Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:5 - 10:10

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Lange Commentary - Matthew 10:5 - 10:10


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2. The Mission, the Message, and the promised Support. Mat_10:5-10

5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any [a] city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in 10your purses [girdles]; Nor scrip [bag] for your journey, neither [nor] two coats, neither [nor] shoes, nor yet staves [a staff]Matthew 16 : for the workman is worthy of his meat.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The instruction to the Apostles is contained in Mat_10:5-42. The parallel passages are in the ninth, tenth, and twelfth chaps. of Luke. As Matthew was an eyewitness, we have sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of the instructions as reported by him.

Mat_10:5. The way of the Gentiles;—i. e., to the Gentiles, or into Gentile territory. This with special reference to their own condition, and to the circumstance that they were to take the road toward Jerusalem, as appears from the following clause.

Into any city of the Samaritans.—Samaria lay on their way from Galilee to Judæa. The Lord does not prohibit their passing through Samaria, but only their settling for evangelistic purposes, for which the time had not yet arrived. This passage, with its injunction, not to the Gentiles, nor to the Samaritans, but to the Jews, contrasts with the command after His resurrection: “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” The Lord assigns to the Samaritans a position intermediate between the Jews and the Gentiles, which is fully borne out by their history. They had greater claim on the gospel than the Gentiles, but less than the Jews. This seems to imply (what Hengstenberg denies) that they were a mixed race, whose religion consisted of a combination of Jewish and heathen elements. The Samaritans were the descendants of the heathen colonists (Gerlach: Phœnicians and Syrians?) whom Shalmaneser sent into the country after the deportation of the Ten Tribes into Assyria (2Ki_17:24), and of the remnant of Israelites left behind, with whom they intermarried. When the Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity, they prevented the Samaritans from taking part in rebuilding the temple. Accordingly, the latter reared, under Sanballat and Manasseh (Neh_13:28), a sanctuary of their own, on Mount Gerizim, which was destroyed by Hyrcanus, 109 b. c. The place, however, was regarded sacred, and prayer was offered there. The Jews treated the Samaritans as heretics (not absolutely as heathens). Their enmity was, perhaps, partly accounted for by the conduct of the Samaritans, who neither consistently espoused the cause of Judaism nor that of heathenism. This led to bitter hatred and jealousy between these neighboring populations. In later times, the Samaritans continued strict Monotheists, cherished the hope of a coming Messiah, and adopted the Pentateuch as their authority in matters of faith. But even then heathen elements appeared among them. See Acts 8.

We must not overlook the difference between ìὴἀðÝëèçôå and ìὴåἰóÝëèçôå . The conversation between the Lord and the woman of Samaria, and His appearance in one of their cities, fully prove that this was merely a provisional arrangement for the disciples. The Lord Himself generally acted on the principle of proceeding from the particular to the universal (Mat_15:24), since His kingdom had first to be founded and established in Israel. But withal, He ever prosecuted His great object of extending His kingdom to the utmost boundary of the earth. This temporary limitation to Israel was, however, the condition necessary for the attainment of this object: Mat_8:11, etc. In the case of His disciples, He strictly insisted on this methodical procedure; and the express prohibition in this instance shows how readily the opposite might have taken place, or, in other words, how deeply they were already imbued with the spirit of catholicity. Accordingly, it is absurd to urge that this prohibition is incompatible with John 4 (Strauss), or with Mat_28:19 (Gfrörer, Köstlin). Heubner: To have sent the disciples to the Gentiles and the Samaritans, would have been to close the way to the hearts of the Jews. A people had first to be gathered among them, for theirs were the calling and the promises. During Christ’s brief ministry on earth, there was neither time nor room for going beyond the boundaries of Canaan.

Mat_10:8. Raise the dead.—“The first instance in which the dead were raised by apostolic agency, occurs in the Book of Acts (Mat_9:36); but the Seventy reported on their return, that the evil spirits were subject to them, Luk_10:17.” Gerlach.

Freely ye have received.—This refers both to their teaching, and to the miraculous help which they were to bring.

Mat_10:9. In your purses, or rather girdles.—The girdle of the upper garment served at the same time as purse. In the East, the rich wear pockets in their dresses.—Neither gold, nor silver, nor brass (copper, small coins; Vulg.: pecunia). A descending climax, showing that even the least profit from their office was prohibited; but implying neither a vow of poverty nor of mendicancy, in the popish sense. They were to introduce the great principle, that the messengers of the gospel had claim on daily support and free hospitality.

Mat_10:10. The prohibition to provide themselves with two under garments, and to bestow care on travelling shoes and travelling staves, may have been a symbolical mode of enjoining that they were rather to stay in one place, than to hurry from one to another,—in general, that they were to be lightly attired, and free of care. Perhaps the word ὑðïäÞìáôá means travelling shoes in the strict sense, as distinguished from óáíäÜëéá . The ὐðüäçìá êïῖëïí refers to the Roman calceus. According to Mark, they were not to put on two under garments. This is merely a stronger expression. But it may be regarded as intended by way of explanation, that in that Gospel the messengers of Christ are directed to take a staff, and to be shod with sandals. This staff of which Mark speaks, is not to be understood as in opposition to several staves (hence, perhaps, the reading ῥÜâäïõò , in several Codd.), but to a larger outfit for the journey. Hence the two accounts substantially agree. They were not to concern themselves about the staff, far less to make a profit of it by their office.

For the workman is worthy of his meat [living].—This serves as key to the preceding passage. Their maintenance and their office were not to be severed. They were to trust to their office for their maintenance, and their maintenance was to be exclusively for their office (1Co_9:14; Gal_6:6). Olshausen rightly calls attention to the difference of times expressed in Luk_22:35. Among those who were prepared to receive the gospel, they required no provision for the future; not so among enemies, although in that case also anxious care was to be banished ( Mat_10:19). The laborer is ἄîéïò , worthy, —indicating his personal value, of which he should be conscious with dignity, i. e., with humility and confidence.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

The instructions which the Lord gave to His ambassadors, were, in the first place, intended for their first mission. But the terms are so pregnant, the directions so deep in their bearing, and so general in their application, that they may be taken as the type of all the commissions given by Christ to His servants. This remark applies, first, to the aim of their mission, viz., to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; i. e., in the first place, always to those who are most willing and prepared to receive the truth, as well as to the most needy. Next, as to the negative direction about their way, we gather that we are not to reverse the Divine order and arrangement in preaching the gospel,—a rule which Paul invariably followed, Act_16:6; Act_16:9. Then, as to their commission. They are, (a) to preach: to announce that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (b) To confirm their word,—1. by quickening,—healing the sick, and even raising the dead; 2. by purifying,—cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. The servants of Christ must always aim after these two effects in their activity.—Lastly, as to their reward. Freely they receive, freely they give. And yet there is no need for care, since the laborer is worthy of support. The preaching of the gospel must never be degraded into an ordinary worldly employment; nor, on the other hand, should the evangelist be afraid or ashamed to accept of sufficient support from those to whom he preaches, and that according to their own mode of living. We are unfit for building up the kingdom of heaven, or of self-sacrificing love, if we approach the work in a spirit of covetousness or of anxious care, distrusting the supplies of the Church. That this freedom from care does not exclude necessary provision, as indicated by our circumstances and by those of the persons around us, nor the careful preservation of such provision, appears from the history of the miraculous feeding of the multitude. In both these instances there was a small provision, and a larger one was preserved. Gerlach mentions the cloak of Paul as a case in point, 2Ti_4:13. But this last circumstance also shows how free from all outward care the Apostles had been.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Christ sending forth His messengers: 1. The messengers; 2. the aim; 3. the way; 4. the message; 5. the price (freely, in the love of Christ); 6. the provision and the support.—The mission of the twelve Apostles, in its continuance to the end of the world.—Fulfilment of the prediction, “How beautiful upon the mountains!” etc., Isa_52:7.—How Divine wisdom orders the way of Divine love: 1. As need increases, help enlarges; 2. through limitation to universality; 3. from those who are most susceptible, to those who are less susceptible; 4. through the quickening of the people of God, to that of the world.—True and false separatism, as distinguished from true and false universalism, in the spread of the faith.—Missionary zeal must accommodate itself to right order, and move in the right direction.—How does the Lord indicate the manner in which to carry on His work? 1. By His word; 2. by the history of His kingdom; 3. by His spirit.—The eternal obligation to carry the gospel to the Jews, as derived from the injunction to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.—Symbolical meaning of the injunction: 1. To go to the lost; 2. to the lost sheep; 3. to those on whom the hope of the Church rests.—The message of salvation: 1. An announcement of the kingdom of heaven by the word; 2. an exhibition of the word of God by deeds.—How the ambassadors of the Church must prove their Divine mission: 1. By healing the sick, not by torturing the whole; 2. by raising the dead, not by killing the living; 3. by cleansing the lepers (heretics), not by representing as heretics those who are pure; 4. by casting out devils, not by setting them free.—Freely ye have received, freely give: the fundamental principle for the spread of the kingdom of God.—Freedom from care of the messengers of Jesus.—The pilgrims lightly attired, carrying in their hearts the treasures of heaven: 1. Outwardly, unburdened; 2. inwardly, laden with the greatest riches.—The laborer is worthy of his hire; or, those who publish the gospel should live by the gospel.

