Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 9:37
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the laborers [are] few;
37. The harvest truly is plenteous, &c.] The same expression occurs Luk 10:2 on the occasion of sending forth the Seventy, cp. also Joh 4:35, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The harvest truly is plenteous … – Another beautiful image. A waving field of golden grain invites many reapers and demands haste. By the reference to the harvest here, he meant that the multitude of people that flocked to his ministry was great. The people expected the Messiah. They were prepared to receive the gospel; but the laborers were few. He directed them, therefore, to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth reapers. God is the proprietor of the great harvest of the world, and he only can send people to gather it in.
Remarks On Matthew 9
1. We are presented with an instance of proper perseverance in coming to Christ, Mat 9:1-2. Nothing was suffered to prevent the purpose of presenting the helpless paralytic to the Saviour. So the poor helpless sinner should come. No obstacle should prevent him. He should lay himself at his feet, and feel that Jesus holds over him the power of life and death, and that no other being can save.
2. Jesus has the power to forgive sins, Mat 9:6. He claimed it, and worked a miracle to prove it. If he had it then, he has it still. To him, then, the lost sinner may come with the assurance that as he freely then exerted that power, so he is ever the same, and will do it now.
3. Jesus Christ is divine. Nothing could prove it more clearly than the power to pardon sinners. Only God can pronounce what shall be done with transgressors of His law, Isa 43:25. He that claims this right must be either an impostor or God. But no impostor ever yet worked a real miracle. Jesus was therefore divine. He can save to the uttermost all who come to God through him.
4. We see here the proper rule to be observed in mingling with the wicked, Mat 9:10-13. It should not be of choice or for pleasure. We should not enter into their follies or vices. We should not seek enjoyment in their society. We should mingle with them simply to transact necessary business and to do them good, and no further, Psa 1:1.
5. In the case of the ruler and the woman that was diseased, we have a strong instance of the nature of faith. They came not doubting the power of Jesus – fully assured that he was able to heal. So all genuine believers come to him. They do not doubt his power or willingness to save them. Poor, and lost, and ruined by sin, and in danger of eternal death, they come. His heart is open. He puts forth his power, and the soul is healed, and the sin and danger gone.
6. The young must die, and may die in early life, Mat 9:18. Very short graves are in every burying-ground. Thousands and millions, not more than twelve years of age, have died. Thousands and millions, not more than twelve years of age, are yet to die. Many of these may be taken from Sunday schools. Their class, their teacher – their parents, sisters, brothers – must be left, and the child be carried to the grave. Many children of that age that have been in Sunday schools have died happy. They loved the Saviour, and they were ready to go to him. Jesus was near to them when they died, and they are now in heaven. Of every child we may ask, Are you ready also to go when God shall call you? Do you love the Lord Jesus, so as to be willing to leave all your friends here and go to him?
7. Jesus can raise up the dead, and he will raise up all that love him, Mat 9:25. Many little children will be raised up to meet him in the last great day. He shall come in the clouds. The angel shall sound a trumpet, and all the dead shall hear. All shall be raised up and go to meet him. All that loved him here will go to heaven. All who were wicked, and did not love him here, will go to everlasting suffering.
8. We see the duty of praying for the conversion of the world, Mat 9:37-38. The harvest is as plenteous as it was in the time of Christ. More than 600 million are still without the gospel, and there are not still many laborers to go into the harvest. The world is full of wickedness, and only God can qualify those who shall go and preach the gospel to the dark nations of the earth. Without ceasing we ought to entreat of God to pity the nations, and to send to them faithful people who shall tell them of a dying Saviour.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 37. The harvest] The souls who are ready to receive the truth are very numerous; but the labourers are few. There are multitudes of scribes, Pharisees, and priests, of reverend and right reverend men; but there are few that work. Jesus wishes for labourers, not gentlemen, who are either idle drones, or slaves to pleasure and sin, and nati consumere fruges. “Born to consume the produce of the soil.”
It was customary with the Jews to call their rabbins and students reapers; and their work of instruction, the harvest. So in Idra Rabba, s. 2. “The days are few; the creditor is urgent; the crier calls out incessantly; and the reapers are few.” And in Pirkey Aboth: “The day is short, the work great, the workmen idle, the reward abundant, and the master of the household is urgent.” In all worldly concerns, if there be the prospect of much gain, most men are willing enough to labour; but if it be to save their own souls, or the souls of others, what indolence, backwardness, and carelessness! While their adversary, the devil, is going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; and a careless soul, and especially a careless minister is his especial prey.
The place of the harvest is the whole earth: it signifies little where a man works, provided it be by the appointment, in the Spirit, and with the blessing of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 9:38”.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
37. Then saith he unto hisdisciples, The harvest truly is plenteousHis eye doubtlessrested immediately on the Jewish field, but this he saw widening intothe vast field of “the world” (Mt13:38), teeming with souls having to be gathered to Him.
but the labourersmendivinely qualified and called to gather them in”are few.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then saith he unto his disciples,…. His heart being drawn out, and filled with pity to these poor people, upon observing the miserable and sad condition they were in; he turns himself to his disciples, whom he was about to call, and send forth in a more public manner to preach the Gospel, of which we read in the following chapter; and in order to quicken them to this service, and engage their hearts in it, says unto them,
the harvest truly is plenteous; meaning the large number of God’s elect, which were in these cities, towns, and villages, and in other places: not that these were maturely prepared by anything in themselves, or done by them, for the grace of God; and much less ripe for the kingdom of glory, and therefore called an harvest: but as there are the appointed weeks of the harvest, or a set time for the harvest to be gathered in, so there is a certain fixed time, settled in the counsel, and by the purpose of God, for the effectual calling and conversion of his elect; and this time being come, with respect to these in Galilee, and other parts, Christ calls them an “harvest”; and because of their number, a large, or “plenteous” one.
