“But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you, yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.”
Thus they are to beware of men, for they are ‘the wolves' that He had in mind. And they are to recognise that many of these will be so incensed against them that they will accuse them from beast-like hearts and have them brought before the courts. They must expect that their message will arouse opposition. The councils are the local sanhedrins, where they might well be accused of heresy and even blasphemy for preaching Jesus. Beatings in synagogues were a common punishment for Jews who were seen as being troublemakers or not sufficiently observant of the Law (compare 2 Corinthians 11:24; Acts 26:11). The use of the scourge here suggests an official verdict. These experiences will demonstrate that at least the Jewish authorities will have had to take notice of them. And they will also be evidence of the opposition that they will face from Judaism as a whole. The Galilean Jews were indeed so nationalistic and fervent that it was inevitable that someone who brought a new message would have to face up to, and accept the consequences of, fanaticism in some quarters, just as they would experience rejection.
‘Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.' Many claim that such words go beyond what Jesus could have said in a charge to men going out to preach in Galilee and its surrounds. But a little thought soon brings out that that is not so. It need be saying little more than that they would have to face both the authorities put in place by Rome, as well as those established by the synagogues. In Matthew 2:6 Matthew has already spoken of the ‘governors' of Judah (compare Psalm 67:27 LXX), as representing the authorities over Jewish towns and cities. The word is also used regularly in LXX of the tribal leaders of Edom (over a dozen times in Genesis 36. See also Exo 15:15; 1 Chronicles 1:51. It translates alluph which can mean a chieftain, captain, etc). And apart from these, He is saying, they may even be brought before the kings (e.g. Herod and Philip) to whom such governors are subject. This may well have in mind Psalms 119:46, ‘I will also speak of your testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed'.
But we need not limit ‘governors' to Jewish authorities. Galilee contained many Gentiles, and the larger towns and cites abounded with them, and there would be Gentile courts and ‘governors' there as well as Jewish ones. (The term can also mean a Roman appointed governor like Pilate (Matthew 27:2, etc), but he would not be involved here). Thus as the disciples sought out the Jews in these places many of these Jews who were antagonistic might also well turn to Gentile courts or to civil authorities in the hope that they would deal firmly with these men who came introducing a new King and spreading ‘revolution'.
We must recognise in this that some of the synagogues in Galilee, especially in the cities, might well have been as much against Jesus and His followers as the later Hellenistic synagogues in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9-10) and in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50). And some outright Gentiles might also be offended by them and wish to take action against them, as they would later. But how were these dangers to be represented by Jesus to disciples who had had little experience of either Jewish or Gentile courts, and knew very little about the judicial system? Jesus does it in terms they would have heard of, such terms as ‘governors (local authorities) and kings', the very kind of judiciaries that His disciples might know of and would appreciate the seriousness of.
And, of course, there were ‘kings' threatening on the horizon in Herod (who had already imprisoned John) and Philip, who while not as unreasonable as Herod could certainly be heavy handed at times, especially if disturbances had been caused, while ‘governors', a word which has been used of the ‘governors (princes) of Judah' in Matthew 2:6, who acted under these kings, would abound.
Indeed ‘Governors' was probably a deliberately loose description for both Jewish and Gentile authorities of which there would be a number in both territories, spoken to those who would have little knowledge about the varied details and ranks of such people. The Apostles were unlikely to be in a position to discriminate between different types of authority. Once they left their own neighbourhood they would be on new territory. All authorities would then appear the same to them. The thought is thus concentrated on the fact that it would be the representatives of the kings that they knew of, that is their ‘governors', as well sometimes the kings themselves, who would mainly be responsible for calling them to account. Jesus description would convey exactly what He wanted them to consider, that they would be judged by various rather vaguely described Jewish and Gentile authorities. He had probably Himself not had much experience of them either. He was a provincial. He would thus be speaking in very general terms. And His point is that if this happened they must see it as an opportunity to testify to the Gentiles, who would in many cases be involved. So while they were not to seek Gentiles out, they did have a responsibility to testify to them when they could.
We really cannot turn round and say, ‘but this did not happen to them at this time'. The truth is that we do not know what happened at this time. Thus these things might quite well have happened. In fact it must be considered doubtful if they could have gone out into a hotbed of fanaticism like Galilee and its surrounds without experiencing such things, at least to some extent. They must have caused quite a stir, while their healings would have drawn great crowds. Such great crowds being gathered in a number of places at once would not escape the notice of Herod's spies, and they might well have reported back to Herod, especially when the disciples in their teaching concerning the Kingly Rule of Heaven (about which they still had wrong ideas) forgot to be as wise as serpents, thus putting some of the disciples at least in danger of being brought before him. It was certainly something that they must have feared.
Indeed it might well be because one or two had been brought before Herod or his judges that Jesus withdrew into Philip's territory later on. However, the Gospel writers would not want to mention it if it was feared that it would take the attention off Jesus, as it surely would. It should be noted in this regard that this is so much the case that we are nowhere told in Matthew that the disciples did actually go out on their mission (this is in fact typical of ancient Jewish writings. See for example Exodus 17:1-6 where the actual drinking of the water which was ‘miraculously' produced is never mentioned, only the directions as to how to obtain it. The rest is assumed). It is just assumed in Matthew 11:1. Thus we have no record at all in Matthew of what happened on this campaign. He is deliberately silent about it. His readers did not want to know about what was commonplace to them (Galatians 3:5). They wanted to learn about Jesus. But see Mark 6:12-13; Mark 6:30; Luke 9:2; Luke 9:6; and note the connection with Herod in both accounts. He may have heard more of Jesus precisely because he had called in one or two of the Apostles for questioning.
‘Governors and kings.' Jesus used the concept a number of times as a general way of warning His disciples concerning the opposition that they would be up against (see Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12). In the end it represented all earthly authority.