Matthew 10:13

10:13 A worthy home would embrace the message about Jesus and the Kingdom (10:37-38; 22:8). • The disciples’ blessing was an offer of salvation; to take back the blessing was a sign of judgment as the offer was withdrawn.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 10:13. Ἐὰν μὲν, κ.τ.λ., if indeed, etc.) i.e. if they receive you.—ἐλθέτω—ἐπιστραφήτω, let it come—let it return to) The imperative may here be taken in its strict sense. If you pray for it, let it come. If you are not unwilling, let it return. So bear yourselves, that [in the one case] it may come [upon the house], that [in the other] it may return [to you]. Impart your salutation to them with ready good-will, or take it back to yourselves.[460]—ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν, your peace) sc. that of which you are the messengers.—ἐὰν δὲ, κ.τ.λ., but if, etc.) contrary to your expectation.—πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐπιστραφήτω let it return to you) By a testimony of duty performed, and an increase of tranquillity and spiritual power. That which has once gone forth from the wealth of God, has not gone forth in vain, but assuredly finds some one whom it may reach. A consolation for ministers who appear to themselves to produce no edification. The Lord says to them thus, “They have despised it; have it yourselves.”[461]

[460] This was, as it were, a prelude to the loosing and binding (c. Mat 18:18).—V. g.

[461] In his German Version he says, “you must not distress (kränken) yourselves. That which others reject becomes thereby a greater blessing to you.”—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_10:13. Ἀξία] not bonis votis, quae salute dicenda continebuntur (Fritzsche), but, as in Mat_10:11, worthy of your remaining in it. It should be noticed that ᾖ and μὴ ᾖ are put first for sake of emphasis; and should the house be worthy, then come, and so on; but if it is not a worthy one, then, and so on. In this way the reference of ἄξιος remains unchanged.

ἐλθέτω] shall come, that is my will.

ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν] the blessings brought by you by way of salutation.

πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐπιστραφήτω] Euth. Zigabenus: μηδὲν ἐνεργησάτω, ἀλλὰ ταύτην μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν λαβόντες ἐξέλθετε. An expression which represents the idea to the senses. Isa_45:23; Isa_60:11.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 10:13 . ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ ἡ ο . ἀξία : after all pains have been taken, a mistake may be made; therefore the worthiness of the house is spoken of as uncertain ( ᾖ , in an emphatic position, so μὴ ᾖ , in next clause). ἐλθέτω ἡ εἰρήνη … ἐπιστραφήτω . The meaning is: the word of peace will not be spoken in vain; it will bless the speaker if not those addressed. It is always good to wish peace and good for others, however the wish may be received. There is a tacit warning against being provoked by churlish treatment. Mat 10:14 . ὃς ἐὰν μὴ δέξηται : Christ contemplates an unfavourable result of the mission in the host’s house, or in the town or village generally. The construction of the sentence is anacolouthistic, beginning one way, ending another: rhetorical in effect, and suitable to emotional speech; cf. Luk 21:6 : “these things ye see days will come in which not one stone will be left upon another” ( vide Winer, § 63, on such constructions). ἐξερχόμενοι : when an unreceptive attitude has once been decidedly taken up, there is nothing for it but to go away. Such a crisis severely tests the temper and spirit of promoters of good causes. ἐκτινάξατε τὸν κονιορτὸν : a symbolic act practised by the Pharisees on passing from heathen to Jewish soil, the former being regarded as unclean (Light., Hor. Heb.): Easy to perform, not easy to perform in a right spirit; too apt to be the outcome of irritation, disappointment, and wounded vanity = they did not appreciate me , I abandon them to their fate. Christ meant the act to symbolise the responsibility of the inhabitants for the result = leave the place, feeling that you have done your duty, not in anger but in sadness. The act, if performed, would be a last word of warning ( εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς , Mark and Luke). Grotius and Bleek understand it as meaning: “we have nothing more to do with you”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is manner of speech taken from the Hebrews, whereby they meant all kind of happiness.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And if the house be worthy--showing this by giving you a welcome.

let your peace come upon it--This is best explained by the injunction to the Seventy, "And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house" (Luk 10:5). This was the ancient salutation of the East, and it prevails to this day. But from the lips of Christ and His messengers, it means something far higher, both in the gift and the giving of it, than in the current salutation. (See on Joh 14:27).

but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you--If your peace finds a shut, instead of an open, door in the heart of any household, take it back to yourselves, who know how to value it; and it will taste the sweeter to you for having been offered, even though rejected.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. If that house be worthy] If that family be proper for a preacher to lodge in, and the master be ready to embrace the message of salvation.

