9:1), and he now sent forth seventy preachers more. That he could find seventy fitted for this mission shows that his teaching was making a deep impression on the Galileans. Sent them two and two. That each one might have a helper, a counsellor and a
sympathizer. Into every city and place. As the time of his earthly ministry shortened, it increased in earnestness and activity. The Lord in person visited as many places as possible, and these messengers were sent before to preach to the people and to prepare the way.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Luk_10:1. The mission of the seventy is peculiar to…
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk_10:1. The mission of the seventy is peculiar to St. Luke. We need not be surprised at the silence of the other evangelists, as the office to which these men were called was not a permanent one. They were simply to prepare the people for Christ’s approaching visit, and as it were for His last appeal to them. The instructions given to them correspond to those given to the apostles (see Matthew 10), so far as concerns present duties. In contradistinction to the temporary character of the mission of the seventy is that of the apostles, which, as the above charge given to them, indicates “an office and ministry co-extensive with the world, both in space and duration” (Alford).
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Seventy also—Rather, “seventy others,” i.e. in addition to the twelve. The number seventy may have had reference to the elders of Israel (Exo_24:1; Num_11:16). Some MSS. read “seventy-two,” which has been conjectured to be a traditional correction to make the number correspond to that of the members of the Sanhedrim. Two and two.—For mutual helpfulness, as in the case of the twelve (Mar_6:7). Would come.—Rather, “was about to come” (R.V.).
Luk_10:2. Send forth.—The word in the original may imply the ideas of urgency and haste; it is literally “drive forth,” but may have lost this special force of meaning in course of time.
Luk_10:4. Neither purse, etc.—Cf. chap. Luk_9:1-6. Salute no man.—Not to waste time upon secondary matters. Cf. 2Ki_4:29. Eastern salutations are, all from accounts, elaborate and ceremonious.
Luk_10:6. Son of peace.—I.e. one capable of receiving their message. “The meaning here is that the disciples were to communicate their message of peace, as the prophet of old was to communicate his message of warning (Eze_3:17-21), to all, whether ‘worthy’ or not. And it is promised to them that even if their message falls on inattentive ears or stubborn hearts, yet it shall not be fruitless, since the duty performed shall bring peace to themselves—‘it shall turn to you again’ ” (Speaker’s Commentary).
Luk_10:8. City.—The previous instructions evidently had in view villages and detached houses. Eat such things, etc.—The reference probably is to the scruples felt by strict Jews about eating with the Samaritans. Our Lord had no such scruple: see Joh_4:8. St. Paul gives the precept a wider scope by extending it to food in the houses of Gentiles: see 1Co_10:27.
Luk_10:12. More tolerable.—The principle on which judgment proceeds is given in chap. Luk_12:47-48.
Luk_10:13. Woe unto thee, Chorazin, etc.—These words were evidently spoken by Christ more than once: we find them in another connection in Mat_11:21-24. They derive more force here from having been spoken when Christ was at a distance away from them: the guilt they had incurred by rejecting Him was like a burden upon His mind. Chorazin has been identified with the ruined town two miles north of Capernaum (Tell Hum). There is no record in the Gospels, apart from these references, of Christ’s work in Chorazin. Bethsaida—on the western side of the Lake of Gennesaret, not far from Capernaum; the birthplace of Peter, Andrew, and Philip.
Luk_10:15. Capernaum exalted to heaven.—As being made the headquarters of Christ’s ministry. Hell.—In the original, Hades, as the antithesis to heaven; the lowest as contrasted with the highest position. A better reading (followed in the R.V.) is, “Shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? Thou shalt be brought down to Hades.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_10:1-16
The Heralds of the King.—The true preparation for work for Christ is the clear sight and deep feeling of the immensity of the field, the consequent pressure of need, and the small supply of labourers. These seventy had but a few villages in a little strip of country. We have the world brought within arm’s length, by steam and electricity, by commerce and rule. Seventy messengers to the people of Southern Palestine in our Lord’s time was a far larger proportion than all Christian missionaries bear to the population of the world. Such a realisation of the immensity of the work will first send a man to prayer. God is the Lord of the harvest, and the fact that it is “His” is the strongest argument in the mouth of the faithful petitioner. Surely He will take means to secure His own property. The inspiration to go forth must come from Him; but, note, that the man who prays must be ready to go himself, if he is sent. To tell men that they are to be as sheep among wolves is strange encouragement to begin work with. But “I send you” is safety. He will take care of His servants going on His errands.
I. Outfit.—They are to travel light and to trust. This provision was expressly declared by Christ to apply only to the present case (chap. Luk_22:35); but the principle underlying it is of perpetual validity. They who would do Christ’s work must be unencumbered, and should be free from anxiety.
II. Conduct on the road.—Eastern salutations were and are long-winded affairs, and hollow to boot. Courtesy is not waste of time; but much conventionality has to be brushed aside when a man is in haste and pressed by some great duty. We ought to be misers of time in Christ’s service, and not allow social ceremonies to rob us of too much of it.
III. Lodgings and entertainment.—Christ’s emissary is not to pick out the best-looking house in the village, but take the first he comes to. A courteous greeting is in place there, and prepares the way for the message. An obvious desire for the welfare of those to whom we carry the gospel is the indispensable condition of success. We must win confidence for ourselves before we can win a higher trust for Jesus. But the messenger is not to expect that his greeting will always be taken as he meant it. “The son of peace,” of course, means one who has a nature akin to the peace invoked. Only such will receive the blessing. If the lips to which it is offered will not drink, it shall not be as water spilled on the ground, but will flow back to the source. No Christian work is lost. It produces reflex blessedness in the doer. Kindly feelings, even when spurned, warm the heart where they are kindled. Once in the house, the messenger is to stop there, whether the accommodation be good or bad. There must be a plain disregard of personal advantage, if any good is to be done. “The labourer is worthy of his hire”; but he has “no purse,” so he cannot take money; and if he gets enough to eat, so that he can work, he is to stay where he is, however plain the fare. If once the suspicion is raised that selfish motives actuate the messenger of Christ, he may as well stop work. If the labourer deserves his hire, it is equally true that the hire deserves labour, and binds to toil, not to indolence.
IV. The work to be done.—The power of miraculous healing is given, and the rousing message is to be delivered. Both work and word apply especially to the seventy, but both point to present duties. Care for physical well-being is part of the Christian’s work, and will help to get a hearing for his proper message, as medical missionaries have proved.
V. The responsibilities incurred by those who rejected the message.—The solemn command to leave the rejecting city with a last, repeated testimony closes this charge. Wiping off the dust of the city was meant to symbolise the rupture of all connection with it; but even after that the message was to be repeated, if, perchance, some might hear at that last moment. How the yearning of the Divine love speaks in that command! Unbelief makes no difference to the fact. The kingdom will come all the same, but the aspect of its coming changes. It no longer comes as a blessing, but as a foe. The seventy had but little time for their work; for Jesus was close behind them, and they had to leave unproductive fields more quickly than we are allowed to do. But even for us times occasionally come when we have to give up efforts, and try whether withdrawal may do more than continuance. The charge passes into the awful declarations of judgment, first on the rejecting city, and then on the seats of our Lord’s ministry in Galilee, which was now closed. Note the clear recognition of degrees in criminality and retribution, measured by degrees of light. Note the selection of the Gentile cities of worst fame: Sodom with her crimes, Tyre and Sidon—the very emblems, in the Prophets, of proud enmity to God. And these sties of lust and greed are to have a lighter doom than the cities of Israel. Why? Because to reject Christ is the worst of sins, containing in its most unmingled form the essence of all sin, and auguring such alienation and a version from the light as could only come from love of darkness. What must He have thought of Himself who said that not to accept Him was the sin deserving the deepest condemnation? Note, too, the deep pathos of this lament, drawn like a sob from the heart of Jesus. The Judge weeps over the criminals, but His tears do not make Him falter in His judgment. Though Christ would—did—give His life to avert the ruin, He cannot, when He sits on the great white throne, turn the sentence away from those who have dragged it down on themselves by turning away from Him, proclaimed in their unbelieving ears.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_10:1-16
Luk_10:1-16. Lessons from the Seventy.
I. Unknown workers.—They were the first band of that vast army of unknown Christian workers whose names, though written in heaven, have been scarcely known and never preserved on earth.
II. Instructions for Christian workers.—
1. They were to go “two and two.” A hint that Christian workers should work in sympathy and harmony.
2. “Before His face.” All true Christian work is that of preparing the way for Christ. He must follow, or our work is vain.
3. Prayer for the work itself, especially for “labourers.” Do we thus pray daily? Or are we merely content with working ourselves, as though we could accomplish all?
4. Courage—still needed, for some will mock, others will misrepresent our aim, and question our sincerity and zeal.
5. Simplicity of aim. Christian workers have not to study their own pleasure or convenience or profit, but to work with a single eye to God’s glory in the salvation of souls.
III. The end of Christian work.—We cannot heal the sick, but we can discourage all which hurts the bodily health of man. The great end, however, is to bring nigh to men “the kingdom of God.”
IV. Some sources of consolation for workers.—
1. Success. Christ does not tell us not to value success, nor forbid us to rejoice at it; but He tells us not to rejoice in success as the result of our own efforts or gifts. Lest success should make us vain, He tells us that it is better to rejoice most of all in our relations to God, that by His mercy our “names are written in heaven.”
2. Safety. “Nothing shall by any means hurt you.” All things will work together for our good.
3. Christ as our refuge and support. He rejoices in our success. All things we need are in Him. He will make us see and hear things which many saint of old have in vain desired.—Taylor.
The Mission of the Seventy.—It is remarkable that the comparative abortiveness of the first evangelistic movement by the twelve did not prevent Jesus from repeating the experiment some time after on a still more extensive scale.
I. The motive of this second mission.—The motive was the same as in the case of the first, as were also the instructions to the missionaries. Jesus still felt deep compassion for the multitudes, and, hoping against hope, made a new attempt to save the lost sheep. He would have all men called at least to the fellowship of the kingdom, even though few should be chosen to it.
II. The results.—The immediate results were promising. Christ was gratified at this, albeit knowing from past experience, as well as by Divine insight, that the faith and repentance of many were only too likely to be evanescent as the early dew. When the seventy returned to report their great success, He hailed it as an omen of the downfall of Satan’s kingdom, and rejoiced in spirit.
III. Christ’s warning.—After congratulating His disciples on their success, and expressing His own satisfaction with the facts reported, Jesus spoke a warning word. He gave a timely caution against elation and vanity. It is a word in season to all who are very zealous in the work of evangelism, especially such as are crude in knowledge and grace. It hints at the possibility of their own spiritual health being injured by their very zeal in seeking the salvation of others. This may happen in many ways. Success may make the evangelists vain, and they may begin to sacrifice unto their own net. They may fall under the dominion of the devil through their very joy that he is subject unto them. They may despise those who have been less successful, or denounce them as deficient in zeal. They may fall into carnal security respecting their own spiritual state, deeming it impossible that anything can go wrong with those who are so devoted, and whom God has so greatly owned: an obvious as well as dangerous mistake; for Judas doubtless took part in the Galilæan mission, and, for aught we know, was as successful as his fellow-disciples in casting out devils. Graceless men may be employed for a season as agents in promoting the work of grace in the hearts of others. Usefulness does not necessarily imply goodness. Christ’s solemn warning is not meant to discourage or discountenance zeal, but suggest the need of watchfulness and self-examination.—Bruce.
