Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 10:14
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
14. shake off the dust of your feet ] as St Paul did at Antioch in Pisidia, Act 13:51. The cities of Israel that rejected the Gospel should be regarded as heathen. The very dust of them was a defilement as the dust of a heathen land. See Lightfoot, ad loc.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 10:14
Shake off the dust of your feet.
-The sin of the Sodomites was single, but that of those rejecting the apostles would be manifold, including
(1) infidelity;
(2) disobedience;
(3) ingratitude;
(4) inhospitality;
(5) rebellion and contumacy against God, contrary to the law of nature, and in defiance of the grace of God. (Lapide.)
The danger of defilement
The danger of course was not from dust on the feet, but from defilement on the life and in the heart. Every apostle was to let his impenitent countrymen know that they were as heathen men in the sight of the Messiah, impure in the estimation of the infinitely Holy One. The spirit of the injunction runs through all the ages, and has come down to our day. Its spirit, but its spirit only. And hence a very heavy responsibility rests on that minister of the gospel who gives no intimation of any kind to the impenitent with whom he associates, that they are impure in the sight of God, and in danger of eternal separation from the good. (James Morison, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Shake off the dust of your feet.] The Jews considered themselves defiled by the dust of a heathen country, when was represented by the prophets as a polluted land, Am 7:17, when compared with the land of Israel, which was considered as a holy land, Eze 45:1; therefore, to shake the dust of any city of Israel from off one’s clothes or feet was an emblematical action, signifying a renunciation of all farther connection with them, and placing them on a level with the cities of the Heathen. See Clarke on Am 9:7.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
14. And whosoever shall not receiveyou, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house orcityfor possibly a whole town might not furnish one “worthy.”
shake off the dust of yourfeet“for a testimony against them,” as Mark and Lukeadd (Mar 6:11; Luk 10:11).By this symbolical action they vividly shook themselves from allconnection with such, and all responsibility for theguilt of rejecting them and their message. Such symbolical actionswere common in ancient times, even among others than the Jews, asstrikingly appears in Pilate (Mt27:24). And even to this day it prevails in the East.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And whosoever shall not receive you,…. Into their houses, and refuse to entertain them and provide for them in a friendly manner;
nor hear your words, slight their salutations, make no account of, but despise their good wishes for their welfare; and also treat with contempt the doctrines of the Gospel preached by them; and either would not attend on their ministry, or if they did, give no credit to what they should say, but deride and reject them.
When ye depart out of that house, or city; to another house, or to another city, being obliged to remove, through their contemptuous rejection of them:
shake off the dust of your feet. So Paul and Barnabas did at Antioch in Pisidia, when the Jews contradicted and blasphemed the Gospel preached by them, raised a persecution against them, and expelled them out of their coasts, Ac 13:51 which ceremony was ordered by Christ to be observed even to the cities of Judea, that should despise and reject the ministry of his apostles; and that either to show that they did not come to them with worldly views, with any design to amass riches and wealth to themselves, for they would not so much as carry away with them the dust on their feet, but it was purely with a view to their welfare, both spiritual and temporal; or to testify that they had been among them, and that that very dust they shook off their feet would rise up in judgment against them, and declare that the Gospel had been preached among them, and they had rejected it, which will be an aggravation of their condemnation; or rather to observe to them, that such was their wickedness, that even the dust of their country was infected thereby, and therefore they shook it off, as though it defiled them, as the dust of an Heathen country was thought by the Jews to do; so that by this action they signified that they would have nothing more to do with them, or say to them, and that they looked upon them as impure and unholy, as any Heathen city or country. There seems to be an allusion to some maxims and customs of the Jews, with respect to the dust of Heathen countries.
“On account of six doubts, they say u, they burn the first offering, for a doubt of a field in which a grave might be, and for a doubt , “of the dust which comes from the land of the Gentiles”, c.”
On which Bartenora has this note
“all dust which comes from the land of the Gentiles, is reckoned by us as the rottenness of a dead carcass; and of these two, “the land of the Gentiles”, and a field in which is a grave, it is decreed that they “defile” by touching, and by carrying.”
Again w,
“the dust of a field in which is a grave, and the dust without the land (of Israel) which comes along with an herb, are unclean.”
