Do not go to any Gentile territory. Later Jesus would send them to "all the world," but now they limit their work to the Jews. All non-Jews are "Gentiles." Samaritan towns. Those who lived in Samaria were a blend of the "Ten Tribes" mixed with Gentiles (see 2 Kings 17:24; 2 Chronicles 30:1-20). They used the first five books of the Old Testament, but worshiped on Mount Garizin (see Joshua 8:33; John 4:20). The Jews and the Samaritans were bitter enemies. To the lost sheep. God's people "Israel" are pictured as "sheep who have strayed away from the shepherd." Jesus sends the apostles specifically to the Jews. Later, Jesus sent seventy-two more to help with this (Luke 10). The "Great Commission" of Matthew 28:18-20 could not be given until Jesus had died and been raised to glory. The Jewish Law formed a "wall" between them and the rest of the world, until it was removed (Ephesians 2:14-18). Jesus was born under this Law, and the apostles lived under it until it was removed. In the Cross, the distinctions between Jew and Gentile were destroyed (Galatians 3:28). The New Covenant is world-wide, with no nations restricted, and the apostles went everywhere under the Great Commission (see Colossians 1:23).

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Old Testament