Your peace] The blessings you have prayed for shall come upon the family: God will prosper them in their bodies, souls, and substance.

But if it be not worthy] As above explained.

Let your peace] The blessings prayed for, return to you. προς υμας επιστραφητω, it shall turn back upon yourselves. They shall get nothing, and you shall have an increase.

The trials, disappointments, insults, and wants of the followers of Christ become, in the hand of the all-wise God, subservient to their best interests: hence, nothing can happen to them without their deriving profit from it, unless it be their own fault.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) If the house be worthy.—The doubt implied in the “if” seems at first somewhat inconsistent with the supposition that they only went into the house after having ascertained the worthiness of the occupant. It must be remembered, however, that the missionaries entered each city or village as strangers, and that in such a case even the most careful inquiry might not always be successful.

Let your peace come upon it—i.e., the peace implied in the formula of salutation. The imperative is not so much a command addressed to them as the proclamation of an edict from the King in whose name they went. Their greeting was not to be a mere ceremonious form. It would be as a real prayer wherever the conditions of peace were fulfilled on the other side. At the worst, the prayer for peace would bring a blessing on him who prayed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Act 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

Ver. 13. If that house be worthy] The saints are the only worthies, of whom the world is not worthy, Heb 11:38. These shall walk with Christ, for they are worthy, Rev 3:4. But the heart of the wicked is little worth, Pro 10:20.

Let your peace come upon it] Christian salutations are effectual benedictions. "We bless you in the name of the Lord," Psa 129:8.

Let your peace return unto you] Something will come of your good wishes; if not to others, to yourselves; you shall be paid for your pains, as the physician is, though the patient dies; as the lawyer hath his fee, though his client’s cause miscarry. God will reward his ministers, though Israel be not gathered, Isa 49:4-5, secundum laborem, non secundum proventum, Follow work not results, as Bernard hath it, κατα τον κοπον, ου κατα τον καρπον.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if that house, &c. i.e. if it be worthy to receive your peace. In St. Luke (Chap. x, ver. 6) it is written, And if the son of peace be there: that is, a lover of peace, or one worthy of peace and prosperity. Thus a son of death means one deserving of death. (Menochius) --- Your peace shall come upon it. If men will not hearken to your instructions, you have this comfort and peace of mind, that you have discharged you duty. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

13. Your peace return to you — The blessing they cannot receive. Resume it, and bear it away with yourself. And when thus rejected be careful that no anger of yours shall mar the peace that comes back to you.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if the house. Not the householder alone (ver. 11), but he and his family as a whole. Be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. It is tempting to see in these words a promise that your activity shall at least issue in increased blessing on yourselves, but it can hardly be pressed so far. It rather means that failure to impart blessing shall not bring spiritual loss to yourselves. "The dove returned to the ark again when it found the earth under water" (cf. Gurnall, in Ford).

Vers. 13, 14. The responsibility of opportunity.

This direction may be stated in a plain way thus: "Give every man a chance, and let it rest with him whether he takes advantage of it." Moral work can never be done by force. Persuasion of will there should be; constraint of will there should never be. The gospel is to be preached, proclaimed, heralded, to all nations, but it must rest with men themselves whether it shall prove to them a "savour of life unto life, or of death unto death." Here our Lord gives a great missionary law. Keep men"s responsibility for moral decisions. Put the truth before them. Speak the message to them. Use all persuasion with them. But if they will not receive your words, pass on to those who will.

I EVERY MAN HAS HIS MORAL OPPORTUNITY, Just as every man, sooner or later, gets his life-chance. This is enshrined in the familiar Shakesperian sentence about "a tide in the affairs of men." In business matters we often say, "He lost his chance." The story of heart-experiences would probably reveal that every man, once at least in his life, stood on the very threshold of the kingdom, and decided whether he would or would not step across. Men"s condemnation is this the gate of the kingdom was opened for you, and you would not enter in.

II IT IS OUR DUTY TO PROVIDE MORAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR FELLOWS. This we do by preaching the gospel to them; by personal influence and persuasion. God makes man his agent, "co-worker together with him," in making supreme moral opportunities for his children. This is the responsibility of the regenerate.

III THE MAN HIMSELF MUST DEAL WITH THE OPPORTUNITY. As is illustrated in the passage, the apostle may come to a man"s door, and his asking hospitality may be the man"s opportunity; but the man must decide whether he will let the apostle in. There must be no dealings with men which even seem to weaken the sense of personal moral responsibility. A common saying illustrates this"If you will not when you may, When you will you shall have nay.

IV OUR OBLIGATION IS ENDED IN PROVIDING THE OPPORTUNITY. We are responsible for skilfully providing it; for wisely following it up, and for persistently renewing our effort to present it. But we are not responsible for results following. The man must bear them. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If the house be worthy - of it, God shall give them the peace you wish them. If not, he shall give you what they refuse. The same will be the case, when we pray for them that are not worthy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Reception and rejection;

v. 13. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

v. 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.

v. 15. Verily, 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.

If, after your salutation, the house be worthy of the honor that a servant of the Lord remain there, then your peace, which implies the blessing of the Lord, shall come and rest upon that house. But after all the pains you have taken, your judgment and the information of others may still be at fault; yet your greeting of peace will not have been spoken in vain, rather it shall be returned to you, to bless the speaker coming with the Lord’s good will. The unkind treatment, however, shall in no case provoke you. Nevertheless, the mode of action in such a case, when both the house selected for a center of work and the entire community concur in rejecting the Lord’s apostles is prescribed. He speaks with great emotion, as the form of the sentence shows. There is an absolute cutting-off reserved for people guilty of such rejection. The symbolical act of shaking off the dust from the feet or shoes to signify utter rejection of the unclean, to be done, not in the spirit of irritation nor of vindictiveness, but in the sorrow which undoubtedly filled the Lord’s heart at the thought of such blindness. The vengeance upon such a city will be taken over by the Lord Himself. Even Sodom and Gomorrah, types and examples of the punitive justice of God, would not be so utterly rejected at the final judgment as will be the inhabitants of a city or village that refuse admittance to the servants of Christ and deliberately cast away the offered grace of the Redeemer. So highly Christ values the good tidings, the Gospel-message He commissioned the twelve to preach. Unbelief is the sin of sins.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Let your peace come upon it. The Oriental salutation is, “Peace be with you.” If the household were hospitable and friendly, let this blessing rest upon them. If they proved unfriendly, leave them to their own course and its result.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

13. ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμ.] The peace mentioned in the customary Eastern salutation שָׁלוֹם לָךְ. Luke has εἰρήνη τῷ οἴκῳ τούτῳ (10:5). Compare with the spirit of vv. 10-13,—ch. 7:6. Stier remarks (Reden Jesu, i. p. 355, Exo_2), that the spirit of these commands binds Christian ministers to all accustomed courtesies of manner in the countries and ages in which their mission may lie. So we find the Greek χαίρειν instead of the Jewish form of greeting, Act 15:23: Jas 1:1. And the same spirit forbids that repelling official pride by which so many ministers lose the affections of their people. And this is to be without any respect to the worthiness or otherwise of the inhabitants of the house. In the case of unworthiness, ‘let your peace return (see Isa 45:23) to you,’ i.e. ‘be as though you had never spoken it,’ μηδὲν ἐνεργησάτω, ἀλλὰ ταύτην μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν λαβόντες ἐξέλθετε.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.