I often hear the courageous sounding sentiment of staying put in the midst of persectution that usually goes with the idea of national conversation. Particularly in the modern church age of a gross misunderstanding of what it means to take dominion (over Satan's dominion in our lives and those whom we are ministering to) to mean governmental power over nations-and idea that appeals to most people's natural minds. John tells us that the way to discern a prophesy is that if the world i.e. lust of the eyes, flesh, and pride of life like the word, it's not of God. (I think that's 1 John). Just like the word of faith movement took the truth of faith and misapplied it to faith for the acquisition of our national idols (weath and success and power), so too the 7 Mountain doctrine took a powerful truth and misapplied it to something that appeals our flesh. What natural man does not want more power, influence, and wealth. We LOVE it.
That was a digression. Today I was studying a passage and came upon this and found it helpful. Instead of thinking no matter what we stay until all are saved, Jesus spoke very differently. Instead, he said
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/matthew/10-23.htm
ὅταν δὲ: the thought takes a new comforting turn, much needed to reconcile disciples to the grim prospect. With courage and loyalty effort for self-preservation is quite compatible. Therefore, when they persecute here flee there.—ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, in this city, pointing to it, this standing for one.—φεύγετε, flee, very un-heroic apparently, but the bravest soldier, especially an old campaigner, will avail himself of cover when he can. εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν: the reading of [62] [63] is to be preferred to ἄλλην of the T.R., the idea being: flee not merely to another city numerically distinct, but to a city presumably different in spirit (vide Matthew 6:24 and Matthew 11:16), where you may hope to receive better treatment. Thus the flight, from being a mere measure of self-preservation, is raised to the dignity of a policy of prudence in the interest of the cause. Why throw away life here among a hostile people when you may do good work elsewhere?—Αμὴν γὰρ: reason for the advice solemnly given; an important declaration, and a perplexing one for interpreters.—οὐ μὴ, have no fear lest, ye will certainly not have finished—τελέσητε. In what sense? “gone over” (A.V[64]) in their evangelising tour, or done the work of evangelising thoroughly? (ad fidei et evangelicae virtutis perfectionem—Hilary). The former is the more natural interpretation. And yet the connection of thought seems to demand a mental reference to the quality of the work done. Why tarry at one place as if you were under obligation to convert the whole population to the kingdom? The thing cannot be done. The two views may be combined thus: ye shall not have gone through the towns of Israel evangelising them in even a superficial way, much less in a thorough-going manner. Weiss takes the word τελ. as referring not to mission work but to flight = ye shall not have used all the cities as places of refuge, i.e., there will always be some place to flee to. This is beneath the dignity of the situation, especially in view of what follows.—ἕως ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τ. ἀ. Here again is the peculiar title Song of Solomon of Man: impersonal, but used presumably as a synonym for “I”. What does it mean in this connection? And what is the coming referred to? The latter question can be best answered at a later stage. It has been suggested that the title Son of Man is here used by Christ in opposition to the title Song of Solomon of David. The meaning of Matthew 10:23 on that view is this: do not think it necessary to tarry at all hazards in one place. Your work anywhere and everywhere must be very imperfect. Even success will mean failure, for as soon as they have received the tidings of the kingdom they will attach wrong ideas to it, thinking of it as a national kingdom and of me as the “Son of David”. No thorough work can be done till the Son of Man has come, i.e., till a universal Gospel for humanity has begun to be preached (Lutteroth). This is a fresh suggestion, not to be despised, on so obscure a subject. We are only feeling our way as to the meaning of some of Christ’s sayings. Meantime, all that we can be sure of is that Christ points to some event not far off that will put a period to the apostolic mission.
[62] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
[63] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.
[64] Authorised Version.
23. when they persecute you] Such words indicate that these “instructions” have a far wider range than the immediate mission of the Apostles. They are prophetic, bringing both warning and consolation to all ages of the Church.
till the Son of man be come] The passage in Luke 21, which is to a great extent parallel to this, treats of the destruction of Jerusalem; and no one who carefully weighs our Lord’s words can fail to see that in a real sense He came in the destruction of Jerusalem. That event was in truth the judgment of Christ falling on the unrepentant nation. In this sense the Gospel had not been preached to all the cities of Israel before Christ came. But all these words point to a more distant future. The work of Christian missions is going on, and will still continue until Christ comes again to a final judgment.
