Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 10:5-6

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into [any] way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." — Matthew 10:5-6 (ASV)

(5a) Many scholars have suggested that this speech of Jesus is a compilation of Matthew from various sayings of Jesus (e.g., those found in Mk 6:8–11; 13:11– 13; Lk 12:2-17, 51-53). However, careful study of the discourse shows a remarkable unity to it rather than a selective collation. Many of the alleged discrepancies are artificial. There is no conflict, for instance, between the ready harvest of 9:37–38 and the resistance in 10:16–22. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” is a valid principle; and many great awakenings, including the Whitefield and Wesleyan revivals, have shown afresh that the harvest is most plentiful when the workers reap in the teeth of opposition.

It is true that vv.17–23 go beyond the immediate mission of the Twelve and in at least two ways envision a mission to the Gentiles (in contrast to vv.5b–6). But these are not new themes (cf. 5:13–14; 7:13–14; 8:11–12). Therefore Jesus is here not only treating the short-term itinerary of his disciples but also using it as a paradigm for the longer mission stretching in the years ahead. The following exposition focuses on the meaning of the text as it stands.

(5b–6) Jesus forbade the Twelve from taking the road to the Gentiles— presumably toward Tyre and Sidon in the north or the Decapolis in the east— and from visiting Samaritan towns in the south. They were to remain in Galilee, ministering to the people of Israel. Jews despised Samaritans, not only because they preserved a separate cult (cf. Jn 4:20), but also because they were a mixed race, made up partly of the poorest Jews who had been left in the land at the time of the Exile and partly of Gentile peoples transported into the territory and with whom the remaining Jews had intermingled, thereby succumbing to some syncretism (cf. 2 Kings 17:24–28). The Twelve were to restrict themselves to “the lost sheep of Israel.” Why this restriction? Pragmatic considerations play a role. That Jesus felt it necessary to mention the Samaritans at all presupposes John 4. The disciples, happy in the exercise of their ability to perform miracles, might have been tempted to evangelize the Samaritans when they remembered Jesus’ success there. Judging by Lk 9:52–56, however, the Twelve were still tempermentally ill-equipped to minister to Samaritans. And even after Pentecost, despite an explicit command from the risen Lord (Acts 1:8), the church moved only hesitantly toward the Samaritans (Acts 8).

The most important consideration, however, was not pragmatic but theological. Jesus stood at the nexus in salvation history where as a Jew and the Son of David he came in fulfillment of his people’s history as their King and Redeemer. Yet his personal claims would offend so many of his own people that he would be rejected by all but a faithful remnant. Why increase the opposition by devoting time to Gentile ministry? His mission, as frequently noted above, was worldwide in its ultimate aim; and all along he had warned that being a Jew was not enough. But his own people must not be excluded because premature offense could be taken at such broad perspectives. Therefore Jesus restricted his own ministry primarily (15:24), though not exclusively (8:1–13; 15:21–39), to Jews. He himself was sent as their Messiah. The messianic people of God developed out of the Jewish remnant and eventually expanded to include Gentiles. The restriction of vv.5–6, therefore, depends on a particular understanding of salvation history that ultimately goes back to Jesus (see also Paul’s statement in Ro 1:16 and his missionary practice as reflected in Ac 13:5, 44–48; 14:1; et al.).