But the labourers are few: Gospel ministers; whose calling is a laborious one; whose business is to labour in the word and doctrine; to be constant in prayer; to give up themselves to meditation and reading; to study to show themselves workmen; to preach the word in season, and out of season; and diligently discharge the several duties of their office, to the glory of Christ, and the good of souls: but such painful and laborious ministers, who are willing to spend, and be spent for Christ and immortal souls, have been but few in all ages; generally speaking, there are more loiterers than labourers.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “Then saith he unto his disciples,” (tote legei tois mathetais autou) “At that moment he said to his disciples,” to those called and chosen church disciples who were: 1) The kingdom of Heaven, to whom He would soon commit administration of His work, 2) The Salt of the Earth, 3) The Light of the World, 4) The Bride, and 5) The House of God.
2) “The harvest truly is plenteous,” (ho men therismos polus) “Surely the harvest is much,” plenteous, very great; Spiritual opportunities for great results are out there, waiting to be harvested, Luk 10:2.
3) “But the laborers are few;” (hoi de ergatai oligo!) “Yet, the workmen are few in number,” in comparison with the masses of humanity in need of mercy and grace, downtrodden by Satan and sin, without God and hope in the world, except men carry them the gospel, as Philip did the Eunuch, as Paul did to the Philippian jailer, and the people in Rome, Act 8:1-40; Act 16:30-32; Rom 1:14-16. To that point, but few had caught His compassion, His care for the wandering sheep and ripened harvest, both now in danger of loss, Luk 19:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
37. The harvest is indeed abundant By this metaphor he intimates, that many of the people are ripe for receiving the gospel. Though the greater number afterwards rejected basely and with vile ingratitude the salvation offered to them, yet the limited number of the elect, who were mixed with unbelievers, is compared to an abundant harvest, because God values a small band of his own people more highly than the rest of the world. Though there were at that time many who assumed this character, yet as few of them discharged it faithfully, he does not rank them among laborers: for he employs the word laborers in a good sense. When Paul complains (2Co 2:13) of bad laborers, he refers to their boasting: for he would not have bestowed the designation of laborers (534) on those who devoted all their exertions to ruin and waste the flock, had it not been that they gloried in the false pretense.
(534) ἐργάται δόλιοι , deceitful workmen.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) Then saith he unto his disciples.No where in the whole Gospel record is there a more vivid or more touching instance of the reality of our Lords human emotions. It is not enough for Him to feel compassion Himself. He craves the sympathy of His companions and disciples, and needs even their fellowship in prayer. A great want lies before Him, and He sees that they are the right agents to meet it, if only they will pray to be made so; or, to put the case more clearly, if only they will pray that the work may be done, whether they themselves are or are not the doers of it.
The harvest truly is plenteous.This is the first occurrence in the record of the first three Gospels of the figure which was afterwards to be expanded in the two parables of the Sower and the Tares, and to reappear in the visions of the Apocalypse (Rev. 14:14-19). We find, however, from the Gospel of St. Johnwhich here, as so often elsewhere, supplies missing links and the germs of thoughts afterwards developedthat it was not a new similitude in our Lords teaching. Once before, among the alien Samaritans, He had seen the fields white as for the spiritual harvest of the souls of men, and had spoken of him that soweth and him that reapeth (Joh. 4:35-36).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. Then saith he Probably on more occasions than one in his circuit. The harvest truly is plenteous He views the vast multitudes scattered over the plains as a vast field of grain, which had now ripened for the Gospel sickle. So in Joh 4:35, he exclaims in a similar figure to his disciples, Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. The labourers are few The Gospel reapers for this vast white fields where are they? None as yet but myself.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Then says he to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest.” ’
Jesus saw the people who came to hear Him, or who wished to come to hear Him, as a harvest to be gathered in (compare Joh 4:35-36). In His view many of them were there just waiting for someone to come and harvest them in, and it was for that that He was training His disciples. And that was the vision that He wanted to give to them. In Matthew, as we have already seen, the harvest points to the gathering in of the good wheat to God’s barn (Mat 3:12). The Pharisees may have seen the people as chaff to be burned, but Jesus saw them as wheat to be harvested (see Mat 3:12 where both are depicted as the Coming One’s task). But whereas John had depicted this as an ‘end time’ event because he held the same mistaken views as the disciples and everyone else in Judaism who were waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel’, Jesus makes clear that it is a process that is to begin now and is to continue as more and more labourers are sent out into the harvest fields. The ‘last days’ were here, but they were to be a continuing process as more and more harvest is gathered in. Nevertheless, as He will make clear later, that harvest time will in the end also result in judgment on the unrighteous, on those whose lives are more like weeds (Mat 13:30; Mat 13:39-42). The ‘Lord of the harvest’ here is clearly God as representing the owner of the fields being harvested. It is His ‘field’ that is being harvested. Jesus is the Harvester, and the disciples are to assist Him in the harvesting.
