Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 4:12

Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

12. when Jesus had heard ] probably also because he had heard. It was a needful precaution against the cruel treachery of Herod Antipas. At Capernaum He would be close to the dominions of Herod Philip.

John was cast into prison ] at Machrus. The cause of John’s imprisonment is stated at length ch. Mat 14:3-4 (where see note) and Luk 3:19-20.

On hearing of the death of John the Baptist Jesus retired into the wilderness. See ch. Mat 14:13.

departed into Galilee ] by the shortest route through Samaria. Joh 4:4. During this journey must be placed the conversation with the woman of Samaria. This was after a ministry in Juda, which had lasted eight months (Ellicott, Lectures on the life of our Lord, p. 130), some incidents of which are related by St John , 2, 3.

Galilee ] = a circle or circuit originally confined to a “circle” of 20 cities given by Solomon to Hiram 1Ki 9:11. Cp. Jos 20:7. From this small beginning the name spread to a larger district, just as the name of Asia spread from a district near the Mander, first to the Roman Province, then to a quarter of the Globe. The Jews were in a minority in those parts. The population mainly consisted of Phnicians, Arabs, and Greeks.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12 16. Jesus returns into Galilee

Mar 1:14; Luk 4:14, who assigns no reason; Joh 4:1-3. St John gives a further reason “when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, he left Juda, &c.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

John was cast into prison – For an account of the imprisonment of John see Mat 14:1-13.

He departed into Galilee – See Mat 2:22. The reasons why Jesus then went into Galilee were probably:

1. Because the attention of the people had been much excited by Johns preaching, and things seemed to be favorable for success in his own ministry.
2. It appeared desirable to have some one to second John in the work of reformation.
3. It was less dangerous for him to commence his labors there than near Jerusalem. Judea was under the dominion of the scribes, and Pharisees, and priests. They would naturally look with envy on any one who set himself up for a public teacher, and who should attract much attention there. It was important, therefore, that the work of Jesus should begin in Galilee, and become somewhat established and known before he went to Jerusalem.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

John was some time after this cast into prison, for his free reproving Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, for taking Herodias his brother Philips wife, and other evils, Mat 14:3,4; Mr 6:17; Luk 3:19,20. Jesus heard of this accident, and

departed into Galilee. There were many things happened between Christs temptations and this his motion into Galilee, which are omitted by all the evangelists except John, and by him recorded in his four first chapters. Neither by Galilee must we understand the Nether Galilee, which was within the jurisdiction of Herod, but the Upper Galilee, called Galilee of the Gentiles, Mat 4:15, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, which was in the jurisdiction of Philip, a man of a less bloody disposition. Others make it under Herods jurisdiction, but where the Pharisees had less to do than in Judea. Our Saviour doth not out of cowardice avoid danger, but he knew his time was not yet come. But some judicious interpreters think that our Saviour first went into the Lower Galilee, and from thence soon after into the Upper Galilee: that which makes this more probable is the next words, And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum; so as it should seem he first went to Nazareth, which was in the Lower Galilee.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

12. Now when Jesus had heard thatJohn was cast into prisonmore simply, “was delivered up,”as recorded in Mat 14:3-5;Mar 6:17-20; Luk 3:19;Luk 3:20.

he departedrather,”withdrew.”

into Galileeasrecorded, in its proper place, in Joh4:1-3.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison,…. John was cast into prison by Herod; the reason of it may be seen in Mt 14:3. The prison into which he was cast, according to Josephus s, was the castle of Machaeras: here he continued some time before he was put to death; for from hence he sent two disciples to Jesus, to know if he was the Messiah, Mt 11:2. Now when Jesus heard of this his imprisonment,

he departed into Galilee; not so much on account of safety, or for fear of Herod, but to call his disciples, who lived in that country.

s Antiq. l. 18. c. 7.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Opening of Christ’s Ministry.

      12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;   13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:   14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,   15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;   16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.   17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

      We have here an account of Christ’s preaching in the synagogues of Galilee, for he came into the world to be a Preacher; the great salvation which he wrought out, he himself began to publish (Heb. ii. 3) to show how much his heart was upon it, and ours should be.