Upon which Maimonides makes this remark,
“that the dust of a field that has a grave in it, and the dust which is without the land of Israel, defile by touching and carrying; or if, when it hangs at the end of an herb, when they root it out of the dust of such a field, it is unclean.”
Hence they would not suffer herbs to be brought out of an Heathen country into the land of Israel, lest dust should be brought along with them.
“A Misnic doctor teaches x, that they do not bring herbs from without the land (of Israel into it), but our Rabbins permit it; what difference is there between them? Says R. Jeremiah, they take care of their dust; that is the difference between them.”
On that clause, “they take care of their dust”, the gloss is,
“lest there should be brought with it , “any of the dust of the land of the Gentiles”, which defiles in the tent, and pollutes the purity of the land of Israel.”
u Misn. Taharot, c. 4. sect. 5. Vid. c. 5. 1. & Maimon & Bartenora in ib. w Misn. Oholot. c. 17. sect. 5. x T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 12. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Shake off the dust ( ). Shake out, a rather violent gesture of disfavour. The Jews had violent prejudices against the smallest particles of Gentile dust, not as a purveyor of disease of which they did not know, but because it was regarded as the putrescence of death. If the apostles were mistreated by a host or hostess, they were to be treated as if they were Gentiles (cf. Matt 18:17; Acts 18:6). Here again we have a restriction that was for this special tour with its peculiar perils.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shake off [] . “The very dust of a heathen country was unclean, and it defiled by contact. It was regarded like a grave, or like the putrescence of death. If a spot of heathen dust had touched an offering, it must at once be burnt. More than that, if by mischance any heathen dust had been brought into Palestine, it did not and could not mingle with that of ‘the land, ‘ but remained to the end what it had been – unclean, defiled and defiling everything to which it adhered.” The apostles, therefore, were not only to leave the house or city which should refuse to receive the, “but it was to be considered and treated as if it were heathen, just as in the similar case mentioned in Mt 18:17. All contact with such must be avoided, all trace of it shaken off” (Edersheim, ” Jewish Social Life in the Days of Christ “). The symbolic act indicated that the apostles and their Lord regarded them not only as unclean, but as entirely responsible for their uncleanness. See Act 18:6.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And whosoever shall not receive you,” (kai hos an me deksetai humas) “And whoever may not receive you all,” in a worthy, congenial manner of good will, Mat 10:11-13.
2) “Nor hear your words,” (mede akouse tous logous humon) “Nor give heed to your words,” your testimony or message that I send you to preach, or the miracles you are given power to perform, Mat 10:7-8; Exo 4:15; Rev 22:19.
3) “When ye depart out of that house or city,” (ekserchomenoi ekso tes oikias e tes poleos ekeines) “As you go outside or leave that house or city,” either or both of which, neither extend good will for your care nor your message and labors.
4) “Shake off the dust of your feet.” (ektinaksate ton koniorton ton podon) “Shake off the dust of your feet.” Luk 10:10-12; Act 13:51. This was a symbolic gesture of renouncing those who had rejected them and their message. It said, “We shall not be further responsible or accountable for your destiny in rejecting Jesus Christ,” Pro 27:1; Pro 29:1; Rom 14:11-12.
See also the dust references, Mr 6:11; Luk 9:5; Neh 5:13; Act 13:51; Luk 10:11; Act 18:6\.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. And whoever will not receive you. This awful threatening of punishment against the despisers of the gospel was intended to animate his disciples, that they might not be retarded by the ingratitude of the world. He directs the apostles, indeed, what he wishes them to do if they meet with despisers. But his principal design was that, wherever their doctrine was rejected, their well-founded grief and distress might be relieved by consolation, that they might not fail in the middle of their course. And we see how Paul, relying on this consolation, boldly sets at naught all the obstinacy of men, moves on steadily in the midst of hindrances, and boasts that he is
a sweet savor to God, though he is the savor of death to them that perish, (2Co 2:15.)
Now, this passage shows in what estimation the Lord holds his gospel, and, indeed, as it is an inestimable treasure, they are chargeable with base ingratitude who refuse it when offered to them. Besides, it is the scepter of his kingdom, and therefore cannot be rejected without treating him with open contempt.
