Coming Persecutions - 10:17 Persecution By Jews

10:17 Persecution By Jews

Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues

In this verse the wolves are seen in a vague way as ‘men’, or ‘people’. However, it seems to point to persecution from Jewish officials, because the rest of the verse refers to judicial sentences carried out in the Jewish world of the day.

Some commentators see this as a redaction in which Matthew is writing in light of a ‘serious cleavage’ between Judaism and Christianity, because the twelve will be flogged in ‘their’ synagogues (presumably in opposition to the idea of synagogues of Jewish Christians or synagogues shared by both groups). Hagner further sees it as a redaction because the sentence continues in v. 18 in reference to witnessing to the nations, which would have been the case in the later Church, but not at the time of this speech of Jesus. In contrast, R. T. France sees that Jesus did speak these words here, and that he was looking to the future of the community’s life from this early point. Similarly, Davies and Allison see this as evidence that Matthew’s community continued to be close to the Jewish communities, because this verse indicates that they were submitting to the authority of the (Jewish) synagogues. Overall, Matthew's gospel is suited to a community closely related to Judaism, because of its messianism and emphasis on the covenant of Abraham.

‘Councils’ is literally ‘sanhedrins’, and necessarily refers to local governing bodies rather than to the national Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, because here the Greek is in plural form.

‘Synagogues’ is translated as ‘assemblies’ by France because he sees a difference in their function from the earlier uses of the word in Matthew, as meaning a location of worship and teaching. This points to the idea that ‘synagogue’ might refer to a grouping of the community, rather than a building used for worship. Leon Morris points out that synagogues were places not only of worship and teaching, but also of trials and the administration of justice.

That "synagogue" could refer to an assembly rather than a building, there may be a connection between being delivered up to councils and being flogged in the synagogues, as seen in the case of the apostles in Acts 5: being set before the Sanhedrin (v. 27) and then beaten (v. 40). This flogging was the well-known 39 lashes given for transgressions, in the eyes of the sanhedrin, of the Mosaic law. Nolland’s belief lends itself to this connection, in that his causative translation of the verb linking councils and synagogues (‘councils, and will have you flogged in...’) makes a clearer connection between the action in each group. Also, Davies and Allison see that ‘in’ their synagogues could be translated ‘by’ or ‘through’ their synagogues. These points strengthen the idea that the synagogue could refer to an official gathering of the community, similar to the Sanhedrin, that would have exercised the authority of Deuteronomistic punishments.