To tread on serpents – Preservation from danger. If you tread on a poisonous reptile that would otherwise injure you, I will keep you from danger. If you go among bitter and malignant enemies that would seek your life, I will preserve you. See the notes at Mar 16:18.

Scorpions – The scorpion is an animal with eight feet, eight eyes and a long jointed tail, ending in a pointed weapon or sting. It is found in tropical climates, and seldom exceeds 4 inches in length. Its sting is extremely poisonous, and it is sometimes fatal to life. It is in Scripture the emblem of malicious and crafty men. When rolled up it has some resemblance to an egg, Luk 11:12; Eze 2:6. The annexed cut will give an idea of its usual form and appearance.

The enemy – Satan. The meaning of this verse is, that Jesus would preserve them from the power of Satan and all his emissaries – from all wicked and crafty men; and this shows that he had divine power. He that can control Satan and his hosts that can be present to guard from all their machinations, see all their plans, and destroy all their designs, must be clothed with no less than almighty power.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 19. To tread on serpents, c.] It is possible that by serpents and scorpions our Lord means the scribes and Pharisees, whom he calls serpents and a brood of vipers, Mt 23:33, (see the note there,) because, through the subtilty and venom of the old serpent, the devil, they opposed him and his doctrine and, by trampling on these, it is likely that he means, they should get a complete victory over such: as it was an ancient custom to trample on the kings and generals who had been taken in battle, to signify the complete conquest which had been gained over them. See Jos 10:24. See also Ro 16:20. See the notes on Mr 16:17; Mr 16:18.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Christ doth here:

1. Confirm the power before given to these seventy for working miracles, that they might not think that it ceased upon the determination of their first mission.

2. He confirmeth his promise to them for his presence with them, and protection of them.

Interpreters think here is a manifest allusion to Psa 91:13, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet: which must be understood figuratively, the sense being, that nothing should hurt them. This promise was more specially verified for some years in Gods protection of time first ministers of the gospel, until they had done their work; and shall be fulfilled in a sense to the end of the world, according to the promise in Psa 91:13. Nothing shall hurt their souls, as to the favour of God and their eternal happiness, nor their bodies, so far forth as, or so long as, God in his wisdom shall judge fit. They have a further power also given them more common to all the ministers of the gospel sent by Christ, yea, and to all Christians. They have a power over all the power of the enemy; God will not be wanting to them in a power to resist the devil, and they have a promise that, being resisted, he shall flee from them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

19. Behold, I give you, c.notfor any renewal of their mission, though probably many of themafterwards became ministers of Christ but simply as disciples.

serpents and scorpionsthelatter more venomous than the former: literally, in the firstinstance (Mar 16:17; Mar 16:18;Act 28:5); but the next words,”and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall byany means hurt you,” show that the glorious power of faithto “overcome the world” and “quench all the fierydarts of the wicked one,” by the communication and maintenanceof which to His people He makes them innocuous, is what ismeant (1Jn 5:4; Eph 6:16).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,…. Which may be literally understood, as in Mr 16:18, or figuratively of the devil, and his principalities and powers, and all his emissaries, who, for their craft and cunning, and for their poisonous and hurtful nature and influence, may be compared to serpents and scorpions:

and over all the power of the enemy; of mankind in general, and of the seed of the woman, Christ and his people in particular, Christ has a power over all his power, his whole posse of devils, even the power of the air, of which he is prince; and he communicated this power to his disciples, even to the seventy: adding,

and nothing shall by any means, hurt you; not the most hurtful and poisonous animals, nor the most malicious persecutors on earth, nor all the devils in hell: as the former venomous creatures, when took up in their hands, should not hurt, their bodies; so the other, whatever they might be permitted to do with respect to their lives, and outward estate, should never hurt their souls, and the eternal welfare of them; nor even hinder the work of God prospering in their hands.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And over all the power of the enemy ( ). This is the heart of “the authority” ( ) here given by Jesus which is far beyond their expectations. The victory over demons was one phase of it. The power to tread upon serpents is repeated in Mr 16:18 (the Appendix) and exemplified in Paul’s case in Malta (Ac 28:3-5). But protection from physical harm is not the main point in this struggle with Satan “the enemy” (Matt 13:25; Rom 16:20; 1Pet 5:8).

Nothing shall in any wise hurt you ( ). Text has future active indicative, while some MSS. read , aorist active subjunctive of , common verb from ( privative and ), to suffer wrong, to do wrong. The triple negative here is very strong. Certainly Jesus does not mean this promise to create presumption or foolhardiness for he repelled the enemy’s suggestion on the pinnacle of the temple.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “Behold, I give unto you power,” (idou dedoka humin ten eksousiam tou) “Behold I have doled out to you all the administrative authority,” along with the dynamic power to work miracles.

2) “To tread on serpents and scorpions,” (patein epano opheo kai skorpion) “To tread upon scorpions and serpents,” dangerous and wily foes, hurtful and injurious, as pledged Psa 91:13.

3) “And over all the power of the enemy:” (kai epi pasan ten dunamin tou echthrou) “And over all the dynamic energies of the enemy:” Jas 4:7; 1Pe 5:7-9.

4) “And nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (kai ouden humas ou me adikesei) “And nothing at all shall by any means hurt you all,” or the enemy shall not do you any great harm, Psa 34:7; Heb 13:5; 1Pe 5:7.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

19. Lo, I give you power. This is said by way of admission. Christ does not affirm that the gift of which they now boast is not illustrious, but reminds them, that they ought to keep their eye chiefly on something loftier still, and not remain satisfied with outward miracles. He does not altogether condemn their joy, as if it were groundless, but shows it to be faulty in this respect, that they were immoderately delighted with a temporal favor, and did not elevate their minds higher. To this disease even the godly are almost all liable. Though the goodness of God is received by them with gratitude, yet the acts of the Divine kindness do not assist them, as they ought to do, by becoming ladders for ascending to heaven. This makes it necessary that the Lord should, as it were, stretch out his hand to raise them up, that they may not rest satisfied with the earth, but may aspire to heavenly renovation. The power of the enemy is the name given by him to every kind of annoyance; for all that is hostile to us is wielded against us by Satan. I do not mean that every thing which tends to injure men is placed at his disposal; but that, being armed with the curse of God, he endeavors to turn to our destruction all his chastisements, and seizes them as weapons for the purpose of wounding us.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(19) Behold, I give unto you . . .The better MSS. have, I have given, as of something already bestowed in its completeness. In the power to tread on serpents and scorpions, we have a manifest reference to the words of Psa. 91:13. Those words stand in closest sequence with the promise which had been wrested from its true meaning by the Tempter in the great struggle in the wilderness; and it is not over-bold to think that they were connected with our Lords memories of that time, and especially of the fact indicated by St. Marks statement (Mar. 1:13) that He was with the wild beasts. Now, through resistance to the Temptation, there had come the victory which if He had then yielded, never would have been won. Of a literal fulfilment of the words, St. Pauls escape from the viper at Melita (Act. 28:3) is the only recorded instance; but the parallelism between this promise and that of Psa. 91:13 shows that the literal meaning falls into the background, that the serpent and the scorpion are symbols of spiritual powers of evil. A merely literal interpretation lands us in two serious difficulties: (1) that it represents the treading on serpents as a greater work than casting out demons; and (2) that it implies that serpents and scorpions, as such, are not part of Gods creation, but belong to the power of the Evil One. So far as we think of a literal fulfilment at all, it can only be as the symbol and earnest of the spiritual. The real kernel of the promise lies in the last words, Nothing shall by any means hurt you, and these find their interpretation in the thought that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, and that all things work together for good to those that love Him (Rom. 8:39; Rom. 8:28).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

19. Behold I give The perfect tense, I have given. The Greek perfect signifies a past act whose effect remains. I have given and the gift still remains. The gift was imparted in the first bestowment of their symbolical office, as one of its significant points. It was probably to cease with their office, though this may not be so certain. The same promise was made even to private believers in Mar 16:18, on which see our note.

Power to tread on serpents and scorpions And as the casting out of demons by the Seventy, and the fall of Satan, which Christ saw, were both actual and physical realities, so was this treading on serpents and scorpions an actual and physical reality. The Seventy during their mission should find a superiority to reptile venom one of their miraculous gifts, as did Paul at Melita. Act 28:5. But all three of these realities were symbols of the spiritual. They were the type of the final

bruising of the serpent’s head. All the power of the enemy It is not sin which has produced physical evil in the world; for evil, accident, and death existed on earth, as geology shows, before Adam sinned. But sin excluded man from access to the tree of life, from which he had been immortal, and thus sin established that relation of the body and mind of man towards external nature, as that disease and death ensue. Sin, therefore, constitutes to man the power of the serpent’s venom and the scorpion’s sting. Christ here promises to these his followers some faint restoration of the Adamic superiority to the power of the enemy.