These actual words appear to reflect a standard procedure followed by Jesus when He was commissioning His disciples for ministry (compare Luk 10:2 before He sends out the seventy which is almost the same). It is apparent that these words were spoken to all the disciples indicating that they were to gather to pray, and then when they had done so, those appointed would be sent out. But all would as a result feel that they had a part in the mission. Compare how He also uses similar words prior to sending out the seventy, once the number of trained disciples has grown (Luk 10:2; see also Act 13:2).
By this time of prayer He joins all His disciples with Him in what is happening, and brings home to all of them the greatness of the waiting harvest (compare Joh 4:35-36), and the fewness of those who genuinely labour to gather it in. So all the disciples are made to be involved in the sending out of their fellow-workers, although it is very much with a view to themselves also one day being a part of it.
And as those who are sent go out they also must carry a burden on their hearts that others might join them in the task. So that even as they go they too are to pray that God will send out even more into the harvest field. Here we have a clear reminder that Jesus is building up to the future. He is preparing all His disciples for what lies ahead, and seeking to establish a multiplying effect. But He knows that as yet not all are ready to go, and He will initially therefore commence with a small band of twelve. The number indicates His intention. They are to go out to the ‘twelve tribes of Israel’ (Mat 19:28), that is, initially to the Jews. Of course, the ‘twelve tribes of Israel’ was even then just a picturesque conception. Apart from a few who clung to their identity with them, many of the tribes had almost disappeared. Not many traced their ancestry to the Northern tribes. What being a member of ‘the twelve tribes’ really signified was a claim to be the seed promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as defined in Old Testament terms. But what that meant in reality was all who had entered within the covenant, whether by birth or choice, for the idea that all were descended from Abraham was but a myth. Few could prove that descent (Jesus was One Who could – Mat 1:1-17). They were descended not from Abraham, but from members of Abraham’s family tribe; from the mixed multitude (Exo 12:38) who had become a part of Israel at Sinai; and from those who had later attached themselves to Israel in accordance with Exo 12:48-49. They were really a conglomerate nation. But all saw themselves as the seed of Abraham.
And now the same ‘twelve tribes’ (the future seed of Abraham) are to come under the authority of the Apostles (Mat 19:28). And only those who enter under the Kingly Rule of Heaven will thus be members of the new ‘twelve tribes’. They will be the new nation which replaces the old (Mat 21:43). Those who reject Him will be cast off (see e.g. Joh 15:1-6; Romans 9-11). Their dust will be shaken off the feet of the disciples (Mat 10:14). And from the old will arise a purified nation. It is only later that the disciples will discover that God’s notion of the twelve tribes, while seeming smaller, is in fact larger than theirs (Jas 1:1; 1Pe 1:1), and that the seed of Abraham will be increased by Gentiles becoming His seed by faith (Gal 3:29), although even that is still founded on this idea. But at this stage the disciples would have seen it as signifying mainly that the Jews who responded to Jesus, along with a few proselytes, would form the ‘twelve tribes of Israel’, the true seed o Abraham.
So here for the first time through this exhortation to pray that we find in Mat 9:37-38 He brings the many into cooperating in the sending out of the few. They had already been taught to pray, ‘May Your Name be hallowed, may your Kingly Rule come, may your will be done’, now they were to pray for the sending forth of labourers in order to accomplish that very purpose. So He is already building up the sense of community and fellowship among His disciples. This is no longer simply a matter of teaching and stirring men and women so as to send them back to their farms and their occupations to carry on with their lives as usual and await the Coming One, as John had done. It is the implanting of a new vision. It is the commencement of a great new mission. For as He has demonstrated, now that the Coming One is here, things can never be the same again.
At first in Acts this vision of going out into the harvest field will be partly lost sight of. It will soon be apparent there that the Apostles were quite ready to settle in Jerusalem and enjoy their great success, thinking that they were doing what He had asked, (like us they were ever foolish and slow to act). But then God would step in and thrust them out from there and make them go elsewhere, we know not where. (But He knew). For the last we know of them is in Acts 15, and in a few letters. But it would be a mistake to think that they just disappeared. They went out effectively sowing the seed of the word of God. And under that sowing grew up a healthy young church, the new Israel. And we know that Papias (early second century AD) knew many who had known the Apostles, and demonstrated that their words were still revered. Indeed for the first fifty years after the death of Jesus they were the living prime sources of His words. But because all the attention was rightly on Christ (the hugeness of the idea of His coming blacked out everything else) and not on them, their doings were not seen as important except in so far as it indicated His pre-eminence. And had it not been for Acts, which demonstrated how the Kingly Rule of God reached Rome, and Paul’s letters, we would have known almost nothing about these intervening years, and the huge work that the Apostles accomplished. But that is something that is rather revealed by its product, the early church. However, quite rightly, in their eyes Jesus had to increase, and they decrease.
Jesus also wisely knew that by teaching the Apostles to pray like this He would ensure the continual renewing of their own impetus. For once their initial enthusiasm had died down, or once the numbers who had to be reached began to get on top of them, this would be the incentive that would keep them going, and the prayer to which they could turn in order to deal with their concerns. We too are to have the same burden. And as we pray we will similarly find ourselves thrust out to play our part in the harvest field. This picture of the harvest will soon play a great part in His parables (chapter 13).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 9:37. The harvest truly is plenteous The multitude that followed Jesus, and expressed so earnest a desire of receiving his instruction, gave him an occasion of making this reflection. He compares Judaea and the neighbouring countries to fields covered with ripe corn, where nothing was wanting but reapers. See Joh 4:35 and Beausobre and Lenfant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 9:37-38 . The in the more comprehensive sense. The Twelve are expressly specified in Mat 10:1 immediately following.
, . . .] The literal (Joh 4:35 ) meaning of which is this: Great is the multitude of people that may be won for the Messiah’s kingdom, and that is already ripe for being so, but small the number of teachers qualified for this spiritual work; pray God therefore , and so on. Luk 10:2 connects those words with the mission of the Seventy. They are as appropriate in the one case as in the other, and in both cases (according to Bleek, only in Luk 10:2 ) were actually used by Jesus. But to infer from the illustration of the harvest what season of the year it happened to be at the time (Hausrath, Keim), is very precarious, considering how the utterances of Jesus abound with all sorts of natural imagery, and especially considering that this present simile was frequently employed.
, . . .] so entirely was He conscious that His work was the same as a work of God , Joh 4:34 .
] force them out , a strong expression under the conviction of the urgent necessity of the case. Comp. note on Mar 1:12 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Ver. 37. But the labourers few ] Such as will labour to lassitude ( ) in preaching Christ crucified; few such.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37. ] The harvest was primarily that of the Jewish people, the multitudes of whom before Him excited the Lord’s compassion. . , . , , , . Chrysost. Hom. xxxii. 2, p. 367.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 9:37-38 . : a new figure coming in abruptly in the narrative, but not necessarily so close together in Christ’s mind. The one figure suits the mood of passive sympathy; the other, that of the harvest, suits the mood of active purpose to help. It would not be long in the case of Jesus before the one mood passed into the other. He could not be a mere pitying spectator. He must set on foot a mission of help. The Capernaum feast was the first stage; the mission of the twelve the second. The word “harvest” implies spiritual susceptibility. Weiss protests against this inference as allegorising interpretation of a parabolic saying which simply points to the want of suitable labourers ( vide L. J,. ii. 119). So also Schanz maintains, against Euthy., that not susceptibility but need is pointed to. But, as against Weiss, it is pertinent to ask: what suggested the figure of a harvest if not possibilities of gain to the kingdom of God, given sympathetic workers? This hopeful judgment as to the people of the land, contrasted with Pharisaic despair and contempt, was characteristic of Jesus ( vide my Kingdom of God , chap. 5). : professional labourers, men busying themselves with inculcation of moral and religious observances, abundant; but powerless to win the people because without sympathy, hope, and credible acceptable Gospel. Their attempts, if any, only make bad worse (sub legis onere grotam plebem, Hilary). “Few” as yet only one expert, but He is training others, and He has faith in prayer for better men and times.
Mat 9:38 . : the first step in all reform deep, devout desire out of a profound sense of need. The time sick and out of joint God mend it! , etc. The prayer, expressed in terms of the parabolic figure, really points to the ushering in of a new era of grace and humanity Christian as opposed to Pharisaic, legal, Rabbinical. In the old time men thought it enough to care for themselves even in religion; in the new time, the impulse and fashion would be to care for others. , a strong word ( cf. Mar 4:29 , ), even allowing for the weakened force in later Greek, implying Divine sympathy with the urgent need. Men must be raised up who can help the time. Christ had thorough faith in a benignant Providence. Luke gives this logion in connection with the mission of the seventy (Mat 10:2 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
truly = indeed.
plenteous = great.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
37.] The harvest was primarily that of the Jewish people, the multitudes of whom before Him excited the Lords compassion. . , . , , , . Chrysost. Hom. xxxii. 2, p. 367.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 9:37. , …, The harvest indeed, etc.) He repeated the same words[436] to the Seventy; see Luk 10:2.-, harvest) i.e. in the New Testament, for in the Old Testament it was the time for sowing. See Joh 4:35-36. And again, the present time is the season of sowing; the end of the world the harvest.-, plenteous) See ch. Mat 10:23.-, labourers) Fit persons to whom the work should be entrusted.
[436] After the lapse of a year.-B. H. E. p. 288.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The harvest: Mat 28:19, Mar 16:15, Luk 10:2, Luk 24:47, Joh 4:35, Joh 4:36, Act 16:9, Act 18:10
but: Psa 68:11, 1Co 3:9, 2Co 6:1, Phi 2:19-21, Col 4:11, 1Th 5:12, 1Th 5:13, 1Ti 5:17
Reciprocal: Lev 26:5 – threshing Num 11:29 – that the Mat 20:1 – a man 2Ti 2:6 – husbandman
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9:37
There were so many people who needed help that neither Jesus nor any other man could be bodily present with all of them. That is what he meant by harvest plenteous, laborers few.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 9:37. His disciples. Probably including more than the twelve.
