Comments on Luke 10 v1-16 Seventy witnesses are called, commissioned, warned, and sent. Verse 1 recounts Jesus calling them and sending them before him, wherever he would be arriving shortly thereafter. Verse 2-16 recount what he said to them before they departed. The commission here to the seventy is quite similar to that given the twelve earlier in Matt. 10:1-23, of which Luke gives a condensed account in 9:1-6. Jesus tells them the harvest is great, but they are few so they should pray to God to ask for more laborers to assist them (v. 2). He sends them forth as lambs, but he warns them they will encounter opposition that will be like wolves (v. 3). He tells them to set aside concerns for their material well-being (v. 4). They are to stay in places where the people accept their message and accept their hospitality in the support of their ministry (v. 5-7). Whichever villages they enter and are accepted in they should accept their hospitality, heal the sick, and preach the kingdom (v. 8-9). Those towns which reject them are to have feet dusted off at them (v. 10), with an explanation of what that means hurled along with it (v. 11). Jesus then derides several cities where they have already experienced rejection (v. 12-15), holding them up as examples to the departing disciples. Jesus closes with the commission of vicarious authority such that those who hear them hear him, and those who reject them reject him and his Father (v. 16). v1 "appointed", they were appointed to heal the sick and herald the kingdom per v. 9, and in v. 17 we learn they cast out devils. There is no explicit statement regarding disbursement of authority, but it is implicit given cross reference with 9:1 where authority is given to cure disease and cast out devils. "other seventy also", i.e., in addition to the Twelve apostles and presumably the messengers in 9:52 as well. "seventy", some Greek manuscripts have "seventy" some have "seventy two". We would assume seventy is more accurate given Moses' seventy elders of Israel, cf. Exod., 24:1, Num. 11:16, as well as the number of children of Jacob, cf. Exod. 1:5, Deut. 10:22. "two and two", the required minimum of witnesses according to the Law is two, cf. Deut. 19:15, also cp. Alma 9:6. v2 The natural consequences of proselyting is that some of the converts would become proselytes themselves, and so the number of laborers increases. v3 "lambs among wolves", as Jesus has faced considerably hostility and rejection, so too can his messengers. The imagery clearly paints how the disciples are to act, and what kind of response they can expect from the opposition. v4 "salute no man by the way", the Anchor Bible (AB) states of this phrase: This strange injunction has been variously interpreted. Prima facie, it seems to mean that the disciples are not to waste time on the mission talking to people because the harvest is ripe and has to be brought in before it spoils. Their greetings should rather be directed to "houses" and "towns" as the following verses suggest. In this sense it recalls the injunction given by Elisha to Gehazi in 2 Ki. 4:29. However, it has also been interpreted not so much of haste as of dedication; the disciples are to concentrate on preaching and curing, not on worldly matters. The relationship demanded by kingdom- preaching is not measured by ordinary social courtesy, gear, or greetings. But the injunction may couch a warning about the hostility that the disciples are to expect as Jesus' heralds a hostility that is expressed in terms of reapers and no greetings to passersby in Ps 129:8.... v7 "Go not from house to house", an obscure statement. We would assume it is connected to the preceding three verses which comment on being deliberate in choosing where they stay and accepting room and board as gratuity for their labors in the ministry. Perhaps the intent is to have the two find a single place and settle in there for some time while ministering, and not simply spend a day in one village and then a day in the next village. Perhaps it is intended to discourage the two from taking advantage of people's hospitality by freeloading at will from believers, thus making them actually labor while in the ministry rather than collect free lunches. v8 "city", remember that what is being referred to here is not a "city" in the sense of colloquial English. This term is referring more to hamlets or villages than what we would think of as a city. "eat such things as are set before you", Lightfoot states: The traditional canons were so very precise and curious about not eating unless what were clean, what had been duly tithed, and from which the Trumah had been duly separated, that it might be almost a wonder the strict traditionists should not be famished if they lived and fed only by canon. "Let not the religious serve at the table of a laic, unless all things be rightly prepared and decimated." From the irksomeness and perplexity of this niceness doth our Saviour acquit and absolve his followers; partly that he might introduce the gospel liberty; partly also consulting the necessity of his disciples, who if they had been bound up to that strictness in meats, what could they do when their converse was to lie chiefly amongst persons perfectly unknown to them? http://www.mv.com/ipusers/butterfly/comment/00index.htm v12-15 These verses are paralleled in Matt. 11:20-24 with an explanation as to why Jesus addresses them in specific in Matt. 11:20. v17-24 First off, we have here a considerable break in chronology. Luke apparently dislocates the return of the seventy chronologically in order to connect it thematically. Exactly when the seventy return isn't clear, and the two Gospel harmonies I have disagree on the timing. After some time the seventy return to Jesus rejoicing over the success they saw in their ministry (v. 17). Jesus responds favorably by paraphrasing Isa. 14:12 to them to acknowledge their success (v. 18). He goes on to say that has given them power against physical harm and evil spirits (v. 19), but rather than