7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don't go from house to house.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Eating and drinking those things which they shall give you This is another circumstance expressly mentioned by Luke. By these words Christ not only enjoins them to be satisfied with ordinary and plain food, but allows them to eat at another man's table. Their plain and natural meaning is: "you will be at liberty to live at the expense of others, so long as you shall be on this journey; for it is proper that those for whose benefit you labor should supply you with food." Some think that they were intended to remove scruples of conscience, that the disciples might not find fault with any kind of food. [1] But nothing of this kind was intended, and it was not even his object to enjoin frugality, but merely to permit them to accept of a reward, by living, during this commission, at the expense of those by whom they were entertained.
1 - "A fin que les disciples ne facent conscience d'aucune sorte de viande;" -- "in order that the disciples may not make conscience of any kind of food."
See the notes at Matthew 10:11. On this passage Dr. Thomson ("The Land and the Book," vol. i. p. 534) remarks: "The reason (for the command, 'Go not from house to house') is very obvious to one acquainted with Oriental customs. When a stranger arrives in a village or an encampment, the neighbors, one after another, must invite him to eat with them. There is a strict etiquette about it, involving much ostentation and hypocrisy, and a failure in the due observance of this system of hospitality is violently resented, and often leads to alienations and feuds among neighbors; it also consumes much time, causes unusual distraction of mind, leads to levity, and every way counteracts the success of a spiritual mission."
The laborer is worthy - See on Matthew 10:8, Matthew 10:12 (note).
Go not from house to house - See on Matthew 10:11 (note). It would be a great offense among the Hindoos if a guest, after being made welcome at a house, were to leave it and go to another.
And in the same house (c) remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
(c) Take up your lodging in that house which you enter into first, that is, do not be concerned about comfortable lodging, as men do who plan to stay in a place a long time: for here that solemn preaching of the gospel, which was used afterward when the Churches were settled, is not instituted: but these are sent abroad to all the coasts of Judea to show them that the last jubilee is at hand.
And in the same house remain,.... Where the sons of peace are, and the peace rests, and into which you are invited, and kindly received and used:
eating and drinking such things as they give; or rather, "such things as are with them", as the Vulgate Latin renders it; or "of that which is theirs", as the Syriac version; all one, and with as much freedom, as if they were your own; the reason follows,
for the labourer is worthy of his hire; what you eat and drink is your due; what you ought to have; your diet is a debt, and not a gratuity; See Gill on Matthew 10:10.
go not from house to house; as if fickle and inconstant, as if not satisfied with your lodging and entertainment, and as seeking out for other and better, or as if burdensome where they were; See Gill on Matthew 10:11. The Jews have a proverb, expressing the inconvenience and expensiveness, and the danger of moving from place to place:
"he that goes, , "from house to house", (loses his) shirt, (i.e. comes to distress and poverty,) from place to place (his) life (e);''
or he is in great danger of losing his life.
(e) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 39. fol. 34. 3.
*More commentary available at chapter level.