Matthew 10
CHAPTER 10
Matthew 10:1-5 . MISSION OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. ( = 6:7-13 Luke 9:1-6 ).
The last three verses of the ninth chapter form the proper introduction to the Mission of the Twelve, as is evident from the remarkable fact that the Mission of the Seventy was prefaced by the very same words.
1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power--The word signifies both "power," and "authority" or "right." Even if it were not evident that here both ideas are included, we find both words expressly used in the parallel passage of Luke ( Luke 9:1 )--"He gave them power and authority"--in other words, He both qualified and authorized them.
against--or "over."
2. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these--The other Evangelists enumerate the twelve in immediate connection with their appointment ( 3:13-19 Luke 6:13-16 ). But our Evangelist, not intending to record the appointment, but only the Mission of the Twelve, gives their names here. And as in the Acts ( Acts 1:13 ) we have a list of the Eleven who met daily in the upper room with the other disciples after their Master's ascension until the day of Pentecost, we have four catalogues in all for comparison.
The first, Simon, who is called
and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother--named after James, as the younger of the two.
3. Philip and Bartholomew--That this person is the same with "Nathanael of Cana in Galilee" is justly concluded for the three following reasons: First, because Bartholomew is not so properly an individual's name as a family surname; next, because not only in this list, but in Mark's and Luke's ( 3:18 , Luke 6:14 ), he follows the name of "Philip," who was the instrument of bringing Nathanael first to Jesus ( John 1:45 ); and again, when our Lord, after His resurrection, appeared at the Sea of Tiberias, "Nathanael of Cana in Galilee" is mentioned along with six others, all of them apostles, as being present ( John 21:2 ).
Matthew the publican--In none of the four lists of the Twelve is this apostle so branded but in his own, as if he would have all to know how deep a debtor he had been to his Lord.
James the son of Alphaeus--the same person apparently who is called Cleopas or Clopas ( Luke 24:18 , John 19:25 ); and, as he was the husband of Mary, sister to the Virgin, James the Less must have been our Lord's cousin.
and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus--the same, without doubt, as "Judas the brother of James," mentioned in both the lists of Luke ( Luke 6:16 , Acts 1:13 ), while no one of the name of Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus is so. It is he who in John ( John 14:22 ) is sweetly called "Judas, not Iscariot." That he was the author of the Catholic Epistle of "Jude," and not "the Lord's brother" ( Matthew 13:55 ), unless these be the same, is most likely.
4. Simon the Canaanite--rather "Kananite," but better still, "the Zealot," as he is called in Luke 6:15 , where the original term should not have been retained as in our version ("Simon, called Zelotes"), but rendered "Simon, called the Zealot." The word "Kananite" is just the Aramaic, or Syro-Chaldaic, term for "Zealot." Probably before his acquaintance with Jesus, he belonged to the sect of the Zealots, who bound themselves, as a sort of voluntary ecclesiastical police, to see that the law was not broken with impunity.
and Judas Iscariot--that is, Judas of Kerioth, a town of Judah ( Joshua 15:25 ); so called to distinguish him from "Judas the brother of James" ( Luke 6:16 ).
who also betrayed him--a note of infamy attached to his name in all the catalogues of the Twelve.
Matthew 10:5-42 . THE TWELVE RECEIVE THEIR INSTRUCTIONS.