The harvest, etc. The people were ready to hear; but could not, if more did not enter into the work. As yet, He was the only laborer. Our weak faith denies the harvest as much as it diminishes the number of laborers.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if Christ had said, “There is a great number of people that are willing and prepared to receive instructions, but there are but few who are able to instruct these poor people in the ways of righteousness and truth; therefore pray and plead with God, that he world provide skilful and faithful ministers to be sent out to preach the gospel throughout the world.”
Note here, 1. That God’s church is an harvest-field.
2. That the ministers of God are labourers in his harvest under God, the Lord of the harvest.
3. That to God alone doth it belong to send forth labourers into his harvest; and none must thrust themselves in, till God sends them forth.
4. That the number of faithful labourers in God’s harvest is comparatively small and few.
5. That it is the church’s duty to pray, and that earnestly and incessantly, to the Lord of the harvest to increase the number of faithful labourers, and also to increase their faithfulness.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 9:37-38. Then saith he to his disciples To quicken their devotion and zeal, The harvest Namely, of souls to be gathered in, is plenteous The multitudes that followed Jesus, and expressed so earnest a desire of receiving his instructions, gave him occasion of making this reflection. He compared Judea and the neighbouring countries to fields covered with ripe corn, where nothing was wanting but reapers. See Joh 4:35 : and LEnfant. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest Whose peculiar work and office it is, and who alone is able to do it; that he will send forth labourers into his harvest The word properly means to thrust out, plainly implying the exercise of some degree of force. For it is an employ not pleasing to flesh and blood; so full of reproach, labour, danger, and temptation of every kind, that nature may well be averse to it. Those who never felt this, never yet knew what it is to be labourers in Christs harvest. He sends them forth, when he calls them by his Spirit, furnishes them with grace and gifts for the work, and makes a way for them to be employed therein. Christs example here, says Baxter, teacheth preachers to compassionate a willing multitude, when they want sufficient teachers, and to pray God to send forth more labourers when there are too few; and not to give over labouring themselves without being utterly disabled, though men forbid them. Some parishes in London have each about seventy thousand souls, some sixty thousand, some thirty thousand; and all the city and county, and much more, have but one bishop, and the curates or preachers cannot be heard [each] by above three thousand at once, or thereabouts. But how much greater is the population of London with its environs, and of the whole country, at the present day, than it was in Mr. Baxters time!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
HE SENDS OUT THE TWELVE
Mat 9:37-38. Then He says to His disciples, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest, in order that He may send out the laborers into His harvest. Our Lord, seeing the awful state of the Jewish Church, destitute of competent spiritual guides, going miserably into eternal ruin, and consequently calls on all of His disciples to unite in a prayer to God to send out more laborers into the harvest. This prayer ascends up to Heaven, and receives a speedy answer, so that, instead of a single evangelistic force, He determines to multiply seven-fold, sending out the twelve apostles, two by two, to scour the whole country of Galilee and Judea, moving with all possible expedition, and preaching the gospel in every city and village. O how inconceivably urgent a similar policy this day! N.B. The time has not yet arrived to unfurl the gospel banner to the Gentile world. Hence, all of this evangelistic movement was confined to the Jews; i.e., in the Churches, preaching in the synagogues, as well as to the multitudes in the open air.
Mat 10:1-42; Mar 6:7-13; & Luk 9:1-6. Matthew: And calling His twelve disciples, He gave them power over unclean spirits, so as to cast them out, and heal every disease and every malady. Luke says, He sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. The kingdom of God, or kingdom of heaven, is the Divine government, which prevails among the angels and redeemed spirits throughout all celestial worlds; hell having none of it, and earth a mixture some, citizens of Gods kingdom; others, the denizens of Satans pandemonium.
Matthew Jesus sent forth these twelve, commanding them, saying, Go not into way of the heathens nor enter ye into a city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As the Jews were the organized Church of God, and the custodians of the Divine Oracles, Gods plan was first to give them the gospel, so they might turn evangelists, and carry it to the ends of the earth. For a similar reason, we should now begin with the Churches, and get all of them saved who will receive the living Word, and then go to the world. You see our Savior repeatedly mentions the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Do you not know that this included the rank and the of the ministry and membership? There were a few honorable exceptions, like Simeon, Anna, Zacharias, Elizabeth, and the apostles. The Divine economy originally contemplated the Jewish Church en masse receiving Christ, and enjoying the immortal honor of heralding Him to the world. This they missed, both preachers and people, except the elect few. In a similar manner, it is the glorious privilege of the whole Church to receive Christ at His second coming; but amid the sad apostasy of the latter days (2 Thessalonians 2), we see that only the elect few will enjoy this transcendent glory. Going, preach, saying, That the kingdom of the heavens draweth nigh. This was significantly true, because they were the heralds of the kingdom, enjoying citizenship in the same, and commending it to all others. Heal the sick, raise the dead. We have a number of instances, in the ministries of Paul and Peter, of healing the sick; and at Joppa, Peter actually raised Dorcas from the dead. Her tomb was pointed out to me when I was there a few days ago. Cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Paul at Philippi ejected the fortune-telling demon from a damsel. The genuine, regular work of the Holy Ghost in the gospel dispensation, saving and sanctifying souls, is constantly accompanied by demoniacal ejectment and bodily healing. Possess neither gold nor silver, nor copper in your girdles; i.e., do not wait and prodigalize Gods precious time and opportunity in order to get money of any kind, as God can feed and clothe you as well out in the evangelistic field as at home. Have faith in Him to feed you like the birds and clothe you like the lilies. Nor valise, nor two coats, nor sandals, nor staff; for the laborer is worthy of his food. Hence, you see, we are to wait for nothing, but go as we are, taking what we have, and trusting God for everything.