      Several passages in the other gospels, especially in that of St. John, are supposed, in the order of the story of Christ’s life, to intervene between his temptation and his preaching in Galilee. His first appearance after his temptation, was when John Baptist pointed to him, saying, Behold the Lamb of God, John i. 29. After that, he went up to Jerusalem, to the passover (John ii.), discoursed with Nicodemus (John iii.), with the woman of Samaria (John iv.), and then returned into Galilee, and preached there. But Matthew, having had his residence in Galilee, begins his story of Christ’s public ministry with his preaching there, which here we have an account of. Observe,

      I. The time; When Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, then he went into Galilee, v. 12. Note, The cry of the saints’ sufferings comes up into the ears of the Lord Jesus. If John be cast into prison, Jesus hears it, takes cognizance of it, and steers his course accordingly: he remembers the bonds and afflictions that abide his people. Observe, 1. Christ did not go into the country, till he heard of John’s imprisonment; for he must have time given him to prepare the way of the Lord, before the Lord himself appear. Providence wisely ordered it, that John should be eclipsed before Christ shone forth; otherwise the minds of people would have been distracted between the two; one would have said, I am of John, and another, I am of Jesus. John must be Christ’s harbinger, but not his rival. The moon and stars are lost when the sun rises. John had done his work by the baptism of repentance, and then he was laid aside. The witnesses were slain when they had finished their testimony, and not before, Rev. xi. 7. 2. He did go into the country as soon as he heard of John’s imprisonment; not only to provide for his own safety, knowing that the Pharisees in Judea were as much enemies to him as Herod was to John, but to supply the want of John Baptist, and to build upon the good foundation he had laid. Note, God will not leave himself without witness, nor his church without guides; when he removes one useful instrument, he can raise up another, for he has the residue of the Spirit, and he will do it, if he has work to do. Moses my servant is dead, John is cast into prison; now, therefore, Joshua, arise; Jesus, arise.

      II. The place where he preached; in Galilee, a remote part of the country, that lay furthest from Jerusalem, as was there looked upon with contempt, as rude and boorish. The inhabitants of that country were reckoned stout men, fit for soldiers, but not polite men, or fit for scholars. Thither Christ went, there he set up the standard of his gospel; and in this, as in other things, he humbled himself. Observe,

      1. The particular city he chose for his residence; not Nazareth, where he had been bred up; no, he left Nazareth; particular notice is taken of that, v. 13. And with good reason did he leave Nazareth; for the men of that city thrust him out from among them, Luke iv. 29. He made them his first, and a very fair, offer of his service, but they rejected him and his doctrine, and were filled with indignation at him and it; and therefore he left Nazareth, and shook off the dust of his feet for a testimony against those there, who would not have him to teach them. Nazareth was the first place that refused Christ, and was therefore refused by him. Note, It is just with God, to take the gospel and the means of grace from those that slight them, and thrust them away. Christ will not stay long where he is not welcome. Unhappy Nazareth! If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace, how well had it been for thee! But now they are hid from thine eyes.

      But he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which was a city of Galilee, but many miles distant from Nazareth, a great city and of much resort. It is said here to be on the sea coast, not the great sea, but the sea of Tiberias, an inland water, called also the lake of Gennesaret. Close by the falling of Jordan into the sea stood Capernaum, in the tribe of Naphtali, but bordering upon Zebulun; hither Christ came, and here he dwelt. Some think that his father Joseph had a habitation here, others that he took a house or lodgings at least; and some think it more than probable, that he dwelt in the house of Simon Peter; however, here he fixed not constantly, for he went about doing good; but this was for some time his head quarters: what little rest he had, was here; here he had a place, though not a place of his own, to lay his head on. And at Capernaum, it should seem, he was welcome, and met with better entertainment than he had at Nazareth. Note, If some reject Christ, yet others will receive him, and bid him welcome. Capernaum is glad of Nazareth’s leavings. If Christ’s own countrymen be not gathered, yet he will be glorious. “And thou, Capernaum, has now a day of it; thou art now lifted up to heaven; be wise for thyself, and know the time of thy visitation.”

      2. The prophecy that was fulfilled is this, v. 14-16. It is quoted from Isa 9:1; Isa 9:2, but with some variation. The prophet in that place is foretelling a greater darkness of affliction to befal the contemners of Immanuel, than befel the countries there mentioned, either in their first captivity under Benhadad, which was but light (1 Kings xv. 20), or in their second captivity under the Assyrian, which was much heavier, 2 Kings xv. 29. The punishment of the Jewish nation for rejecting the gospel should be sorer than either (see Isa 8:21; Isa 8:22); for those captivated places had some reviving in their bondage, and saw a great light again, ch. ix. 2. This is Isaiah’s sense; but the Scripture has many fulfillings; and the evangelist here takes only the latter clause, which speaks of the return of the light of liberty and prosperity to those countries that had been in the darkness of captivity, and applies it to the appearing of the gospel among them.

