CHAPTER X. 1 Christ sendeth out at once seventy disciples to work miracles, and to preach : 17 admonisheth them to be humble, and wherein to rejoice: 21 thanketh his Father for his grace: 23 magnifieth the happy estate of his church: 25 teacheth the lawyer how to attain eternal life, and to take every one for his neighbour that needeth his mercy: 41 reprehendeth Martha, and comeonendeth Mary her sister. 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. 2 Therefore said he unto them, b 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. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. 5 d And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. CHAPTER X. Verse 1. Other seventy also.--Seventy other preachers beside the twelve apostles before appointed, and who had fulfilled their commission in another direction. Our Lord, who had laboured chiefly in Galilee, was about to visit several parts of Judea; and these seventy disciples were sent to those cities and villages whither he himself would come, to prepare his way, by preaching his doctrine, and confirming it by miracles in his name. In going up to Jerusalem he made short stages, visiting many places. This mission, from the number of those employed, was soon accomplished; and hence we read of their speedy return. St. Luke alone mentions this mission of the seventy; and ancient tradition affirms that he was of the number,— -a fact which is not confirmed by the introduction to this Gospel, which rather intimates that he was of a subsequent class of disciples. In the choice of twelve apostles, and seventy other preachers, there was reference probably to the twelve tribes of Israel, and to the seventy elders of Israel, and also to the sanhedrim or grand ecclesiastical assembly of Jewish doctors, consisting of seventy persons. Some, indeed, think the sanhedrim to have had seventy-two members; and from this notion it was that some of the fathers conclude that there were seventy-two disciples, called seventy as a round number, according to the Jewish mode. It is of more consequence to observe, that our Lord appears by these numbers to have intimated that he was displacing the old church, and forming a new one, with its appropriate officers of apostles, elders, and instructers, to govern and teach it. Verse 2. The harvest truly is great.The harvest in Judea as well as Galilee. See the notes on Matt. ix. 37. Verse 3. Go your ways, &c.-Our Lord gives many of the same directions to the seventy, as he had done to the twelve. See the notes on Matt. x. 6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it if not, it shall turn to you again. 7 And 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. 8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and 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 your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. e 13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. 15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. f 16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth vou, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. e Matt. xi. 21. Verse 6. The son of peace.-The meaning is, If the master of the house be a man of kind and friendly disposition, returning your salutation, which was a form of wishing peace in the same language and spirit, your peace shall rest upon the house. It would not be an empty form, but prove an effectual prayer, bringing down the peace and blessing of God. In the Jewish style, a man who has any good or bad quality is called the son of it. Hence we have sons of wis f Matt. x. 40. dom, for wise men; and in the text, son of peace, for a man of peaceable and friendly disposition. If not, it shall turn to you again.—The salutation, Peace be to this house, shall not be effectual. There is a similar expression in Psalm xxxv. 13: "And my prayer returned into mine own bosom." Verses 7-12. And in the same house, &c. Verse 13. Woe unto thee, Chorazin.- 17¶ And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are Verse 17. Through thy name.—This was the grand distinction between the miracles of our Lord and those of his servants. One was wrought by an original, the other by a derived, power; his, says Grotius, vi propria, by his own power, theirs, vi magistri, by the power of Christ. As heretofore demons had been ejected in the name of the God of Israel, they were now cast out in the name of Jesus. Verses 18, 19. I beheld Satan, &c.-The disciples returned with joyful surprise to announce that the devils had been subject to them through the name of Christ. Our Lord's calm reply indicates that they were conveying no news to him; he had been with them in spirit, knew all that had passed, by virtue of his omniscience, and he answers, I beheld Satan as lightning full from heaven. To fall from heaven is, in prophetic language, to fall from a height of power and authority. So the King of Babylon is addressed, Isaiah xiv. 12: 66 How art thou fallen from heaven!" The Latins have the same mode of expression. Pompey is said by Cicero, ex astris decidisse, "to have fallen from the stars." Upon the kingdom of Satan our Lord was making war, both by casting out devils by his word, or by his name, and by rescuing the souls of men from his power, by the hallowing influence of his heavenly doctrine. Even by his weak and despised disciples was he effecting this casting down of Satan from the heaven of that dominion he had so long held. But he promises to render those disciples still more formidable to the kingdom of darkness, by increasing those miraculous endowments with which he had already enriched them; which was fulfilled at the day of pentecost. For the mission of the seventy, like that of the twelve apostles, was to be considered as emblematical of that ministry which they were, with enlarged powers and heightened qualifications, to be permanently employed in. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, not only literally, though they had that; but figuratively, over devils and their agents, fitly represented, as to their cunning and deadly cruelty, by serpents and scorpions: And over all the power of the enemy, however displayed, or by whatever instruments wielded against you: And nothing shall by any means hurt you, that is, nothing shall injure you as to your work, which shall prevail against all opposition; or injure you personally: no affliction being permitted till it shall turn out for the furtherance of the gospel, and your spiritual welfare, and the greatest tyrants not being able to inflict death upon you until your death itself shall be a benefit, and not an evil, both to yourselves and to the cause in which you suffer. This total exemption from harm, by all things being made to work together for the good of them who love God, belongs in an important sense to all Christians; for it was with reference to this encouraging and elevating doctrine that St. Peter, when writing even to suffering and persecuted Christians, says, "And who is he that shall harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" Verse 20. Because your names are written in heaven.