Yeshua Sends Out His Emissaries ~ Part 1
In our last post, we paused Yeshua’s Healing Ministry. This post begins to examine the topic of Yeshua Sends Out His Emissaries.
After His second rejection in His hometown of Nazareth, Yeshua gains renewed encouragement as He is met by crowds in other parts of the Galil. Keenly aware of their need for spiritual guidance, Yeshua calls on all those willing to work among the multitudes for His Kingdom. Then, the time is appropriate for sending out the twelve Emissaries in pairs of two on a special mission of teaching and performing miracles with the power He gives them.
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
These final verses summarize Yeshua’s ministry. They also set up the next chapter, in which Yeshua sends out His talmidim.
35 Yeshua went about all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and weakness. 36 When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them because they were harried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His talmidim, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. 38 Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.” ~ Matityahu 9:35-38
The lack of leadership intensified Yeshua’s compassion for the people to help them (compare Yochanan 10:1–18; Ezekiel 34). Without a shepherd, sheep are prone to wander and vulnerable to danger.
The Twelve Emissaries
Mattityahu Chapter 9 ends with the need for laborers for God’s harvest; Chapter 10 begins with Yeshua commissioning His talmidim (compare Mark 6:7–13; Luke 9:1–6). Mattityahu records the names of Yeshua’s 12 primary talmidim and His instructions for spreading the message of the Kingdom of Heaven.
1 Yeshua called His twelve talmidim and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every kind of disease and weakness. 2 These are the names of the twelve emissaries:
| First, Shim’on called Kefa, and Andrew, his brother, |
| Ya’akov Ben-Zavdai and Yochanan, his brother, |
| 3 Philip and Bar-Talmai, |
| T’oma and Mattityahu, the tax collector, |
| Ya’akov Bar-Halfai and Taddai, |
| 4 Shim’on the Zealot, and Y’hudah from K’riot, who betrayed him. |
| Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother; |
| James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother; |
| 3 Philip and Bartholomew; |
| Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; |
| James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; |
| 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. ~ Mattityahu 10:1-4 |
So far, Mattityahu has described the calling of only five talmidim (Matt. 4:18–22; 9:9). Yeshua had many followers, but these were His leaders – those whom He commissioned to build His Kehillah. Unclean spirits refer to evil spirits or demons. According to Jewish purity laws, people inhabited by such spirits were unclean.
In our next post, we will continue to examine He Sends Out His Emissaries in Mattityahu 10:5.
My Heart is for Israel 