When instructing the seventy as to the nature of the service required of them during that epochmaking tour which he bade them undertake to the glory of God,—that is, for the purpose of demonstrating the power of the Word by healing the sick and the sinning,—our Master enjoined them, "Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you." Now it may very well be that Jesus intended them to obey this injunction literally. Remembering, however, his frequent employment of metaphor, and notably in connection with the verb "to eat," it is justifiable to believe that he also meant his words to be taken in a double sense, particularly because when used figuratively they would have a direct and practical bearing upon the problems likely to confront his students during the course of their mission. We know from the continuation of the narrative that those students of the great Teacher took to heart and obeyed his precepts so lovingly and faithfully that they returned to him in a state of spiritual exaltation and gratitude, reporting joyfully, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."
* Science and Health, p. 222.
That being so, it is scarcely to be questioned that at a very early stage of their pilgrimage the fame of their wondrous achievements as healers of the sick would spread far and wide through all the towns and villages of Palestine in the rapid way news is always disseminated in Oriental lands. The result would be that the simple people would at once begin to regard these disciples of our Lord as men endowed with supernatural powers and to flock to them, not merely to obtain physical healing but in order, after the manner of the East, to seek guidance and advice with regard to their many and various worldly troubles and perplexities.