Shake off the dust As the Lord here recommends the doctrine of the gospel, that all may receive it with reverence, and terrifies rebels by threatening severe punishment, so he enjoins the apostles to proclaim the vengeance which he threatens. But this they cannot do, unless they burn with very ardent zeal to make known the doctrines which they preach. We must therefore hold that no man is qualified to become a teacher of heavenly doctrine, unless his feelings respecting it be such, that he is distressed and agonized when it is treated with contempt.
To shake off the dust from the feet was probably a custom then prevalent in Judea, as a sign of execration; and was intended to declare that the inhabitants of the place were so polluted, that the very ground on which they trod was infected. That it was an ordinary custom I conjecture from our Lord’s manner of speaking of it as a thing well known. This form of execration confirms still more what I lately mentioned, that no crime is more offensive to God than contempt of his word: for he does not enjoin them to make use of so solemn a mode in expressing their detestation of adulterers, or murderers, or any description of malefactors.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14) Shake off the dust of your feet.The act was a familiar symbol of the sense of indignation, as in the case of St. Paul (Act. 13:51) at Antioch in Pisidia. The Jewish maxim, that even the very dust of a heathen land brought defilement with it, added to its significance. It was a protest in act, declaring (as our Lord declares in words) that the city or house which did not receive the messengers of the Christ was below the level even of the Gentiles.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Dust of your feet Such was the custom of stricter Jews in departing from a heathen city. But henceforth the rejecters of Jesus, though Jews by blood, are heathen in heart. The meaning of the symbol of shaking the dust from your feet, is solemn and striking. It declares the city polluted, and not a particle of it shall adhere to the apostle’s person. It is given over to itself, and consigned to its own destruction.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And whoever will not receive you, nor hear your words, as you go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet.”
These words are very solemn words and indicate the seriousness of the situation they speak of. If they were not received, whether by house or city, they were to shake their dust off their feet. This would be an act of rejection. When Jews left Gentile territory they would regularly shake the dust off their feet for it was seen as unclean. It belonged to a land where God’s laws of cleanliness were not observed, and was thus ‘unclean’. When a man entered the Temple he was to shake the dust off his feet. He was demonstrating that the world outside was not worthy of God. The situation here then was similar. But the uncleanness indicated would not in this case be ritual uncleanness, but sinfulness. By this act this house or city was thus being shown to be cut off from Israel. It was an indication to God that they were not worthy, because they had rejected the messengers of the King. They had refused to submit to the Kingly Rule of Heaven. They were thus being committed to God’s judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 10:14. Whosoever shall not receive you In Scripture, to receive one signifies to allow him the benefit of our company, to converse familiarly with him, and to do him good offices. See Luk 15:2. It signifies also to entertain one hospitably, being applied twice to Rahab’s entertaining the spies, Heb 11:31. Jam 2:25. The Jews thought there was something of so peculiar a holiness in the land of Israel, that when they came home from any heathen country, they stopped at its borders, and wiped the dust of it from their shoes, that the sacred inheritance might not be polluted with it: nor would they permit herbs to be brought to them from their neighbours, lest they should bring any of the dust of their land upon them. So that the action here enjoined to the apostles of shaking off the dust was a lively intimation, that when the Jews had rejected the Gospel, they were no longer to be regarded as the people of God, but were on a level with heathens and idolaters.See Fleming’s Christology, vol. 2: p. 160. Doddridge, and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 10:14 . , . . .] The nominative is a case of anacoluthon , and placed at the beginning, so as to be emphatic, as in Mat 7:24 : Whosoever will not have received you as you quit that house or that town, shake, and so on .
, with a simple genitive (Act 16:39 ); Khner, II. 1, p. 346. The , which Lachmann, Tischendorf 8. insert (B D ), is a gloss upon what is a rare construction in the New Testament. Notice the present participle, thereby meaning “upon the threshold,” and relatively “at the gate.”
