(Click to enlarge.)
Compare Matthew 9:35; 10:1, 7-11, 14
This is a fundamental scripture for Latter-day Saints, and represents, really, the beginning of the Christian Church in the Old World.
Still today, the apostleship is fundamental to the organization and authority of the Church. Not merely in the historical sense common to Christian churches generally, but as a living reality.
The number twelve is probably connected with the twelve tribes of Israel, just as the number seventy, soon to be used for another group of disciples, is connected with the traditional seventy nations of the world that appears in the Old Testament.
Certain numbers recur. One, of course. Three, as in the Trinity itself, along with the First Presidency, stake presidencies, and virtually all other presidencies and group leaderships in the Church, not to mention bishoprics. Seven, as in the days of creation and the leadership of the Seventy. Twelve. Sometimes forty (days and nights, as in the Flood and Jesus’ post-baptismal fast). Seventy. It’s not clear why these numbers recur, but they do.
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