b

C

was sown.

b Acts xiii. 46.

mighty works; and, no doubt, to repeat his sayings and discourses; thus calling forth prayer, and incipient faith, and spiritual desires, and disposing many at least to receive the gospel when it should, in its complete form and its fulness of evidence, be proposed to them; for the subject of their preaching was to be, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Great immediate good was to be done, and the seed of a large future harvest Nor are we to understand the prohibition of our Lord so strictly as to suppose that the Gentiles who mingled with the Jews, many of whom were either proselytes or well-affected to many truths in the Jewish religion, or that the Samaritans they might meet with, were to be wholly neglected. Christ himself did not despise this class of men, though he too was sent, as he sent his apostles, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," that is, chiefly and principally. "The WAY of the Gentiles" means the road leading to the Gentile nations; therefore they were not to go to the Gentiles as nations; and into any CITY of the Samaritans they were not to enter, that is, to fulfil their mission. These were to be visited in the fulness of time.

But many

individual Gentiles in Judea were as well prepared, by their previous knowledge of the Jewish scriptures, to receive benefit from their mission as the Jews, and probably many individual Samaritans also, as their Master himself had found.

Verse 8. Raise the dead.-Because we have no account of the apostles raising the dead before the ascension of Christ, it has been contended that these words have been interpolated; in favour of which, it is pleaded, that they are not found in several MSS. and versions.

c Luke x. 9.

They are, however, found in the Vulgate, Syriac, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, and in the Cambr. and Alex. Mss., and in several of the fathers; nor for such an interpolation can any good reason be conjectured. The allegation that the twelve apostles, during this their first mission, raised no dead to life, or it is thought the fact would have been mentioned, proves nothing; for neither do we read that they "cleansed any lepers," and yet that power is expressly committed to them. It may, however, be granted, that they did not, at that time, raise any dead to life; yet to argue from this against the clause in the text, entirely overlooks one of the main circumstances connected with the exercise of these powers; that they were not to be wielded at the judgment and discretion of man. The occasions for their exercise were presented to them by a special Providence, and the powers were to be exercised on consideration, prayer, and looking up to God for intimations of his will. It could never be intended that they should raise all the dead to life, whom they might meet on their journey, carried out for burial. Our Lord did not thus use his power, as they well knew; but that, when it should seem to be for the glory of God, and when they were under the impulse of that superior power by which alone the attempt could be effectual. No such occasions might or probably did occur on this journey; but that power was with them which was adequate to the case, had the wisdom of God so appointed; and it continued with them through their whole apostolic life, but still subject to be exerted only under special impulses. It is further to be observed, that the discourse is not to be considered as applicable only to their first

purses,

limited apostolical journey, although that was the occasion which called it forth. See note on verse 17.

Freely ye have received, &c.—They were to receive no money, no compensation, but the bare support afforded by a free hospitality; although, when they healed diseases, the gratitude of many might offer them considerable gifts. They were to be decently supported in their work; and this was to be the standing rule of future times as to ministers, and its limit; but whether this support was to be given in kind or money, circumstances may determine. The intention of the rule is to prohibit making a gain of godliness, and to prevent the ministry from being regarded as a lucrative profession. They were therefore to go forth in full dependence upon Providence, and, under that, the good-will of well-disposed men. No money was to be taken in their purses, eis Tas Cwvas, girdles, which the Orientals and even Romans used as purses. Nor were they to take a scrip, mmpa, the bag in which travellers carried provisions from stage to stage; nor two coats, xulwv, rests or tunics; nor shoes, unobnuara, which some distin guish from sandals. They were, however, originally the same, although in a later age, the shoe was a covering for the whole foot, as distinguished from σavdaALOV, which defended only the sole. The meaning certainly was, not that they should go barefoot, as some have understood it, any more than that they should go without coats; but that they should not take two pairs of sandals, as they were not to take two coats, nor yet staves. St. Mark says, save a staff only," which

66

• Or, get.

f Luke x. 8.

shows that one was permitted. Two staves were therefore prohibited, as two coats and two pairs of sandals : should, therefore, their staff be broken or lost, they were to look to the kindness of those to whom they preached to furnish them with this part of the necessary equipment of an eastern traveller, as well as for a supply of sandals and coats when needed; so absolute was to be their trust in God, so free were they to keep themselves from those anxieties which superfluity always brings with it; and yet such care was taken to remind the people of the duty of a liberal hospitality to guests sent by such a Master and on such an errand, that they might want nothing necessary to health and comfort, when it was seen that their necessities called for supplies; for, adds our Lord, the labourer is worthy of his meat, Tns Tpopns, of his maintenance, including here all necessaries, but not money. Michaëlis, who holds that Matthew's Gospel was first written in Hebrew, conjectures, that before the words shoes and staves, stood xix, “ except only ;" it would then be read, that the disciples were to take nothing with them but shoes and staves; but the sense does not require this conjectural amendment; and the notion of a Hebrew original is exceedingly doubtful. See the Introduction.

Verse 11. Worthy.-Not PIOUS, as some suppose; for of whom were the apostles to obtain their information, but from those they might casually meet, persons who would generally direct them to the highest professors of the piety most popular in that day; the ostentatious Pharisees, who were the most likely persons

h

that city.

g Mark vi. 11.

to reject them? But by the "worthy," are probably meant liberal and bountiful persons, well known for practising hospitality to strangers, which was generally a good indication of moral worth, though not an infallible one; and our Lord prepares them for disappointment in some instances, even from persons who had this good report.

There abide. They were not to go from house to house, through fickleness of temper, or show that they could not bear with the infirmities of those by whom they were entertained, should they be exercised with this trial of meekness; or that they were discontented with the accommodations afforded them. If, upon the whole, their entertainers were willing to receive them, and out of respect to their message, they were to show themselves indifferent to all inferior considerations, and to practise humility, patience, and self-denial.

Verse 12. Salute it.-That is, the household, the family. What the salutation was we learn from St. Luke: "Peace be to this house;" which indeed is added here in the Vulgate, Pax huic domui. Peace signifies every kind of felicity. "Great is peace," say the Rabbins; "for all other blessings are comprehended in it."

Verse 13. But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.-If you are rejected out of hatred to your Master and his message, your office and your work, let your peace return; that is, it shall return, the imperative being used for the prophetic future: they were to withdraw a benediction which could only be pro

h Acts xiii. 51.

nounced in Christ's name; and he engages to ratify their act. This is a proof that more than the ordinary salutations are here intended; for our Lord was not teaching his apostles the common forms of civility, which they well enough understood. Let your peace RETURN to you, is a Hebraism. Thus it is said of God's word, that it" would return to him void," on the supposition that it failed to produce its effect; and prayer not answered is said to return "into the bosom." The sense, therefore, is, that, in the case stated, the peace prayed for would not be imparted, the blessing offered would not be given.

Verse 14. Shake off the dust of your feet.-The Jews thought the dust of heathen lands polluted, and were careful to free themselves from it. Of this, Wetstein has given many examples from their writers, as, "The dust of Syria defiles, like the dust of other heathen countries." By this significant act, therefore, not performed in passion and resentment, but solemnly, as commanded by Christ, the apostles were to declare that house or city which rejected them, as worthy only to be ranked with the polluted cities of the heathen, even with

Sodom and Gomorrha.

Verse 15. In the day of judgment, than for that city.-That is, than for the inhabitants of that city. Collective bodies of men composing cities and nations have their punishment in this life; but in the final judgment they will be dealt with as individuals: EVERY ONE shall give ac

count of himself to God." Some modern

i Luke x. 3.

critics, relying on that frail ground, the absence of the article before nuepa, render it "A day of judgment;" forgetting that, in the very same day here mentioned, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha are also to be judged. The day mentioned can therefore be no other than THE day of final judgment. Let two things here be strongly marked: 1. That the severest TEMPORAL judgments upon sinful men, do not satisfy the claims of the offended justice of a holy God. The

wretched inhabitants of the cities of the plain are still reserved to public trial and future vengeance. 2. That terrible as their case will be, it shall be more tolerable, more supportable, than that of those who reject the gospel of Christ, an act which involves a contempt of the highest manifestation of the divine mercy.

Verse 16. Wise as serpents.-Not wise or skilful to inflict injury, which indeed serpents are, by hiding themselves, and striking their victim unawares This interpretation is excluded by the next simile, harmless as doves; but, as the instinct of the serpent leads him also adroitly to shun danger by quickly retiring into his hiding-place, so our Lord enjoins upon his disciples a prudent foresight of impending evils, and a timely escape from them; in opposition to that fanatical courting and braving of persecution, in which some ardent minds might be apt to indulge. This precept, however, shows that holy scripture is to be interpreted by a collation of its parts, or we might fall into the greatest errors. In other passages our Lord enjoins the exposing ourselves to all risks and sufferings for the sake of the truth; and even to rejoice in persecutions for his name's sake. Between these there is no contradiction, but the

• Or, simple.

finest moral harmony. Whenever duty, honestly interpreted, without the bias of self-love, allows us to escape danger by the exercise of prudence, not only respect to ourselves, but also that we may prevent others from grievously sinning, by indulging their malignity against Christ, requires that we ought to embrace the opportunity of doing so. When, however, safety cannot be secured without injury to our Master's truth and cause, no consideration will induce the faithful disciple to desert his post, or to shrink from death itself. PASSION is excluded from our religion, that calm PRINCIPLE may exhibit its more noble triumphs.

Harmless as doves.-This admits of no limitation; but is to be the character of disciples at all times and under all circumstances, whether they fight or fly. Harmless, ακέραιος, which some derive from a, privative, and кeрaw, or кeрavvvu, to mingle, and hence render it pure, without malice so Hesychius. But the antithesis appears thus to be lost. As our Lord obviously meant to enjoin prudence, rightly understood, upon his disciples by the proverbial example of the serpent, he must have intended to guard them against that cunning of the serpent which is employed to injure and destroy; the opposite to which is not so properly freedom from malice, which is not an obvious quality of the dove, as harmlessness, which has rendered the dove everywhere the emblem of peace. The derivation may therefore be better drawn from a, privative, and kepaige, to hurt, and is therefore accurately expressed in our translation. The expression was probably proverbial.

Verse 17. But beware of men, &c.Whether the article before arpov has the emphasis assigned to it by Middleton, and others who regard it either as mak

ing a renewed mention of the class of men previously designated as "wolves," or as signifying Jews in opposition to hea thens, a still less probable supposition, is quite conjectural; and, indeed, either view only serves to divert the reader from what appears to be the true antithesis, which lies not between one class of men and another, but is an implied one between MEN and SERPENTS. The last idea in our Lord's mind was the mischievous nature of the serpent tribe, all imitation of which he forbids to his disciples; and this naturally leads him to caution them against MEN, as more venomous, cunning, and deadly than serpents themselves: but beware of men.

Councils,-synagogues.-The

councils

here mentioned are the courts attached to each synagogue, which had the power of scourging. The disciples are forewarned that they would be delivered up to councils to be proceeded against as delinquents, and the result would be the infliction of "forty stripes, save one," as many of the disciples afterward experienced; for our Lord must be understood, not as speaking of what should happen to the twelve apostles during the temporary mission on which he was now sending them, nor as confining his remarks and exhortations to them alone, but through them to all his persecuted disciples afterwards, and to them with respect to their whole ministry to the end of their life. This is clear from the next verse: And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles; so that his words manifestly extend to those times also when they should be employed in their mission among the Gentile nations, to whom they were as yet commanded not to go. This consideration is necessary for the right understand

ing of several parts of this discourse; for if it be restrained only to the first limited mission of the apostles, it becomes in many parts obscure. The scourging of delinquents was performed by the chuzan, or servant of the synagogue. The practice was for the superior judge to read passages out of the law during the infliction of the punishment; the second judge numbered the stripes; and the third gave the order to strike before each blow. St. Paul was thus scourged in the synagogue five times. The instrument of scourging was a leathern thong, doubled and twisted.

Verse 18. A testimony against them.— The first preachers of the gospel gave a strong testimony to the truth of their religion by the readiness which they showed to suffer in attestation of the facts on which it was built; and the truth of which they had the means of knowing with certainty; whilst the divine origin of its doctrines derived a powerful evidence from the calm heroism, the meek and forgiving spirit, with which they inspired the sufferers. This was also a testimony AGAINST their persecutors, because it rendered the cruelties they exercised upon holy, benevolent, and peaceful men inexcusable, and a crime against God, though done often under the sanction of public laws.

Verse 19. It shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.—As they would often be questioned, not only as to matters of fact touching their conduct, but as to their motives, designs, and opinions, their appearance before magistrates would necessarily often demand both the statement and defence of the truths of Christianity, and, before Jewish rulers, appeals also to the prophecies of the Old Testament, in which they would have to encounter, not only violent pre