] or, should a whole town refuse to receive you and listen to you. The shaking off the dust is a sign of the merited contempt with which such people are reduced to the level of Gentiles, whose very dust is defiling. Iightfoot, p. 331 f.; Mischna Surenhusii, VI. p. 151; Wetstein on this passage; Act 13:51 ; Act 18:6 . This forcible, meaning of the symbolical injunction is not to be weakened (Grotius, Bleek: “Nil nobis vobiscum ultra commercii est;” de Wette: “Have nothing further to do with them;” Ewald: “Calmly, as though nothing had happened”); on the contrary, it is strengthened by Mat 10:15 . Comp. Mat 7:6 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Ver. 14. And whosoever shall not receive you ] Two sure signs of reprobate goats: 1. Not to receive Christ’s ministers to house and harbour, accounting themselves happy in such an entertainment. 2. Not to hear their words. The most good is done by God’s ministers commonly at first coming. Then some receive the word with admiration, others are daily more and more hardened: as fish, though fearful, stir not at the great noise of the sea, whereunto they are accustomed; and as birds that build in a belfry startle not at the tolling of the bell.
Shake off the dust of your feet ] In token that you sought not theirs but them, and that you will not carry away so much as any of their accursed dust; and that you will not have any communion at all with them, wait no longer upon them; that the dust of those feet (that should have been beautiful) shall be fatal and feral to them; that God shall henceforward beat them here as small as dust with his heavy judgments, as with an iron mace, Psa 2:9 ; and that hereafter he shall shake them off as dust, when they come to him for salvation at the last judgment.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14. ] See Act 13:51 ; Act 18:6 . A solemn act which might have two meanings: (1) as Luk 10:11 expresses at more length, ‘We take nothing of yours with us, we free ourselves from all contact and communion with you;’ or (2), which sense probably lies beneath both this and Mat 10:13 , ‘We free ourselves from all participation in your condemnation: will have nothing in common with those who have rejected God’s message.’ See 1Ki 2:5 , where the shoes on the feet are mentioned as partakers in the guilt of blood . It was a custom of the Pharisees, when they entered Juda from a Gentile land, to do this act, as renouncing all communion with Gentiles: those then who would not receive the apostolic message were to be treated as no longer Israelites, but Gentiles. Thus the verse forms a kind of introduction to the next portion of the discourse, where the future mission to the Gentiles is treated of. The . brings in the alternative; “house, if it be a house that rejects you, city, if a whole city.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
shake off, &c. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6. Compare Mat 18:17. See Act 13:51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14.] See Act 13:51; Act 18:6. A solemn act which might have two meanings: (1) as Luk 10:11 expresses at more length,-We take nothing of yours with us, we free ourselves from all contact and communion with you; or (2),-which sense probably lies beneath both this and Mat 10:13, We free ourselves from all participation in your condemnation: will have nothing in common with those who have rejected Gods message. See 1Ki 2:5, where the shoes on the feet are mentioned as partakers in the guilt of blood. It was a custom of the Pharisees, when they entered Juda from a Gentile land, to do this act, as renouncing all communion with Gentiles: those then who would not receive the apostolic message were to be treated as no longer Israelites, but Gentiles. Thus the verse forms a kind of introduction to the next portion of the discourse, where the future mission to the Gentiles is treated of. The . brings in the alternative; house, if it be a house that rejects you, city, if a whole city.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 10:14. , whosoever) whatever householder or magistrate.-, when ye depart) The ignorance of men was not yet invincible. At present, in a greater multitude of labourers and hearers, it is not necessary to depart.[462]-, or) If you should not be admitted into any house of the city.-, dust) Because punishment (Mat 10:15) would overtake the very dust of the land trodden by the feet of the impious, from which the apostles would wish to be altogether free; see Act 13:51; cf. Mat 18:6; Mar 6:11. That seeing your determination, they may know it has been said to them as a testimony against them. The action combined with the word moves both spectators and auditors; see Neh 5:13.- , your feet) This depends upon , shake off from. Guilt is supposed to adhere to the feet or shoes; see 1Ki 2:5. Therefore the apostles ought to declare, by shaking the dust from their feet, that the fault of those who did not listen has been removed from them.
