Matthew 10:12

12. And when ye come into an house--or "the house," but it means not the worthy house, but the house ye first enter, to try if it be worthy. salute it--show it the usual civilities.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 12. And when ye come into an house, salute it. The word house, here, evidently means family, as it does in the following verse. See also Mt 12:25, Jn 4:53, "And himself believed and his whole house." The apostles were directed to salute the family, to show them the customary tokens of respect, and to treat them with civility. Religion never requires or permits its friends to outrage the common rules of social intercourse. It demands of them to exhibit to all the customary and proper tokens of respect, according to their age and station, 1Pet 2:12-25, 3:8-11, Php 4:8. For the mode of salutation, Lk 10:4, Lk 10:5.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Verse 12 Salute it - Λεγουτες, ειρηνη εν τω οικω τουτω, saying, "Peace be to this house." This clause, which, as explanatory of the word ασπασασθε, is necessary to the connection in which it now stands, is added, by the MSS. D and L, and forty-three others, the Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Saxon, Vulgate, all the copies of the old Itala, Theophylact, and Hilary. The clause is also found in several modern versions. The modern Greek has λεγοντες· ειρηνη εις το σκηπρι τουτο. The Italian, by Matthew, of Erberg, and of Diodati, renders it thus: Pace sia a questa casa. Peace be to this house. It is found also in Wickliff, and in my old MS. Seyinge, pees be to this hous. Some suppose it is an addition taken from Luke; but there is nearly as much reason to believe he took it from Matthew. Peace, שלום, among the Hebrews, had a very extensive meaning: - it comprehended all blessings, spiritual and temporal. Hence that saying of the rabbins, גדול שלום שכל הברכות כלולות בו Gadal shalom, shecol haberacoth culoloth bo. Great is Peace, for all other blessings are comprehended in it. To wish peace to a family, in the name and by the authority of Christ, was in effect a positive promise, on the Lord's side, of all the good implied in the wish. This was paying largely even beforehand. Whoever receives the messengers of God into his house confers the highest honor upon himself, and not upon the preacher, whose honor is from God, and who comes with the blessings of life eternal to that man and his family who receives him. In India, it is customary for a way-faring man, when night draws on, to enter a house, and simply say, "Sir, I am a guest with you this night." If the owner cannot lodge him, he makes an apology, and the traveler proceeds to another house.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain