MATTHEW 10:5-6

Q: Don't these verses indicate that Jesus' ministry was to go to the Northern tribes of Israel only, and not the Southern tribes?

The basic mistake with this view (and I consulted over 10 commentaries and Bible dictionaries on the Matthew passage to see if I might be wrong) is in assuming that Israel always means the Northern Kingdom and Judah means the Southern Kingdom. That sort of strict nomenclature was not even adhered to during the Divided Kingdom Era. And certainly, beginning with the Exile and continuing through to New Testament times, Israel(ite), Judah (Judean, Jew), Zion, etc. were terms used interchangeably to apply to all sons and daughters of Jacob.

I will give just two examples of New Testament usage since that is the context of Jesus' words. Hebrews 8:8 quotes from Jeremiah 31:31-34 and talks about a covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. But this same covenant becomes one with the House of Israel in 8:10, and then in 10:16 the same quote is shortened to "them" in the context of Temple worship taking place in Judea. The only way to avoid an obvious discrepancy here is to consider that all three references to the Jeremiah passage refer to the whole Jewish people.

Another case where "House of Israel" appears in the New Testament is during Peter's sermon on the Day of Pentacost. He addresses his audience as "men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem." Then he calls them "fellow Israelites" in 2:29 and "the entire house of Israel" in 2:36.

Some feel that only Israel, and not Judah, was divorced by God in Isaiah 50. However, nowhere in that chapter does it mention that the Northern Kingdom is being exclusively addressed. In fact, both the previous chapter and the following one seem to be addressed primarily to the Southern Kingdom or to all Jews: see 49:6 "tribes of Judah" in poetic parallelism to "survivors of Israel" and the references to Zion (the mount of Jerusalem in Judea) in Isaiah 49:15; 51:3,11,16.

Yes, Jesus did spend much of his ministry in Galilee, but there was also a Perean ministry as well as forays into Gentile territory where he did miracles. The reason for staying mainly in the northern areas has usually been described as a practical one. If he had spent too much time close to the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, opposition from that quarter or from Roman authorities would have clamped down on his ministry way before his three years were up. This concern is especially seen in Mark's Gospel where Jesus warns people several times not to spread the word of his miraculous deeds.

The Matthew 10:5-6 passage basically means that Jesus wants his followers to first preach to his fellow Jews rather than the Gentiles. This same thought re-appears in Matthew 15:24, where Jesus heals the Canaanite woman's daughter. Of course, in the final verses of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus broadens the scope of spreading the Gospel to include all nations.