The enemy The chief and first old Serpent; the Satan of Luk 10:18, by whose first hostility all other venomous things are poisonous to man.

Hurt you This promise of miraculous power should doubtless be limited by the laws of miracle and faith, as defined in our note on Mat 17:20.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will in any way hurt you.”

The result of Satan’s fall, whether seen as actually having happened or as potential, is that those who are in the Kingly Rule of God have authority over all his minions who can be trodden underfoot, for Jesus has given His ambassadors authority over them. And this is what they have been engaged in. There is here a glance towards Gen 3:15 where the curse on the Serpent was to result in the bruising of his head by man as he himself struck at man’s heel. This bruising was now in process (and would continue – Rom 16:20) . The evil spirits which are symbolised as serpents and scorpions can do no harm to those sheltered under the authority of Jesus who can tread on them with impunity. Even their heels are not vulnerable. They will find this guaranteed by the fact that physical serpents and scorpions will be unable to hurt them as well (compare Mar 16:18), but this last is secondary, it is but a symbol of the real thing. For the idea of treading on serpents compare Psa 91:13. Because they are within God’s Kingly Rule serpents have become their plaything (Isa 11:8).

‘The power (dunamis) of the Enemy.’ That is, the power of Satan and all the forces of evil. Though they may have to battle with him (Eph 6:12) those who are truly in Christ need fear nothing of him, for Christ is with them. While Satan has may have a certain ‘power’ (dunamis) Jesus has total authority over him (exousia), and He has given it to His own.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Luk 10:19. Behold, I give unto you power, &c. To tread on serpents is a proverbial expression, which signifies victory over enemies; accordingly, it is added, and over all the power of the enemy. Though these words, in the primary sense, imply, that the apostles should be preserved from these noxious creatures, as one of them literally was, (compare Act 28:5 and Mar 16:18.) yet they seem to have likewise a secondary sense, and to be a prediction that the disciples should obtain a completevictory over the infernal spirits in general; the devil himself being frequently mentioned in scripture, in allusion to the fall, under the appellation of the old serpent. If we consider how great an instrument of idolatry the serpent has been in all ages, it will add some weight to this opinion. There is no need to prove the fact; it is well known what the case was in Egypt, in the eastern countries, in Greece and Rome, and elsewhere. This species of idolatry, however it came there, was found in America, upon the first discovery of that country. Garcilasco del’ Viga, who wrote the History of the Incas of Peru, tells what the Spaniards forcing into the recess of one of their temples, found there the image of a great dragon, placed as the deity of the temple, and the object ofreligious worship. Other instances in abundance might be produced, from ancient as well as modern history. When we reflect how extensive this kind of idolatry has been, how it has spread over the whole world, we may judge, perhaps, that the first prophesy has been more literally accomplished than has been generally supposed; and that the old serpent, in his old form with his seed, and the Son of man, the seed of the woman, have been in perfect enmity, and will be, till the time appointed comes for destroying the power of the evil one; when the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, shall be cast into, and confined for ever in the lake of fire and brimstone. See the notes on Genesis 3.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Ver. 19. To tread on serpents ] See Trapp on “ Mar 16:18 “ Good ministers tread so hard on the old serpent’s head, that it is no wonder he turns again, and nibbleth at their heels.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

19. ] Our Lord here, including all the evil and poison in nature in the ., from the power given Him over that enemy, asserts the gift to them, extended afterwards to all believers ( Mar 16:18 ), of authority to ‘bruise the head of the serpent’ ( Gen 3:15 ). There is an evident allusion to Psa 91:13 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 10:19 reminds one of Mar 16:18 . , the enemy, Satan. , may be either nominative or accusative = either, “nothing shall in any wise hurt you,” R. V [101] , or “in no respect shall he (the enemy) hurt you”.

