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From the Commentary on the Whole Bible (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
LUKE CHAPTER 10
As our Lord's end approaches, the preparations for the establishment of the
coming Kingdom are quickened and extended.
1. the Lord—a becoming title here, as this appointment was an act truly lordly [Bengel].
other seventy also—rather, "others (also in number), seventy"; probably with
allusion to the seventy elders of Israel on whom the Spirit descended in the
wilderness (Nu 11:24, 25). The mission, unlike that of the Twelve, was evidently
quite temporary. All the instructions are in keeping with a brief and hasty
pioneering mission, intended to supply what of general preparation for coming
events the Lord's own visit afterwards to the same "cities and places" (Lu 10:1)
would not, from want of time, now suffice to accomplish; whereas the
instructions to the Twelve, besides embracing all those to the Seventy,
contemplate world-wide and permanent effects. Accordingly, after their return
from this single missionary tour, we never again read of the Seventy.
pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers
into his harvest—(See on Mt 9:38).
12-15. (See on Mt 11:20-24).
for Sodom—Tyre and Sidon were ruined by commercial prosperity; Sodom sank
through its vile pollutions: but the doom of otherwise correct persons who,
amidst a blaze of light, reject the Saviour, shall be less endurable than that
of any of these.
Lord, &c.—"Thou hast exceeded Thy promise, for 'even the devils,'" &c. The
possession of such power, not being expressly in their commission, as in that to
the Twelve (Lu 9:1), filled them with more astonishment and joy than all else.
through thy name—taking no credit to themselves, but feeling lifted into a
region of unimagined superiority to the powers of evil simply through their
connection with Christ.
serpents and scorpions—the latter more venomous than the former: literally, in
the first instance (Mr 16:17, 18; Ac 28:5); but the next words, "and over all
the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you," show that the
glorious power of faith to "overcome the world" and "quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked one," by the communication and maintenance of which to His people
He makes them innocuous, is what is meant (1Jo 5:4; Eph 6:16).
Lu 10:1-24. Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Their Return.
2. The harvest, &c.—(See on Mt 9:37).
3-12. (See on Mt 10:7-16).
10. son of peace—inwardly prepared to embrace your message of peace. See note on
"worthy," (see on Mt 10:13).
16. He that, &c.—(See on Mt 10:40).
17. returned—evidently not long away.
18. I beheld—As much of the force of this glorious statement depends on the nice
shade of sense indicated by the imperfect tense in the original, it should be
brought out in the translation: "I was beholding Satan as lightning falling from
heaven"; that is, "I followed you on your mission, and watched its triumphs;
while you were wondering at the subjection to you of devils in My name, a
grander spectacle was opening to My view; sudden as the darting of lightning
from heaven to earth, lo! Satan was beheld falling from heaven!" How remarkable
is this, that by that law of association which connects a part with the whole,
those feeble triumphs of the Seventy seem to have not only brought vividly
before the Redeemer the whole ultimate result of His mission, but compressed it
into a moment and quickened it into the rapidity of lightning! Note.—The word
rendered "devils," is always used for those spiritual agents employed in
demoniacal possessions—never for the ordinary agency of Satan in rational men.
When therefore the Seventy say, "the devils [demons] are subject to us," and
Jesus replies, "Mine eye was beholding Satan falling," it is plain that He meant
to raise their minds not only from the particular to the general, but from a
very temporary form of satanic operation to the entire kingdom of evil. (See Joh
12:31; and compare Isa 14:12).
19. Behold, I give you, &c.—not for any renewal of their mission, though
probably many of them afterwards became ministers of Christ; but simply as
disciples.
20. rejoice not, &c.—that is, not so much. So far from forbidding it, He takes
occasion from it to tell them what had been passing in His own mind. But as
power over demons was after all intoxicating, He gives them a higher joy to
balance it, the joy of having their names in Heaven's register (Php 4:3).
21, 22. Jesus … said, &c.—The very same sublime words were uttered by our Lord
on a former similar occasion (see on Mt 11:25-27); but (1) There we are merely
told that He "answered and said" thus; here, He "rejoiced in spirit and said,"
&c. (2) There it was merely "at that time" (or season) that He spoke thus,
meaning with a general reference to the rejection of His gospel by the
self-sufficient; here, "In that hour Jesus said," with express reference
probably to the humble class from which He had to draw the Seventy, and the
similar class that had chiefly welcomed their message. "Rejoice" is too weak a
word. It is "exulted in spirit"—evidently giving visible expression to His
unusual emotions; while, at the same time, the words "in spirit" are meant to
convey to the reader the depth of them. This is one of those rare cases in which
the veil is lifted from off the Redeemer's inner man, that, angel-like, we may
"look into it" for a moment (1Pe 1:12). Let us gaze on it with reverential
wonder, and as we perceive what it was that produced that mysterious ecstasy, we
shall find rising in our hearts a still rapture—"Oh, the depths!"
23, 24. (See on Mt 13:16, 17).
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