Matthew 10:23. Τὴν ἄλλην—κἂν ἐκ ταύτης διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς φεύγετε εἰς ἑτέραν, the other[469]—and if they persecute you from this city, flee ye into another) This is the most ancient Latin reading,[470] and also that of Orige[471][472] contra Celsum (p. 51, Ed. Hoesch.[473]), where, instead of φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἄλλην” [as in E.M.], we find φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν· κἂν ἐν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ δίωκωσι, πάλιν φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἄλλην.” Flee ye into the other;[474] and if they persecute you in that other, flee ye again into the other.[475] Francis Lucas[476] of Bruges quotes old Latin Codices in favour of that reading. Thence, too, the Anglo-Saxon version has—“and thonne hi on thœre eovv ehtath, fleoth on tha thryddan;” i.e. “and when they persecute you in that [city], flee to the third.” Ambrose[477] also, in his treatise, De Fugâ Seculi (ch. 4), says, “But if they shall persecute you in one, flee ye into another.” And Juvencus[478] renders the passage thus:—
[469] E. V. another.—(I. B.)
[470] The words κἄν—ἑτέραν are not found in E. M.—(I. B.)
[471] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.
[472] ORIGEN was born at Alexandria, in Egypt, about A.D. 185; and died at Tyre, about A.D. 254.—(I. B.)
[473] DAVID HOESCHELIUS, born at Augsburgh 1556. He was a laborious and successful Editor. Among the authors he edited were Origen, Philo Judæus, Basil, and Photius. He died 1617.—(I. B.)
[474] τὴν ἑτέρκν.—ἕτερος signifies originally, other in opposition to one, though it has also the force of other in opposition to many.—(I. B.)
[475] τὴν ἁλλην.—ἄλλος signifies originally, other in opposition to many, though it is used also to represent other in opposition to one. Here τὴν ἄλλην appears to have the force of the former.—(I. B.)
[476] FRANCIS LUCAS was born at Bruges in the sixteenth century. He studied under Arius Montanus, and became a Doctor of Louvain, and Dean of the Church of St Omer. He was profoundly skilled in the Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldee languages, and is considered a judicious critic. he died in 1619.—(I. B.)
[477] Born at Treves A.D. 340; consecrated, in 374, Bishop of Milan, where he died in 397. he was an eloquent preacher, and an able and voluminous writer.—(I. B.)
[478] C. AQUILINUS VETTIUS (al. VECTIUS, or VESTIUS) JUVENCUS, a Spanish priest of good family, who flourished in the fourth century. He wrote, besides other works, a history of our Lord in good hexameter verse, considered both poetical and faithful, and published it about 330.—(I. B.)
“Profugite e tectis quæ vos sectabitur urbis
Inde aliam, mox INDE ALIAM, conquirite sedem.”
“Flee from the roofs of the city which persecutes you; thence seek another and THEN AGAIN ANOTHER abode.” Thus Augustine; thus the Armenian Version. The Codex Cantabrigiensis, the Codices Colbertini 2467 and 3947, Parisiensis 6, and the Codex Stephani η (to which some add the Codex Gonvillianus), contain this passage in various forms of words. The variety of the Greek words[479] suggests the suspicion that this verse has been rendered from Latin into Greek: on the other hand, the antiquity and celebrity of the Latin text is proved by the very multitude and discrepancy of these Greek codices. The omission appears to have arisen from the carelessness so frequently manifested by transcribers, where similar words recur: the facility with which the mistake may occur, appears from the fact that Gelenius, in his Latin version of Orige[480], omits this very clause [which undoubtedly exists in the original]. Athanasius more than once substitutes ἑτέραν for ἄλλην, as is at present the case with the Codex Colbertinus, and from which you may conjecture, that another omission[481] might soon be made by other transcribers.