      The places are spoken of, v. 15. The land of Zebulun is rightly said to be by the sea coast, for Zebulun was a haven of ships, and rejoiced in her going out,Gen 49:13; Deu 33:18. Of Naphtali, it had been said, that he should give goodly words (Gen. xlix. 21), and should be satisfied with favour (Deut. xxxiii. 23), for from him began the gospel; goodly words indeed, and such as bring to a soul God’s satisfying favour. The country beyond Jordan is mentioned likewise, for there we sometimes find Christ preaching, and Galilee of the Gentiles, the upper Galilee to which the Gentiles resorted for traffic, and where they were mingled with the Jews; which intimates a kindness in reserve for the poor Gentiles. When Christ came to Capernaum, the gospel came to all those places round about; such diffusive influences did the Sun of righteousness cast.

      Now, concerning the inhabitants of these places, observe, (1.) The posture they were in before the gospel came among them (v. 16); they were in darkness. Note, Those that are without Christ, are in the dark, nay, they are darkness itself; as the darkness that was upon the face of the deep. Nay, they were in the region and shadow of death; which denotes not only great darkness, as the grave is a land of darkness, but great danger. A man that is desperately sick, and not likely to recover, is in the valley of the shadow of death, though not quite dead; so the poor people were on the borders of damnation, though not yet damned-dead in law. And, which is worst of all, they were sitting in this condition. Sitting in a continuing posture; where we sit, we mean to stay; they were in the dark, and likely to be so, despairing to find the way out. And it is a contented posture; they were in the dark, and they loved darkness, they chose it rather than light; they were willingly ignorant. Their condition was sad; it is still the condition of many great and mighty nations, which are to be thought of, and prayed for, with pity. But their condition is more sad, who sit in darkness in the midst of gospel-light. He that is in the dark because it is night, may be sure that the sun will shortly arise; but he that is in the dark because he is blind, will not so soon have his eyes opened. We have the light, but what will that avail us, if we be not the light in the Lord? (2.) The privilege they enjoyed, when Christ and his gospel came among them; it was as great a reviving as ever light was to a benighted traveller. Note, When the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any soul, it makes day there, Joh 3:19; Luk 1:78; Luk 1:79. Light is discovering, it is directing; so is the gospel.

      It is a great light; denoting the clearness and evidence of gospel-revelations; not like the light of a candle, but the light of the sun when he goes forth in his strength. Great in comparison with the light of the law, the shadows of which were now done away. It is a great light, for it discovers great things and of vast consequence; it will last long, and spread far. And it is a growing light, intimated in that word, It is sprung up. It was but spring of day with them; now the day dawned, which afterward shone more and more. The gospel-kingdom, like a grain of mustard-seed or the morning light, was small in its beginnings, gradual in its growth, but great in its perfection.

      Observe, the light sprang up to them; they did not go to seek it, but were prevented with the blessings of this goodness. It came upon them ere they were aware, at the time appointed, by the disposal of him who commandeth the morning, and causes the day-spring to know its place, that it may take hold of the ends of the earth,Job 38:12; Job 38:13.

      III. The text he preached upon (v. 17): From that time, that is, from the time of his coming into Galilee, into the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, from that time, he began to preach. He had been preaching, before this, in Judea, and had made and baptized many disciples (John iv. 1); but his preaching was no so public and constant as now it began to be. The work of the ministry is so great and awful, that it is fit to be entered upon by steps and gradual advances.

