"These apostles were not to go to the Gentiles, nor to the Samaritans--who were the descendants of usurpers of Israel--'but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel'; and they obeyed this command as far as was then possible. The only tribe that they could reach which had any connection with Israel was Benjamin, and Benjamin as a tribe was won to allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. Benjamin had gone into captivity with Judah, and had come back with Judah; but in the prophecies of God, Benjamin had been always associated with the Ten Tribes of Israel. It is a remarkable fact that the majority of our Lord's disciples at the time of His earthly ministry were connected with the tribe of Benjamin. It is also of interest that, when Jerusalem was afterwards besieged by the Romans under Titus, the members of what had become the Christian tribe of Benjamin escaped. "Christ Himself declared, in Matt. xv. 24, this was His own mission: '_He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel._' "Again our Lord says, in Matt. xxi. 43: '_Therefore say I unto you_ (He was speaking to the Jews), _the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation_ (the Jews had long since ceased to be a nation) _bringing forth the fruits thereof_.' "The Jews themselves evidently so understood His statement, for in John vii. 35 we read:-- "'Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?' "So the Jew quite understood our Lord to refer to Israel. "Israel was evidently in the minds of the apostles themselves. On the day of the ascension they asked Him:-- "'Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?' (Acts i. 6.) "A restoration of the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of Judah had been promised. The apostles did not confuse the kingdom of Israel with that of Judah, for they said, 'Wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' St. Paul devotes thirty-six verses in Romans xi. to prove that God has not cast away His people, but that "blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the nations be come in," so that all Israel shall be saved. "Lastly, the final word must be that of our Lord. In Acts i. 7, 8 Christ said:-- "'_It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth_'--which refers to the 'regions beyond'--an expression that was fully understood to mean the dispersed among the Gentiles."