The Need of the Mission.—There was need for such a mission, as the district on the east of Jordan had been little visited by Jesus hitherto. These men are sent as lambs among wolves, but two by two, for mutual support. Much is made here of the visible means they were to employ in their mission.
I. Their message was urgent.—“The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”
II. Their manner of life was the simplest.—“Remain, eating and drinking such things as they give.”
III. Their commission was authoritative—“They receive you not … it shall be more tolerable for Sodom.” This is a most impressive point. To hear the gospel preached is not only a great privilege, but a great responsibility.—Hastings.
The Character of the Mission.—Notice—
I. Its place in the Gospel.—The three “studies,” as we might call them, of the varieties of would-be ministers, are set, surely not by accident, immediately before the mission of the seventy.
II. The tenderness, the humanity, of the “two and two.”—If it were possible, we would always have it so. What strength, what comfort, is in the not solitary but sympathetic ministry! What have some of us not owed to the fellowship and the communion of a brother!
III. The destination of the seventy.—It is a parable for all ministers. The seventy were not Christ’s substitutes—they were His forerunners. They were not sent instead of Him—they were sent whither He would come. Has this trait of ministry been prominent in our own? There is a ministry—it is no imaginary thing—which has no feature in it of the precursorship of Jesus Christ. It has no note of the voice, “There cometh One after me.” There is more of parable still.
IV. The spirit of the seventy is a spirit of intentness.—“This one thing I do.” His heart is in his work. He has no time for salutations. “The King’s business requireth haste.” Despatch, not loitering—and, in order to this, a thorough faith in his message, a deep conviction of its truth, its urgency, and its power—the very opposite of that uncertainty, of that suspense, which the modern evangelist too often counts the proof of intelligence and wide reading, and an open mind. Thus intent upon one thing—
V. The messenger is not fastidious as to his quarters, his company, or his fare.—There is a lesson in all this for the ministry of our own age. How prone it is to resent and exaggerate inconveniences—to see the dark side, which there ever must be, of the place assigned, and of the circumstances surrounding! How rash, sometimes, is the first choice—how incessant, sometimes, the restlessness afterwards!
VI. The message.—
1. It is a message of peace. We are to bring peace into homes by bringing peace into hearts. All that vexing and harassing self-torture, which is, being interpreted, the heart at war with its God, and therefore at war with itself and with its brother—we bring the cure of it, and it is the very reason of our coming.
2. The other word put into our mouth is “kingdom”—God’s kingdom. To carry into a great lawless earth the idea of a rule and the tidings of a Ruler—to be witnesses to an order and a harmony, a will and a hand out of sight, so that we can tell not only of a rest after death, and a hope laid up in heaven, but even realise it now,—what an office, what a dignity, is this of Christ’s seventy, that they should go into homes, that they should commune with human beings, in the tone not of conjecture but of certainty, and as speaking not of remote possibilities but of instant and present realities concerning a kingdom that is already ruling over all and shall one day “come”—come into sight, and come in glory! This is the office of the evangelist of the nineteenth age, as it was of the seventy in the earliest.
VII. We are not overlooking the supernatural endowments of the seventy for their peculiar and exceptional mission. Miraculous gifts were then and are no longer the accompaniments of the ministerial office. What then? We go on our way unencumbered by what would be to us mere impediments and hindrances, diverting the eyes of men from the spiritual to the carnal, and contributing nothing to the real enterprise, which is the turning from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. These things are more than miracles; they are “signs” of Jesus Christ, finger-posts pointing to the invisible, coruscations of a world out of sight, of a kingdom “nigh” and “to come.”—Vaughan.
Luk_10:1. “Seventy.”—It may be that the number “seventy” had reference to the popular Jewish idea of there being that number of nations and languages in the world—an idea founded on the enumeration of nations in Genesis 10. In that case as the number of the apostles corresponds to that of the tribes of Israel, the choice of the seventy would prefigure the evangelisation of the world. “The seventy disciples are to be regarded as a net of love which the Lord threw out in Israel” (Riggenbach).
“Two and two before His face.”—It is remarkable how little stress has been laid on this statement. All we know, however, is—
I. Their errand; and—
II. The fact that they were held worthy, through their prompt and obedient discipleship to the Master, to be made forerunners of His own ministry.—On what they actually did or how they were received, on their after-history, there is absolute silence. But this single sentence contains two or three principles of the Christian life in man.
1. In order to the full reign of Christ anywhere there must be necessary preparation. All our approaches to religious truth, to spiritual power or holiness or peace, are gradual. The best are not best at once, any more than the very bad are worst at once.
2. All personal efforts for extending truth and increasing righteousness in the world are really parts of the Lord’s work, and are dependent on His spiritual power.—Huntington.
The Significance of the Number.—As the number of the twelve apostles appears to have reference to the number of the patriarchs, so do these seventy disciples recall the number of the elders who were called up into Mount Sinai to behold the wondrous vision of God, and to eat and drink in His presence—who, moreover, assisted Moses to govern the people.—Burgon.
“Two and two.”—As they were to bear witness of Christ, they would fulfil the legal requirement, “At the mouth of two or three witnesses,” etc. Where two are associated together in the name of Jesus, there is a “threefold cord which is not quickly broken” (see Ecc_4:9-12).
“Whither He Himself would come.”—The seventy were sent to prepare the inhabitants of towns and villages throughout the land for the coming of Christ. They were
(1) to give information concerning Him, and
(2) to excite longing for His presence: preparation of both mind and heart.
Luk_10:2. “The harvest truly is great.”
I. The inclination and desire of multitudes to hear Divine truth is God’s harvest.
II. It is only by manifold kinds of labour that this harvest can be gathered in.
III. Those only are effective workers who have been sent forth by the Lord of the harvest.
“Pray ye therefore.”—This we do when we intelligently say, “Thy kingdom come.” The very sending out of the seventy was of itself an answer to the prayer, which on the occasion of sending forth the twelve Jesus urged His disciples to offer.
Luk_10:3-9. Fireside Ministry.—These verses are the pith and substance of Christ’s counsels to “the seventy.” They were to go forth on a perilous but fruitful errand.
I. All really helpful human work must be rooted and grounded in loving friendship, and trust in the men it seeks to cleanse and ennoble.—Invite trust, win love, be not in a hurry, make your mission domestic, be sociable, friendly, and human. Stay long enough to gain affection and recognise brotherhood. This was our Lord’s own method.
II. The next stage is that of compassionate healing.—Supply physical aid to meet the acutest domestic need. Display brotherly pity in the form of restorative help to the afflicted. No one can fail to trace the luminous personality of the Master here. Christianity, like its Author, is essentially healing.
III. But the crowning service of man to man is the interpretation of life in the light of Divine ministration.—The missioners did not reach the climax of their work till they said, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” To this sympathetic ministry of interpretation of the work of the Spirit of God every disciple of Christ has received an authoritative call, and by the earnest discharge of its various duties the demons of doubt and despair are driven off the field, and the kingdom of God is established and extended.—Clifford.
Luk_10:3-4. Freedom from Anxiety.—These messengers were
(1) to have no fears concerning their own personal safety;
(2) no anxieties with regard to the supply of their material necessities;
(3) the ground of their confidence was to be their trust in Him who had sent them forth (“I” in Luk_10:3 is emphatic).
Luk_10:4. Three Sins to be avoided.—Three forms of sin are to be specially avoided by the minister of Christ: avarice, luxury, and worldly anxiety.
Luk_10:4-5. Courtesy.
I. Courtesy is not to interfere with duty.
II. Courtesy is itself to be consecrated into duty (the salutation on entering a house).
Luk_10:5. “Peace.”—
1. The heart of the believer is filled by a peace which the world can neither give nor take away.
2. The desire of the believer is to make others partakers of this peace.
Luk_10:5-6. “Peace be to this house.”—The greeting of peace on the part of Christ’s messenger is like a magnet which draws to itself what is of the same nature with it. Even when it is not received the blessing comes back to the giver—like the dove to the Ark. The Spirit seeks what is akin to itself, and where that is wanting finds no abode.
Luk_10:6. “Son of peace.”—The formal benediction, like other means of grace, depends for its efficacy on the temper of those to whom it is given. The message of peace is not defeated even if it be rejected: the duty done in proclaiming it satisfies the conscience of the messenger and fills his heart with a deeper peace.
Luk_10:7. “The labourer,” etc.—What the minister of Christ receives for his sustenance is not an alms: the message he brings entitles him to it. The minister of Christ is
(1) neither to seek for great temporal prosperity,
(2) nor from a false shame to refuse adequate sustenance from those whom he serves in spiritual things.
Luk_10:10-12. Words of Menace.—These menacing words concerning the towns which, without regard to the signs of the times, would reject His messengers lead Jesus to speak of those cities which have for so long enjoyed His presence without profiting by it. In leaving their neighbourhood for ever He addresses to them the warning that follows (Luk_10:13-16).—Godet.
Luk_10:11. “Is come nigh unto you.”—The kingdom of God may come nigh to us, and yet we may be “far from the kingdom of God.” In the former case we may remain passive or may offer resistance; in the latter we begin to yield to the Divine attraction and to co-operate with God’s effort to save us.
Luk_10:12. “More tolerable … for Sodom.”—Cf. Lam_4:6 : “For the iniquity of the daughter of My people is greater than the sin of Sodom” (R.V.).
Luk_10:12-13. “Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon.”—The inhabitants of these cities had been exceedingly debased by sensual indulgences, but in two points the inhabitants of the Galilæan cities were worse than them.
1. Their consciences were seared and hardened by resistance to spiritual influences.
2. Their hearts were ossified by religious self-complacency and conceit.
Luk_10:13. “Sitting in sackcloth,” etc.—After the manner of the older prophets Christ personifies Tyre and Sidon, and represents them as women clothed in sackcloth and besprinkled with ashes, and seated on the ground in sign of mourning.
Luk_10:13-15. Unrecorded labours of Christ.
I. Note the hint here given of the multiplicity of Christ’s labours: these were cities in which, as St. Matthew says, “most of His mighty works were done,” yet the Gospels preserve no record of any one of them. “Many other things Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written” (Joh_21:25).
II. The extent of Divine omniscience.—Christ speaks as knowing not only what has happened and what will happen, but what would have happened.
Luk_10:14. “More tolerable.”—Some light is here cast upon the “intermediate state” of human souls. Temporal punishment had been inflicted on these guilty inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon; their final judgment was yet to come.
Luk_10:15. “Capernaum.”—The indignation of Jesus takes a deeper tone as He thinks of the city which had been most highly favoured, and upon which His teaching and mighty works had produced so little effect. He had been so identified with Capernaum that it was called His city (Mat_9:1); He had made it the headquarters of His work, and had spared no pains to win its inhabitants to become His disciples. The responsibility incurred by refusal of His grace is proportioned to the greatness of love He had manifested.
Luk_10:16. The Disciples are Ambassadors of Christ.—As the disciples confined themselves to reproducing in their narratives the acts and teaching of Jesus, those who heard them virtually saw and heard Jesus Himself; the attitude, therefore, that was taken up towards the messengers was an attitude taken up towards Jesus Himself. In the same way as Jesus did that which the Father had shown Him, and taught that which He had received from the Father, acceptance or rejection of Him was equivalent to acceptance or rejection of God Himself: cf. Mat_10:40-42, and Joh_13:20, where the same thought is applied to the ministry of the twelve; and 1Th_4:8, where it is applied to the preachers of the gospel in general.—Godet.
“He that heareth you,” etc.—We, too, should see in the messengers who come to us in Christ’s stead (2Co_5:20), not the men, but the office.
