Why did Jesus send out the Seventy after he had sent out the Twelve? Recently, while studying this, I gained a clearer picture of what the two groups symbolized. As you no doubt know, seventy nations are listed in Genesis, chapter 10. In chapter 12, God called Abram out from his country of birth to the land his descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel, would one day inherit. The blessing of God on the twelve tribes would result in the blessing of the seventy nations of the world.
After the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt they camped at Elim, “where there were twelve wells and seventy palm trees” (Exodus 15:27). The twelve wells that nourished the seventy palm trees made Elim a welcome oasis. So, when Matthew (who wrote for Jewish readers) records the appointment and the sending out of the Twelve “to cast out unclean spirits and to heal all manner of sickness and diseases” — the twelve tribes and the oasis at Elim come quickly to mind.
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
We know the mission of the Twelve was a symbolical one because Jesus warned them of what would happen to them. In fact, after giving them instructions on what not to take on their journey – essentially the same instructions he would later give to the Seventy – Jesus spelled out in detail the kind of opposition they would face from their own people (Matthew 10:16-42). But they didn’t. Not during that first mission.
The words of Jesus were prophetic. They referred to the witness of the Twelve after his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. “But when they persecute you in [one] city, flee into another; for verily I say unto you, ‘You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come’.” (Verse 23) Obviously this did not refer to the literal, Second Coming but to the coming in AD70 by Jesus in judgement through the instrument of the Roman armies (as foretold by Jesus in his parable of the King’s Son).
Matthew does not record the sending forth by Jesus of the Seventy, which to me is a pointer to the fact that their mission is a symbol of a much wider one. Luke records both but in his account, Jesus does not prohibit the Seventy from visiting Samaritan or Gentile cities; and omits Matthew’s emphasis on persecution. Instead, he emphasizes the joy of the Seventy on their return, and the Lord’s caution that they should rejoice in the fact that their names were “written in heaven” (Luke 10:18).
There is a prophetic element in the statement by Jesus, “I beheld Satan like lightning fall from heaven.” (He said this after the Seventy had rejoiced over the demons being subject to them through his name.) The NT Greek has “the Satan”: the definite article. This enigmatic statement may mean that their victories had portrayed his coming and far greater victory over Satan in the triumph of his splendid resurrection.
Peter, one of the Twelve, was later appointed as the apostle to the Jews. We are not told the names of the Seventy. But since they symbolize the wider mission of the church and its countless victories over evil spirits throughout the world, we can rejoice, as they did, whenever and wherever we see “Satan fall like lightning” when we cast out demons.
I see in the apostolic mission of the Twelve a clear picture of the ministry of the first apostles to the Jews, which was limited to their own people, and which concluded with the destruction of the temple in AD70. We know that some apostles travelled far and wide after that terrible event, but Matthew’s emphasis on the Twelve is on the immediate and explains texts that are otherwise inexplicable.
I see in the mission of the Seventy a clear picture of the ministry of others to the nations, an unlimited mission that emphasized victory over evil spirits rather than over persecution that came upon the Twelve from their own people. I see the mission of the Seventy as a precursor to the Great Commission of Matthew 28, in which the Lord instructed his followers to make disciples of all nations. The mission of the Twelve was restricted to the Jews, but the mission of the Seventy appears to have been a far wider one.
The ever-enlarging circles of evangelism that began with the mission of the Twelve and continued with the mission of the Seventy short-term apostles (they resumed their role as disciples on their return) have gone beyond their imagination and have in our time have become worldwide global missions – outreaches not only on foot but also on the Net and in countless handheld devices.
Who knew? God did, from the beginning of the world!