Starke:—The kingdom of Christ is not earthly, nor of this world, but consists of heavenly and spiritual treasures.—The office of the ministry is not a trade.—Quesnel:—What it is to have neither gold nor silver in our scrips, but to have them in our hearts.—A true minister of the gospel is not hindered by anything in his mission, but is ever ready to go.—Duty of the Church to maintain its ministers.

Gerlach:—Disinterestedness one of the great characteristics of the servants of Christ.—The grace of God is free, even though it be communicated by the instrumentality of man.

Heubner:—Go not whither inclination carries, but whither God sends you.—The greed of Gehazi punished.—Ministers must not seek their own ease or advancement.

Footnotes:

Mat_10:5.—[ Åἰò ὁäὸí ἐèíῶí ìὴ ὰðÝëèçôå . Ewald: Hin zu Heiden ziehet nicht; Lange: Gehet nicht abwärts auf die Strause der Heiden; Campbell, Norton: Go not away to Gentiles; Conant: Go not away to Gentiles (omitting the article); the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union: Go not into the way to the Gentiles; ὁäὸò ἐèíùí = Heidenweg, i. e., way to the heathen.—P. S.]

Mat_10:8.—The words: íåêñïὺò ἐãåßñåôå are wanting in Codd. E., F., K., L., M., etc., in many transl., and fathers, and hence omitted by Scholz and Tisc endorf. But they are supported by the important Codd. B., C., D. [and Cod. Sinait.], and old versions, and the omission may be easily explained from the fact that no raising of the dead occurred on this first mission. Griesbach and Lachmann [also Alford in the fourth edition] give the words after èåñáðåýåôå . [This is the proper order of the oldest MSS. including the Cod. Sinait, and hence Lange correctly translates: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, etc. So also Dr. Conant, and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union.—P. S.]

Mat_10:9.—[ Åἰò ôὰò æþíáò ; Lange: Gürtel (-taschen).]

Mat_10:10.—[More literally: sandals, ὑðïäÞìáôá . But Lange retains the more popular: Schuhe.]

Mat_10:10.—[Dr. Conant: “The Received Text, after Stephens’ 3d ed. of 1550, has correctly ῥÜâäïí in the sing., as in our vernacular version from Wiclif’s to the Bishops’ Bible. King James’ revisers, following the false reading of the Complutensian and of Stephens’ first and second editions, give the plural: staves; perhaps to avoid an imaginary discrepancy with Mar_5:8.” Dr Lange adopts the singular.—P. S.]

Mat_10:10.—[Lange: Unterhalt, sustenance; Conant: living. The Greek ôñïöÞ includes all that is necessary for support or sustenance of life.—P. S.]