      The subject which Christ dwelt upon now in his preaching (and it was indeed the sum and substance of all his preaching), was the very same John has preached upon (ch. iii. 2); Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; for the gospel is the same for substance under various dispensations; the commands the same, and the reasons to enforce them the same; an angel from heaven dares not preach any other gospel (Gal. i. 8), and will preach this, for it is the everlasting gospel. Fear God, and, by repentance, give honour to him,Rev 14:6; Rev 14:7. Christ put a great respect upon John’s ministry, when he preached to the same purport that John had preached before him. By this he showed that John was his messenger and ambassador; for when he brought the errand himself, it was the same that he had sent by him. Thus did God confirm the word of his messenger, Isa. xliv. 26. The Son came on the same errand that the servants came on (ch. xxi. 37), to seek fruit, fruits meet for repentance. Christ had lain in the bosom of the Father, and could have preached sublime notions of divine and heavenly things, that should have alarmed and amused the learned world, but he pitches upon this old, plain text, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. [1.] This he preached first upon; he began with this. Ministers must not be ambitious of broaching new opinions, framing new schemes, or coining new expressions, but must content themselves with plain, practical things, with the word that is nigh us, even in our mouth, and in our heart. We need not go up to heaven, nor down to the deep, for matter or language in our preaching. As John prepared Christ’s way, so Christ prepared his own, and made way for the further discoveries he designed, with the doctrine of repentance. If any man will do this part of his will, he shall know more of his doctrine, John vii. 17. [2.] This is preached often upon; wherever he went, this was his subject, and neither he nor his followers ever reckoned it worn threadbare, as those would have done, that have itching ears, and are fond of novelty and variety more than that which is truly edifying. Note, That which has been preached and heard before, may yet very profitably be preached and heard again; but then it should be preached and heard better, and with new affections; what Paul had said before, he said again, weeping,Phi 3:1; Phi 3:18. [3.] This he preached as gospel; “Repent, review your ways, and return to yourselves.” Note, The doctrine of repentance is right gospel-doctrine. Not only the austere Baptist, who was looked upon as a melancholy, morose man, but the sweet and gracious Jesus, whose lips dropped as a honey-comb, preached repentance; for it is an unspeakable privilege that room is left for repentance. [4.] The reason is still the same; The kingdom of heaven is at hand; for it was not reckoned to be fully come, till that pouring out of the Spirit after Christ’s ascension. John had preached the kingdom of heaven at hand above a year before this; but now it was so much the stronger; now is the salvation nearer, Rom. xiii. 11. We should be so much the more quickened to our duty, as we see the day approaching, Heb. x. 25.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Now when he heard ( ). The reason for Christ’s return to Galilee is given here to be that John had been delivered up into prison. The Synoptic Gospels skip from the temptation of Jesus to the Galilean ministry, a whole year. But for Joh 1:19-3:36 we should know nothing of the “year of obscurity” (Stalker). John supplies items to help fill in the picture. Christ’s work in Galilee began after the close of the active ministry of the Baptist who lingered on in prison for a year or more.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Was cast into prison [] . The verb means, first, to give, or hand over to another. So, to surrender a city or a person, often with the accompanying notion of treachery. The Rev., therefore, rightly renders, was delivered up.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison,” (akousantes de hoti loannes paredothe) “Then Jesus upon hearing that John was delivered up,” to imprisonment. After an interval of indeterminate time, as recounted by John only; Note “when”, not “because” He heard. Where John was cast into prison is not certain, Mat 14:1-12. Josephus reports that it was in the fortress of Machaerus in Perea. John must decrease, Jesus increase in earthly labor, in public attention. The charge was a joy to John, Joh 3:30.

2) “He departed into Galilee;” (anechoresen eis ten Galilaian) “He went away of his own choice into Galilee,” from Jordan where He had been tempted of Satan, the old Devil, to begin His Holy Spirit anointed public ministry, not in Jerusalem, the Holy City or in Judea, but in Galilee, a territory so overrun by wars it was referred to as “the region and shadow of death,” yet the region where the new light of Christ should arise, Mat 4:16; Luk 4:16-21. This is an example of the Lord’s axiom, “The last shall be first, and the first last,” Mat 19:30; Mr 9:35; 10:31; Luk 13:30.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 4:12

. When Jesus had heard. These words appear to be at variance with the narrative of the Evangelist John, who declares, that John and Christ discharged the office of public teachers at the same time. But we have to observe, that our three Evangelists pass over in silence that short space of time, because John’s course was not yet completed, and because that course was intended to be a preparation for receiving the Gospel of Christ. And, in point of fact, though Christ discharged the office of teacher within that period, he did not, strictly speaking, begin to preach the Gospel, till he succeeded to John. Most properly, therefore, do the three Evangelists admit and declare, that the period, during which John prepared disciples for Christ, belonged to his ministry: for it amounts to this, that, when the dawn was passed, the sun arose. It is proper to observe the mode of expression employed by Luke, that Jesus came in the power, or, by the power, of the Spirit into Galilee: for it is of great consequence, that we do not imagine Christ to have any thing about him that is earthly or human, but that our minds be always occupied, and our feelings affected by his heavenly and divine power.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 4:12. Cast into prison.Delivered up (R.V.). Galilee = a circle or circuit originally confined to a circle of twenty cities given by Solomon to Hiram, 1Ki. 9:11 (cf. Jos. 20:7). From this small beginning the name spread to a larger district, just as the name of Asia spread from a district near the Mander, first to the Roman Province, then to a quarter of the globe. The Jews were in a minority in those parts. The population mainly consisted of Phnicians, Arabs, and Greeks (Carr).