The Office of the Ministry.—This is a remarkable commendation of the outward ministry.
I. Nothing ought to be a stronger encouragement to us to embrace the doctrine of the gospel than to learn that this is the highest worship of God, and a sacrifice of the sweetest odour, to hear Him speaking by human lips, and to yield subjection to His word, which is brought to us by men, in the same manner as if He were descending from heaven, or making known His will to us by angels.
II. Our confidence is established, and all doubt is removed, when we learn that the testimony of our salvation, when delivered to us by men whom God has sent, is not less worthy of credit than if His voice resounded from heaven.—Calvin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Luk 10:1-16. Two and a half years of our…
COMMISSION OF THE SEVENTY EVANGELISTS
Luk 10:1-16. Two and a half years of our Lord’s ministry have flown away, nearly all spent in Galilee, having made short journeys to Jerusalem, attending two of the Passovers out of the three which had transpired. Only six months more of the ministry remain. The work has crowded on Him so immensely that He now calls and sends out seventy evangelists. “And after these things [i.e., after the miracles and the preaching above mentioned], the Lord also called seventy others, and sent them out by twos before His face into every city and place whither He was about to go.” These thirty-five evangelistic bands, headed by two evangelists called and sent by our Lord, were calculated to make a wonderful stir in the whole country. “And He said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He may send forth laborers into His harvest.” O how pertinent that prayer this day! In many important and densely-populated heathen fields, we now only have one missionary to the million. O how the Church of God ought to rally, and obey the Savior in sending up this very prayer night and day! Even in the home lands, efficient laborers are so very scarce. You can be an efficient worker if you will let the Lord have His way with you.
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“Go; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves.” Unless you have a heart like the meek, lowly, and loving Lamb of Calvary, you are unfit to go. Fallen humanity has the heart of the blood-thirsty wolf, ready to devour you; so beware! “Take neither purse, nor valise, nor sandals; salute no one by the way.” Here our Lord forbids their waiting to get money, pack a valise, or procure sandals, or anything, as the King’s business requires haste. In order to make all possible headway, He forbids them to salute people by the way, as this would consume time. There is nothing so important as preaching the gospel. Consequently, everything else is to he secondary.
“In whatsoever house you may enter, first say, Peace be unto this house!” Thirty years ago, while holding a protracted meeting with a Baptist preacher, going round visiting, when he came to a house, responsive to this commandment of our Lord, he invariably said, “Peace be unto this house!” I have never forgotten it since. Literal obedience is very important. “And if the Son of peace may be there, your peace shall rest upon it; but if not, it shall return unto you.” If the Spirit of Jesus is not with the inmates of that house, they will contemptuously reject your peace.
“Abide in the same house, eating and drinking those things which are with them; for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.” This is not conflictious with house-to-house visitation and preaching, which was practiced by the apostles in their lifelong ministry; but it was out of the power of these seventy, because of the very brief period in which they must make their peregrinations, as they were going preparatory to the ministry of Jesus, which was to close in six months. You see here that they were commanded to give the people no trouble about eating, but just eat and drink what they gave them without hesitation. “And into whatsoever city you may enter and they receive you, eat those things which are set before you.” Whenever we call attention to small and insignificant matters, like eating, we grieve the Holy Spirit, as our mission is to feed the immortal soul, leaving the evanescent body to take chances and abide its destiny.
“And heal the sick which are in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” We should always give prompt attention to the sick, praying for them, and commending them to the Omnipotent Healer. In this way we will always augment our efficiency as soul-savers, the spiritual and bodily interest going together and mutually helping each other. I have ever found it so. These seventy were commanded to preach the near approach of the kingdom wherever they went, as Jesus, the King, was on hand, having the kingdom with Him, and all who received Him entering into it.
“Into whatsoever city you may enter, and they may not receive you, going out into the streets of the same, say, We shake off against you the dust from your city clinging to our feet; moreover, know this, That the kingdom of God is come nigh.” They represented Jesus, the King, who was on the earth and very nigh. “I say unto you, That it will be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for that city.” Sodom, along with Gomorrah, was the greatest city in the beautiful, fertile, and prosperous Vale of Siddim, lying between the mountains of Moab and the wilderness of Judea, and destroyed by inundations of fire and brimstone, because of their wickedness, their site now being covered by the Dead Sea. As these heathen cities never heard the gospel, even with all their wickedness, it will be more tolerable for them in the day of judgment than the cities of Israel, which, with all the light of the patriarchs and prophets, Jesus and His apostles, still rejected the gospel.
“Woe unto thee, Chorazin!” This venerable city stood on a mountain slope, very conspicuous from the sea of Galilee. Pursuant to this withering woe, it utterly perished, and through rolling centuries had not a house nor an inhabitant, till about twenty years ago, under Jewish enterprise, it began to revive, having now a population of twenty-five thousand — with many other similar places, an ominous fulfillment of the latter-day prophecies, relative to the return of the Jews and the revival of that country, anticipatory of our Lord’s second and glorious coming. “Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!” This city, the nativity of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, stood on the northeast coast, and in full view of Capernaum, the residence of Jesus, from which He sent out the Seventy. This woe fell heavily on that city, because they did not repent. Hence it went into utter ruin, and is there yet, the revival, by the returning Jews, having struck so many places, but not yet reached this. “Because if the mighty works wrought in you, had been in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting down in sackcloth and ashes.” Tyre and Sidon, in Phenicia, on the Mediterranean Sea, were great, wealthy, and magnificent cities, among the first founded by the sons of Noah after the flood; but distinguished for their wickedness, especially idolatry and pride. They had suffered terribly in the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 600; and again in the wars of Alexander, B.C.
325; and, B.C. 70, by the Romans, till at that time scarcely a vestige of their former grandeur survived. Though they were awfully anathematized by the old prophets for their wickedness, yet Jesus here assures us that it will be more tolerable for them in the judgment than the cities of Israel, who heard the gospel and rejected the light, because Tyre and Sidon, in their heathen darkness, never saw the light of gospel-day.
“And thou, Capernaum, art not thou exalted up to heaven? Thou shalt be cast down to Hades.” Capernaum was exalted up to heaven, because honored and blessed with the residence of the Lord. Signally has the awful prediction of her doom been verified, as she long ago went into utter ruin, and remained through many centuries without an inhabitant, the revival striking her only about five years ago.
“He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that rejecteth you, rejecteth Me.” Here is the mystical chain which binds every faithful soul to the Throne of God; and in the case of the wicked, drops down, turning into a dismal log- chain around the neck, platoons of devils at the other end, and dragging their hopeless victim into the regions of endless woe. What a wonderful world we are living in, diametrically opposite destinies on all sides being wrought every fugitive moment! Momentous responsibility and transcendent promotion of the most humble gospel herald, so invested with the authority of heaven that every one receiving you as an ambassador of life, receives Jesus who sent you, and God who sent Him!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Two views may be taken of the minister…
Luk 10:7
I. Two views may be taken of the minister of Christ as regards his personal condition in his work; and two totally different systems pursued, according as one or other of these views prevails. He may be regarded as a solitary being, who has abjured the world and its lies, and is simply and entirely bound to the office which he bears. He may be trained in strict self-denying discipline, and thus sent forth on his lonesome toil. It may be urged on the other side, that, fitted as the solitary minister may be, and has been proved, for certain portions of the work of the Church, he is by no means so fitted for her ordinary and normal requirements. The strength of a body of solitary men is rather theological and ecclesiastical than pastoral; and the ordinary work of the Church is undoubtedly pastoral. It is in the bosom of the family, in the unwitnessed growth of thoughts and habits of faith and purity and love; in the silent progress of enlightenment and confidence and kindly feeling, that the real advance of our holy religion is to be seen in the world.
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II. Whenever this has been forgotten by the Church, consequences disastrous to religion have ensued. We cannot, therefore, too carefully recall to our minds the proper work and province of our most holy faith: that it is, not to propagate a system, not to disseminate a science, not to produce a uniformity of profession, but to change men’s lives; to persuade men, by the agency of our exalted Saviour and Head, who is ever with us and helping us by His Spirit, of certain living facts which, if received by them, must bring about purity and holiness and love—the reception of which cannot co-exist with a double heart and a hypocritical life. And to such an end who are the labourers? Not, in the main, the lonely student, standing aloof from society, identified in interest with an artificial organisation with which society has no sympathy. The minister of Christ who is to work on society should be himself a part of society, should stand in, and be a leader of, the same conflict in which all Christian society is engaged; whose influence will be not only precept personally illustrated, not only example in his family, but also—which is a most important element in the matter—will be extended and continued by the fact that he himself mingles in among the laity, those who have been born and fostered under his roof, and in the light of his Christian character.
H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. vii., p. 260.
References: Luk 10:9.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 225; F. Cooke, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 15. Luk 9:13-16.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 112. Luk 10:17-20. Homiletic Quarterly, vol. xiv., p. 241; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 393; R. C. Trench, Studies in the Gospels, p. 246; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 107.
Luk 10:18
Looking back upon our Earthly Life.
Throwing ourselves forward in the pure imagination of faith into the world to come, let us seek to look back and down upon this world as though we already were beyond it. Surrendering ourselves in our faith,—and with our powers of spiritual imagination lent to the aid of our faith, let us seek humbly to imitate our Master, and look upon our world as He looked upon this earth, when as from a position in eternity He saw Satan fall from heaven.
I. If we look upon our own lives as one looks back upon a way already trodden, and a work already accomplished, we shall gain a truer sense of the proportions of things. This true sense of proportion in life is hard for us to keep in the nearness of present things; yet it is essential to large, happy living that we should gain and keep it. Whenever we shall be far enough out in eternity to look back and see our lives as one whole, we shall understand better God’s grouping of events in them; we shall know then how all the while He who sees the end from the beginning, and beholds all earthly things framed in the quiet charity of heaven, has looked in the good pleasure of His love upon the history of this world, which to us in the midst of it seems often so broken, over-shadowed, and wild. And certainly the more freedom of faith we can exercise in letting our hearts sail away from the present and the near, taking in as in one view our own past, present, and future, and contemplating our life as one Divinely ordered whole of existence; the happier will our thought of life be, and the more just our estimate of what things are small or great in our lives.
II. In so far as we can put ourselves in the exercise of our own faiths beyond this life, we shall gain in many respects a different, and in all a more just, estimate of our own real attainments. We shall see more clearly what we may expect to win for ourselves from life. Here I venture to say that the training and discipline of any power in the honest work of a lifetime may be so much real attainment for immortality—so much gain carried in the man himself through death into the world of larger opportunity. A man, therefore, should perform all his labour on this earth not as though what he does now were all of it, but as an heir of immortality.
III. Only as we strive to throw ourselves forward into the life beyond, and to consider our whole existence here as it is in its relation to the man and his life then and there, can we form a safe estimate of the worths of things. Jesus Christ left no doubt as to what in the retrospect of eternity is of worth before God. It is the new heart. It is the soul born of the Spirit of God. The image of Christ in a human heart is the gain of eternal worth.
N. Smyth, The Reality of Faith, p. 30.
Reference: Luk 10:19-21.—W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 408.
Luk 10:20
The Temptations besetting a Useful Life.
I. It well shows how much we always require to obey Christ’s command, to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation, that even our very duties may be a snare to us; and we may be falling away from the path of life, even when we seem to others and to ourselves to be following it most steadily. This concerns all those who are engaged in promoting works of charity, and most of all, who are labouring to do good to their neighbour in the great matter of his soul, and who, therefore may be inclined to think that they are employed most securely. It concerns, too, every man who is busily and honestly engaged in his regular calling; who, living in the fear of God, is making his work a godly service; and who, doing good in his generation, is setting forward the kingdom of Christ; and is, so far, casting out devils in his Master’s Name. Let us see, then, what it is that the spirit of Christ’s words recommends to us.
II. We are so formed that we cannot even work in the most useful calling long together without finding our spiritual state go backwards, unless we often go to Christ, the Fountain of life, and refresh ourselves with His Spirit. Let us treat as one of the devil’s worst snares the temptation which we may feel to trust in our own useful lives and virtuous feelings, and, therefore, to neglect coming to God; that is, to neglect the only means of knowing ourselves thoroughly, and thus of obtaining a cure for every weakness of our souls, and a guard to save us from falling away, through the Spirit of Christ our Saviour. Christ Himself, whose day was spent in active usefulness, was accustomed to rise long before it was day, that He might commence with His Heavenly Father. In this, as in all the rest of His life, He was our Example that we should follow His steps: and if He, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, did not neglect the means of gaining fresh spiritual strength by prayer and devout meditation, how can we neglect it, without being certain that we shall suffer for our presumption?
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 264.
References: Luk 10:20.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 414; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1321; M. Simpson, Sermons, p. 257; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 174.
Luk 10:21
Both in substance and in circumstances these words are unusually profound, even among the profound sayings of our Lord.
I. First, they mark the almost solitary exception to the pervading gravity, not to say sorrowfulness, of His demeanour and life. In prophetic anticipation He looked onward to the final triumph, when the processes of His salvation should be completed, when the moral influences of His Cross should subdue men’s hearts, and He, the Crucified, should "draw all men unto Him." And to the spiritual Jesus there was in this an unutterable satisfaction. Breakings in of millennial glory would irradiate His sorrow, so touchingly indicated by this one solitary record of His joy.
II. The occasion which elicited this expression of spiritual joy from our Lord is also very remarkable. The lower adulterated joy of the Seventy suggests to our Lord a higher and purer spiritual joy. Their miracle over the external phenomena of demoniacal possession suggests afresh to their Lord His spiritual triumph over the moral power of evil. "You," He says, "see the devils subject to you: I see Satan as lightning fall from heaven." "In that hour" He began to see the "travail of His soul." He first realised the spiritual satisfaction that was to comfort and sustain Him amid outward discouragement, rejection, and infliction.
III. It is worthy of notice that our Lord’s most piercing spiritual visions, and His most profound words of spiritual wisdom occur in connection with His acts of devotion. More than once our Lord permitted His disciples to overhear His communings with His Father. His prayers are ever the utterances of His greatest thoughts, of His deepest feelings.
IV. The sentiment itself is one of the many expressions of the great Christian paradox—that the kingdom of God is accessible, not to men of great intellectual power, as such, but to men of childlike hearts.
H. Allon, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 326.
The Simplicity of Mystery.
I. "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit." What hour was that? When He saw, humanly speaking, a glimpse of God’s method of unfolding His governmental purposes, and His beneficent plans and designs. It is always so. Now and then God seems to lift the veil, and we are allowed for one moment to see what He is doing, and how He is doing things; and I have never yet had one of these revelation glimpses without saying afterwards, "This is Divine; this is sufficient; this is infinite in beauty. God is doing all things well."
II. Religion, as propounded to us by Jesus Christ, is not a riddle to be solved by the intellectually great. It is a revelation to the heart; it is a word spoken to sin; it is a Gospel breathed upon sorrow; it is a word of liberty delivered to those that are bound, a subtle sympathy, something not to be named in high-sounding phrases, or to be wrought out in pomp of words. "And hast revealed them unto babes." It will be found that simplicity itself is the chief mystery of God. The fact of the matter is, that things are so simple that we will not believe them. We look for mystery, and therefore we miss the thing that is close at hand. The notion of the day would seem to be the notion of intellectual power, intellectual efficiency, intellectual culture. If we are babes what may we expect from the world? Ridicule. Let us understand the terms under which we go into this kingdom, and that is, that we return to babyhood. The greater the man, the greater the simplicity; the greater his acquisitions, the more beautiful his modesty; the more wonderful his power and influence, the greater his readiness to consider, and oblige, and do good. From the greatest expect the best; from the master more than from the servant; from the disciple expect rudeness and rejection; from the Master "Forbid them not, let them come." As thou dost increase in gentleness, thou wilt increase in modesty, and the increase of thy manfulness and valour shall be an increase of gentleness, and thou shalt find thy highest joys in succouring many, in blessing all.
Parker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiii., p. 72.
References: Luk 10:21.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 265; Ibid., vol. xi., p. 206; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 222; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 85. Luk 10:21, Luk 10:22.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1,571; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 421. Luk 10:22.—W. Dorling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 142.
Luk 10:23-24
The Sights and Sounds of Christendom.
I. Our Lord’s words suggest the solemnity, the blessedness, of living at a great epoch in human affairs.
II. They also suggest a characteristic of His religion. That which is spiritual and moral, though it be not outwardly striking, is permanent, while that which is merely material, whatever be its magnificence, sooner or later, is surely condemned to perish or be transformed.
III. Why were the eyes that saw and the ears that heard Christ so pre-eminently blessed? Christ’s attitude towards men is justifiable only and solely because He is Divine—Divine, not in the sense in which all good men are Divine, in that they are gifted by the good God with some rays of His moral perfections; but Divine in the absolute sense of having shared from all eternity in the uncreated life of Deity, so that in Him a Divine Substance became historically incarnate, or, as St. Paul expresses it, all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily.
H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 452.
References: Luk 10:23.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 28; C. Kingsley, Village Sermons, p. 161; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part ii., p. 1.2. Luk 10:23, Luk 10:24.—Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. x., p. 215; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 41. Luk 10:23, Luk 10:37.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 348; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 85. Luk 10:24-26.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 169.
Luk 10:25
I. The lawyer knew the answer at the time when he asked the question. He said, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" and all the time the answer was in his own recollection, had he but known it. Alas! we do not always turn our knowledge into wisdom. We know the fact and we hardly ever sublimate the fact into truth. We know the law, and we fail to see that under the law there is the beauty and there is the grace of the Gospel.
II. "This do," said Jesus, "and thou shalt live." What had the lawyer to do? To love the Lord his God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind. Love is life. Only he who loves lives. Only love can get out of a man the deepest secrets of his being, and develop the latent energies of his nature, and call him up to the highest possibility of his manhood. The end of the commandment is charity; the summing-up of all true law is love.
III. "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" It is precisely there that every man has a great battle to fight—namely, at the point of self-justification. So long as there is any disposition in us to justify ourselves we are unprepared to receive the Gospel. One of the first conditions required of us at the Cross is self-renunciation.
IV. Jesus asked the man certain questions which he answered rightly, and those answers were returned to him as a response to his own enquiries. This ought to have a very serious application to ourselves, because we are to be no longer self-deluded by the impression that if more was said to us we should do more; if we had a better minister we should soon have higher knowledge of truth and keener perception of moral beauty. Jesus Christ showed in this case that all the while there was in the man’s heart the very answer which he professed himself eager to ascertain. So it is with ourselves. We know the right; yet oftentimes the wrong pursue. There is in our hearts and minds information enough upon these great questions, if so be we are minded to turn that information to account.
Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 85.
Luk 10:25-37
The Good Samaritan.
I. It is clear that the kindness of this man was of the spirit, and not merely of the letter. Here was one main point of difference between him and the priest and Levite. They needed a specific injunction, but he wanted to carry out a great principle.
II. We may perceive that this man’s benevolence was not hindered by any prejudices of nationality or religion. The injured traveller was an entire stranger to him, but he did not say within himself on that account, "He has no claim upon me." He was, besides, a Jew, and the feud between his people and the Samaritans, because it was a religious one, between people that were neighbours and agreed in certain points while they differed on others, was exceedingly bitter; yet he did not exclaim "Let him die, for all I care!" No, he was a man in great straits, and all other things were forgotten by him in the presence of these two. Now, here we are furnished with a test as to the genuineness of our neighbour love; and by its application we may discover that our benevolence is often chilled, if not—indeed, absolutely killed—by some prevalent influences. These may be described as caste, denominationalism, and a certain prudishness which we may call purism.
III. It is obvious that this man’s benevolence was not hindered by any considerations of personal convenience.
IV. It is evident that this man’s benevolence took its form from the nature of the misery which he sought to relieve.
V. If our benevolence would be of the highest order we must exercise it out of regard to Him who died to show mercy to ourselves. Thus our humanity will rise into Christianity, and our benevolence will be baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus.
W. M. Taylor, The Parables of Our Saviour, p. 226.
References: Luk 10:25.—F. W. Farrar, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 189. Luk 10:25-27.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 244. Luk 10:25-28.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 151; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 171. Luk 10:25-37.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 542; Ibid., vol. xii., p. 328; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 310; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1360; H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 175; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 342; Parker, Wednesday Evenings in Cavendish Chapel, p. 98. Luk 10:26.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 145; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 203. Luk 10:27.—A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 145; H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 371. Luk 10:29.—M. Walrond, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 205. Luk 10:29-37.—Homilist, vol. vi., p. 256.
Luk 10:33-34
Between Jerusalem and Jericho.
I. A certain man fell among thieves; here is the black margin which surrounds civilised society. It is, perhaps, only a man here or there who may actually fall amongst thieves; but it is from individual men that we learn the true condition of the society that lies beyond us. There is a boundary beyond which if a man step he will pass into the most aggravated form of barbarism.
II. There came down a priest that way, as also a Levite and a Samaritan; so the escape of some is not to be taken as a condemnation of others. All the four men went down the same road, yet only one of them was unfortunate. You have passed safely down the roads of business, sociality, affliction; do not turn your escape into a whip with which to scourge less fortunate men.
III. The priest passed by on the other side, so did the Levite. The thing which is always being done by a negative and do-nothing respectability. There are two sides in life; (1) the side on which men are dying, and (2) the other side. We can choose our side. On the first side we shall find (1) something to shock our sensibilities; (2) something to interrupt our speed; (3) something to tax our resources. On the opposite side we shall find a clear path to infamy and the hell of eternal remorse.
IV. The priest passed by and so did the Levite—so sacred names are no guarantee for sacred services. It is a terrible thing for the nature to fall below the name.
V. But a certain Samaritan had compassion on him—there are unexpected sources of help in life. This reflection is of the greatest practical value as showing (1) that we all need help; (2) as protecting men from despair; (3) as showing that we ourselves may become the unexpected helpers of others. The Christian application of this study is obvious. (1) Life is a perilous journey. (2) Lost men will never be saved by formal piety. (3) The true Helper is the very Being whom we have offended. The Teacher of this parable is the Exemplar of its beneficent doctrine. The teacher should always be the explanation of his own lesson.
Parker, City Temple, vol. ii., p. 25.
References: Luk 10:33, Luk 10:34.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 26; C. Kingsley, Discipline and Other Sermons, p. 154; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iv., p. 177. Luk 10:34.—J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 41.
Luk 10:35
I. All Christians should regard each himself as the host, to whom the good Samaritan brought the poor man, and should order his way to his poor brethren accordingly. We shall do so if we will but trust in our Lord, the great King of heaven and earth, as we trust in one another on common occasions. You know what credit means, when people are transacting business. A man who is known, or believed, to have plenty of money takes out goods, or uses a man’s work, to a certain amount, and the workman, or owner of the goods, allows him to do so without making him pay for it at the time. Why? Because he has credit in him; he believes that the other has wherewithal to pay, and thinks himself quite certain to have his money after a time. Now, this credit which we give one another in trade and bargains is really a kind of faith, a type and shadow of the faith which pleases God and brings Christians to heaven. The faith which pleases God is when we have such entire trust in what He tells us, that we act as if we saw and felt it; though it is out of sight and beyond experience. Thus the good Samaritan required the master of the inn to have faith in him, to wait on the sick man, and to lay out money on him, fully expecting to be paid by-and-bye.
II. Our good Lord might have required of us to wait upon our brother out of mere gratitude, without promising any reward to us, but it hath pleased Him to promise a reward. Suppose that host in the parable had himself been a traveller before, and had been robbed and wounded and relieved and cared for by the very same Samaritan, he would hardly have needed the encouragement of a promise, "I will repay thee," to make him kind to this new traveller; and so much the more bountiful would he think it, when his gracious Lord vouchsafed to encourage him. Now this is just our case.
III. Mark another instance of overflowing bounty. He accompanies his aid with a gift. The Samaritan took out two pence and gave to the host, saying, "Take care of him." Ancient writers say that these two pence mean the two great laws of charity; to love God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself. They are God’s treasures with which He furnishes us, pouring the true love of Him and of our neighbour into our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Let us, then, grudge nothing that we can do or suffer, either for our Saviour or for His members. He that shall walk most courageously by this rule will surely find at the last that he has been most of all bountiful to himself.
J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part ii., p. 21.
Reference: Luk 10:35.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 255.
Luk 10:36-37
We may learn from this parable—
I. That religious profession and service have no necessary connection with real goodness.
II. That neighbourhood is not cancelled by a difference of religion.
III. That true neighbourliness involves the spirit of sacrifice.
E. Miller, The Hem of Christ’s Garment, p. 177.
References: Luk 10:36, Luk 10:37.—W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, 2nd series, p. 40; J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii., p. 140; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., pp. 32, 273. Luk 10:37.—C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons, vol. i., p. 291; R. Flint, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 228. Luk 10:38, Luk 10:39.—T. T. Lynch, Three Months’ Ministry, p. 41. Luk 10:38-42.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 183; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 230; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 172; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 927; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 36; W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 215. Luk 10:39.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 98. Luk 10:40.—Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 24; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 421.
Luk 10:41-42
The Good Part of Mary.
I. It would appear from this incident, on our Saviour’s own authority, that there are two ways of serving Him—by active business and by quiet adoration. Not as if His words implied that any Christians were called to nothing but religious worship, or any to nothing but active employment. Still, after all, there are two classes of Christians: those who are like Martha, and those like Mary; and both of them glorify Him in their own line, whether of labour or of quiet, in either case proving themselves to be not their own, but bought with a price, set on obeying, and constant in obeying His will. If they labour it is for His sake; and if they adore it is still from love of Him. And further, these two classes of disciples do not choose for themselves their course of service, but are allotted it by Him. The necessity of getting a livelihood, the calls of a family, the duties of station and office, these are God’s tokens, tracing out Martha’s path for the many. Notice, then, who may be considered as called to the more favoured portion of Mary. (1) The old, as is material, whose season of business is past, and who seem to be thereby reminded to serve God by prayer and contemplation. (2) Those who minister at the altar are included in Mary’s portion. (3) Children are in some respects partakers of Mary’s portion. Till they go out into the world, whether into its trades or its professions, their school-time should be in some sort a contemplation of their Lord and Saviour. (4) We are told on St. Paul’s authority, that Mary’s portion is allotted more or less to the unmarried. (5) In Mary’s portion are included the souls of those who have lived and died in the faith and fear of Christ.
II. Mary’s portion is the better of the two. Martha’s portion was full of snares, as being one of worldly labour, but Mary could not easily go wrong in hers; we may be busy in a wrong way, we cannot easily adore Him except in a right one. To serve God in prayer and praise continually, when we can do so consistently with other duties, is the pursuit of the one thing needful, and emphatically that good thing which shall not be taken away from us.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iii., p. 318.
The One Thing Needful.
These words imply that in order to constitute human happiness two things are essential.
I. That there must be one predominating interest in the life, not a multiplicity of interests, swaying the mind by turns. "Thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful."
II. That this predominating interest must not be of a transient nature, must have reference not to time, but to eternity; "Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
E. M. Goulburn, Sermons in the Parish Church of Holywell, p. 291.
References: Luk 10:41.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 101. Luk 10:41, Luk 10:42.—M. R. Vincent, God and Bread, p. 39; T. J. Crawford, The Preaching of the Cross, p. 255; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 350; C. Girdlestone, Twenty Parochial Sermons, 3rd series, p. 85; W. Gresley, Practical Sermons, p. 341; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 2nd series, p. 196. Luk 10:42.—A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 324; G. Calthrop, Words spoken to My Friends, p. 61; S. Cox, The Bird’s Nest, p. 113; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 156; W. P. Lockhart, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 408; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 287; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1015. Luk 10:42.—H. D. Rawnsley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 186.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 1. (Luk 10:1-42; Luk 11:1-13.)
Section 1. (Luk 10:1-42; Luk 11:1-13.)
The divine provision.
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the first section here, which speaks, therefore, of the divine provision which has been made for man; as the after ones will show us the opposition of Satan; the world, and the religion of the world, to God’s blessed ways, to which afterwards we return to see how God Himself is manifested in them.
1. (1) The commission of the seventy seems at first sight to be but a partial repetition of that given to the twelve. But it is easily seen that this must necessarily be, in so far as they are sent out as the heralds of the same Master into the same world. The number of those sent shows the urgency of the mes sage, as the appended woe upon the cities of Israel implies the nearing judgment of the nation. All being practically (though not openly) decided, makes the result to be manifestly but the separation of a remnant from the self-doomed people. Yet the Kingdom of God is come nigh, and its glories are opening more than ever yet, if hid from eyes that have no care to see them.
(2) The return of the seventy with the joy of their success brings out the farther-sighted joy of their Lord, which plainly reaches on to where the "holy mount" has already carried us. They say exultingly, "Lord, even the demons are subjected to us by Thy Name;" and He replies, that He had beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven; the anticipation of that which Rev 12:1-17 gives in its connection with still future history. It is when the man-child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron is caught up to heaven; that Satan is cast down to earth. The man-child is surely Christ, as the woman of whom He is born is Israel; yet as soon as Satan is cast down; the three and a half years of the great tribulation begin; which immediately precede the Lord’s appearing (See Mat 24:1-51 notes). The present period is thus passed over, as it is in the Old Testament prophecy, or where Israel is in the foreground, and thus the ascension of Christ and the taking up of saints of the present and the past are seen as one: they are identified with Him who shares with them His "rod of iron" (Rev 2:27).
To this time the Lord is looking on here, the beginning of that complete abolishing of Satan’s power of which the casting out of demons by the seventy was an anticipation. He goes on to confirm and extend the authority He has given: "Behold," He says, "I have given you to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." And then He adds, "Yet in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Thus already they are assured of a more blessed place than among the earthly people. They are enregistered in heaven (see Heb 12:23), as citizens of that "better country."
(3) Thus we are being led out beyond Israelitish hopes and promises, and we see along with the mission of the seventy the faint dawning of a new day. And here now we find in its true order of time, what Matthew for his purpose has connected differently, the Lord’s declaration of the inscrutable glory of His Person, and of the Father having put all things into His hand; though this was hidden indeed from wise and prudent ones, and revealed to babes alone. What else are men to God? and how could He crown with the knowledge of Himself the wisdom of the world which it had gained in departure from Him? But now had come that which many prophets and kings had desired to see, and not seen; and blessed indeed were the eyes of those who as disciples of this grace had seen it.
2. There follows that story of him that was neighbor to him who fell among robbers, which shows on the one hand the powerlessness of law to furnish a ministry of grace, and on the other the heart of Him who, apart from law and in such a way as to incur reproach for it and indeed the penalty of the law itself, brought help and salvation to the dying sons of men.
It is given as a parable to one who being a lawyer, and thus a typical Jew of that day, would fain make trial of Him as to His relation to or conception of Moses, whose disciple it was his own boast to be. And yet he must have supposed it a difficult question that he was proposing for this end: "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Was he beginning, perhaps, to realize the difficulty of it? When the Lord makes the law the measure of doing, and puts it to him to answer his own question; he answers like a man who is not resting in the mere outside of things, but takes love to God and one’s neighbor as the very heart of the commandments, as indeed they were. In this, Christ emphatically approves his answer; let him do that, and he shall live.
But to answer the question aright is one thing; to satisfy his soul with it is another: and here is again; perhaps, a token for good, amid all that is evil in his case: there is at least no self-complacency. He seeks to justify himself; but who has accused him? Conscience, it is plain; is at work with him, and that Moses whose disciple he is has become his accuser. He resists it: how we have most of us resisted and resented that sentence of the law which brings us all down to that common level of guilt, -Jews and Gentiles alike "under sin"! The man here is fighting with himself, if in fact he does not discern it, nor even has come yet to realize that it is the heart and not the head merely, as he would fain put it, that is astray: he passes over the "first and great commandment of the law," which he has so clearly stated, to take up the second, and here to shelter himself under a question which he has no thought will turn; as it really does, so terribly against himself, "And who is my neighbor?"
We have heard that it was said by them of old time, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." Here, then; there might be a matter for much nice discrimination: whether the Israelite alone was the neighbor; whether every one of these was so; whether there was a third class between the two; and then whether, when the classification was uncertain; the duty attaching might be left in suspense too. Casuistry of this kind might certainly be carried far, and men might, of course, let themselves off more or less easily. After all how much uncertainty would come in thus, and correspondingly affect the issue!
But the Lord goes beyond and deeper than all this, and with a searching appeal to the conscience of the questioner sets it all aside. He not only answers the question; He answers it in such a way as completely to expose him to himself, and show him (if he had candor to receive it) that it was but an unneighborly heart that could ask it. This man left half-dead upon the road: there is nothing to determine if he were Jew or Gentile; while it is certain that the priest and Levite were both Jews, and that the true neighbor was a Samaritan. It may be that it was their not having settled the lawyer’s question that made the men of law so absolutely without help for an unknown stranger.
But the true neighbor of man is so depicted in this parable as to make us feel how the Lord had provided in it for the need of the one before Him (as for how many others since!) when once he had got into the place of need in which so many things become plain to us. Had he not heard what seems to have been no uncommon saying in the mouth of the people, and evidently from His attitude, as they considered it, toward Moses and the law, that He was a Samaritan (Joh 8:48)? How different the reproach would sound for one who had proved, as he, we may trust, was on his way to prove, the powerlessness of priest and Levite in his case! Commentaries are much given to warning us not to go too far in such application; but the danger of false interpretation is apt to be in the exact opposite direction. A picture out of which we may leave whatever features we please to consider of no use save for decoration; is surely that in which we are most liable to go astray. While the having to make every detail fit is just what will put bounds to the imagination when disposed to stray. The insisting upon as complete as possible agreement between the representation and what it represents is in the interests of exact interpretation every way.
How vividly man’s natural course is set before us, in that down-hill, dangerous road, with the back upon the city of God and the face towards the place of curse, as which Jericho stands in the well-known history. The robbers may represent any of the many forms of evil that break in upon men and bring them to desolation; yet which God uses to make them realize their true state before Him. The stripping off of raiment is the loss of all with which we cover from ourselves the nakedness which from God we cannot hide. A wounded conscience, the consciousness of impotence -"ungodly and without strength" with the shadow of that death, which is awful banishment from the Life of life, stealing over the soul, -this is a picture true in every part of its tale of misery, the faithful representation of a convicted man.
