Cornelius a Lapide

Therefore , behold, I send, &c. Observe the word therefore, that it expresses from the preceding verse an effect, as it were, from a cause. It means, “because ye, as serpents and vipers, will kill Me, your Messiah, for which wickedness ye will be cut off and condemned to hell I have had pity upon you, and will send to you My disciples after My death, that they may avert from you this destruction, that they may arouse you to repentance and faith in Me. But I foresee that ye will slay them also, as I have predicted in the 33d verse.” 1 send. Luke xL 49 says, The wisdom of God hath said, that is, indeed, Christ Himself. Prophets , and wise men, and Scribes. Luke has Prophets and 48 Apostles . S. Jerome says “This marks the various gifts of Christ’s disciples: Prophets , who foretell things to come; wise nun , who know when they ought to speak the word ; Scribes, those learned in the law.” Some of them ye shall kill , as S. Stephen by stoning, James the greater by the sword; and crucify , as S. Simeon, Bishop of Jerusalem, successor of S. James (see Euseb. H. E . ii. 32) ; and some of them ye shall scourge , as Peter and the Apostles (Acts iv. and v.), and persecute from city to city , like Paul and Barnabas (Acts xiii. and xiv.). Tropologically : Origen says (horn. 23, in Num .), “ And I, this day, if I will not hear the words of a Prophet, if I despise his warnings, stone that Prophet, and as far as in me lies, kill him.”