Matthew 10:5 Commentary and Bible Study

Luke 10 records similar instructions given to the seventy when they are sent out, although that is a different occasion. Although some of the sayings in this discourse were also spoken at other times, on the basis of Matthew 11:1 we can be sure that what we find in this chapter is not just Matthew’s collection of all that Christ said on the subject of mission, but were all spoken to them on this occasion. The need that the Lord Jesus tells his disciples to pray for in Matthew 9:38, he now addresses himself. The harvest is plenteous and it is in danger of going to waste. If there are insufficient reapers it may be left too late to get the wheat safely into the Lord’s barn. Souls are dying, and others are becoming more hardened by sin, therefore there is an urgent need to send reapers out with the gospel to gather in the precious grain. In particular, it is to the lost sheep that Christ is sending them – this is to be an evangelistic soul winning mission. They are lost but among the children of Israel there are sheep who will be sought out and brought under the care of the Good Shepherd through the preaching of the apostles. Mark and Luke say that Christ sent them out two-by-two, which we can assume means the same pairings seen in the list of their names. How helpful to them! So in the beginning of the gospel there were six teams. They are appointed and sent out in pairs, pairs which took account of brotherly connections (Matthew 10:2) and existing friendships (Matthew 10:3; John 1:45) – Bartholomew is Nathanael’s other name. They are instructed not to go on roads that lead out of Israel. That will come later. They are not to go to the Samaritans. Why not? Because Israel must first be effectively reached with the gospel. Once again, we often think that only some Jews heard the message, but no: it was the entire nation. The time would indeed come when the apostles would be sent into all the world, but there would be very clear instructions from God for that work to begin. Until then, the nation chosen by God, to whom the law was given, to whom the prophets were sent, through whom the Messiah would come; that nation must hear first, for ‘salvation is of the Jews’ (John 4:22). Nevertheless, the time would come when the apostles were sent to Samaria (Acts 1:8; 8:5), and then to the Gentiles (Acts 10:34-35; 11:18).