Mat. 4:13. Capernaum.A town on the north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. The exact site disputed. The Palestine Exploration Society has come to the conclusion that the modern Tell Hm is the spot.

Mat. 4:14. Fulfilled.The Evangelist had manifestly the greatest delight in tracing the radii of Old Testament prophecy into the great personal centre of Divine revelationthe Saviour (Morison).

Mat. 4:15. Galilee of the Gentiles.See on Mat. 4:12. The whole territory described constituted an area that might be regarded as radiating out from Capernaum, so far as facilities of intercourse were concerned (Morison). When St. Matthew looked back on the change that had come over Capernaum in the arrival of the Prophet of Nazaretha change extending to his own lifethese words seemed the only adequate description of it (Plumptre).

Mat. 4:17. At hand.A kingdom is not constituted out of one member, and so long as the Messiah stood alone the kingdom of God did not exist. It would come into existence through the fact of the Messiah assembling a society of other members of the kingdom (Wendt).

Mat. 4:18. Sea of Galilee.About thirteen miles long, and in its broadest part six miles wide. The Jews were accustomed to call every considerable sheet of water a sea.

Mat. 4:19. Follow Me.Joh. 1:35-43 refers to a summons some months before.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 4:12-22

An unobtrusive beginning.We have just seen Jesus of Nazareth as a conqueror (Mat. 4:1-11). We are to see Him now as the light (Mat. 4:16). He is no longer in the wilderness, but in cities and towns. No longer exposed to the direct machinations of Satan, but ministering to mankind. In beginning to do this we are shown in this passage:

1. The kind of work He took up.

2. The kind of locality He fixed on.

3. The kind of helpers He chose.

I. The kind of work He engaged in.In a general way it was that of preaching (Mat. 4:17). This, as we have seen, was the great work of His predecessor, the Baptist (Mat. 3:1). At this time, also, the message which Jesus delivered was almost identical with that with which John the Baptist began: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat. 3:2; Mat. 4:17). It would almost seem, indeed, as though He only intended, at first, to supply that great preachers place. It was only, at any rate, after that first preacher had been silenced, that this other began; only after Jesus had heard (Mat. 4:12) that John was cast into prison, and so could speak openly no longer, that His speaking began. (Cf. Bengel, Decrescente Joanne crevit Christus.) So far, therefore, there is nothing especially novel about His proceedings and work. He is merely taking up the officeHe is merely repeating the messageof one who has disappeared from the scene.

II. The kind of locality He fixed on. This is marked by various features of a distinguishing kind. In the first place, it was very out of the way and provincial. He departedHe retired (?) into Galilee (Mat. 4:12, cf. Mar. 14:70; Act. 2:7). This seems very noteworthy. After being almost worshipped by so great a preacher as John the Baptist (Mat. 3:14); after receiving the open attestation of heaven itself (Mat. 3:16-17); after overcoming the adversary in chief in the wilderness (Mat. 4:1-10); who would have thought of this Prince of Israel settling down in Galilee of the Gentiles? (Mat. 4:15). We should rather have thought it the last place in that landif not, indeed, the last upon earthfor His purpose. In the next place, the special city chosen was one exceedingly busy and populous. Not in the comparative leisure of Nazarethnot there where He would have about Him a certain number of relations and friendsbut in the thronged streets of the important emporium and sea-side town of Capernaum does He begin. The Evangelist himself seems to speak of this with surpriseLeaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum (Mat. 4:13). In the last place, the whole neighbourhood appears to have been singularly unenlightened and dark. Its inhabitants are described as a people sitting in darkness (Mat. 4:16). The region is described also as that of the shadow of death (ibid.). Never before had any source of light arisen out of its borders. Such, at any rate, was what the boasted enlightenment of Jerusalem was accustomed to say of it; and that, moreover, without thinking it possible that anyone could gainsay them (Joh. 7:52).