Who shall be neighbor now to one in this condition? who is there with will and power to help? The Jew, Moses, disciple, is brought before us in two illustrative witnesses: "the testimony of two men is true;" and the priest and Levite are good representatives, if any are, of the help the ministers of law can give.
The priest is the first example; but one fatal phrase disqualifies him at the outset, -"By chance a certain priest went down that way." It is plain what such a word means upon the lips that are speaking here. It means that the Jewish priest was not the divinely provided minister for this condition. The message of law, "this do and thou shalt live," is no gospel for any who could be pictured by this helpless and dying man. True, it could say also, "When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive:" and here salvation is proposed, but a self-wrought one, still containing the fatal principle. And even the sacrifices, though they proclaimed a God who forgave iniquity, transgression, and sin; left untouched what He Himself had joined with this, "who can by no means clear the guilty." The old page might indeed be blotted out, but only that a new one might be turned, and the vain work begin again. Thus still the veil hung before the face of God: "None can see Me and live," was His own affirmation.
So the priest went by on the other side, and had no help. "Likewise also a Levite, when at the place, came and looked at him, and passed by on the other side."
The same inability, -the same chance visit, no divine messenger; only the Levite comes nearer, peers into the anguished eyes, for a moment lighted up with transient hope, and then he too passes by on the other side.
Thus the ministers of the law declare only the helplessness of the law for salvation; and to emphasize this the more the actual savior is pictured as a Samaritan, a man not merely most distasteful to the Jew as a schismatic, but actually under the condemnation of the law itself. This the true Saviour must needs be: for the curse of the law, denounced on sin; must be really taken for men; if the law is to be maintained in honor, and the sinner saved. And here the antitypical Samaritan is therefore the One who has heart for men and the Witness of what is in the Divine Heart towards them. It is this that is the glory of the gospel. The law cannot bring God nigh, for such as we are. The gospel exhibits Him as come down in His love to seek the lost. This, because of its infinite value for us, is afterwards developed at length in the three parables of the fifteenth chapter, where the whole Triune God is seen in the "joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Here it is Christ whom we see in this Samaritan, who "as he journeyed, came where" the wounded man "was, and when he saw him, had compassion on him."
The details that follow are again clear and significant, and present the grace of Christ in the fullest way. Faith’s appropriation of the blessing, true as it is from the human side, is not what we find here, but rather the appropriation is on the divine side, all the value of the work of Christ made over to the helpless and stricken soul. He is taken into tender hands, and his wounds closed or bound up by the authoritative Word of God: for it is the Word which binds the conscience, and here for healing, as when the sweet compelling utterance of "peace" from a Saviour’s lips made rest but duty for those that heard it.
The oil and the wine follow for effectual healing: they are plain symbols of the joyful remembrance of Christ’s work -of His precious blood -applied in the power of the Holy Spirit. And here there is such unmistakable plainness, as if no manner of doubt must be permitted upon so fundamental a point. And now he is ready for the road with his deliverer.
The tender care of the latter does not slacken. He lifts him up upon his own beast, -ktenos, not often used in the singular, as here, "acquirement," what he had got for himself. The power which supports and carries us on is indeed what Christ has acquired for Himself: it is living power, the "Spirit of Christ," which bare Him in His wondrous Manhood to our rescue, and who, that being effected, now bears us.
So "he brought him to an inn" -according to the blessed universality of the gospel offer, a "place of reception for all." This is what the Church as the house of God is; where still He "cares for" His own, -"takes charge of" them. How much is compressed in how little in these pregnant words!
Now we hear of His departure, though His care abides. And "as he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatever thou spendest more, when I come again; I will repay thee."
It is to the care of the Spirit that Christ has left His people in the world: here it is impossible to go astray as to the interpretation. But what, then; are we to see in the "two pence"? We may equally with Van Oosterzee, refuse as "trifling" the thought of two sacraments, and yet believe that there is meaning, here as elsewhere. The two pence are plainly recompense for care bestowed, and we may find perfect fitness if we will note that in parabolic figures, such as we have to do with here, the Spirit of God is identified with His work, or with the agents through whom He works. We shall find as to the last a very decisive example in the "woman" of the second parable of the fifteenth chapter; and here it should be easy to see that it is to those by whom the Spirit works in the care of Christ’s people that the reward is given. Present reward: for "he that watereth shall be watered also himself;" and yet a future recompense also, when the departed Saviour shall return again. And thus the two pence (or denarii) may have the number of testimony, because the present reward is but the witness of that gracious remembrance of all that is done here for Him, which the future will exhibit in its full reality.
Thus, from first to last, the parable speaks with perfect clearness; and it is of Christ above all it speaks: not mainly to answer a lawyer’s question; but beyond this to reveal Himself to the soul of a sinner, though, because of his condition, this cannot be done with the simplicity that would have welcomed need more fully confessed. In this way also it agrees with the place in which we find it, following the declaration of the personal glory of the Son of God with the revelation of His grace, and the full provision in it for the otherwise desperate state of man.
3. After this we are made to understand the full provision for a saint, and how it is to be acquired, and how earnestly the Lord longs to have His people acquire it, how thoroughly He will guard them in their possession of it. Here, for our better instruction; we have contrasted the conduct of two saints. Martha and Mary are again, and more largely spoken of in the Gospel of John; and in accordance with the different character in which they are presented here. As two sides of Christian character, they are both needful for its proper display, the worker and the listener, the servant and the one who, even because she better understands His real dignity, lets her Lord serve her.
It is easily to be seen that the latter is the fundamental necessity, and the higher blessedness. As sinners, as the previous parable has shown us, Christ must serve us first, or we should never find ability, nor have the heart to serve Him either. We would willingly reverse this order, but it cannot be. So too as saints we are prone to get our service out of place, and that because of the same root of self-sufficiency which troubled us as sinners. Served us, of course, He has; and now it is our part to serve Him; but how prone we are to do it after Martha’s fashion. How little we realize the need we have of being served by Him all through, and the little need He has of us, save as the objects of His love, and as those in whom the exceeding riches of His grace are to be shown out through the ages.
Martha has received Christ into her house, and surely into her heart. If she is busy, she is busy serving Him; yet that does not prevent her being distracted by it. She is more: she is vexed and irritated. Mary her sister is sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus, listening to His word; and she blames even the Lord for permitting it, while she needs her help so much. But -the Lord asserts that Mary has chosen the good part, and it is moreover the only needful thing: it shall not be taken from her.
But is learning of Jesus, then; the one needful thing? Is activity nothing? is service nothing? We may be sure the Lord is very far from meaning that. But if a man brings me, let us say, an apple, I do not despise it when I say, "The one thing is the tree that bears the apples."
One may hear Christ’s words and never hearken. There may be even an occupation with them which is little better than mere idleness. But to hear as Mary did, that implies service also, and the right kind of service, -wisdom and power for service; and a service which shall be in the sanctuary also, -worship in the heart of it.
For what fruit will not grow upon that seed sown in the heart -the Scripture able to furnish thoroughly the man of God unto all good works? And how else shall we be able to gain and maintain communion with God than by drinking in the thoughts of God? On the other hand, it is easy to see, and there is plenty of sad experience to show, how service unenlightened by the Word may carry us out of communion with God; and how the cares engendered by it may, as with those of common life, choke much of the good seed. Yet if it is to be feared that there are more Marthas than Maries in the Church today, is it not to be feared that there are more than both of these united, of those to whom the cares and pleasures of the world are, far more than any service of the Martha sort, the causes of distraction?
Shall we not covet more that good part which with the Lord’s approbation Mary had chosen? Have we not the power today to choose where she did? The portions that men naturally covet pass away beyond recall; here is that which the Lord Himself emphatically pronounces "good," and which He seals with eternity of possession to him who has chosen it.
4. There follows now, in that order which we have seen to be so constant in Scripture, after the fulness of the blessing provided, that recognition of creature need which makes the living God so absolute a necessity. We must do more than know about Him; we must have the strength of His arm, a resource in Him ever available. And this is what prayer expresses, the cry to One who hears and who answers. "The fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous man availeth much." The need of it is pressed in an epistle like Ephesians, where we are at the topmost height of heavenly position: it there, perhaps, requiring most to be emphasized that we are not above it. "Praying always with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Eph 6:18). There could be surely no more earnest exhortation, nor in a more suited place than where the height of all the blessing needs to be practically realized and maintained in daily walk.
The prayer that the Lord teaches His disciples here is that which we have in Matthew substantially, with certain omissions according to all recent editors, for which nevertheless it is hard to account. Certainly Luke it is who gives us the original form of the prayer, if the difference is to be maintained; as it is impossible to imagine the disciples asking to be taught to pray, if they already had been. Then in the sermon on the mount afterwards the Lord must have amplified the prayer by these added petitions, unless Luke can be supposed to have omitted part of what was first given; which again seems hard to believe. A reason for the omissions, if the larger form were first, is as hard to suggest. Nor, apart from all critical questions, can one well see the meaning of such a difference. It would be a bad argument to reason from one’s ignorance; yet, on the whole we may be pardoned if we incline to the fuller form, (perfect as we realize it to be,) as found in Matthew. There it has already been before us, and there would be no profit in mere repetition.
{Vere 4. The shortened form of prayer, leaving out the bracketed portions, has its argument, not from any preponderance of manuscript authority, but from the fact that while those which do contain it are among the earliest known, the use of the prayer as a form by Christians would naturally affect all but the earliest. The omissions are on the other hand not easy to understand, if there had been but one form at the beginning. Even in Matthew the closing doxology, now generally omitted, was evidently introduced from the ecclesiastical usage. The editors generally give the text without the bracketed parts, though the great majority of MSS. have these, in accordance with Matthew. Even so the two cannot be made exactly the same, Matthew having "trespasses," "trespass against us," though the difference is slight.}
The Lord adds an encouragement to perseverance which at first sight looks strange enough, but which must have therefore a lesson in this strangeness. How many arguments does the devil use, and which our own hearts assent to for their plausibility, against the continuance of apparently unsuccessful petitions. Yet if there be no more than this against them we are taught here to urge them still. And striking it is that the parallel suggested between the success of importunity with man and with God is one which seems as little capable of full application, -seems as capable of having serious arguments against it, -as any that could be suggested in this line. Nay, the Lord Himself points to the difficulty, while He presses the argument as if there were none. "I say unto you, though he will not rise and give because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." Can we apply this to God? Not the motive, surely: God does not give to get rid of the petitioner; spite of which the Lord goes on: "And I say unto you, Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."
Thus the Lord shows us that we may seek continuously, seek importunately, seek, as one needy man from another; although it might be argued, You are forgetting the difference between God and man. Difference there is, indeed; but we are not to use it to check the pouring out of our full hearts to Him. Be it so that He knows all before we ask; be it that we may be tempted to say with Job, "He is of one mind, and who can turn Him?" let us not heed arguments that would shut us from all the comfort of knowing that we have for our necessity a living God that hears and answers prayer. Ask as if He would yield to mere importunity. Cling to Him as Jacob clung, and say, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." Ask until you hear Him say, "As a prince hast thou power with God . . . , and hast prevailed."
Then the Lord goes on to speak of the difference between God and man; but which is all in His favor. If men that are evil can be depended on to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"
He guards against the abuse of the doctrine of importunity. He does not want us to think that we can by our importunity wring a gift out of our heavenly Father’s hand that is not good. In madness sometimes, perhaps, we might desire it; only, surely, in madness. But how can He refuse to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?