[462] Beng, seems to mean, There was not then, as yet, the invincible ignorance of men to contend with, that there is now: it was wilful unbelief; and in such a case it was their duty not to waste time, as the spiritual labourers were few, but to depart. In our day, on the other hand, where the numbers of both spiritual labourers and their hearers are many, it is not the duty of the former to depart, though many wilfully harden themselves, for there are others who labour under ignorance, and it is the ministers duty to labour to overcome that ignorance, which, though invincible in itself, can be overcome by the Spirit of God.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
whosoever: Mat 10:40, Mat 10:41, Mat 18:5, Mar 6:11, Mar 9:37, Luk 9:5, Luk 9:48, Luk 10:10, Luk 10:11, Joh 13:20, 1Th 4:8
shake: Neh 5:13, Act 13:51, Act 18:6, Act 20:26, Act 20:27
Reciprocal: Num 16:26 – I pray you Deu 17:12 – will do Deu 33:11 – smite Mic 5:8 – as a lion Mat 7:6 – that Act 22:18 – Make 2Co 7:2 – Receive 1Th 2:13 – because 3Jo 1:8 – to receive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0:14
A group of citizens that were such as to be regarded as unworthy, would be the kind that would reject the offered blessings of the apostles. Shake off the dust of your feet. People traveled on foot and thus picked up the particles of soil on the way. This act was purely a symbolic one, for there would be no contamination in the dust due to the character of the people. It meant that all responsibility for their fate was to be left at their own door, seeing they would not receive the favors offered them by their good visitors.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
[Shake off the dust of your feet.] The schools of the scribes taught that the dust of the heathen land defiled by the touch. “The dust of Syria defiles, as well as the dust of other heathen countries.”
“A tradition-writer saith, ‘They bring not herbs into the land of Israel out of a heathen land: but our Rabbins have permitted it.’ What difference is there between these? R. Jeremiah saith, The care of their dust is among them.” The Gloss is, “They take care, lest, together with the herbs, something of the dust of the heathen land be brought, which defiles in the tent, and defiles the purity of the land of Israel.”
“By reason of six doubts, they burn the truma; the doubt of a field, in which heretofore might be a sepulchre; the doubt of dust brought from a heathen land,” etc. Where the Gloss is this; “Because it may be doubted of all the dust of a heathen land, whether it were not from the sepulchre of the dead.”
“Rabbi saw a certain priest standing in a part of the city Aco, which part was without the bounds of the land of Israel: he said to him, ‘Is not that heathen land concerning which they have determined that it is as unclean as a burying-place?’ ”
Therefore that rite of shaking the dust off the feet; commanded the disciples, speaks thus much; “Wheresoever a city of Israel shall not receive you, when ye depart, shew, by shaking off the dust from your feet; that ye esteem that city, however a city of Israel, for a heathen, profane, impure city; and, as such, abhor it.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 10:14. And whosoever shall not receive you, as guests in the house.
Nor hear your words, as teachers in a town. If refused in one house, they need not leave the town at once, although after inquiring for one worthy, such a refusal would probably precede a rejection in the place itself.
Shake off the dust of your feet. To be done immediately after decided rejection in a house or a city. The act was symbolical, expressing an end of all intercourse, and perhaps an end of responsibility. As His representatives, their act implied rejection and consequent judgment (comp. Mar 6:11).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 10:14-15. Whosoever shall not receive you That is, entertain you kindly; nor, in an obedient manner, hearken to your words, when you depart, &c., shake off the dust of your feet The Jews thought the land of Israel so peculiarly holy, that when they came home from any heathen country they stopped at the borders, and shook or wiped off the dust of it from their feet, that the holy land might not be polluted with it. Therefore the action here enjoined was a lively intimation, that those Jews who had rejected the gospel were holy no longer, but were on a level with heathen and idolaters. Verily, It shall be more tolerable, &c. As if he had said, And indeed you have reason to shake off the dust of your feet in such a case, for whatever profession such Jews may make of their regard to the true God, and however they may continue to boast of their national privileges, their punishment at the day of final judgment shall not only be greater than that of the generality of Gentile sinners, but even than that of those monsters of unnatural wickedness who formerly inhabited Sodom and Gomorrah, and were consumed with fire and brimstone from heaven. For the people of those cities never sinned against such extraordinary light and such singular favours as they will do who reject the gospel now to be preached to them, with great plainness and power, by you, and attested by such miracles as I shall enable you to perform.