Matthew 10:16

ἰδού, something important is going to be said. ἐγὼ, emphatic: Jesus is conscious that connection with Him will be a source not only of power, but of trouble to the Twelve. ἐν μέσῳ : not to wolves (πρὸς λύκους, Chrys.). They were not sent for that purpose, which would be a mission to destruction, but on an errand of which that would be an incident, ἐν is used here as often, especially in later Greek writers, with a verb of motion to indicate a subsequent chronic state, “the result of a love of conciseness” (Winer, § 50, 4, a). γίνεσθε … περιστεραί. The serpent, the accepted emblem of wisdom (Genesis 3:1; Psalms 58:5) wary, sharp-sighted (Grotius); the dove of simplicity (Hosea 7:11, “silly dove,” ἄνους, Sept [61]). ἀκέραιοι (α, κεράννυμι), unmixed with evil, purely good. The ideal resulting from the combination is a prudent simplicity; difficult to realise. The proverb seems to have been current among the Jews. “God says: ‘with me the Israelites are simple as the dove, but against the heathen cunning as the serpent' ” (Wünsche, Beiträge).

[61] Septuagint.