Verse 1 – The Jews considered 70 to be the number of the Gentile nations and therefore, this may have been the Lord's way of deliberately and dramatically emphasising the universality of His mission. The next thing we notice is that Jesus "sent" them out into every city "two by two". The Greek word for "sent" is 'apostello' which means 'to commission or set apart for a special service'. However, there are other notable uses of this ancient word. For instance, it is used when one is 'sent out with a mission to fulfil', and when one is 'dispatched with the full backing and authority of the sender'. Also, we see that the Lord had sent out these disciples "two by two", which I believe was for protection, strengthening and encouragement. Verse 2 – Today, the harvest is also great and the labourers are still few! Therefore, you too should continually pray that the Lord of the harvest sends out labourers into His harvest field. The heartbeat of our heavenly Father is to harvest every lost soul, and according to 1 Corinthians 3:9, we are "God's fellow workers" in this divine venture.