Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, х Egoo (G1473) apostelloo (G649)]. The I here is emphatic: 'I am sending,' that is, 'am about to send.' In Luke 11:49, the variation is remarkable: "Therefore also, said the wisdom of God, I will send them," etc. What precisely is meant by "the wisdom of God" here, is somewhat difficult to determine. To us it appears to be simply an announcement of a purpose of the Divine Wisdom, in the high style of ancient prophecy, to send a last set of messengers whom the people would reject, and rejecting, would fill up the cup of their iniquity. But, whereas in Luke it is 'I, the Wisdom of God, will send them,' in Matthew it is 'I, Jesus, am sending them;' language only befitting the one Sender of all the prophets, the Lord God of Israel now in the flesh. They are evidently Evangelical messengers, but called by the familiar Jewish names of "prophets, wise men, and scribes," whose counterparts were the inspired and gifted servants of the Lord Jesus; for in Luke (Luke 11:49) it is "prophets and apostles."
And some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some scourge ... and persecute ...