Into whatsoever city or village you enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and abide there until you may depart. This is not an interdiction of house-to- house preaching; but their time was short, and the work too great to admit of it. Hence they are commanded to find some place with Gods elect, and thence radiate out everywhere, preaching the Word, till they traverse the field. And going into a house, salute it. And if the house may be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it may be unworthy, let your peace return unto you. Salvation is optionary, and never goes begging. God is infinitely rich, and can get along without any of us. Whosoever may not receive you, nor hear your words, going out from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Truly, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. When we go to a people and offer them the gospel, we have done our part, and will be rewarded in eternity as if they had received it. When they reject our message, they relieve us, and assume the responsibility of their own damnation. Sodom and Gomorrah were Gentile cities, in the beautiful, rich, and productive Vale of Sidim, which were destroyed for their wickedness, the very site they occupied being now covered by the Dead Sea. These heathen cities never had the opportunities of the Jews and the Christians. Consequently the latter, who reject the gospel, will sustain a more grievous responsibility in the judgment-day, and sink to a more terrible doom in the world of woe, than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, with all their dark vices.
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. The serpent is the symbol of Satan, who has a wonderful intelligence, shrewdness, and cunning; while the dove is the symbol of the Holy Ghost, full of innocent, sweet, regenerating, and sanctifying love, and ready to pour it out into every penitent, believing heart. Harmless is akeraioi, from akeranumi, from a, not, keranumi, to mix. Hence the word means unmixed, the strongest statement of entire sanctification. Sinners are full of unmixed evil; holy, sanctified saints are full of unmixed good; while unsanctified Christians have a mixed experience, the pure love of God in a heart which is not free from depravity, but needs the second work of grace to eliminate it all away, leaving nothing but the pure love of God to fill the sanctified heart. We see from this commandment that, while we are to be innocent, holy, and faithful, trusting God for everything necessary to soul and body, we are still to carry with us the good, common sense with which we are born, and to utilize all the intelligence God gives us, watching lest we enter into temptation. Ministerial failures are constantly being made, simply because people do not use their common sense. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up unto the Sanhedrins, and scourge you in their synagogues. You see how they arrested, beat, and imprisoned Paul and Silas. And you shall be led before governors and kings, for My names sake, for a testimony to them and the Gentiles. Whereas the former clause specifies Jewish punishments and persecutions, this gives those they will encounter among the Gentiles; e.g., Paul, at Paphos, on the Isle of Cyprus, testified, when arraigned before Sergius Paulus, and won him; but when, in a similar manner, at the tribunal of Felix, another Roman proconsul, at Caesarea, he testified; but Felix rejected.
But when they may deliver you up, do not he solicitous, how or what you may speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you shall say; for it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father who is speaking in you. Wonderful has been the testimony and preaching of the martyrs, in all ages, when brought face to face with the burning fagot or the blood-thirsty lion. This Scripture has been most wonderfully verified, the heathen historians of the first three centuries certifying that the testimony of the dying martyrs often won their own murderers, so that they embrace the Christian religion, likewise sealing their faith with their blood. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and father the child; and the children will rise up against the parents, and put them to death. It has been estimated that two hundred millions of martyrs, during the Pagan and Papal ages, have died for Jesus. You can readily see how families would all be divided during those times of peril and bloodshed, the persecutors requiring them to testify against each other, and even participate in their martyrdom, as the only way of escape from a similar fate. You shall be hated by all men for My names sake; but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Those apostles, to whom He gave this commission and appended these stringent liabilities, all proved true to the end, except poor Judas. Matthew suffering martyrdom in Ethiopia; Mark, in Egypt; Luke, in Greece; James the Elder, the first of all, beheaded by Herod in Jerusalem; and James the Less, at a later date, hurled from a pinnacle of the temple; Matthias, the successor of Judas, suffered martyrdom in Abyssinia; Thomas, in India; Jude, in Tartary; Andrew, in Armenia; Bartholomew, in Phrygia; Philip, at Heliopous, in Syria; Paul and Peter, at Rome; and John, miraculously delivered from martyrdom in the caldron of boiling oil at Rome, and, as we believe, finally translated into heaven without seeing death.
And when they may persecute you in this city, fly into another. Thus you see, the people of God who bear this message of love and grace are not to use carnal weapons in self-defense, but run away, trusting the Lord for another open door. For truly, I say unto you, That you may not complete the cities of Israel, till the Son of man may come. You must remember, the immediate commission of these apostles, under which they are now going out, is restricted to the Jews, that restriction being removed when our Lord ascended, and the Holy Ghost fell on them, qualifying them for the conquest of the world. They are only gone out about three months in these duets, traversing the territory of Israel, till they return to the Lord, and accompanied Him the ensuing year of His ministry. N.B. The Mount of Transfiguration was really a prelude of the Lords second and glorious coming. This they actually witnessed in a few months from that date, thus verifying this mysterious declaration, as they had not yet gone over all the cities of Israel till the Son of man did actually come in adumbration on the Mount of Transfiguration, thus preliminarily revealing to them His second and glorious coming.
