We mark, that, what may be termed the Preface' to the Mission of the Seventy, is given by St. Matthew (in a somewhat fuller form) as that to the appointment and mission of the Twelve Apostles; [3879] and it may have been, that kindred words had preceded both. Partially, indeed, the expressions reported in St. Luke x. 2 had been employed long before. [3880] Those multitudes' throughout Israel - nay, those also which are not of that flock' - appeared to His view like sheep without a true shepherd's care, distressed and prostrate,' [3881] and their mute misery and only partly conscious longing appealed, and not in vain, to His Divine compassion. This constituted the ultimate ground of the Mission of the Apostles, and now of the Seventy, into a harvest that was truly great. Compared with the extent of the field, and the urgency of the work, how few were the labourers! Yet, as the field was God's, so also could He alone thrust forth labourers' willing and able to do His work, while it must be ours to pray that He would be pleased to do so.
On these introductory words, [3882] which ever since have formed the bidding prayer' of the Church in her work for Christ, followed the commission and special directions to the thirty-five pairs of disciples who went on this embassy. In almost every particular they are the same as those formerly given to the Twelve. [3883] We mark, however, that both the introductory and the concluding words addressed to the Apostles are wanting in what was said to the Seventy. It was not necessary to warn them against going to the Samaritans, since the direction of the Seventy was to those cities of Peræa and Judæa, on the road to Jerusalem, through which Christ was about to pass. Nor were they armed with precisely the same supernatural powers as the Twelve. [3884] Naturally, the personal directions as to their conduct were in both cases substantially the same. We mark only three peculiarities in those addressed to the Seventy. The direction to salute no man by the way' was suitable to a temporary and rapid mission, which might have been sadly interrupted by making or renewing acquaintances. Both the Mishnah [3885] and the Talmud [3886] lay it down, that prayer was not to be interrupted to salute even a king, nay, to uncoil a serpent that had wound round the foot. [3887] On the other hand, the Rabbis discussed the question, whether the reading of the Shema and of the portion of the Psalms called the Hallel might be interrupted at the close of a paragraph, from respect for a person, or interrupted in the middle, from motives of fear. [3888] All agreed, that immediately before prayer no one should be saluted, to prevent distraction, and it was advised rather to summarise or to cut short than to break into prayer, though the latter might be admissible in case of absolute necessity. [3889] None of these provisions, however, seems to have been in the mind of Christ. If any parallel is to be sought, it would be found in the similar direction of Elisha to Gehazi, when sent to lay the prophet's staff on the dead child of the Shunammite.
The other two peculiarities in the address to the Seventy seem verbal rather than real. The expression, [3890] if the Son of Peace be there,' is a Hebraism, equivalent to if the house be worthy,' [3891] and refers to the character of the head of the house and the tone of the household. [3892] Lastly, the direction to eat and drink such things as were set before them [3893] is only a further explanation of the command to abide in the house which had received them, without seeking for better entertainment. [3894] On the other hand, the whole most important close of the address to the Twelve - which, indeed, forms by far the largest part of it [3895] - is wanting in the commission to the Seventy, thus clearly marking its merely temporary character.