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MATTHEW 10:23 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 10:22Matt 10:24
“But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.”
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. The tactical instruction — flee rather than stay and be martyred unnecessarily — and the eschatological timeline: the Son of Man will come before the disciples have completed the circuit of Israel's towns. The coming of the Son of Man has been variously interpreted as the resurrection, the coming judgment on Jerusalem in 70 AD, or the final return. In the context of the mission to Israel, it suggests an urgency that makes the disciples' mission a race against time — the kingdom's arrival in power will overtake the disciples' mission before it is complete.

Church Fathers on Matthew 10:23

Having foretold the fearful things which should come upon them after His Cross, resurrection, and ascension, He leads them to gentler prospects; He does not bid them presumptuously to offer themselves for persecution, but to fly from it; 'When they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another.' For because this was the first beginning of their conversion, He adapts His words to their state.

Chrysostom · 4th century

This must be referred to the time when the Apostles were sent to preach, when it was said to them, 'Go not into the way of the Gentiles;' they should not fear, but may shun persecution. This we see the believers did in the beginning, when on a persecution arising in Jerusalem they were scattered throughout all Judaea, and thus the season of tribulation was made the seedtime of the Gospel.

Jerome · 4th century

Not that the Saviour was unable to protect His disciples, does He here bid them fly, and Himself give them an example of it, but He instructed man’s weakness, that he should not presume to tempt God, when he has anything that he can do for himself, but should shun all evils.

Augustine · 4th century · cont. Faust., xxii, 36
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 10:23 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy