... and they have been accepting nothing from the pagans. This translates a present participle, which serves to confirm the general character of the aorist, ‘set out,’ as mentioned above. The negative mēden (form of ouden with the non-indicative) often has modal force and may connote a determination to take nothing. There is no implication that the pagans have offered anything; rather the idea is that the proclamation of Jesus must be made without either expecting or begging for support. We are not far in spirit from the Essenes as Josephus describes them (War 2.8.4; sections 124-25): ‘When any of the sectarians arrive from a distance, all the goods of the group are put at their disposal just as if they were their own. They enter the houses of people whom they have never seen before as though they were most intimate friends. Therefore they carry nothing whatever with them on their journeys…’ Philo, Every Good Man 12, section 85, says of the Essenes, ‘The door is open to visitors from elsewhere who share their convictions.’ ...