Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 9:5
And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
Luk 9:5-6
Shake off the very dust
No connivance with those who reject the gospel
The Jews were accustomed, on their return from heathen countries to the Holy Land, to shake off the dust from their feet at the frontier.
This act signified a breaking away from all joint participation in the life of the idolatrous world. The Apostles were to act in the same way with reference to any Jewish cities which might reject in their person the Kingdom of God. The rejection of the gospel is not the rejection of a mere theory on which men may innocently entertain different opinions. It is the rejection of a message which, if faithfully received, reveals God, and subdues us to Him, and transforms us into His likeness. It is the refusal of the only remedy for moral evil which God has given to man. And notice that this remedy, being offered to us by men sent by God, may be rejected in rejecting their message or their preaching. The faults or idiosyncrasies of the preached are taken no account of by the Lord. It is one with what He says elsewhere, He that heareth you, heareth Me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me, and he that dispiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me. (M. F.Sadler, M. A.)
Dust
What can seem of less consequence, or more worthless, than a pinch of dust? You have but to open your fingers and the wind blows it away in a moment and you see it no more. Yet if but one small grain of dust is blown into your eye it will give you a great deal of trouble. One of the terrible plagues of Egypt sprang from a handful of dust, which God commanded Moses to fling into the air. Every little grain scattered into millions and millions of invisible poison-atoms floating through the air; and wherever they settled, on man or beast, dreadful boils and ulcers broke out. In the great deserts of Arabia and Africa the stormy wind sometimes brings such clouds of sand-dust, hot and stifling, that they hide the sun, and make the day as dark as night. The travellers have to lie flat on their faces, and the horses and camels to bend their noses down close to the ground, or they would be suffocated. Sometimes whole caravans have thus perished; and even a great army was once destroyed and buried in these terrible clouds of hot dust. In Egypt, temples and cities have been buried under hills of sand, made up of tiny grains, which the wind has kept sweeping up from the desert for hundreds of years. Very great things, you see, may come from very small things–even from dust. (E. R. Conder, D. D.)
Dust witnessing to the actions of people
Once, in a certain part of Germany, a box of treasure that was being sent by railway was found at the end of the journey to have been opened and emptied of the treasure, and filled with stones and rubbish. The question was who was the robber? Some sand was found sticking to the box, and a clever mineralogist having looked at the grains of sand through his microscope, said that there was only one station on the railway where there was that kind of sand. Then they knew that the box must have been taken out at that station; and so they found out who was the robber. The dust under his feet, where he had set down the box to open it, was a witness against him. Suppose when people take off their shoes or boots when they come home, every grain of dust could have a tiny tongue and tell where it came from! What different stories they would have to tell! We, say one little pair of shoes, are all covered with sand from the sea-shore, where we have been running about all day, We, say a strong, clumsy pair of boots, have been all day following the plough. And we have brought sand from the floor of country cottages; and we, dust from the unswept floors of poor garrets; and we, mud from many a lane and court and alley. Well-used shoes these; that are busy day after day, carrying comfort to the poor, and the sick, and the sorrowful. And here are a pair of elegant high-heeled boots with hardly a speck on them, for they have done nothing but step from the carpet to the carriage, and from the carriage to the carpet: I am afraid they have no story worth telling. And here are the village postmans shoes, stained with mud of all colours, and thick with dust from twenty miles of road and footpath, park sward and farmyard, as he trudged his daily round. Here is a solitary shoe, for its poor old owner has but one leg, and a wooden stump for the other; and it is laden with the dust of the crossing he has been sweeping, for a few pence, all day long. Some people, I am afraid, would rub and wipe their shoes for a long time, as hard as they could, if they thought the dust under their feet would tell tales of where they have been. At every step you take, you bring something away with you and leave something behind. (E. R. Conder, D. D.)
Heralds of Joy
If a herald were sent to a besieged city with the tidings that no terms of capitulation would be offered, but that every rebel without exception should be put to death, methinks he would go with lingering footsteps, halting by the way to let out his heavy heart in sobs and groans; but if instead thereof, he were commissioned to go to the gates with the white flag to proclaim a free pardon, a general act of amnesty and oblivion, surely he would run as though he had wings to his heels, with a joyful alacrity, to tell to his fellow-citizens the good pleasure of their merciful king. Heralds of salvation, ye carry the most joyful of all messages to the sons of men l When the angels were commissioned for once to become preachers of the gospel, and it was but for once, they made the welkin ring at midnight with their choral songs, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men. They did not moan out a dolorous dirge as of those proclaiming death, but the glad tidings of great joy were set to music, and announced with holy mirth and celestial song. Peace on earth; glory to God in the highest is the joy-note of the gospel–and in such a key should it ever be proclaimed. We find the most eminent of Gods servants frequently magnifying their office as preachers of the gospel. Whitfield was wont to call his pulpit his throne; and when he stood upon some rising knoll to preach to the thousands gathered in the open air, he was more happy than if he had assumed the imperial purple, for he ruled the hearts of men more gloriously than cloth a king. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And whosoever will not receive you,…. Unto their houses:
when ye go out of the city; where lodging and entertainment are refused you;
shake off the very dust from your feet, for a testimony against them;
[See comments on Mt 10:14] [See comments on Mr 6:11]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As many as receive you not ( ). Indefinite relative plural with and present middle subjunctive and the negative . Here Mt 10:14 has the singular (whosoever) and Mr 6:11 has “whatsoever place.”
