Luke 10.1-42 tells us about Yeshua sending out as shaliachim the seventy; the parable of the Good Samaritan and his visit to the house of Mary and Martha.
v 1…Now after this (Luke 9.51-62 in particular) the Lord appointed seventy others (of a different kind than the twelve), and sent them (as shaliachim) two and two (as he did the twelve) ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come (a picture of his second coming; he wanted the inhabitants to know he was coming).
v 2…And he was saying to them, “The harvest is great, but the laborers are few (there was a need for more); therefore (as a result) beseech (ask) the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (only God can send them, so don’t go unless he sends you).
v 3…Go your ways (into the towns and the cities and villages where he told them); behold (see), I send you out as lambs (harmless and innocent) among wolves (cruel and cunning men).
v 4…Carry no purse (to put money in; gold and silver), no bag (to food in), or shoes (than what was on their feet), and greet no one on the way (so that you won’t be hindered; no long discussions with others about their welfare and waste time on idle “chit chat”; keep your mind on the business at hand).
v 5…And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace (shalom) to this house’ (be civil and polite, wishing them prosperity in every area they are deficient).
v 6…And if a man of peace (with God) is there your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you (your wish of peace is rejected, it will return with no good effect on them; move on knowing you have delivered your soul of responsibility-Ezek 33.7-11).
v 7…And stay in that house (as a guest), eating and drinking what they give you (what they share), for the laborer is worthy of his wages (it is your pay), do not keep moving from house to house (be content with your host and his hospitality).
v 8…And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you (whether it is a small portion, or you think the food is too good for you and you don’t want to be a burden, but eat it as your own);
v 9…and heal those in it who are sick (rewarding your host and affirming your message), and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you (confronted you- the kingdom has been demonstrated to you with power and signs; God in action-Luke 11.20).’
v 10…But whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into the streets and say (as you depart, deliver a message),
v 11…’Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we wipe off against you (a sign that their labor there is over, exonerating them from any further responsibility for what happens-Ezek 33.7-11; Acts 13.51), yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God (his rule and movement in power and action) has come near (confronted your life).’
v 12…I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day (when Messiah comes; and the Romans come to destroy the land) for Sodom than for that city (they did not have the kingdom preached to them like these cities who had Yeshua among them; this may indicate degrees of punishment for those who reject the light God has shown).
v 13…Woe to you (lamentations await you) Chorazin (near Capernaum where Yeshua spent a lot of time)! Woe to you (lamentations await you), Bethsaida (also near Capernaum)! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes (an outward sign of repentance).
v 14…But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment, than for you (especially when Rome comes).
v 15…And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you (where Yeshua resided-Matt 4.13)? You will be brought down to Hades (Sheol-calamity)!
v 16…The one who listens to you listens to me and the one who rejects you rejects me (Matt 25.40); and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me (there is no disconnect between Yeshua and the Father-John 12.44; Prov 30.4; and once the Ruach Ha Kodesh came there is no disconnect between the Father, Yeshua and the Ruach-John 16.5-15).”
v 17…And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, the demons are subject to us in your name (because they represented Yeshua and were sent; the greatest enemy they had submitted to them and were cast out).”
v 18…And he said to them, “I was watching Satan (the overseer of the demonic realm) fall from heaven (because the kingdom of God was taking over) like lightning (swiftly and suddenly like lightning falls from heaven).
v 19…Behold (take note), I have given you authority (power and ability) to tread upon serpents and scorpions (idioms for the demonic realm and false teachers and doctrines; handle the enemy-Exo 4.1-5; Psa 58.4; and literally as in Acts 28.3); and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you (the enemy will not do you great harm, and their false teachings will not hurt them).
v 20…Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you (in their self-importance in spiritual gifts), but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven (individually; are among the tzaddikim or righteous).”
v 21…At that very time he rejoiced (jumped for joy) greatly in spirit (in his heart at their success), and said, “I praise thee, of Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent (earthly wise) and did reveal them to babes (those with child-like faith). Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in thy sight (before him).
v 22…All things have been handed over to me by my Father (in plan and execution of the redemption-Acts 3.21; 1 Cor 15.24-28), and no one knows who the Son is except the Father (his glory and perfections), and who the Father is except the Son (his perfections, purposes and will), and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him (this claim would be blasphemous if Yeshua was anything less than the sovereign Yehovah himself).”
v 23…And turning to his talmidim, he said privately, “Blessed (empowered to succeed) are the eyes which see the things you see (who the Messiah is, his kingdom and the rule of God in action in the world),
v 24…for I say to you, that many prophet and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.”
v 25…And behold (see), a certain lawyer (probably from Beit Shammai) stood up and put him to the test (examined him), saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life (Yeshua will show that his error is in his premise; it is not by works that you inherit eternal life, but by faith)?”
v 26…And he said to him, “What is written (not the oral law but already recorded) in the Law (Torah? How does it read to you (interpret it)?”
