Matthew 9:36 to Matthew 10:4. The Sending of the Twelve. Jesus sees the people distressed and scattered better, mishandled and lying helpless utterly unprepared, through lack of spiritual guidance and succour, for the Advent of the Kingdom. It was the hour of opportunity, and if there were enough heralds of the Kingdom, the flock could be folded, the ripe harvest garnered (cf. Luke 10:2 the charge to the Seventy; John 4:35). He has already chosen twelve disciples (Mt. assumes Mark 3:14), a number corresponding to that of the tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28); now He endows them with authority like His own over demons and disease. On the names see Mark 3:13 ff.* and Swete in loc. Andrew and Philip are pure Gr. names · Simon, the first, holds a prominent place in Mt.'s Jewish-Chris tian gospel. Mt. groups the twelve in pairs. The Alphæ us who was father of James is not necessarily the same as the father of Levi (Mark 2:14) or Matthew. Thaddæ us is a better reading than Lebbæ us (which is a gloss; it connotes heart, while Thaddæ us was thought to connote breast); in other lists he appears as Judas (son) of James (cf. John 14:22), which suggests that Thaddæ us is a variant form of Judah or Judas. In Matthew 9:4 follow mg.; the evangelists, knowing that the delivering up (paradidomi) was part of God's plan, never use of Judas the verb that specifically denotes treachery (prodidomi).
Related Commentaries of Matthew 9:36
Matthew 9:36-38
36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted,d and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then saith he unto his disciples,The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.