Luke tells of Jesus sending out the 72 on mission (Lk. 10:1ff). Or maybe he sends out 70 - there are variations in the manuscript evidence. So which is it? And does is it have any importance anyway?
Commentators generally affirm that there's a link in Jesus’ sending of 70/72 to the table of the nations in Genesis 10 and that the intent is to show the universal scope of Jesus’ mission. If you follow the Hebrew text, there are 70 nations in Genesis 10; the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, has 72 nations. So that might account for the difference in the manuscripts of Luke.
But let’s add something else into the mix. When Jacob and sons went down to Egypt at the time of the famine and Joseph’s governorship there, the Hebrew text tells us that 70 people went down; the LXX suggests the number was 75 (you might know that Stephen uses that number in his speech in Acts 7:15, showing his familiarity with the LXX account perhaps).
Is there any connection here? I think there might be. Israel are chosen for the sake of the world - the use of 70 in the Hebrew text of Genesis for both the numbering of the nations AND the numbering of Jacob’s family has a certain resonance, reminding of Israel’s representative role as disclosed to Abram in Genesis 12.
And, for me, that connection becomes significant in choosing which textual variant to opt for in Luke 1. ‘Seventy’ recalls Israel’s travels into Egypt which, in turn, had recalled the nations of Genesis 10.
Which means the point about Jesus’ mission being universal in scope is not simply validated by reference to Genesis 10. He also sums-up and fulfils the role of Israel and embeds that in sending out 70 disciples.
