Luke 10:1-16

The Mission of the Seventy. Cf. p. 665. Lk. has already described the Mission of the Twelve, following Mk.; here he covers the ground again, following Q. Matthew 10 had blended Mk. and Q, but Lk. keeps them separate by raising the number to 70 (cf. the 70 nations of the Gentile world, Genesis 10). Some good MSS. and Syr. Sin. read 72, i.e. 12 x 6; this may be more original. But even if Lk. only meant to describe a mission to the Jews, he has the wider enterprise at the back of his mind. Early Christian tradition (e.g. Clem. Alex.) numbered Barnabas, Matthias, Joseph Barsabbas, and Sosthenes among the Seventy,

Luke 10:2 : cf. Matthew 9:37 f; Matthew 10:16; Matthew 10:10.

Luke 10:7: cf. Matthew 10:7 f., Matthew 10:10; Matthew 10:14 f., also Luke 9:4 f., Mark 6:10 f. The city succeeds the house, the public preaching the private.

Luke 10:8 is peculiar to Lk., and may reflect Pauline influence in abandoning Jewish food regulations. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:27.

Luke 10:9. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you: it remains with you whether this is all that can be said of it; the message of mercy may become a sentence of doom (Luke 10:10).

Luke 10:13. The denunciation of the three Galilean cities. Loisy thinks this typifies the general rejection of Israel. Cf. Matthew 11:21 *.