[479] Lachm. reads ἐτέραν, with Bd Orig. 1,295; 380; 3,473c; 709; cod. 4,398. But Tischend. ἄλλην, with Dabc Vulg. Origen 3,709, and Rec. Text. Lachm. adds in brackets, κἄν ἐν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς, φεύγετε δεἰς τὴν ἄλλην, with DL (ἐκ τάυτης ἐκδιώξωσιν—τ. ἑτέραν) ab Orig. 1,295b; 380a; Hil. 656. But Bc Vulg. and Rec. Text omit these words. Probably they come from a transcriber who fancied that φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν, sc. “a second city,” was incomplete without a clause, “And when they persecute you in that second city, flee into another, i.e. a third city.” To avoid the need for this, I believe the reading ἄλλην for ἐτέραν arose. The shorter is generally preferable to the longer reading, as it was the tendency of transcribers to insert all added matter, lest their copy should be incomplete.—ED.
[480] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.
[481] “hiatus,” hiatus, gap. See Author’s Preface viii. 14, and App. Crit. Part I. § xxii., obs. xxvii., etc.—(I. B.)
Οὐ μὴ τελέσητε, ye shall not finish[482]) cf. כלה,[483] in 2 Chronicles 31:1.—τὰς πόλεις, the cities) not to say, villages, of Israel.—See Matthew 10:6. Our Lord tells them that there was no fear of their not having where to preach, and that they were not to remain long in one place, as they would have the opportunity of remaining longer in other places.—ἕως ἄν ἔλθη ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, until the Son of Man be come) Concerning this coming, see Matthew 10:7; Matthew 11:1.[484]
[482] E. V. Ye shall not have gone over.—(I. B.)
[483] כָּלָה—(1) To be completed, finished.—GESENIUS.—(I. B.)
[484] To wit, there is here meant that very advent, whereby. through His full presence, beneficence, and preaching, the preparatory announcement of His ambassadors in those days was, as it were, completed and fulfilled by Him, whom it behoved to come, to proclaim the Gospel, and to see that it was proclaimed by others, Matthew 11:3; Matthew 11:5. In a similar manner, He commanded the Seventy disciples also to announce the approach of the divine kingdom, and followed up that announcement by His own very presence in those same places, Luke 10:1; Luke 10:9.—Harm., p. 293.
Verse 23. - Matthew only; but even this verse is not free from what appear to be reminiscences of the words recorded in Matthew 24:14, 16). But when they persecute you in this city. Act wisely (ver. 16); flee to another city; you will find work there. Flee ye (cf. Matthew 23:34, and supra, ver. 17, note) into another; into the next (Revised Version); εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν. There are occasions when the duty is rather to spread the message than to seal it with death or to have one's lips closed by imprisonment. But only "he that is spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:15) will be able to understand which course of action the special circumstances require. Our Lord's example (Matthew 12:15) was followed by Christians in the earliest (Acts 8:1; Acts 9:25, 30; Acts 14:6; Acts 17:10, 14) and in later times (e.g. Polycarp, n.y. 155; Dionysius of Alexandria, A.D. 249-251; Cyprian, A.D. 250; Athanasius, A.D. 340). Codex Bezae and some Western authorities, including Tatian's 'Diatess.,' add, "And if out of this they persecute you, flee into another;" but this is a not unnatural gloss upon the true text. For verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over; through (Revised Version); οὐ μὴ τετέσητε: literally, hare completed, like the harvest (Ruth 2:23). The cities of Israel (cf. ver. 6) till the Son of man (Matthew 8:20, note) be come. The mere fact that there was no persecution of the kind just spoken of until after our Lord's death in itself refutes the opinion (found, perhaps, in Tatian's 'Diatess.,' "Donee venero ad yes;" vide Resch, 'Agrapha,' p. 270) that these words refer to his rejoining his disciples on their mission (Matthew 11:1; cf. Luke 10:1). They may, perhaps, refer to his coming in the fall of Jerusalem, but rather look forward to h is complete return in his second advent, as apparently Agathangelus, in Resch, loc. cit. (cf. also p. 404), understands them. The cities of Israel are named because work among the Jews lay at the basis of the commission. If an exact fulfilment of the words is demanded, it is perhaps to be seen in the fact that there will be some Jews unconverted until the Lord's return. Matthew 10:23
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