Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

10:16 sheep in the midst of wolves. Jesus warns the disciples about the persecution that missionary disciples will endure. wise as serpents and innocent as doves. The serpent was the symbol of shrewdness and intellectual cunning (Gen. 3:1; Ps. 58:4-5), while the dove was emblematic of simple innocence (Hos. 7:11).

10:17 Synagogues were not only places of worship but also places where discipline was carried out (flog).

10:18 to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. As Jesus foretold, the early church leaders would be called before Jewish officials (Acts 4:1-22), the secular authorities of Israel (Acts 12:1-4), and Rome (Acts 14:5).

10:19-20 Jesus encourages the disciples not to be anxious because the same Spirit who has guided and empowered Jesus (4:1; cf. 1:18, 20; 3:1) will speak through his disciples amid their most difficult challenges.

10:22 hated by all for my name's sake. Jesus' disciples have the privilege of carrying his name, but the antagonism and hatred that is directed toward him will naturally shift to them (cf. 24:9). endures . . . will be saved. Cf. notes on 2 Tim. 2:11-13 and Jude 21.

10:23 you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Several interpretations have been suggested: the coming of the Son of Man may refer to (1) Jesus' resurrection, when he came back from the dead, (2) his sending of the Spirit at Pentecost, (3) his coming in judgment on Jerusalem when it was destroyed in a.d. 70, or (4) the second coming of Christ at the end of the age. Option (4) helps make sense of the larger fact: that the mission to Israel must continue alongside the mission to the nations until Jesus returns. But interpretations (1) and (3) also have significant arguments to support them, and they give a more natural explanation for the need for haste in reaching "all the towns of Israel." In the case of (4), v. 23 is understood in light of the preceding verses (vv. 16-22), as a reference to the widespread persecution that occurred prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish temple in a.d. 70. In this case, the judgment on Israel reflected in these events is pictured as a foreshadowing of the final judgment that will come upon all who reject Christ as their Savior, when Christ comes in power and great glory at the end of the age.