Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 9:5

"And as many as receive you not, when ye depart from that city, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony against them." — Luke 9:5 (ASV)

The disciples should receive hospitality graciously. Hospitality was important as well as necessary in days of difficult travel conditions and poor accommodations at inns. The disciples were not to move about from house to house, a practice that might gain them more support but would insult their hosts.

They would also encounter those who refused them a welcome. As a solemn symbol of judgment, the disciples were to shake the dust of an unresponsive town off their feet (see comment on Mk 6:10–11).