v 27…And he answered and said, “You shall love (“ahav” and an element of emunah, faith) the Lord (Yehovah) your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (a parallelism), and with all your strength (physically), and with all your mind (intellectual power); and your neighbor as yourself.”
v 28…And he said to him, “You have answered correctly (because that is in agreement with the Torah); do this and you will live (righteous deeds as defined by the Torah from the heart will follow one who has biblical faith); if one follows the commandments you will recognize the Messiah when he comes; you will know what altars are for, what true worship is, you will see the need for a redeemer; an evil tree cannot bear good fruit; Torah observance comes because you have been saved, it does not cause your salvation; your faith will produce good works, meaning the commandments-Jam 2.14-18).”
v 29…But wishing to justify himself (to be righteous in his own way-Rom 10.1-4), he said to Yeshua, “And who is my neighbor (he takes notice of his responsibility to God in v 27; by “neighbor” he was thinking “Israelite and those with the same “religion” as he; a “neighbor” in the Torah; this lawyer was probably from Beit Shammai who wanted little or no association with non-Jews, tax collectors, sinners as seen in their 18 Edicts).
v 30…Yeshua replied and said, “A certain man (we will look at this parable in the remez and sowd level; a type of mankind on a journey of life-the man is to be understood as Jewish) was going down from Jerusalem (the city of God) to Jericho (at a lower level and about 18 miles away-a city cursed in Josh 6.26-his back was to Jerusalem and a type of one who is “going away from God) and he fell among robbers (Ha Satan and demons) and they stripped him (robbed his innocence, starting with Adam) and beat him and went off, leaving him half dead (alive physically, dead spiritually).
v 31…And by chance a certain priest (who had just performed works in the Temple, but that won’t save him) was going down on that road (Jericho was a place where many priests lived), and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side (of the road-he thought he was dead, and a priest was not to defile himself for ordinary dead; however, the Talmud teaches that a priest, even the high priest, coming upon a corpse, and no one else is around can defile himself ritually to help; but in this case there was no compassion).
v 32…And likewise a Levite (probably coming from working in the Temple and going home) also. When he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side (with no show of compassion or mercy).
v 33…But a certain Samaritan (who had a dislike for Jews and Yeshua was called a “Samaritan” in John 8.48) who was on a journey (Yeshua was in a journey to earth) came upon him; and when he saw him he felt compassion (Yeshua saw mankind on the wayside of life, half dead),
v 34…and came and bandaged up his wounds (caused by sin, part of the work of the Messiah-Psa 147.3), pouring oil (a type of the Ruach Ha Kodesh) and wine (a type of correct doctrines and teachings; these were medicines-Jam 5.14; Acts 28.9-the word for “cured” in this verse in Greek is where we get the word “therapeutic” from; these weren’t miraculous healings only but they used medicine, and Luke was a physician and was with them in Acts; Mark 6.13 uses the same word used in Jam 5.14, “aleipho”, which means to rub or smear medicine, not “chrio” which is using oil in a ritual sense), and he put him on his own beast (denying himself) and brought him to the inn (a type of a local assembly where he could get well by learning the Torah and correct doctrine-Acts 15.21) and took care of him.
v 35…And on the next day he took out two denarii (two days wages, a picture of 2000 years-Hos 6.1-3) and gave them to the innkeeper and said to take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return (at his coming) I will repay you.
v 36…Which of these do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers (leading him to answer his own question in v 29).”
v 37…And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” And Yeshua said to him, “Go and do the same (in your attitudes, life, and teachings, especially if he was from Bait Shammai and looked down on non-Jews and sinners. All mankind came from one man, Adam. Any in need of mercy and kindness is our neighbor. Yeshua, like Paul in 2 Cor 3.6, is illustrating the difference between Beit Hillel, who were not against non-Jews, and Beit Shammai on the issue of “neighbor.” Beit Hillel interpreted the Scriptures according to the “spirit” or the same essence as the Torah, but Beit Shammai were more strict. Strict observance of the Torah according to Beit Shammai can kill compassion, mercy and kindness. But the “spirit” of the Torah is the essence of the instruction and gives life-2 Cor 3.6).
v 38…Now as they were traveling along (on their way), he entered a certain village (Bethany, two miles east of Jerusalem); and a woman named Martha (lady) welcomed him (showed hospitality) into her home.
v 39…And she had a sister called Mary (Miriam, meaning rebellion and bitter), who moreover was listening to the Lord’s word, sitting at his feet (an idiom for a talmid or student).
v 40…But Martha was distracted (from listening to the word) with all her preparations (for a meal); and she came up (to Yeshua), and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone (she should have gone to her sister first)? Then tell her to help me.”
v 41…But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha (repeated to show earnestness and emphasis), you are worried and bothered about so many things (over anxious, more careful than she needed to be; he didn’t need great preparations or a lavish meal and she was creating unnecessary trouble for herself; keep things simple);
v 42…but only few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part (the one lasting, necessary and important thing; she is doing the right thing and has the right priorities) which shall not be taken away from her.”
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