The Laying Of The Foundation For The New Israel (6:12-19).
After revealing what He has come to be, Jesus now goes about establishing the new Israel. He appoints leaders for the twelve tribes (Luke 6:12-16). He proclaims a new Law (Luke 6:17-49). He provides a foretaste of the sending out of His power to the Gentiles (Luke 7:1-10). He raises the dead, a foretaste of the resurrection (Luke 7:11-17). He points to His signs and wonders in order to encourage John and as evidence that He is the promised One (Luke 7:18-33). And He is greeted by the prostitute who has been transformed, a vivid picture of the future restoration of Israel as described in Ezekiel 16:59-63.
Jesus Appoints the New Leaders of The Twelve Tribes (6:12-16 compare 22:30).
Jesus now chooses out twelve Apostles as the foundation of the new Israel, His new ‘ekklesia' (Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:17). The word means a gathering, church, congregation, and is a word regularly used in LXX of ‘the congregation of Israel'. That this is the significance here comes out in Luke 22:30. The Apostles have been chosen in order to watch over the true Israel. In the same way in John 15:1 Jesus reveals Himself as ‘the true vine' in contrast to the false vine. The same idea is in mind there. Israel is a false vine, as it is often portrayed to be in the Old Testament (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21). Jesus, and those who will become one with Him are the true vine, the true Israel.
This stress on the church as being the new Israel is confirmed in Romans 11:17-27 where unbelieving Israel are cut out of the olive tree and new believers are grafted in; Galatians 6:16 where the church, God's new creation, are called ‘the Israel of God'; Ephesians 2:11-22 where believing Gentiles, having been previously alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, have been brought near through the blood of Christ, and have become fellow-citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, and, on the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, become the Temple of God.
The passage may be analysed as follows:
a Jesus went out into the mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
b When it was day, He called his disciples, and He chose from them twelve, whom also He named Apostles (Luke 6:13).
c Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor (Luke 6:14-16).
b He came down with them, and stood on a level place, and a great multitude of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judaea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases (Luke 6:17).
a Those who were troubled with unclean spirits were healed, and all the multitude sought to touch Him, for power came forth from Him, and healed them all (Luke 6:18-19).
Note that in ‘a' Jesus prays all night to God, and in the parallel unclean spirits were cast out and power came out from Him to heal all who touched Him. In ‘b' He appoints twelve Apostles and in the parallel He identifies Himself with them as He joins the crowds along with them in order to continue what is now their joint preaching and healing ministry. Central in ‘c' are the names of the twelve, the first is ‘the Rock', the last is ‘the Traitor'.