Matthew 10:5

Monday, 12 May 2025

 

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. Matthew 10:5

 

“These, the twelve, He sent – Jesus – having notified them, saying, ‘Into Gentiles’ way, not you shall go. And into Samaritans’ city, not you shall enter’” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, the list of the twelve named apostles was completed. Now, their mission to venture out to the harvest field begins with, “These, the twelve, He sent – Jesus.”

 

The contents until the end of this chapter can logically be divided into three sections, each ending with Jesus saying, “Assuredly, I say to you...” This occurs in verses 15, 23, & 42. It won’t be until verse 11:1 that His words to the twelve will be complete.

 

This first section will give instructions concerning their travels through Israel during this first sending.

 

The second section anticipates a more permanent evangelization of Israel. This is indicated, for example, by comments such as them being “a testimony ... to the Gentiles.” Despite this note concerning the Gentiles, Jesus’ words of that section still only refer to “the cities of Israel,” demonstrating the focused nature of the work.

 

The third section most heavily focuses on the benefits, costs, and consequences that will result from being in such an evangelistic ministry. Understanding this, He next says, “having notified them, saying, ‘Into Gentiles’ way, not you shall go.”

 

Here is a new word, paraggelló. It signifies “to charge, or give a command that is fully authorized because it has gone through all the proper (necessary) channels” (HELPS Word Studies). In other words, Jesus is directing them, under His own authority, to take the steps necessary to meet His purposes.

 

As for the term “Gentile’s way,” this means the places where Gentiles dwelt were to be avoided. Their ministry was to be to Israel alone. They were not to be distracted from this cause. The promises of God found from the time of Abraham on have focused on this line of people, meaning his son Isaac, and then Isaac’s son Jacob.

 

From there, the twelve sons of Israel were considered one family under this promise. Therefore, the Messiah’s work was to be directed to them first. So directed was this commission that Jesus continues with, “And into Samaritans’ city, not you shall enter.”

 

These people, the Samarités, Samaritans, are introduced into the New Testament here. It signifies those who inhabited the region of Samaria, once the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

 

The Samaritans were partly of Jewish descent, but they were a mixture of other cultures and beliefs that had been brought into Israel after the Assyrian exile. They had their own Pentateuch, which follows the writings of Moses but which was modified to meet their own culture. That is believed to date back as far as 120 BC.

 

Due to their mixed status, the apostles were told to refrain from going to any such area. Only Israel was to be their focus at this time. This will only change for them after His resurrection and ascension.

 

Life application: The words of Jesus in this verse should clue people in concerning who Jesus’ ministry was focused on during His earthly ministry. And yet, it is as common as spots on a leopard to cite verses from this chapter and elsewhere in the synoptic gospels and apply them to the people in the church age.

 

That is a hermeneutical error known as “taking a verse out of context.” Jesus has set the context for the ministry of the apostles. As noted, that will not change until after the resurrection when the scope of His ministry will go forth, according to Jesus’ words, to “Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 

Jesus confirms this elsewhere, saying, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Because of this, we are not to use Jesus’ words to Israel, as recorded in the synoptic gospels, as direction for our lives and church conduct.

 

Rather, they are words informing us what occurred as Israel encountered their promised Messiah. Once He was rejected by them, only then did the ministry go out beyond Israel’s border. Along with that, new directions were laid down for the people of the world. They are directions that have nothing to do with law observance.

 

Instead, they are words of grace and confidence in the hope of eternal life found in the full, final, finished, and forever work of Jesus Christ. With that complete, grace has come.

 

Lord God, may we remember the lesson concerning maintaining proper context when reading the Bible. In doing so, we will not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine that removes the notion of eternal security that we possess because of what Jesus has done. Help us to remember that grace is unmerited and that we should cling fast to it always. Amen.