Type of all good gifts this, the Holy Spirit. And John has told us that when the Lord was yet on earth, the "Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." We must look at what this implies in another place; but we know quite well that the work of the Spirit in enlightening, sanctifying, working all spiritual work in man; was needed then as now, and being needed, was found and enjoyed. And now that, in the Christian sense, the Spirit is given; we can still have, and are called to prove the way in which our Father will respond with fulness of spiritual blessing to the prayers of His people. How comforting is the Lord’s assurance here! yet how it reproves us also! Here if we lack, "we have not because we ask not." Shall we be content to go without the fulness of what Christ our Lord has certified to us to be ours if only we value it enough to seek it from the blessed hand of God?
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v1 Luk 10:1 - Luk 10:11, Luk 10:17 - Luk…
Luke
CHRIST’S MESSENGERS: THEIR EQUIPMENT AND WORK
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Luk 10:1 - Luk 10:11, Luk 10:17 - Luk 10:20.
The mission of the Seventy is clearly distinguished from and contrasted with that of the Twelve by the word ‘others’ in verse 1, which points back to Luk 9:1. The Twelve were prohibited from going beyond Jews; the Seventy were under no such restriction, and were probably sent to the half-Gentile districts on the east of Jordan. The number of twelve had reference to the number of the tribes; that of seventy may have referred to the number of the elders, but it has also been suggested that its reference is to the supposed number of the nations. The appointment of the Twelve was to a permanent office; that of the Seventy to a transitory mission. Much of the charge given to either is given to both, as is most natural, since they had the same message, and both were sent to prepare for Christ’s personal ministry. But though the Seventy were sent out but for a short time, permanent principles for the guidance, not only of Christian workers, but of all Christian lives, are embodied in the charge which they received.
We note, first, that all personal service should be preceded by intense realisation of the immense field, and of the inadequacy, of Christian effort, which vision will culminate in prayer for more toilers to be ‘sent forth.’ The word implies a certain measure of compulsion, for an overmastering impulse is always needed to overcome human reluctance and laziness. No man has ever done large service for God who has not felt that, like the prophet, he was laid hold of by the Spirit, and borne away, whether he would or no. ‘I must speak,’ is felt by every true messenger of God. The prayer was answered by the sending of the pray-ers, as it often is. Note how Jesus implies that He is Lord of the harvest, in that His sending them is the answer to the petition. Note, too, the authority which He claims to exercise supreme sovereignty over the lives of men. He has the right to fling them into deadly peril for no other purpose than to proclaim His name. Lambs, ringed round by wolves with white, gleaming teeth, have little chance of life. Jesus gives His servants full warning of dangers, and on the very warning builds an exhortation to quiet confidence; for, if the sentence ends with ‘lambs in the midst of wolves,’ it begins with ‘I send you forth,’ and that is enough, for He will defend them when He seeth the wolf coming. Not only so, but He will also provide for all their needs, so they want no baggage nor money, nor even a staff. A traveller without any of these would be in poor case, but they are not to carry such things, because they carry Jesus. He who sends them forth goes with them whom He sends. Now, this precept, in its literal form, was expressly abolished afterwards {Luk 22:36}, but the spirit of it is permanent. If Christ sends us, we may trust Him to take care of us as long as we are on His errands.
Energetic pursuit of their work, unimpeded by distractions of social intercourse, is meant by the prohibition of saluting by the way. That does not mean churlish isolation, but any one who has ever seen two Easterns ‘saluting’ knows what a long-drawn-out affair it is. How far along the road one might have travelled while all that empty ceremony was being got through! The time for salutations is when the journey is over. They mean something then. The great effect of the presence of Christ’s servants should be to impart the peace which they themselves possess. We should put reality into conventional courtesies. All Christians are to be peacemakers in the deepest sense, and especially in regard to men’s relations with God. The whole scope of our work may be summed up as being to proclaim and bring peace with God, with ourselves, with all others, and with circumstances. The universality of our message is implied in the fact that the salutation is to be given in every house entered, and without any inquiry whether a ‘son of peace’ is there. The reflex blessedness of Christian effort is taught in the promise that the peace, vainly wished for those who would not receive it, is not wasted like spilt water, but comes back like a dove, to the hand of its sender. If we do no other person good, we bless ourselves by all work for others.
The injunctions as to conduct in the house or city that receives the messengers carry two principles of wide application. First, they demand clear disinterestedness and superiority to vulgar appetites. Christ’s servants are not to be fastidious as to their board and lodging. They are not to make demands for more refined diet than their hosts are accustomed to have, and they are not to shift their quarters, though it were from a hovel to a palace. The suspicion that a Christian worker is fond of good living and sensuous delights robs his work of power. But the injunction teaches also that there is no generosity in those who hear the message giving, and no obligation laid on those who deliver it by their receiving, enough to live and work on. The less we obviously look for, the more shall we probably receive. A high-minded man need not scruple to take the ‘hire’; a high-minded giver will not suppose that he has hired the receiver to be his servant.
The double substance of the work is next briefly stated. The order in which its two parts stands is remarkable, for the healing of the sick is put first, and the proclamation of the nearness of the kingdom second. Possibly the reason is that the power to heal was a new gift. Its very priority in mention may imply that it was but a means to an end, a part of the equipment for the true and proper work of preaching the coming of the kingdom and its King. At all events, let us learn that Jesus wills the continual combination of regard to the bodily wants and sicknesses, and regard to the spiritual needs of men.
The solemn instructions as to what was to be done in the case of rejection breathe a spirit the reverse of sanguine. Jesus had no illusions as to the acceptance of the message, and He will send no man out to work hiding from him the difficulties and opposition probably to be encountered. Much wisdom lies in deciding when a field of labour or a method of work should be abandoned as hopeless-for the present and for the individual worker, at all events. To do it too soon is cowardice; to delay it too long is not admirable perseverance, but blindness to plain providences. To shake off the dust is equivalent to severing all connection. The messenger will not bring away the least thing belonging to the city. But whatever men’s unbelief, it does not affect the fact, but it does affect their relation to the fact. The gracious message was at first that ‘the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you,’ but the last shape of it leaves out ‘unto you’: for rejection of the word cuts off from beneficial share in the word, and the kingdom, when it comes, has no blessing for the unbelieving soul.
The return of the Seventy soon followed their being sent forth. They came back with a childish, surprised joy, and almost seem to have thought that Jesus would be as much astonished and excited as they were with the proof of the power of His name. They had found that they could not only heal the sick, but cast out demons. Jesus’ answer is meant to quiet down their excitement by teaching them that He had known what they were doing whilst they were doing it. When did He behold Satan fall from heaven? The context seems to require that it should be at the time when the Seventy were casting out demons. The contest between the personal Source of evil and Jesus was fought out by the principals, not by their subordinates, and it is already victoriously decided in Christ’s sight. Therefore, as the sequel of His victory, He enlarges His gifts to His servants, couching the charter in the words of a psalm {Psa 91:1 - Psa 91:16}. Nothing can harm the servant without the leave of the Master, and if any evil befall him in his work, the evil in the evil, the poison on the arrow-head, will be wiped off and taken away. But great as are the gifts to the faithful servant, they are less to be rejoiced in than his personal inclusion among the citizens of heaven. Gifts and powers are good, and may legitimately be rejoiced in; but to possess eternal life, and to belong to the mother-city of us all, the New Jerusalem, is better than all gifts and all powers.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Seventy. The Good Samaritan. Martha and Mary
The Seventy. The Good Samaritan. Martha and Mary
1-16. Choice and mission of the Seventy (peculiar to Lk). Another step in the organisation of the Church. The Seventy receive a subordinate commission, similar to that of the apostles, to preach and to cast out devils (Luk_10:9, Luk_10:17). Two motives may be discerned in the sending forth of so numerous a body of missionaries. (1) The time before His Passion was now short, and Jesus wished the message of salvation to reach as many Israelites as possible. (2) He wished to train His followers to act alone after His departure. Probably the Twelve did not accompany the Seventy. Jesus kept them with Him for special personal training.
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The number 70 is significant. It was the number of the Sanhedrin. As Jesus had already set up twelve new Patriarchs of the New Israel, so now He establishes a new Sanhedrin. The Jews deduced this number from the seventy elders of Num_11:16, Num_11:24. Or the number may symbolise the nations of the earth. The Jews held, agreeably to Genesis 10, that the human race was made up of 70 peoples, 14 descended from Japhet, 30 from Ham, and 26 from Shem. If, as is not unlikely, the appointment of the Seventy took place about the Feast of Tabernacles, the ritual of the feast may have had something to do with the number, for then 70 bullocks were offered on behalf of the Gentile nations. The rabbis said, 'They offer seventy bullocks for the seventy nations, to make atonement for them, that the rain may fall upon the fields of all the world.' The charge to the Seventy reads like an abridged report of St. Matthew's charge to the Twelve. It contains only one v., and that an unimportant one (Luk_10:8), which is not in St. Matthew. St. Luke, however, is not dependent upon St. Matthew, for he arranges the sayings in quite a different order. The close similarity of the two charges is best accounted for by supposing that Christ gave nearly the same directions to the Seventy as to the Twelve. It should be observed, however, that He does not confine their mission to the Israelites. In Peræa the Gentiles were numerous.
1. Seventy] Many ancient authorities read 'seventy-two' here and in Luk_10:17.
6. The son of peace] RV 'a son of peace,' i.e. one inclined to peace. A Hebrew idiom. 8. Peculiar to Luke. The ministers of the gospel are not to be dainty or luxurious.
13-15. See on Mat_11:21-24, where the words occur in quite a different connexion.
17-20. Return of the Seventy (peculiar to Lk).
18. I beheld Satan] Our Lord poetically compares Satan's discomfiture at the successful mission of the Seventy to his original fall from heaven. The only other allusion to the fall of Satan in the Gospels, and perhaps in the Bible, is Joh_8:44.
19. Serpents and scorpions] Victory over spiritual foes is meant, rather than immunity from bodily injury, yet cp. Mar_16:18; Act_28:3-5. The enemy is Satan (Mat_13:25).
20. Jesus bids the disciples rejoice not, as they are doing, because they have miraculous powers, but because their names are enrolled as citizens of heaven in the book of life (Isa_4:3; Dan_12:1; Exo_32:32; Rev_3:5, etc.).
21-24. The revelation to babes (Mat_11:25-27). See on Mt.
21. In spirit] RV 'in the Holy Spirit.' One of St. Luke's characteristic references to the Holy Spirit. Christ's acts and emotions, as well as His words were inspired.
23, 24. See on Mat_13:16, Mat_13:17.
25-37. Parable of the Good Samaritan (peculiar to Lk). This lawyer is not to be identified with that of Mat_22:3; Mar_12:28
25-28. See on Mat_22:35-40.
29. Who is my neighbour?] The 'lawyer' intended to justify himself by showing that, even upon a liberal interpretation of the word 'neighbour,' he had done his duty. He expected Christ to say that a neighbour was a friend or at least an Israelite. The idea that a 'neighbour' might be a foreigner had never occurred to him. The rabbis said, 'He excepts all Gentiles when he saith His neighbour.' 'An Israelite killing a stranger-inhabitant doth not die for it by the Sanhedrin, because it is said, If any one lifts up himself against his neighbour.' 'We are not to contrive the death of the Gentiles, but if they are in any danger of death we are not bound to deliver them, e.g. if any of them fall into the sea you need not take him out, for such a one is not thy neighbour.' In answer Christ appealed to the man's conscience, not to his reason. If Christ had said 'a heathen is thy neighbour,' the man would have argued the point with learned subtlety. Instead of this Jesus told him a story in which a man treated a foreigner as a neighbour, and the lawyer was bound to confess that this was in accordance with the mind of God.
