‘These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, “Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Jesus now sent out the twelve, and His instructions were that they were not to take roads that led into purely Gentile territory, nor enter cities of the Samaritans, but were to go to ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel'. In the chiasmus these last are paralleled with Matthew 9:36. These were to be the sole object of Jesus' interest from now on until His intentions were changed by meeting a Canaanite woman who sought His assistance for her daughter (Matthew 15:24, see context).
Note the typical thesis and antithesis as found in the Sermon on the Mount. ‘Do not go to the Gentiles and the Samaritans, but go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'. There was in fact no likelihood of the disciples going to either the Gentiles or the Samaritans (in Acts they were reluctant to go to them even after they had been specifically commanded to do so). That is only stated in order to bring out the positive emphasis on who they were to reach. Compare Matthew 5:17, ‘not to destroy, but to fulfil'. Matthew 6:19, ‘do not lay up treasure on earth -- lay up treasure in Heaven'.
These words were not intended to indicate that no Gentile or Samaritan who came for healing or to hear their message must be helped. There were many Gentiles in and around Galilee, and where they came with the crowds to hear the teaching of the disciples they would be welcomed, as had always been the case in Jesus' ministry. But reaching out to them specifically would be quite another thing. That was not at this stage to be the aim of the disciples who were rather to go to places where they would expect to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel. We must, however, be quite clear who ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel' were. They were not the whole of Israel without exception. Jesus is quite clear on the fact that many Jews will refuse to listen to them and will turn them away. In their case the disciples must shake the dust off their feet and go elsewhere. They were not to go to them. They were not to cast their pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). But others would welcome them with open hearts, because of their sense of need, and their desire to know God. It was to them that they must go.
Indeed who the lost sheep of the house of Israel were has already been explained in Matthew 9:36. They were the large crowds who were tending to follow Him because their hearts were unsatisfied and the Jewish leadership had failed them. There were many like them waiting in the towns and cities longing for a way of salvation. But there were also many Israelites in some of those towns and cities who were not ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 10:14-15). It is true that theologically they were lost, and that they were Israelites, (although now to be rejected Israelites), but their hearts were closed towards Him. They were quite happy with their shepherds, and did not know that they were lost. They did not think of themselves as lost. And when His messengers arrived they would refuse to give them a hearing. Thus the disciples were told not to go to them but were rather to shake their dust off their feet, a sign that in God's eyes they were not true members of Israel, they were not the ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel'. In contrast the lost sheep of the house of Israel were those whose hearts were open to receiving the disciples and hearing their message. Jesus could have said with Paul, ‘They are not all Israel who are Israel' (Romans 9:6).
It is the condition of these ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel' which has aroused His compassion (Matthew 9:36), and He therefore considers that it is they who must be given the first opportunity to hear the Good News of the Kingly Rule of God. It is to be ‘to the Jew first' (Romans 1:16), and especially those whose hearts God had opened. However, we must stress again that this is not just a way of speaking of all Israel. The identity of the lost sheep is defined in Matthew 9:36, ‘He was moved with compassion for them (the crowds) because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd', and this was while He was going ‘about all their towns and villages'. So ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel' does not refer to all Israel, but to those within the towns and villages of Israel who were bewildered and astray, and without a shepherd. This is confirmed in Jeremiah 50:6. ‘My people have been lost sheep, their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains; they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place.' We should note that here in Jeremiah the clear distinction is made between the false leaders of the people (the king, and the princes, and the prophets, and the priests, and the judges, and the teachers of Israel, and those who followed them - see Isaiah 3:14-15; Isaiah 10:1; Hosea 4:5-6; Hosea 5:1) and the ‘lost sheep' who sense their emptiness of soul and are waiting and longing for God, and are separate from the others. The same distinction is found in Matthew.
On this basis the ‘lost sheep of the house of Israel' are those who are not confident in themselves. They sense that they have been led astray by their teachers. But in their seeking, they do not know where to turn. That is why they are looking to the new Prophet. An example of one such is found in Psalms 119:176 where the idea in context is of one who is seeking God's salvation (Psalms 119:174), and who cries, ‘I have gone astray like a lost sheep', and he calls on God to ‘seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.' The Psalmist is lost and bewildered but his heart is reaching out to God, and there is that within him which clings to God's commandments. He is one of God's lost sheep. It is of these lost sheep that Isaiah in Isaiah 53:6 also declares, of those who hear his report, ‘all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone into our own way' (Isaiah 53:6), and there the solution is found in the Lord laying on the Shepherd Servant the iniquity of ‘us all'. These are the ‘many' for whom He will offer Himself (Matthew 20:28; Isaiah 53:11-12). It should be noted in this regard that this passage in Matthew 10:5-6 is found very much in the heart of the ‘that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by (through) Isaiah the prophet ' section, where all Matthew's direct citations are from Isaiah. It is sandwiched between Matthew 8:17 which cites Isaiah 53:4; and Matthew 12:17 which cites Isaiah 42:1-4; and we can also compare Matthew 3:3; Matthew 4:15; Matthew 13:14; Matthew 15:7 and see Matthew 20:28). Isaiah was thus at this stage very much in mind in Matthew's penning of this section. This confirms that the connection of the phrase ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel' with Isaiah 53:6 must be seen as very relevant, following, as it does in Matthew, a citation of Isaiah 53:4. Already therefore in mind is the Servant Who will give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).
So this confirms that ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel' who must first be sought are those in Israel who feel that they are shepherdless, whose hearts have not forgotten His commandments, and who are waiting to be found. They are the kind who flocked to John the Baptiser, and are now flocking to Jesus. They are not satisfied with the spiritual guidance that they are receiving. They are looking for something else. So this is not an indication that Jesus is restricting His ministry to ‘the Jews' as such. It is an indication that He sees in these people, who are among the Jews and whose hearts are open, the nucleus of His new Israel which will arise out of the old, and is intending to concentrate on them for the time being. On the other hand this does not indicate a ‘spiritual Israel', as though there could be two Israels. It is rather a replacement Israel (Matthew 21:43), the establishment of the true Israel as spoken of by the prophets (Isaiah 6:13; Isaiah 44:1-5; Isaiah 48:10; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hosea 1:9-10; Zechariah 13:8-9). Jesus is saying that the true Israel will now be formed of those who have responded to Jesus the Christ. For it is Jesus Who represents in Himself the true Israel. He is the One Who has come out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15). He is the true Vine (John 15:1-6). Unbelievers in the old Israel will be ‘cut off', they will be burned as useless branches (which is expressed here in Matthew by the shaking from the disciples' feet of their dust), while Gentiles, like the centurion in chapter 8, (and later many others) will be able to be grafted in, a process which will go on until the whole of true Israel are saved. (See Romans 9-11, and our article on ‘Is the church Israel?').
This was actually the idea also in the Old Testament. There it was those who were true to the covenant who were in the end the true Israel. Those who sinned in the wilderness were excluded from the land. Israel as a whole, apart from the few, would become ‘not my people' (Hosea 1:9). That was why Jeremiah spoke of a new covenant which would seize the hearts of men making them His people (Jeremiah 31:31-36; Hebrews 8:8-13). And now that is happening and this new and true Israel will be founded on the Apostles (Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:11-22).