Matthew 10:5

Τούτους τ. δώδ : These, the Twelve, Jesus sent forth, under the injunctions following (παραγγείλας). εἰς ὀδὸν ἐθ. μὴ ἀπέλθητε. This prohibition occurs in Matthew only, but there is no reason to doubt its authenticity except indeed that it went without saying. The very prohibition implies a consciousness that one day the Gospel would go the way of the Gentiles, just as Matthew 5:17 implies consciousness that fulfilling, in the speaker's sense, would involve annulling. ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν, the way towards (Meyer), the genitive being a genitive of motion (Fritzsche, Kühner, § 414, 4), or a way within or of, parallel to πόλιν Σαμαρειτῶν in next clause. εἰς π. Σαμ., not even in Samaria should they carry on their mission. The prohibition is total. πόλιν does not refer to the chief city (Erasmus, Annot., metropolis) or to the towns as distinct from the rural parts through which at least they might pass (Grotius). It means any considerable centre of population. The towns and villages are thought of as the natural sphere of work (Matthew 10:11). The reason of the double prohibition is not given, but doubtless it lay in the grounds of policy which led Christ to confine His own work to Israel, and also in the crude religious state of the disciples.