[101] Revised Version.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

I give = I have given. So L m T Tr. A WH R.

power = authority. Greek. exousia. App-172.

on. Greek. epano, upon (from above). Not the sameword as in verses: Luk 34:35, Luk 34:37.

over = upon. Greek. epi. App-104.

power = might. Greek. dunamis. App-172.

nothing . . . by any means. Greek. ouden. ., ou me. App-105.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

19.] Our Lord here,-including all the evil and poison in nature in the .,-from the power given Him over that enemy, asserts the gift to them, extended afterwards to all believers (Mar 16:18), of authority to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). There is an evident allusion to Psa 91:13.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 10:19. ) As I have given, so in continuation I give.-, serpents) Mar 16:18. An appellation appropriate to an earthly enemy: He no longer alludes to the enemy descending from heaven, as in the image, as lightning. The passage, Act 28:3, et seqq., is parallel to Mar 16:18; but between Mark and Luke (the Gospel) there is a verbal parallelism, yet one not of the things themselves, but of the names.[97] Believers were secured against serpents, called so both in the literal and metaphorical sense.-, scorpions) which are more subtle (keen, or else more minute) than serpents.-) power, or, , forces. Serpents and scorpions are the species: All the power is the genus.- , of the enemy) The singular number, applying to the chief enemy [Mat 13:39; Psa 8:3].- , shall not hurt) Greater danger was lying hidden beneath, than the inexperienced had been sensible of.

[97] Homonymicus, i.e. where the same name or term is applied to different things.-ED. and TRANSL.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

I give: Psa 91:13, Isa 11:8, Eze 2:6, Mar 16:18, Act 28:5, Rom 16:20

and nothing: Luk 21:17, Luk 21:18, Rom 8:31-39, Heb 13:5, Heb 13:6, Rev 11:5

Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – enmity Exo 4:4 – put forth Exo 7:10 – it became Num 23:23 – no enchantment 2Ch 10:11 – scorpions Isa 26:6 – General Mat 10:1 – he gave Luk 9:1 – gave Luk 11:12 – a scorpion Luk 15:24 – they Act 1:8 – ye shall 2Ti 1:7 – but Heb 6:4 – and have Rev 9:3 – as

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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Jesus had given his disciples the ability to perform these miracles so they could prove they were not a group of false teachers.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 10:19. I have given. The correct reading expresses an abiding fact. The Lord augments by a new promise the joy He has just confirmed.

Authority, delegated power here.

To tread on serpents and scorpions. The promise is doubtless literal, so far as necessary to manifest higher spiritual power. In view of the connection we must accept an allusion to Gen 3:15 : bruise the head of the serpent, and perhaps to Psa 91:13 also.

Over all the power of the enemy, i.e., Satan. What precedes also, as the original indicates, belongs to the power of the enemy.

In any wise injure you, though apparent hurt may come.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our Lord, finding that his seventy ambassadors had managed their former commission so well, he here enlarged it, adding there unto a promise of divine protection: Behold I give you power to tread on serpents, and nothing shall hurt you; as if Christ had said, “Go forth again in this armor of power, with which I have girt you, and I warrant you sword-free and shot-free; nothing shall by any means hurt you, neither strength nor stratagem shall overcome you. Neither the power, the presence, nor protection, of God, shall be wanting to any of Christ’s ministers, or members, who go forth in his strength against the spiritual enemies of their salvation.”

As we have a promise of power in this text to enable us to resist the devil, so we have a promise of success elsewhere upon our resisting him: Resist the devil and he will flee from you, Jam 4:7

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means {g} hurt you.

(g) Will do you wrong.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The power that Jesus had given the Seventy to escape injury symbolized their ability to overcome Satan and His demons spiritually (cf. Rev 12:13-17). Thus the connection with the previous verse is clear. Jesus probably referred to snakes and scorpions because they represented these spiritual foes (cf. Gen 3:15). In other words, we should probably take His words figuratively rather than literally. This was evidently a special protection that Jesus gave His disciples during this mission. Jesus may have given it again to His disciples following His resurrection (cf. Mar 16:18). This verse is in the debated long ending of Mark’s Gospel. However, that protection apparently lasted only a short time (cf. Act 28:1-6). Jesus’ disciples since then have experienced injury, so it was evidently a limited provision in view of the unique ministry of Jesus’ original disciples and apostles. Even during the apostolic age many disciples did not escape injury or death (Act 7:60; Act 12:2; 2Ti 4:20).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)