The disciple is not above his teacher nor the servant above his lord. Where we have Master so frequently in E.V., the word didaskalos, the noun, from didasko, to teach, hence it literally means a teacher. Jesus is the worlds Great Teacher, without whom the black darkness of the pandemonium would envelop it. It is sufficient for the disciple that he may be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they called the landlord Beelzebub, how much more the inmates of his house? Our Savior here reveals to all who would be His witnesses, and herald His truth to a dying world, that we must be ready for any fate and disappointed at nothing.
My rest is in heaven, My home is not here; Then why should I murmur at trials severe?
Come trouble, come sorrow; The worst that can come, Will shorten my journey, and hasten me home.
Our Teacher and Lord, our great Exemplar, was homeless, destitute, and the world combined against Him, not even permitting Him to live on the earth which He had created. If we can riot accept the situation, and walk in His footprints, we can not be His disciples.
Therefore be not afraid of them. For nothing has been hidden which shall not be revealed, and secret which shall not be known. This follows as a logical sequence from the preceding affirmation in reference to the grave, criminal, and even diabolical affirmations which have invariably been adduced against the people of God. The Roman historians, Seutonius, Pliny, and Sallust, have all chronicled the gravest sins and darkest crimes against the Christians during the Martyr Ages of the heathen empire, thus apologizing for the bloody persecutionary edicts issued against them by the emperors. Of course, these historians only recorded hearsay, not claiming ocular testimony in the case. They said of Jesus, constantly, He hath a demon, He is gone mad, and He is beside Himself. They finally killed Him in the most disgraceful method, even hanging Him up between two criminals, notorious for robbery and murder. Similar accusations have been arrayed against the martyrs of all ages, thus signally verifying these prophecies of our Savior. Millions of people have been put to death, under gravest accusations, who, in the judgment-day, will shine like angels, while their accusers and persecutors, who stood at the head of the Church, will be calling for rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne. While, of course, the primary application of our Lords affirmation as to the revealment of all secrets is the ultimate and eternal vindication of His saints, it certainly follows that we should, in this life, become perfectly lucid and transparent to all illuminated eyes, so they can actually look through us, and read the hieroglyphics the Spirit has written on the tablets of our hearts, thus sweeping away the oath-bound secrecy of lodgery in all its forms and phases. What I say to you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim ye upon the house-tops. This is a confirmation of the preceding, showing up the thorough transparency of Gods true saints. When filled with the Holy Ghost, secrecy evanesces.
Be not afraid of those who kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The sainted mother, by her godly teaching, baptized with loving tears and fired with the prayer of heavenly inspiration, should put the hell-scare on her infant so thorough that the tomfoolery and superficialism of the popular religion, which brings a polar iceberg into the Church to melt in hell-fire, can never be able to obliterate; but an early conversion will only add expedition to the race-horse speed with which you are running from an open hell and an unchained devil, and sanctification give you eaglewings to expedite the velocity of your precipitate flight from the awful, deep-toned thunders of that quenchless damnation which awaits all who, by the intrigues of men and devils, shall fall below the Bible standard of holiness to the Lord. (Heb 12:14.) Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father; indeed, all the hairs of your head are numbered. The infinite minutiae of the Divine cognizance, absolutely passing by nothing, but taking in everything indiscriminately, are here mentioned as a constant and potent inspiration to us all, peremptorily to settle matters for judgment and eternity by actually getting rid of the devil and everything belonging to him, in the glorious experience of entire sanctification and the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as nothing short of this can actually settle that awful problem, whose solution is the destruction of soul and body in hell. Therefore be not afraid; for you are of more value than many sparrows. Perfect love casts out fear. Consequently the poorest and weakest saint, if true to God, can shout perennial victory from the mouth of hell to the gate of glory.
Therefore, every one who shall confess Me before the people, I will confess him in the presence of My Father who is in heaven; but whosoever may deny Me in the presence of the people, I will also deny him in the presence of My Father who is in the heavens. O what a potent inspiration to Christian testimony, semper et bique, always and everywhere! The awful delinquency in this duty and depreciation of this glorious privilege, thus turning the Churches into graveyards instead of battle-fields, is the Ichabod superscribed on the walls of modern Churchism. In the face of these glorious promises on the one side, and terrific denunciations on the other, voiceless pews are an incontestable proclamation of dead Churches. Do not consider that I came to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. The Bible abounds in riddles and enigmas, inexplicable to the carnal mind. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, and at the same time described as a mounted military General, leading His embattled host into deadly conflict, deluging the world with blood, and heaping it with mountains of the slain. Both of these characteristics are literally true. The peace which He gives only follows a bloody war with sin and the devil, fought under the black flag, which means victory or death. The sword in this passage is the formidable weapon wielded by the Holy Ghost in the extermination of sin and the decapitation of Adam the First
For I came to divide a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and the enemies of a man shall be the inmates of his own house. All this is the normal effect accompanying a true work of salvation; Satans grip on the people being so tight that he is certain to hold enough to represent him in every family, unless literal miracles of grace flood the home with heavenly conquest and stampede the devils down to hell. Bogus, popular religion makes no disturbance in families and communities, from the simple fact that the devil is not fool enough to waste his ammunition on dead game, as there are plenty of live people to shoot at. Whenever the holiness movement gets so it does not arouse the devil in dead Churches and stir up hell in debauched communities, you may go and write Ichabod on its banner, and prepare its winding sheet as quickly as possible, to bury it speedily, before the stench of a putrifying carcass disseminates pestilential malaria far and wide. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whosoever does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Here we see illustrated the absolute sine qua non confronting every aspirant to discipleship and heaven; i.e., the utter subordination of consanguinity, affinity, home, friends, and earthly possessions to the great Captain of our salvation. This is the fatal maelstrom into which many a bark has foundered.
