<p>10:16- see on 24:14.</p>
<p><em>I am sending you out</em>- When He uses the metaphor of sending out His sheep in Jn. 10, the Lord makes the point that He leads them forth, going ahead of them. And yet with the sending out of the apostles, He didn&rsquo;t literally go with them nor go a day&rsquo;s journey ahead of them. He went before them in the same way as He goes before us, His sheep of this age- in personal example. As He had gone around Israel preaching, so they were to replicate His ministry. And He is a most unusual shepherd, in that He sends them forth knowing that they are walking right into the wolves. &ldquo;I send you forth&rdquo; is actually a quotation from the LXX of Ex. 3:12, where Moses is sent forth to take Israel out of Egypt. Thus the Lord bids His men see themselves as Moses, taking Israel out of Egypt, which becomes a symbol for orthodox Judaism. This subversion of popular Jewish understandings continues throughout this section.</p>
<p><em>As sheep-&nbsp;</em>Bridge building involves us becoming 'as' our target audience- as Paul was a Jew to the Jews and a Gentile to the Gentiles. Thus the Lord tells the disciples to go forth and preach as sheep / lambs; in order to appeal to the lost sheep of Israel (Mt. 10:6). They were to be as sheep to win the sheep.</p>
<p><em>In the midst of wolves-&nbsp;</em>The language suggests they would be totally outnumbered. They were making a brave witness in the teeth of aggressive opposition. Jewish teaching was that Israel was the sheep which was surrounded by 70 wolves, seen as the Gentile nations (<em>Pesiqta Rabbati&nbsp;</em>9:2<em>; Tanhuma Toldos</em>&nbsp;5). The Lord is subverting this idea- the apostate, legalistic, Torah-observant Pharisees were in fact Gentiles in the Lord&rsquo;s eyes, and the true Israel was comprised of the secular, spiritually immature followers of Jesus.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Therefore be wise as serpents-</em>&nbsp;The Lord may not be using the snake here as a symbol of sin or sinful people. He may simply be alluding to the way that when a snake moves into a new area, it is cautious, uses camouflage to blend in, spies out opportunities, doesn&rsquo;t act hastily and doesn&rsquo;t immediately go for what looks the easiest target. These kinds of characteristics were absolutely necessary for the apostles to emulate in their work. The Lord was not a fan of mass rallies and high profile publicity, rather did He prefer to work as quietly as possible and as deeply as possible with individuals; and He wanted His preachers to do the same. Yet again, as with &ldquo;in the midst of wolves&rdquo;, the Lord is alluding to an understanding then common within Judaism; in this case, to&nbsp;<em>Shiyr hashirim Rabba</em>, fol. 16: &ldquo;The holy blessed God said to the Israelites, Ye shall be toward me as upright as the doves; but, toward the Gentiles, as cunning as serpents&rdquo;. The Lord is saying that the Jewish religious leadership, with all their hatred of Gentiles, were to be treated as Gentiles- for this is who they were. And again, the true Israel are the Lord&rsquo;s bungling, hesitant, misunderstanding followers and preachers.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>And harmless as doves</em>- Doves and snakes are not aggressive and move away from conflict- whereas wolves are aggressive. Perhaps that is the Lord&rsquo;s point- be wise, prudent, but not aggressive, and retreat from confrontation.&nbsp;</p>