Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 9:3

εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς. For a much fuller account of the instructions given to the Twelve, see Matthew 10:5-15. Some of these are recorded by St Luke as given also to the Seventy, Luke 10:1-16.

μήτε ῥάβδον. So אAB &c. The plural may have been frivolously introduced by some copyist who wished to avoid an apparent discrepancy with Mark 6:8, “save a staff only.” St Matthew also says, ‘not even a staff.’ Minute and wholly unimportant as the variation would have been, it may turn on the fact that our Lord told them not specially to procure (μὴ κτήσησθε, Matt.) these things for the journey; or on the fact that speaking in Aramaic He used the phrase כי אם (kee im), which might be explained ‘even if you have a staff it is unnecessary.’ Meanwhile the variations furnish an interesting proof of the independence of the three Synoptists.

πήραν. A ‘wallet,’ a bag of kid’s skin carried over the shoulder to contain a few dates or other common necessaries. 1 Samuel 17:40. (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 355.)

μήτε ἄρτον. Which they usually took with them, Luke 9:13; Matthew 16:7.

μήτε�. Literally, ‘silver.’ St Luke uses the word because it was the common metal for coinage among the Greeks. St Mark uses ‘copper,’ the common Roman coinage.

μήτε�. ‘Do not carry with you a second tunic or under-garment (ketoneth)’—which indeed is a rare luxury among poor Orientals. (See on Luke 3:11.) If they carried a second tunic at all they could only do so conveniently by putting it on (Mark 6:9). St Mark adds that they were to wear sandals, and St Matthew that they were not to have travelling shoes (ὑποδήματα). The general spirit of the instructions merely is, ‘Go forth in the simplest, humblest manner, with no hindrances to your movements and in perfect faith’; and this, as history shews, has always been the method of the most successful missions. At the same time we must remember that the wants of the Twelve were very small (see on Luke 8:3) and were secured by the open hospitality of the East (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 346). For the distributive use of ἀνὰ see John 2:6, ἀνὰ μετρητὰς δύο; Mark 6:40, ἀνὰ πεντήκοντα. The ἔχειν is a mixture of the indirect with the direct construction, as though the clause had begun with μηδὲν αἴρειν. It would be less natural to explain the infinitive as being here used for an imperative, or as an epexegetic infinitive—‘two coats apiece, to wear.’ See Winer, p. 397.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 9:3

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