not be admitted into any house of the city. — xovioprbv, dust) Be cause punishment (ver. 15) would overtake the very dust of the land trodden by the feet of the impious, from which the apostles would wish to be altogether free ; see Acts xiii. 51 ; cf. Matt, xviii. 6; Mark vi. 11. That seeing your determination, they may know it has been said to them as a testimony against them. The action combined with the word moves both spectators and auditors ; see Neh. v. 13. — T£JV voBuv, your feet) This depends upon exr/vagars, shake off from. Guilt is supposed to adhere to the feet or shoes ; see 1 Kings ii. 5. Therefore the apostles ought to declare, by shaking the dust from their feet, that the fault of those who did not listen has been removed from them.
15. ' Avtzrorepov, more tolerable) Therefore it is worse not to believe the Gospel, than to imitate the men of Sodom ; see cli. xi. 22, 24. There appears to be an hypallage, viz. : that city shall, on the day of judgment, undergo a heavier punishment than the land of Sodom and Gomorrha either endured of old, or shall receive at the judgment. If merely a brief1 repulse shall be so heavily punished, what shall be their fate who resist more obstinately.
16. 'l<5ou, behold) Behold is frequently used for pointing out a thing which is present. — !yw, /) your Lord. Do not hesitate. I give you a safe conduct. — o-po/Sara, sheep) unarmed. — ev ptaw, in the midst) not into the midst, for you are already among wolves. — Xuxwv, of ivolves) who will be unwilling that the lost sheep, mentioned in ver. 6, be brought back ; cf. ch. vii. 15, con cerning false prophets, although here the appellation " icolves" has a wider signification. — y'mafe, become ye) In exhortations this word is frequently used rather than sen, be ye. Go forth as such, and show yourselves to be so. — us oi opsis, as serpents) The godly often appear to the ungodly as serpents, and thus
others who labour under ignorance, and it is the minister's duty to labour to overcome that ignorance, which, though invincible in itself, can be overcome by the Spirit of God. — ED.
1 In the original, " Si perbrevis repulsa tarn graviter punietur :" where "P'irbrems," "very short," does not imply that the impenitence and unbelief of the persons indicated was of short continuance, but that their actual re fusal to receive the Gospel occupied only the same time as the brief visit of the Apostles whom they rejected. — (I. B.)