—The words are plainly metaphorical; for that God keeps a book, and writes in it the names of his servants, is too gross a conception to be entertained subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 21 In 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. even by children. The allusion here is either to the public enrolment of the names of citizens in their respective cities, in a book kept for that purpose, so that those whose names were found there were entitled to the rights, immunities, and privileges of citizenship, which in many cases were objects of great honour and ambition; or more generally to the record kept of the names of all living Israelites,-which appears to have given rise to the phrase, the "book of life,” and to "blotting the name out of the book," to express death, because the names of the dead were obliterated,—and to which also the apostle Paul alludes, when he speaks of the church or assembly of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. As those written in the book of life were Israelites, and entitled to all the privileges of the Jewish church and nation, so Christians, as forming the true and spiritual Israel of God, are said to have their names enrolled in heaven. This has no relation to predestination and election from eternity; but expresses the actual relation and acceptance of the persons referred to by God. As the Israelite after the flesh obtained his enrolment by virtue of his natural birth, so the spiritual Israelite obtains his by virtue of his reconciliation and new birth. This is the foundation of the distinction. It rests not upon supposed eternal decrees, but the actual experience of man in the forgiveness of sin, and the renewal of his heart; and it was for this reason that our Lord bade the seventy rejoice, not because they were endowed with miraculous powers, which were no certain evidences of grace, either of its reality or its degree; and which had no direct relation to their final salvation; but ra upon ther to rejoice that God had accepted them as his people, the members of his church and the heirs of his eternal kingdom. He thus taught them, and he teaches us, to estimate the most splendid gifts, as nothing in comparison with real piety; since the former indeed might, as he teaches us elsewhere, fail to give us any title to be received into his kingdom; whilst the latter brings every one who lives under its influence, into vital communion with God here, and will, if persevered in, infallibly secure his final acceptance with God at the last day. He who in this spirit “endureth to the end shall be saved." This great lesson is lost in those comments which consider these words as a declaration of the eternal election of the seventy disciples, to whom they were originally addressed; and awkwardly brings in a subject which had at best, if true, a very distant relation to any part of the context. Certain also it is, that if this registry of the names of true believers had any reference to their eternal election, the fact of their names being written in heaven could give them no security of eternal salvation, since Christ threatens some to blot out their names from the book of life, Rev. xxii. 19, and promises others, Rev. iii. 5, that he will not blot out their names. Verse 21. Jesus rejoiced in spirit.-The subject of this exulting and grateful excitement in the mind of our Lord must have been important. It is not often that we read of his manifesting such emotions of joy; and nothing but considerations of the mightiest character can be supposed to have produced a manifestation of them visible to all the seventy who were with him, the twelve apostles, and probably many other disciples. This 22 * 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. 23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: 24 For 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. * Many ancient copies add these words: And turning to his disciples, he said. strong emotion could scarcely have been produced by the short mission of the seventy on this occasion, and the works they had wrought. He regarded them rather in this as making an essay in preparation for that wonderful ministry they were to accomplish; for, that it was with reference to their whole ministerial life that he addressed both the twelve and the seventy, in the discourses he held with them on their appointment, many parts of those discourses themselves sufficiently prove. On this occasion, both the seventy who had just returned, and the twelve apostles also, stood before him, when he offered this ardent thanksgiving, in which he recognised at once the sovereignty of God to choose his own instruments to accomplish his own designs, and his wisdom and power in accomplishing such events by an agency despised by the world, but which brought to shame all that the world had held wise and great. "The scribe," "the disputer," the philosopher, were all confounded, when it had pleased God, by the instrumentality of these simple men, to fill the earth with the profoundest wisdom on all theological and moral subjects, and to implant a system which all foresaw must ultimately absorb all others, and by the very force of its own internal evidence fix an everlasting conviction of its truth and divinity in the hearts of men. In fact, the true Christian ministry is the most wonderful institution ever introduced among mankind. It is that which gives a new life to the soul, creates a new order of feelings, awakens men out of the sleep of sin, leads them in penitence and prayer to God, produces such a trust in Christ as is followed by peace of conscience, and the supporting assurance of the friendship of God, inspires man with a moral power which he has not by nature, exerts a sanctifying influence upon his affections, raises him into the condition of a spiritual man, and completes its high office by presenting the souls which it has trained under its godly discipline, purged from every spot of sin, and meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Such effects produced by the visible agency of weak and inefficient men, and hence called "babes," implies necessarily the constant agency of God in its most gracious and condescending as well as powerful operations; and under these views our Lord offers this thanksgiving, and acknowledges the wondrous work of God. See the notes on Matt. xi. 25-27. Verse 24. Many prophets and kings have desired. Of the prophets and inspired kings, as Moses, David, Josiah, &c., here referred to, St. Peter says, "They searched what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did |