Matthew Poole and continuators on Luke 10:1

1 AFter these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city, and place, whither he himself would come.

We heard before of Christ's first Electing, then sending out Twelve, Ch. 6.12, 13, 14. & Ch. 9. v. 1, 2, 3. & v. 10. we heard of their return, and giving an account of their trust to their Lord; what their particular account was, we no where read, but it was such as our Saviour judged, the Harvest too great for the Hands of the Labourers. He therefore now resolveth to send out Seventy more. The Names of these we have not in the Evangelist, only that Christ sent them out, and that he sent the[illegible: 1 letter] two by two, which might be for their better Mutual Assistance each of other, and also for their Mutual Testimony, one for another; when God sent out the first Conduction, and Governours of his People, he sent two, Moses and Aaron; Iohn Baptist sent two of his Disciples to Chri[illegible: 2 letters]; Christ, Ch. 22.8. sent two of his Disciples to prepare the Passover. There seemeth to be nothing Mysterious in this. Man is a Sociable Creature, and it is not good for him to be alone; we cannot determine that our Saviour had any regard to the Numbers of Twelve, and Seventy; tho it is certain that both those Numbers amongst the Jews seem to have had a more than ordinary Character, Twelve being the number of the Tribes of Israel, according to the promise, Gen. 17.20. & 49.28. at Elim they found Twelve Wells of Water; according to the number of the Tribes, were the twelve Pillars, Exod. 24.4. and the Twelve Stones in the Brest-plate of Iudgment, Exo. 28.21. and the number of the Cakes for the Shew-bread was to be twelve, Levit. 24.5. The Princes of Israel were twelve, Num. 1.44. and twelve Men were sent to spy out the Land of Canaan, Deut. 1.23. So we shall observe that in a Multitude of things, they kept to the number of twelve: Iohn in his Description of the new Ierusalem, which he saw in his Vision, says Rev. 21.12. It had Twelve Gates, and at the Gates Twelve Angels, and on the Gates were the Names of the Twelve Tribes. And the W[illegible: 1 letter]ll had Twelve Foundations, &c. And for the number of Seventy▪ Iacob's Family when they went down into Egypt, were Seventy Souls, Gen. 46.27. they Mourned for Iacob seventy Days, Gen. 50.3. at Elim they met with seventy Palm Trees, Num. 33.9. the Posterity of Iacob was in Babylon seventy years, The Jewish Sanhedrim, or great Court chosen upon the advice of Iethro, is said to have consisted first of seventy, then of seventy two Persons. So as the numbers of twelve, and seventy, seem to have been Numbers to which the Jews had some respect. Whether our Saviour in the choice of those, whom he first sent to Preach the Gospel, had any respect or no to the Jewish value for those Numbers, or designed by it to shew them, that he was about to set up a new Kingdom and Government, which tho differing from what they had Exercised formerly, yet in some little things, should have some conformity to them, we cannot determine. We shall find the same Powers and Authority, given to these seventy, as to the twelve, and the same Instructions; how some come to imagine a difference of order betwixt them, I cannot tell, no such thing appeareth from the Instructions given the one or the other upon their first sending out.