Bible Commentaries
Matthew 10

Verse 1

Verse 1

The manner in which the cases of demoniacs are here spoken of as entirely distinct from cases of disease of every kind, is important as evidence of the view in which this sacred writer regarded them.

Verse 5

Verse 5

That is, they were not to go out of Palestine, but to confine their labors to the Jews.

Verse 7

Verse 7

We observe that they were not to say that Jesus was the Messiah; this fact was very slowly and cautiously made known until after the Savior's resurrection. They were to say that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.

Verse 10

Verse 10

Scrip; a leathern bag, in which shepherds, and travellers of an humble class, carried their provisions. These particulars were not meant to be minutely insisted upon, but were only intended to convey more forcibly the general idea that they were to go without preparation, and to rely upon the spontaneous hospitality of the worthy.

Verse 12

Verse 12

House; family.

Verse 13

Verse 13

Your peace; your benediction.

Verse 15

Verse 15

In the day of judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah had both been destroyed by fire from heaven, and the gloomy waters of the Dead Sea were spread over the place where these cities stood. Our Savior, therefore, instead of representing that the sorrows and sufferings of this life are the sole penalty of human guilt, taught that even Sodom and Gomorrah were awaiting a terrible retribution to come.

Verse 17

Verse 17

Councils; courts of justice. These directions, particularly those which follow, apply not peculiarly to the first mission of the apostles, but to their whole subsequent ministry,--especially to that exercised after our Savior's death, as is evident from the last clause of Matthew 10:28. They do not seem to have been arraigned before the civil authorities at all, upon their first mission.

Verse 23

Verse 23

Till the Son of man be come; till the Messiah be come; that is, until his coming and kingdom shall be openly proclaimed to all, both Jews and Gentiles, and thus the whole world be opened as the scene of the apostolic labors. They were to preach not that the kingdom of the Messiah had come, but that it was at hand.

Verse 27

Verse 27

In darkness; privately.--Upon the house-tops; in the most public manner.

Matthew 10:35,Matthew 10:36. That is, these will be the effects or consequences of my coming.

Verse 38

Verse 38

That is, he who is not ready to bear any privation or suffering, in which fidelity to the Savior's cause involves him.

Verse 39

Verse 39

Findeth; seeketh unduly. The meaning is, He that sacrifices his duty to save his life, shall lose his soul.

Verse 42

Verse 42

These little ones; these my disciples, men of humble station, not great in the estimation of the world. Any act of kindness towards them, as disciples, however small the benefit, shows a spirit of love to Christ, and shall not lose its reward.