III. The kind of helpers He chose.These were distinguished, principally, by being undistinguished in almost every respect. On the one hand there was nothing in their origin to mark them out from the general obscurity of the place. They were denizens of the neighbourhoodsons of the soilGalileans in speechprobably in aspect as well (see supra). Of none of those mentioned here (in Mat. 4:18; Mat. 4:21) as being called by the Saviour, are we told anything else. Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, were just such men as you might find anywhere among the men of those parts. Neither was there anything, on the other hand, in their social position, to confer distinction upon them. By and by they were to become, so the Saviour told them, fishers of men. But at the time of their calling they were fishers only in the ordinary sense of the term; master fishers, it is true, in a small way, as we gather elsewhere; but working fishermen yet, for all that, and men labouring with their hands in the necessary duties of casting and mending their nets (Mat. 4:18-22; Mar. 1:19).

In this account of the opening of the ministry of Jesus, we see:

1. His singular meekness.Choosing so obscure a sphere, engaging in so quiet a work, selecting such unknown friends. How He might have shone elsewhere we see from Luk. 2:46. How completely He became identified with Galilee from Luk. 23:6-7; Joh. 7:41; Joh. 7:52.

2. His singular mercy.Just where the darkness was greatestjust where there were most souls in need of Himjust where that need was the greatestdid He carry His light. That is the place, those are the people, whom His heart of kindness prefers.

3. How both these things were foretold.Long ago had prophecy spoken (Mat. 4:14-16; Isa. 9:1-2) of this very landthis darknessthis lightthis deliberate choicethis happy result. However strange, therefore, such a beginning may seem in our eyes, we see here that it was the kind of beginning which God had intended. Doubtless, therefore, it will lead in time to the kind of end He designs.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 4:12. John imprisoned, Jesus departing.

1. Faithful ministers must expect persecution.
2. All preachers of the gospel are not imprisoned at once, for when John is in prison, Christ is free.
3. Persecution of the ministers of the gospel is a forerunner of Christs departing from a land.David Dickson.

Mat. 4:15-16. Darkness and light.In this passage we have a description of the condition of the Galileans; but the description need not be restricted to them.

I. It applies to all that are living without God, and destitute of the knowledge of the gospel of Christ.It applies to the past and present state of heathenism, and extends to all who have received no other light than that of nature to instruct them.

1.They are sitting in darkness; i.e. they are in utter ignorance of all those points with which it is most of all the concern of immortal beings to be acquainted. They know not whence, or for what end, they were originally created; how they may please God; what they have to expect beyond this present state of being; or where to apply for instruction respecting their most enduring interests.

2. They are not only in darkness, but in the region and shadow of death. Their hearts are as depraved, as their minds are unenlightened. They are destitute of any spark of spiritual life, and the gloom of present sinfulness and eternal misery hangs over them.

3. There are many who, it may be, think themselves comparatively in a state of great happiness, while they are themselves, if possible, still more melancholy instances of the potency of Satanic influencethey, who amidst all the advantages and external privileges of a gospel land, have despised and rejected the great salvation.

II. The gospel is here called a great light.

1. Light upon our origin, condition and prospects.

2. If the gospel message be received it certifies assured peace and eternal glory to the receiver.Henry Craik.

Mat. 4:16. Light in darkness.Lord Byron and Mr. Hobhouse explored together a cavern in Greece. They lost themselves in its abysses, and the guide confessed in alarm that he knew not how to recover the outlet. They roamed in a state of despair from cave to cell. They climbed up narrow apertures, but found no way of escape. Their last torch was consuming, they were totally ignorant of their whereabouts, and all around was darkness. By chance they discerned through the gloom what proved to be a ray of light gleaming towards them. They hastened to follow it and arrived at the mouth of the cave. Blessed be darkness and despair if through them men discern the beams which shine from heaven and reveal salvation.H. Batchelor.

The true light.The Bible is like a lighthouse. It took fifteen hundred years to build it, stone upon stone. The lantern, the New Testament, is put in its place, and the cap, the epistles. There are four plate-glass sides to it, the Gospels; and inside there is one intense glow of light, and from that light there is a radiancy flashing all over the world. That one light is He who said: I am the Light of the world.B. Waugh.

Mat. 4:17-25. The early welcome and the first ministers of the King.This joyous burst of the new power, and this rush of popular enthusiasm, are meant to heighten the impression of the subsequent hostility of the people. The King welcomed at first, is crucified at last.

