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Messiah summons the Twelve: "Yeshua summoned His twelve disciples and gave them power and authority over all the demons, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him. These twelve Yeshua sent them out in pairs of two after instructing them: 'Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Take nothing for your journey, except the staff you already have. Don't you acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or take bread, or two coats (a spare), or additional sandals, or another staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you...You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved...A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master...Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell…He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.' Departing, they began going throughout the villages, preaching the gospel that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them" (Consolidated narrative: Matthew 10:1-20, 22, 24, 28, 40; Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6. The Twelve: As stated before "everything means something" in God’s Word. The twelve are shalach, "sent" ones. They are messengers (malakim) of Messiah the King. These Hebrew terms are translated into the Greek term we now get the word apostle from, apostolos. This Greek word also means a sent one. In the Scriptures the sent one is oftentimes a special messenger sent by a person of high authority. Mistreating or disrespecting a king’s envoy was the same as offending the king himself. The prophets and apostles are God's official envoys and ambassadors. A Sent One is to be greeted as if he were God Himself. God first sent the Twelve Malakim to the cities and towns of the Jews. However God’s people rejected them. Tragically this was the same thing as if the people of Israel had rejected God Himself. Hebrew: A total of twelve Hebrew personal names are used to identify the Twelve. Nine different Hebrew names are used with three of these names being used twice: Shimeon (Simon), Jacob (James), Nathaniel, Thomas, Levi, Bar Talmai (Bartholomew), Lebh (Labbaeus), Todah (Thaddaeus) and Judah (Judas). The three Hebrew names that are used twice are Shimeon, Jacob and Judah. The Hebrew personal names of the "sent ones" possess messianic meaning. Divine providence has instilled in these names an abbreviated witness to the Messiah and His Torah (Rabbi Yeshua's Teaching).
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