Illustrated New TestamentMatthew 10

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.

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

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.

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.

House; family.

Your peace; your benediction.

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.

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 v. 28. They do not seem to have been arraigned before the civil authorities at all, upon their first mission.

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.

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

That is, these will be the effects or consequences of my coming.

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

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

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.