Mat 10:16-25 | TNotes | STEP | 10:16 False leaders who prey upon people’s spiritual vulnerability rather than exercise appropriate pastoral care are often called wolves (Ezek 22:27 ; Zeph 3:3 ; cp. Prov 28:15 ). • be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves: The proverb calls for being astute but not deceitful.

10:16 ^a False leaders who prey upon people’s spiritual vulnerability rather than exercise appropriate pastoral care are often called wolves (Ezek 22:27 ^b; Zeph 3:3 ^c; cp. Prov 28:15 ^d).

• be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves: The proverb calls for being astute but not deceitful.
Summary for Matt 10:19-20: 10:19-20 ^e As God gave Moses a spokesman in Aaron (Exod 4:10-17 ^f), so God would give Jesus’ disciples the right words at the right time through the Spirit (John 14:26 ^g; Acts 4:8 ^h).
Summary for Matt 10:21-22: 10:21-22 ⁱ Jews regularly associated family strife with the last times (see 24:9-10 ^j). Jesus experienced such conflicts as well (12:46-50 ^k).

• Everyone who endures to the end refers to those who remain faithful to Jesus, to the point of death or until his return (10:23 ^l).

• will be saved: Though some have taken this phrase to mean temporal deliverance from persecution (such as release from prison), the idea here is eternal salvation for those who remain faithful.
10:23 ^m will return: Scholars are divided as to whether this refers to the second coming of Christ for his church or an earlier coming in judgment—namely, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (see 16:28 ⁿ).

• before you have reached: Jesus meant either “before you have fled through all the towns” or “before you have evangelized all the towns.” The focus on persecution in the context (see 10:17-39 ^o) favors the former, suggesting that the towns were like cities of refuge (Num 35:9-32 ^p). The emphasis is on how widespread the rejection of the message will be—i.e., “not until the whole nation has run you out of town.”
10:25 ^q In Jesus’ day, Satan was often called prince of demons. The Greek term is Beelzeboul, from the name of an Old Testament pagan deity, Baal-zebul (“lord, the prince”). The Latin version reads Beelzebub, which is a transliteration of a Hebrew phrase meaning “lord of flies,” which was most likely a Jewish insult of Baal-zebul (see 2 Kgs 1:2 ^r).