The one having found his soul, shall loose it; the one having lost his soul for My sake, shall find it. The E.V. here has life, instead of soul. The word used by our Savior is not zoe, life, but psyche, the regular word for soul. In every instance in the New Testament, where the E.V. has soul, the Greek is psyche. Hence I give it just as Jesus said it. While King Jamess translators were scholarly theologians, they were not eminent for spirituality, but much on par with the English clergy. I do not think they saw down into the profound depths of our Saviors meaning in this passage. There never was but one creation of the human race. We were all created in Adam seminally. Hence, in the fall, we all fell with Adam, forfeiting the Divine and receiving the Satanic or carnal mind. James speaks of the double-soul man. (Jas 1:4; Jas 4:8.) The sinner has but one mind, and that is bad. The wholly sanctified has but one mind, and that is good; while the unsanctified Christian is Jamess double-minded man, having the carnal mind in subjugated state, and the mind of Christ, received in regeneration, ruling in his heart and life, but must have the carnal mind sanctified away before he can go to heaven. Psyche, soul, is the word used by James. The reason why so few get saved is because they are not willing to travel the death route to heaven. Millions, intimidated by the grim monster, lifting up the battle-ax to decapitate Adam the First, turn away, and travel some other road, which does not require so much self- denial. We are born into the world with an evil soul, which must die, or hell is our doom. Hence this awful test: Unless you are brave enough to die, and take chances for life beyond the black river, your heavenly hope is Satans ignis tatuus,
whose delusive ray Glows but to betray.
He that receiveth you receiveth Me; he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me. Christ bridges the chasm between God and man. Hence the wonderful feasibility of the redemptive scheme. He sends out His saved people to save others. The lost millions of earth have nothing to do but receive us, with our messages of truth and holiness, and in so doing they receive Christ; i.e., the loving, sympathizing Brother, Jesus. But He is not only man, but God. Therefore when the condescending, tender-hearted Nazarene takes you by the hand, behold! the hand of the Omnipotent grips you, lifting you from the lowest hell to the highest heaven. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophets reward; he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous mans reward. O what a thrilling incentive to wide-open door and generous hospitality, ever ready, with joyful enthusiasm, to receive the saints and prophets, whom Jesus sends forth into this dark world to rescue the perishing and save the lost! The reward of Gods prophets and righteous people what is it? None other than a crown of life and a home in heaven. The departure of hospitality from the Church is the death-knell now ringing from ocean to ocean, pealing out the mournful funeral of the great Protestant denominations.
Whosoever may only give one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink in the name of the disciple, truly, I say unto you, Can not lose his reward. We must remember that God sets great store on little things, appreciating the giver rather than the gift. How these promises should inspire us all to lend a helping hand in the expedition of every gospel pilgrim on his way, publishing salvation to the ends of the earth! And it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in all the cities. The preceding discourse, delivered by our Savior to His twelve apostles, when He sent them out, two by two, to traverse all Israel with the uttermost expedition, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, should receive the especial and diligent study of all who read these pages. O that He may so pour on you the Holy Ghost, meanwhile, that you may hear His interior voice calling you into the evangelistic field! I assure you, this is the grand incentive inspiring the humble writer of the Commentaries, praying incessantly that all the readers may catch the heavenly flame, respond to the loving call, and enter the gospel-field unhesitatingly.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 37
Many people were ready to receive the gospel, while there were but few to communicate it to them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus’ figure of speech in addressing His disciples, however, was an agricultural one. He wanted to infuse His compassion for the multitudes into them. Jesus viewed Israel as a field composed of many stalks of grain. They needed gathering for placement in the barns of the kingdom. They would die where they were and the nation would suffer ruin if workers did not bring them in soon. Unfortunately there were not enough workers to do this massive task. Consequently Jesus commanded His disciples to beseech God, the lord of the harvest, to provide additional laborers for His harvest.
The picture is of imminent change. A change was coming whether or not the Israelites accepted their Messiah. It would either be beneficial or detrimental to the nation. An adequate number of workers was one factor that would determine the way the change would go. Evidently Matthew expected his readers to understand "disciples" as all who were in a learning relationship to Jesus then rather than just the Twelve. That is the way he used the term so far in this Gospel (cf. Mat 10:1).