Matthew 23:34

“Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,”

Jesus is aware that He must shortly die and rise again, and that as a result He will send out His messengers (Matthew 28:18), in the same way as He has done previously (chapter 10). He defines them in Old Testament and inter-testamental terms, ‘prophets (speakers of inspired words; see Matthew 5:10 where it includes the disciples) and wise men (teachers of wisdom from the Scriptures) and scribes (teachers of the Law; compare Matthew 13:52 where again disciples are in mind)'. Note how these cover the three sections of the Old Testament, the prophets, the wisdom literature and the Law. All would be needed in taking out His message.

In the light of the dangers of His time and the problems He would expect His disciples to face once they were out in the world into which He was sending them, He recognised that it was inevitable that some would be crucified at the instigation of the Jewish leadership or because of the suspicions of the authorities. It was the Roman way, and inevitable, and in anticipation of it He had already warned His followers that they were taking up the cross by following Him (Matthew 16:24). He also knew that others would certainly be killed in other ways (Matthew 10:21), for He had come to send fire on earth (Luke 12:49). In turbulent times men with a controversial message would always be in danger of their lives, while deaths from violent mobs out of control were not uncommon. He recognised only too well that many would certainly be beaten in the synagogues (Matthew 10:17). This was a common experience for Jews who displeased the synagogue authorities, for they were responsible for local discipline among Jews. And the greatest certainty of all was that most would at some stage be persecuted from city to city as had happened previously (Matthew 10:23). Those who spent themselves obtaining proselytes for Gehenna (Matthew 23:15) would also spend themselves in persecuting the righteous. It may well be that He was speaking here on the basis of information that had come through about what had already happened to some of His followers, for they were turbulent and violent times. Furthermore He already had the example of what had happened to John the Baptist to go by, to say nothing of His own expectation of being crucified (Matthew 20:19), and He could tell that some of these men were capable of anything. Anyone with spiritual awareness and a knowledge of the Scriptures, of the times and of the men who lived in them could in fact have forecast these things. They were inevitable in a world like ours.

Others see the emphatic ‘I' in this verse as referring to God, and the words as therefore including the sending of the Old Testament and inter-testamental prophets, wise man and scribes.