Matthew 10:23

But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another--"into the other." This, though applicable to all time, and exemplified by our Lord Himself once and again, had special reference to the brief opportunities which Israel was to have of "knowing the time of His visitations." for verily I say unto you--what will startle you, but at the same time show you the solemnity of your mission, and the need of economizing the time for it. Ye shall not have gone over--Ye shall in nowise have completed. the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come--To understand this--as LANGE and others do--in the first instance, of Christ's own peregrinations, as if He had said, "Waste not your time upon hostile places, for I Myself will be after you ere your work be over"--seems almost trifling. "The coming of the Son of man" has a fixed doctrinal sense, here referring immediately to the crisis of Israel's history as the visible kingdom of God, when Christ was to come and judge it; when "the wrath would come upon it to the uttermost"; and when, on the ruins of Jerusalem and the old economy, He would establish His own kingdom. This, in the uniform language of Scripture, is more immediately "the coming of the Son of man," "the day of vengeance of our God" (Mat 16:28; Mat 24:27, Mat 24:34; compare with Heb 10:25; Jam 5:7-9) --but only as being such a lively anticipation of His second coming for vengeance and deliverance. So understood, it is parallel with Mat 24:14 (on which see). Directions for the Service of Christ in Its Widest Sense (Mat. 10:24-42).

This chapter is an ordination sermon, which our Lord Jesus preached, when he advanced his twelve disciples to the degree and dignity of apostles. In the close of the foregoing chapter, he had stirred up them and others to pray that God would send forth labourers, and here we have an immediate answer to that prayer: while they are yet speaking he hears and performs. What we pray for, according to Christ's direction, shall be given, Now here we have, I. The general commission that was given them (Mat 10:1). II. The names of the persons to whom this commission was given (Mat 10:2-4). III. The instructions that were given them, which are very full and particular; 1. Concerning the services they were to do; their preaching; their working miracles; to whom they must apply themselves; how they must behave themselves; and in what method they must proceed (Mat 10:5-15). 2. Concerning the sufferings they were to undergo. They are told what they should suffer, and from whom; counsels are given them what course to take when persecuted, and encouragements to bear up cheerfully under their sufferings (v. 16-42). These things, though primarily intended for direction to the apostles, are of use to all Christ's ministers, with whom, by his word, Christ, and will be always to end the world.

10:23 will return: Scholars are divided as to whether this refers to the second coming of Christ for his church or an earlier coming in judgment—namely, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (see 16:28). • before you have reached: Jesus meant either “before you have fled through all the towns” or “before you have evangelized all the towns.” The focus on persecution in the context (see 10:17-39) favors the former, suggesting that the towns were like cities of refuge (Num 35:9-32). The emphasis is on how widespread the rejection of the message will be—i.e., “not until the whole nation has run you out of town.”