Matthew 10:10

πήραν, a wallet for holding provisions, slung over the shoulder (Jdt 13:10, πήραν τῶν βρωμάτων). δύο χιτῶνας): not even two under-garments, shirts; one would say very necessary for comfort and cleanliness in a hot climate, and for travellers along dusty roads. In Mark the prohibition seems to be against wearing two at the same time (Matthew 6:8); here against carrying a spare one for a change. Possibly we ought not to take these instructions too literally, but in their spirit. ὑποδήματα : this does not mean that they were to go barefooted, but either without a spare pair, or without more substantial covering for the feet (shoes) than the light sandals they usually wore mere soles to keep the feet off the hard road. Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.) distinguishes between the two thus: “usus delicatoris fuerunt calcei, durioris atque utilioris sandalia”. He states that there were sandals, whose soles were of wood, and upper part of leather, the two joined by nails, and that they were sometimes made of rushes or the bark of palms. ῥάβδον : not even a staff! That can hardly be meant. Even from the romantic or picturesque point of view the procession of pilgrim missioners would not be complete without a staff each in their hand. If not a necessity, at least, it was no luxury. Mark allows the staff, creating trouble for the harmonists. Grotius suggests: no second staff besides the one in hand! Glassius, quoted by Fritzsche in scorn, suggests a staff shod with iron (scipio) for defence. Ebrard, with approval of Godet, thinks of two different turns given to the Aramaic original בי אם מטה = either “if you take one staff it is enough,” or “if, etc., it is too much”. Really the discrepancy is not worth all this trouble. Practically the two versions come to the same thing: take only a staff, take not even a staff; the latter is a little more hyperbolical than the former. Without even a staff, is the ne plus ultra of austere simplicity and self-denial. Men who carry out the spirit of these precepts will not labour in vain. Their life will preach the kingdom better than their words, which may be feeble and helpless. “Nothing,” says Euthy., “creates admiration so much as a simple, contented life” (βίος ἄσκευος καὶ ὀλιγαρκής). ἄξιος … τ. τροφῆς : a maxim universally recognised. A labourer of the type described is not only worthy but sure of his meat; need have no concern about that. This is one of the few sayings of our Lord referred to by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 9:14), whose conduct as an apostle well illustrates the spirit of the instructions to the Twelve.