rejoicing in that they should rejoice in the fact that their names are written in heaven (v. 20). Jesus then rejoices and thanks the Father for manifesting such things to these humble followers (v. 21), stating that none know the Father except by the Son (v. 22). He then takes the disciples, presumably the seventy who have returned, and tells them they are blessed to witness such things (v. 23) because there have been many prophets and kings who desired to witness such things and have not (v. 24). v17 "through thy name", the seventy recognize their authority source and defer to it, confessing his power and Priesthood. v18 Jesus loosley paraphrases Isa. 14:12 to say he perceived they were casting down Satan. v25-37 present the well known parable of the Good Samaritan. This account is apparently not connected in any way to the preceding text about the seventy, and how it fits in chronologically is anyone's guess. The parable is well known, so I will not bother to summarize it. v25-26 The KJV obscures the hostility of the setting. The CLNT translates it as follows: And lo! A certain lawyer rose, putting Him on trial, and saying, "Teacher, by doing what should I enjoy the allotment of life eonian?" Now He said to him, "What is written in the law? How are you reading?" The lawyer's intent here is to publicly humiliate Jesus by tricking him with sophistry, setting him up as though it were a trial. Jesus responds by turning his sophistry against him, and trapping him in the Law. v30 "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho", Lightfoot states: This was the most beaten and frequented road in the whole land of Israel, and that, not only as it led to Perea, but also upon the account of that great traffic that was between these two cities, especially because of the courses that were as well in Jericho as Jerusalem. Of which we have discoursed elsewhere. To which I shall superadd this passage out of Jerusalem Taanith: "The former prophets instituted four-and- twenty courses, and for every course there was a stationary class of priests, Levites, and Israelites in Jerusalem. It is a tradition: Four-and-twenty thousand was the stationary number out of Jerusalem, and half that station out of Jericho. Jericho could indeed have produced an entire station; but that it would give the preference to Jerusalem; and therefore it produced but half." Here, therefore, you may see in this historical parable why there is such particular mention made of a priest and Levite traveling that way, because there was very frequent intercourse of this sort of men between these towns; and that upon the account of the stations above mentioned. "He fell among thieves", Lightfoot states: It is with great confidence I see, but upon what foundation I cannot see, that the commentators generally make Adummim the scene of this robbery above all other places. It is true, the road betwixt Jerusalem and Jericho was dangerous enough; and for that reason (as is commonly believed) there was placed a band of soldiers "betwixt Aelia and Jericho," for the safeguard of passengers: but whereas it is said that the place is called Adummim, i.e. a place of redness, from the blood that was spilt by robbers there, this seems to have very little force in it: because the place had that name of Adummim even in Joshua's days, when we can hardly suppose the times to have been so pestered with robberies as they were when our Saviour uttered this parable: see Joshua 15:7, where if we consider the situation of 'the going up to Adummim,' it will appear it was not very distant from Jericho. v31-32 "a certain priest...and likewise a Levite", the implicit message here is these two show a lack of charity using purity laws as false justification to avoid their religious duty of helping people in need. Priests and Levites would be meticulous about keeping the Law regarding corpses, cf. Lev. 21:1. Thus, the underlying message is that of Hosea 6:6, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice". Jesus then has a Samaritan, one who was ritually impure to the Jews, act mercifully. This is a clever rebuttal by Jesus as he is addressing a lawyer, one who's profession is the Law. He is saying to the lawyer that the true Law is in Spirit and Mercy, and not in the letter and outward observance. The proponents of the Law, the priest and Levite, have no mercy, but the one judged ritually impure is the one who is full of mercy and loves his neighbor. v38-42 Again, we have an event with no apparent connection to the one preceding it. Jesus meets up with friends at home, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary (v. 38). Mary sits at Jesus' feet and listens to Jesus teach while Martha is busy serving (v. 39-40). Martha gets irritated that Mary isn't helping her so she asks Jesus to prod her into service (v. 40). Jesus instead prods Martha and tells her that she is too busy about her serving and it is Mary who is in the right (v. 41-42). The story contrasts the ideal hostess with the ideal disciple. The underlying context is that of Matt. 6:31, with Jesus saying it is better to put the things of the kingdom ahead of the things of the world, so Mary has chosen better than Martha. Martha wants to honor Jesus by preparing an elaborate meal, but Mary honors him more by listening at his feet. The story is also an attack on Rabbinical traditions concerning women's roles in the home as well as in learning the Law. v38 "Martha received him", Lightfoot states: Our Saviour is now at the feast of Tabernacles: and visits Bethany, where there had grown a friendship betwixt himself and Lazarus' family, upon his having cast out so many devils out of Mary his sister. For it is no foreign thing to suppose she was that Mary that was called Magdalene, because Bethany itself was called Magdala. The AB disagrees and says Mary sister of Martha (cf. John 11:1) and Mary Magdelene (cf. 8:2) are not to be equated. The text is ambiguous, and that leaves us to speculate. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.