30-37. A sufficient motive for this parable is provided, if it be understood as simply inculcating the duty of benevolence to persons of all kinds with whom we are brought in contact, enemies as well as friends, foreigners as well as fellow-countrymen, because 'God has made of one (blood) all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth' (Act_17:26; Act_10:28). The traditional allegorical interpretation, however, is too interesting to be entirely passed over. We give it in the words of Euthymius: 'The man is Adam and his offspring, the descent from Jerusalem to Jericho is the Fall. The thieves are the demons who beset our path, and strip us of the garments of virtue and the fear of God, and wound us spiritually by causing us to sin. Man was made half dead, in that he remained immortal in the soul, but mortal in the body. The Priest is the Law given by Moses, the Levite is the teaching of the prophets, and the good Samaritan is Christ Himself. The inn is the Church which receives every kind of man. The innkeeper is every ruler of the Church, i.e. every bishop and successor of the apostles. And the two pence are the Old and the New Testaments, which minister healing to the sick.'
30. Jericho] see on Mat_20:29. A city of the priests. The road to Jerusalem is still extremely dangerous, being infested by brigands.
33. Samaritan] see on Joh_4:5.
34. Oil and wine] used as remedies for wounds in the East.
35. Pence] see on Mat_18:28.
38-42. Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary (peculiar to Lk). It is a striking confirmation of the historic truth of the Fourth Gospel, that the characters of the two sisters—the busy, active, hospitable Martha, the quiet, contemplative, teachable Mary—are the same there as here.
38. Village] i. e. Bethany (Joh_11:1). St. Luke was probably ignorant of the name. Martha (lit. 'mistress')] Sometimes supposed to be wife of Simon the Leper. She is a scriptural example of the virtue of hospitality.
39. Mary] Not identical with Mary Magdalene, or the 'sinner' (Luk_7:37).
At Jesus' (RV 'the Lord's) feet] Jesus was reclining on a couch for the meal, with His head towards the table and His feet stretched out behind him. Martha and Mary were both waiting at table, but whereas Martha occupied herself with offering dish after dish, and so was 'cumbered about much serving,' Mary spent most of her time sitting behind Jesus, and listening to what He was saying. When Martha complained that Mary allowed her to do all the work, Jesus said that He was quite contented with a single dish, and that both sisters would honour Him more by attending to what He said, than by giving Him an elaborate dinner.
42. But one thing is needful] 'There is no need of an elaborate meal. A few dishes or even one would suffice. Indeed, only one portion is really necessary, that which Mary has chosen, to listen to Me.' Our Lord gently hints to Martha that He would rather have a quiet talk with her on heavenly things, than receive all these hospitable attentions at her hands.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v1 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXXXIII. Mission of…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXXXIII. Mission of the Seventy].
LXXXIII. MISSION AND RETURN OF THE SEVENTY. (Probably in Judæa, October, A. D. 29.) cLUKE X. 1-24.
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c1 Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others [i. e., other messengers in addition to the twelve apostles], and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. [Luke has told us of the journey through Samaria to Jerusalem, and John has told us what occurred at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. We learn from John also that Jesus was at the Feast of Dedication ( Joh_10:22). The first feast was in October and the latter in December. Jesus evidently spent the time between these feast in Judæa, making a tour of that province and sending the seventy before him, thus thoroughly evangelizing it as he had Galilee, by sending out the twelve.] 2 Therefore he said unto them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. [This last was probably a common direction in cases of haste ( 2Ki_4:29). Eastern salutations were tedious and overburdened with ceremony. Those in haste were excused from them.] 5 And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace i be to this house. 6 And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. 7 And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give [they were not to give trouble and waste time by asking for better food]: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and [472] they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: 9 and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go out into the streets thereof and say, 11 Even the dust from your city, that cleaveth to our feet, we wipe off against you: nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh. [For comment, see Joh_16:11, Joh_12:31.] 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall [473] in any wise hurt you. [While the messengers of Christ were, no doubt, literally protected from the poisons of reptiles, etc. ( Act_28:3-6), serpents and scorpions are here to be taken an emblematic of the powers of evil.] 20 Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. [Your joy in visible and temporal success, and in the subjection to you of the powers of evil, is not to be compared to the joy that you have the prospect of heaven.] 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. 22 All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth who the Son is, save the Father; and who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal i him. [For comment, see pp. 288, 289.] 23 And turning to the disciples, he said privately, Blessed i are the eyes which see the things that ye see. 24 for I say unto you, that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not. [For comment, see p. 332.] [474]
[FFG 472-474]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv3, 13 Go your
Go your
(See Scofield "Mat 10:16"). The same remark is applicable here.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The Seventy Appointed. (Luk 10:1-16)
CHAPTER 10
1. The Seventy Appointed. (Luk 10:1-16)
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2. The Return of the Seventy and the True Rejoicing. (Luk 10:17-20)
3. Jesus Rejoiced in Spirit. (Luk 10:21-24)
4. The Question of the Lawyer. (Luk 10:25-29)
5. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Luk 10:30-37)
6. Martha and Mary. (Luk 10:38-42.)
Luk 10:1-24
Seventy others are commissioned by Him to be His heralds. They were to visit every city and place, which He would visit. How great and extended the labors of the Son of Man must have been. The Gospel of the Kingdom was then heralded as a witness. And He knew that the message would be rejected. The meek and lowly One, the friend of sinners pronounces as Judge the woes upon the cities, who had already rejected the message. When the messengers returned He said unto them, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” According to Rev 12:1-17, he is still occupying the heavens and the casting out of Satan is still future. The Lord beheld this complete downfall of Satan; the work the seventy had done was but a little anticipation of that which is yet to come. Then He rejoiced. Three times we read of Him that He wept, but only once that He rejoiced. He uttered concerning Himself a great declaration, which reveals His glory. “All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.” Only He who is very God could utter such a declaration.
Luk 10:25-37
The lawyer’s question leads to the utterance of the parable of the good Samaritan, to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The parable answers the question fully, but it also contains the most blessed Gospel truths. Jerusalem is the city of God; Jericho represents the world. The traveller is the type of humanity. Man has fallen in the awful road which leads down, fallen among thieves, naked, wounded, helpless and hopeless. The failure of the Priest and the scribe to help illustrates the inability of the law and the ordinances to save man out of his deplorable condition. The good Samaritan is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to the place where the lost are and He alone could have compassion on him. The wine typifies His precious blood He shed to save us. The oil is the type of the Holy Spirit, who applies the blood. He takes care of fallen man found by Him. The inn is typical of the church, where the Lord through His Spirit cares for His own. The two pence are not typical of “two sacraments” but speak of the reward, which those receive, who, under the Holy Spirit, care for souls. The promised coming again with a greater reward offered is the Second Coming of our Lord. The Gospel of the Manhood records this parable exclusively.
In Luk 10:3, Luk 10:8-42 we find another incident reported exclusively by Luke. The story of Martha and Mary is closely linked with the preceding paragraph. Martha and Mary were both disciples. Martha was busy serving the Lord, while Mary took her place at His feet and let the Lord serve her. In this He delights.
“Martha has received Christ into her house, and surely into her heart. If she is busy, she is busy serving Him; yet that does not prevent her being distracted by it. She is more: she is vexed and irritated. Mary her sister is sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus, listening to His word; and she blames even the Lord for permitting it, while she needs her help so much. But the Lord asserts that Mary has chosen the good part, and it is moreover the only needful thing: it shall not be taken from her.
But is learning of Jesus, then, the one needful thing? Is activity nothing? is service nothing? We may be sure the Lord is very far from meaning that. But if a man brings me, let us say, an apple, I do not despise it when I say, ‘The one thing is the tree that bears the apples.’“--Numerical Bible.
Twice more we find in the Gospels Mary at the feet of the Lord. When her brother Lazarus, had died, she wept at His feet and He comforted her. When she anointed Him, Mary again was at His feet. She owned Him as Prophet (Luk 10:1-42) as Priest (Joh 11:1-57) and as King (Joh 12:1-50).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 8, 13 The Mission of the Seventy.
The Mission of the Seventy.
The plenteous harvest:
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v. 1. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come.
v. 2. Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His harvest.
The Lord was constantly seeking more disciples, as the last incidents plainly show; His word of invitation went out again and again, pleading with men to follow His merciful leadership. And there were always some that were convinced and gladly joined the ranks of the believers in the Messiah of the world. From among these disciples in the wider sense, most of whom accompanied Jesus on His journeys, He now appointed or commissioned others, seventy in number, in addition to the Twelve whom He had elected as His representatives. The principal difference between the work of the two groups seems to have been that the seventy had only a temporary commission, the work of preparing the way for Him in parts of Palestine, in Judea, where the Lord was comparatively unknown. Jesus, sent them two by two, for companionship and mutual assistance. They went before His face, as special heralds, to prepare the people for the appearance of the Christ. He mapped out His itinerary and had them take note of the cities and places where He planned to go. It may not have been the intention of Christ to visit all the small villages and hamlets personally, but He wanted the announcement to go before Him that the great Prophet of Galilee, the Savior of Israel, was drawing near to their country. Knowing this, every one that "was concerned about the Messiah could come in person and see and hear Him. And Jesus characterized the situation for the benefit of these messengers. The harvest was great: there were many thousands of people in need of redemption, and many perhaps ready to receive it. Therefore the need of men fit to take part in the great work of preaching the Kingdom was particularly great. This has been true at all times since the days of Jesus, and will continue to be true till the end of time. In the heathen countries there are millions of souls still sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. And in the so-called Christian countries the proportion of professing Christians is very small. In our own country there are thousands of towns and small cities without any preaching of the Gospel. And so the second part of Christ’s statement must also find its application, that the earnest prayer of all sincere Christians must go up to the Father of all grace and mercies that He would send forth laborers into His harvest, that He would make many young men willing to heed His call, and that many others take upon themselves the privilege of supplying these workers with the supplies for maintaining life while attending to these duties.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13, 16 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus sends out 70 more people ahead of him. Those 70 return with joy, and Jesus responds with praise to his heavenly Father.
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Now
This word is used here to mark a new event in the story. (See: Introduction of a New Event)
seventy
"70." Some versions say "seventy-two" or "72." You may want to include a footnote that says that. (See: Numbers)
sent them out two by two
"sent them out in groups of two" or "sent them out with two people in each group"
He said to them
This was before the men actually went out. AT: "He had said to them" or "Before they went out he told them" (See: Order of Events)
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few
"There is a big crop, but not enough workers to bring it in." Jesus means there are many people ready to enter God's kingdom, but there are not enough disciples to go teach and help the people. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
lord
appoint
harvest
labor
pray
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15 10:1-20 The Lord now chose seventy-two: The mission of…
10:1-20 The Lord now chose seventy-two: The mission of the Twelve (9:1-6) represented Jesus’ ministry to Israel; this mission represented his outreach to the Gentiles. The number 72 represents the nations of the world. Genesis 10 lists 70 nations in the Hebrew text, but the Septuagint—the Greek Old Testament—lists 72. Luke, who used the Septuagint, probably wrote 72, and then a later scribe “corrected” the text to agree with the Hebrew. The point is that the Good News is for both Jews and Gentiles.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.