For a testimony against them ( ‘ ). Note use of ‘ where Mr 6:11 has simply the dative (disadvantage), really the same idea.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shake off. See on Mt 10:14.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And whosoever will not receive you,” (kai hosoi an me dechontai humas) “And as many as may not receive you,” Joh 13:20; Mat 10:13; Joh 1:11-12. This speaks of not receiving them as heralds or proclaimers of God’s message, not merely as strangers.
2) “When ye go out of that city,” (ekserchomenoi apo tes poleos ekeines) “When you go out of and away from that city,” Mar 6:11.
3) “Shake off the very dust from your feet,” (ton koniorton apo ton podon humon apotinassete) “Shake off of and away from your feet the dust,” a sign that your labors there are over, Act 13:51.
4) “For a testimony against them.” (eis marturion ep, autous) “As a testimony upon and against them,” that such as had rejected their message must bear accountability for their own sinful conduct, Act 18:6; Mat 10:14-15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(5) A testimony against them.Better, a testimony unto them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And as many as do not receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”
But where none in a town would receive them, when they left that town they should shake the dust of the town from their feet (just as pious Jews did when they left Gentile territory, although for a different ritual reason). That action would stand as a testimony to that town’s rejection of God and would declare that they were cut off from the new Israel and were outsiders like the Gentiles. It would count against them in the Judgment. So their going forth was with both mercy and judgment. For those who received them, mercy, For those who would not receive them, judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
4 And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart.
5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
Ver. 5. See Mat 10:14 ; Mar 6:11 ; Luk 10:11 ; Act 13:51 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5. ] , against them; more determinate than , Mark.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 9:5 . By omitting the of Mk. Lk. gives the impression that non-receiving refers to the missionaries not as preachers but as guests = If they will not take you into the house you select, do not try another house, leave the place (so Hahn). This would be rather summary action, and contrary to the spirit of the incident Luk 9:52-56 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
will not = may not. (The force of an.)
not. Greek me. App-105. Not the same word as in verses: Luk 9:27, Luk 9:40, Luk 9:49; Luk 9:-50; Luk 9:53; Luk 9:55; Luk 9:56; Luk 9:58.
of = from. Greek. apo. App-104. Not the same word as in verses: Luk 9:7, Luk 9:8, Luk 9:9, Luk 7:11.
shake off, &c. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6.
from. Greek. apo. App-104. Not the same word as in Luk 9:7.
against. Greek. epi. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5.] , against them;-more determinate than , Mark.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
whosoever: Luk 9:48, Luk 10:10-12, Luk 10:16, Mat 10:14, Mat 10:15, Mar 6:11, Mar 9:37, Act 13:51, Act 18:6
shake: Luk 9:53-56, Neh 5:13
a testimony: Luk 5:14, Mat 10:18
Reciprocal: Mar 13:9 – a Luk 8:37 – and he Act 16:15 – come Phi 2:29 – Receive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
After finding one proper house for their work, they were to leave for another city. As they were leaving, they were to shake the dust from their feet. That was an ancient custom of showing disapproval of the place where they had got the dust.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. The gospel does not force itself upon men; it is an elastic power, penetrating wherever it finds access, and retiring wherever it is repulsed. This was Jesus’ own mode of acting all through His ministry (Luk 8:37; Joh 3:22).
The Jews were accustomed, on their return from heathen countries to the Holy Land, to shake off the dust from their feet at the frontier. This act symbolized a breaking away from all joint-participation in the life of the idolatrous world. The apostles were to act in the same way in reference to any Jewish cities which might reject in their person the kingdom of God. , even the dust. By this symbolical act they relieved themselves of the burden of all further responsibility on account of the people of that city.
The expression, for a testimony, with the complement , upon them, has evidently reference to the judgment to come; in Mark, the complement , for them, makes the testimony an immediate appeal to their guilty consciences.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Jewish travelers often shook the dust off their feet when they returned from a journey in Gentile territory to reject symbolically the Gentiles’ uncleanness. [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 354.] When the Twelve did this, it represented rejection of the unbelievers who had not received their message and them (cf. Act 13:51; Act 18:6). It symbolically stated that Israelites who rejected the disciples’ preaching were no better than unbelieving Gentiles. Evidently Jesus meant this as a sign of individual, but primarily citywide, rejection (cf. Mat 10:14-15).