Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 10:16

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." — Matthew 10:16 (ASV)

I send you forth — The nominative pronoun is emphatic: “It is I who send.” This is not so much an assurance of protection but, as the words that follow show, a reminder of their responsibility as His delegates.

As sheep in the midst of wolves — Nothing can be more striking than the union of this clear foresight of conflict and suffering with the full assurance of victory and sovereignty. The position of the disciples would be like sheep surrounded by a pack of hungry and raging wolves, with the wolf being here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, the symbol of the persecutor.

Wise as serpents — The idea of the serpent as symbolizing wisdom seems to have entered into the early parables of most Eastern nations. We find it in Egyptian temples, in the twined serpents of the rod of Asclepius and of Hermes, in the serpent-worship of various ancient peoples, and in the history in Genesis 3 of the serpent that was more subtle than any beast of the field. For the most part, it appears in Scripture as representing an evil wisdom to be fought with and overcome. Here we learn that even the serpent’s sinuous craft presents something we may well learn to reproduce. When St. Paul caught men with guile (2 Corinthians 12:16), becoming all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9:22), he was acting in the spirit of his Master’s counsels.

Harmless as doves — Better, simple, sincere—that is, “guileless.” The Greek indicates more than simple harmlessness; it describes a character in which there is no alloy of baser motives. Once again, truth appears in the form of a paradox. The disciples of Christ are to be at once supremely shrewd and absolutely guileless. Our Lord’s reference to this symbolism gains a fresh significance when we remember that He had seen the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descending like a dove upon Himself (Matthew 3:16). In and by that Spirit, the two qualities that seem so contradictory are reconciled.