Ministry from Galilee to Judea ~ Part 2
In our last post, we began our series on Ministry from Galilee to Judea. In this post, we continue to explore that topic by learning about the Seventy Sent Out.
Seventy [1] Sent Out & Return
1 After this, the Lord appointed seventy other talmidim and sent them on ahead in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
The Emissaries numbered twelve to correspond with the twelve tribes of Isra’el; this is made explicit in Mattityahu 19:28 and Revelation 21:12–14. These seventy correspond to Moshe’s seventy elders in the wilderness, who received the Ruach and prophesied (Numbers 11:16, 24–25). The high Sanhedrin numbered seventy for the same reason.
2 He said to them, “To be sure, there is a large harvest. But there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the Harvest that he speed workers out to gather in his harvest. 3 Get going now but pay attention! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t carry a money belt or a pack and don’t stop to schmooze with people on the road.
Don’t stop to schmooze with people on the road. The Yiddish word schmooze, which means “talk in a friendly way, chit-chat, engage in idle conversation, gossip, “ precisely conveys the sense of Yeshua’s instruction not to waste time on the road but to hasten to the destination and get on with the work to be done. Elisha similarly instructed Gehazi as he left to lay Elisha’s staff on the face of the Shunammite woman’s dead child: If you meet anyone, don’t greet him; if anyone greets you, don’t answer. [2]
5 “Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Shalom!’ to the household. 6 If a seeker of shalom is there, your ‘Shalom!’ will find its rest with him; and if there isn’t, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for a worker deserves his wages—don’t move about from house to house.
8 “Whenever you come into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put in front of you. 9 Heal the sick there, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they don’t make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off as a sign against you! But understand this: the Kingdom of God is near!’ 12 I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for S’dom than for that town.
The message of truth is to be proclaimed whether it is welcomed or not. Why should people uninterested in the Gospel and unreceptive to it be evangelized? Because the message is powerful since it comes from God, it may cause them to change their minds. Note that Yeshua’s talmidim are not merely to take the opposition in stride but to condemn it (vv. 10–11a; see 9:5).
13 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Beit-Tzaidah! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tzor and Tzidon, they would long ago have put on sackcloth and ashes as evidence that they had changed their ways. 14 But at the Judgment, it will be more bearable for Tzor and Tzidon than for you! 15 “And you, K’far-Nachum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Sh’ol! 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, also whoever rejects you rejects Me, and whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent Me.”
Whoever rejects Me (Yeshua) rejects the One who sent Me (God). The same idea that belief in God implies belief in Yeshua is expressed in various ways in Yochanan 14:6, Acts 4:12, and 1 Yochanan 2:23.
17 The seventy came back jubilant. “Lord,” they said, “with your power, even the demons submit to us!” 18 Yeshua said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Remember, I have given you authority; so you can trample down snakes and scorpions, indeed, all the Enemy’s forces; and you will remain completely unharmed. 20 Nevertheless, don’t be glad that the spirits submit to you; be glad that your names have been recorded in heaven.” [3]
You can trample down snakes and scorpions. This is a preview of the Messianic Age which accompanies Yeshua’s return in glory to rule on earth: “The suckling child shall play on the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper’s nest” ~ Isaiah 11:8)
In our next post, we continue to learn about Yeshua’s Ministry from Galilee to Judea.
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[1] Some manuscripts say seventy-two.
[2] 2 Kings 4:29
[3] Luke 10:1–20.
My Heart is for Israel 