And he called unto him the twelve
"His twelve disciples", as some copies read; whom he had before
called by his grace, and had appointed and ordained them his
apostles, but had not yet publicly sent forth; in order to which,
he now called them to him, and gave them their commission,
qualifications, and instructions:
and began to send them forth by two and two:
he first sent forth one couple, and then another; the reason of
his sending them by pairs, was partly for the sake of company,
and that they might be useful and assisting to one another; and
partly to show their agreement in doctrine; and that they might
be proper and sufficient witnesses of it, whereby it might be
established; and the rather, being thus sent by pairs into
different parts, their message would be the sooner dispatched,
than if they had all went together:
and gave them power over unclean spirits;
that is, to cast them out; as it is expressed in Mt. 10:1,
(See Gill on Matthew
10:1); and which is here added in the Syriac and Persic
versions. Many things are omitted by this evangelist, which are
mentioned by Matthew: he does not give us the names of the twelve
apostles; the reason of that indeed may be, because they are
related by him in ( Mark
3:16-19 ) , and he did not choose to repeat them here: nor
does he take any notice of the places where the apostles were to
go, and where not; nor of the persons to whom, or not; as not
into the way of the Gentiles, nor into any of the cities of the
Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel: nor
does he say any thing of the subject matter of their ministry or
what they had in charge to publish; as that the kingdom of heaven
is at hand, or the Gospel dispensation: nor does he observe the
several things they were to do in confirmation of their doctrine
and mission; as healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the
dead, and casting out devils: he only relates the directions
given them with respect to their journey, in the following
verses; the reason of all which seems to be, because he refers
not to the same time as Matthew does, to their appointment and
ordination; but to the time they were sent out, and proceeded on
their journey.