Coming Persecutions - 10:16 Necessity of Cunning and Innocence

10:16 Necessity of Cunning and Innocence

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

Inserting 'behold' into the midst of his commission of the Twelve Apostles draws attention to what Jesus begins to say here. It marks off this section as distinct from the preceding part of his instruction to the disciples. After drawing the attention of the disciples with 'behold', Jesus says, literally, 'I, even I, send you...'. Though in a different tense, this is a quotation of the Septuagint reading of Exodus 3:12, where God commissioned Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. This would have brought to the disciples' attention that they were being commissioned to be the leaders of God's people, as was Moses.

He sends them as sheep among wolves, which brings to mind the messianic time envisioned at Isaiah 11:6, which says that the ‘wolf shall dwell with the lamb’. Referring to them as sheep also highlights the danger they will face in their mission. It draws attention to Jesus’ community as the true Israel, because Jewish literature had traditionally used sheep and wolf imagery of Israel and the nations. Because this verse follows on Jesus sending the twelve to the Israelites exclusively, the Jews hostile to his kingdom are now implicitly cast as wolves.

When he tells them to be as wise as serpents, this refers back to the Genesis story of Eden, where the serpent is called ‘subtle’, but the Greek is the same both here and there (at Gen 3:1). This wisdom entails avoiding danger, but only in ways consistent with their mission. Their wisdom is to be for self-preservation, rather than doing harm to others as did the serpent of Genesis. Augustine of Hippo saw this as an analogy in which Jesus was calling Christians to offer their whole body to persecutors rather than their head, as serpents do (they curl up their body around their head to protect it). This is emphasized by pairing the commandment to be like serpents with a commandment to be like doves.

Commanding them to be innocent as doves tells the disciples to have pure intentions—elsewhere it is a characteristic of those with integrity. The literal meaning of the Greek word translated ‘innocent’ is ‘unmixed’. Elsewhere in the New Testament it is used in a meaning related to the simplicity of children, and it is meant to instruct the twelve that they are to set themselves wholly upon the mission entrusted to them by Jesus. This further shows that the wisdom of snakes, and the innocence of doves, while different, are not at odds. Because doves were used at the time to symbolize Israel, the text further points to the twelve as the centre of the true Israel.

Pairing the statement on snakes with one about doves seems to have been a trope in Jesus’ time. Though the wisdom of the serpent has a positive connotation, it is also meant to contrast with the innocence of doves.