I. The King acting as His own herald (Mat. 4:17).

II. The Kings mandate summoning His servants.Was this the same incident which St. Luke narrates as following the first miraculous draught of fishes? On the whole I incline to think it most natural to answer no. Accepting that view we may note how many stages Jesus led this group of His disciples through before they were fully recognised as Apostles. First, there was their attachment to Him as disciples, which in no degree interfered with their trade. Then, came this call to more close attendance on Him, which, however, was probably still somewhat intermittent. Then followed the call recorded by Luke, which finally tore them from their homes; and last of all, their appointment as Apostles. At each stage they might have had opportunity to have returned. Duty opens before the docile heart bit by bit. Christs call is authoritative in its brevity. Their prompt self-surrendering response is the witness of the power over their hearts which Jesus had won. I will make you fishers of men. That shows a kindly wish to make as little as may be of the change of occupation. Their old craft is to be theirs still, only in nobler form. The patience, the brave facing of the storm and the night, the observance of the indications which taught where to cast, the perseverance which toiled all night, though not a fin glistened in the net, would all find place in their new career. It was not as Apostles, but as simple disciples, that these four received this charge and ability. The same command and fitness are given to all Christians.

III. The triumphal progress of the King.

1. Observe the reiterated use of all,all Galilee, all manner of sickness and all manner of disease, all Syria, all that were sick. Matthew labours to convey the feeling of universal stir and wide-reaching, all-embracing welcome.
2. Observe, that the activity of Christ is confined to Galilee, but the fame of Him crosses the border into heathendom. The King stays on His own territory but He conquers beyond the frontier.
3. Note the contrast between Johns ministry and Christs, in that the former stayed in one spot, and the crowds had to go out to him, while the very genius of Christs mission expressed itself in that this Shepherd-king sought the sad and sick, and went about in all Galilee.
4. He first teaches and preaches the good news of the kingdom, before He heals. The eager receptiveness of the people, ignorant as it was, was greater then than ever afterwards. Therefore the flow of miraculous power was more unimpeded. But it may be questioned whether we generally have an adequate notion of the immense number of Christs miracles. Those recorded are but a small proportion of those done. These early ones were not only attestations of His claim to be the King, but illustrations of the nature of His kingdom. They were parables of His higher work on mens souls, which He comes to cleanse from the oppression of demons, from the foamings of epilepsy, from impotence to good.A. Maclaren, D.D.

Mat. 4:17. Christ preaching.

1. When Christs gospel is opposed, and His servants persecuted, He can let forth His light and power so much the more, and can supply the lack of instruments.
2. Christs doctrine and the doctrine of His faithful servants, is all one in substance. Both John the Baptist and Christ preached, Repent, for, etc.
3. When the gospel cometh it findeth men under the tyranny of Satan, for the offer to bring them into the kingdom of God importeth this.David Dickson.

The kingdom of heaven.For the interpretation of the idea it is. necessary to understand its more distinctive qualities, aspects, and relations.

1. It is present.An already existing reality, none the less real that it was unseen, undiscovered by the very men who professed to be looking for it (Luk. 6:20; Luk. 17:20-21; Mat. 20:1).

2. It is expansive.Has an extensive and intensive growth, can have its dominion extended and its authority more perfectly recognised and obeyed (Mat. 6:10; Mat. 13:3-8; Mat. 13:19-23).

3. It does its work silently and unseen.Grows without noise, like the seed in the ground, which swells, bursts, and becomes a tree great enough to lodge the birds of the air (Mat. 13:31-33). And its intensive is as silent as its expansive action. It penetrates and transforms the man who enters it. Its entrance into him is his entrance into it, his being born again, his becoming as a little child, the new citizen of a new State (Mat. 18:1-3; Luk. 18:17; Joh. 3:3-5).

4. It creates and requires righteousness in all its subjects.To seek it is to seek the righteousness of God (Mat. 6:33; Mat. 5:19-20).

5. It is the possession and reward of those who have certain spiritual qualities.(Mat. 5:3; Mat. 5:10; Mat. 18:4.)

6. It is without local or national character.Can have subjects anywhere, has none for simply formal or hereditary reasons (Mat. 8:11; Mat. 21:31; Luk. 13:29).

7. It is at once universal and individual.Meant to be preached everywhere and to every one; to comprehend the race by pervading all its units (Mat. 24:14).

8. The universal is to be an everlasting kingdom.To endure throughout all generations.A. M. Fairbairn, D.D.

Beginning to preach.This text invites us to look at two things:

I. The Preacher.Jesus. Who was He? Son of man, Son of God. As a preacher, Jesus supplied all the great conditions of supreme influence.

1. There was more human nature in Jesus Christ than was ever in any other man. Preachers must be intensely human if they would reach with good effect the hearts of men.

2. There was more intellectual ability and spiritual insight in Jesus Christ than ever distinguished any other preacher.

II. The subject of His preaching.Repentance. Repent! This is one of the most solemnly suggestive words in all human language.

1. Repentthen men are in a wrong moral condition.

2. Repentthen there is a work which men must do themselves. One man can suffer, pay, work, even die for anotherbut never repent for another.

3. Repentthen until this special work is done everything else that is seemingly good is worthless. Inferences:

(1) If Jesus preached repentance, all true preachers will do the same.
(2) If Jesus urged men to repent, it is certain that repentance is vitally necessary for all mankind.
(3) If repentance is the first act needed, it is vicious and absurd to attempt to make religious progress without it. Repentance is not one complete and final act. It may be the exercise of a lifetime. We need to repent every day. Even after our prayers we may have to plead for forgiveness of the sin which has marred their purity. Repentance will not be concluded until death itself has been overthrown.Joseph Parker, D.D.

The privilege of repentance.

I. There are two different words used in the New Testament, both of which are translated into the English word repentance.One of them conveys especially the notion of being sorry for having done wrong; the other conveys specially the notion of changing ones mind as to thingsseeing things in a different light, and then shaping ones conduct accordinglytrying to mend ones life. It is this second word which Christ used; which you can see is the fuller and larger word, including substantially the meaning of the first word too; taking in the being sorry for the wrong-doing and ashamed of it; coming to right views, beginning afresh, and trying to do better.

II. The religion Christ taught was the first which offered forgiveness without suffering, on the part of the penitent, or inflicted by the penitent.All the suffering was borne, long ago, and once for all, that brought our salvation. And now, if we confess our sins (that is all), God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Christs preaching starts from a fact; the fact that there is something wrong; the fact that men are sinners. Now repentance is just the right and healthy feeling of the awakened soul that sees its own sin. Once a man is made to see he is a sinner, then, if his mind be in any way healthy and true, the state of feeling which arises in it is what we call repentance.

III. Is it not strange that repentance should be so commonly thought a painful duty?It is a grand and inexpressible privilege. There is nothing degrading in it; the degradation is all in the state it takes us out of. It is degrading to stay in sin, not to get out of it. That Christs gospel invites us to repentance just means that man is not tied down to go on in his wrong and misery. It means that he has not got into that miserable lane in which there is no turning.A. K. H. Boyd, D.D.

Mat. 4:18-22. Christs call.

1. In the calling of these Apostles may be seen the care which our Lord hath to provide ministers for His church. 2. None should intrude himself into the office.
3. Such as Christ doth call He doth furnish for the calling and promiseth unto them good success.
4. Such as are called to the ministry must neither refuse pains nor peril to save souls, but must go about their work with as great desire to convert men, and as great prudence to bring them in as fishers go about their work.

5. When Christ doth call His chosen instruments, He calls them with power of persuasion (Mat. 4:20).

6. His calling of them by couples, and those also brethren, giveth us to understand that the work of the ministry requireth concurrence and affection among the ministers.
7. His calling of so mean men as fishers, showeth the freedom of His grace in choosing instruments; the power of His kingdom, subduing the world by such weak means; and the depth of His wisdom, in so providing for His own honour that the instrument shall not carry away the glory of the work.David Dickson.

Mat. 4:18-20. Christs choice of workers.

I. Whence the Master obtained His workers.He goes to the lake of Galilee and finds them on the sea-shorea most unlikely place, as some would judge. He knows the sort of men that He wants; He knows the material out of which He can make fishers of men, and it is that prompts Him.

1. He wanted men who were inured to hardship and seasoned for service.

2. He wanted men who were bold and daring.

3. I think that Christ chose these fishermen, also, because they were men who had done business in great waters, and had there seen Gods wonders in the deep. Surely an acquaintance with nature and with natures God, had been some sort of preparation for the higher and nobler employ to which He was able to call them.

4. The Lord Jesus, when He is selecting disciples, goes amongst men of humble calling, for labour is honourable.

5. It was from earnest toilers Christ found His workersmen who were already hard at work.

6. He finds His preachers, too, amongst those who are already His disciples; for this was not the first time that Christ had spoken to Peter and to Andrew.

II. The nobler employment to which Christ called these men.I am not disparaging labour when I tell you that the highest form of labour is work for Christthe winning of souls. Though Christ called these brethren to a nobler employ, they were to be fishermen still. I will make you fishers of men. You shall go on fishing, only you shall have a new sea. You are still to have nets, but they are to be of a different sort. Do you not think there is for every labour under the sun a spiritual parallel and analogy? I began my life as an engraver on wood, preparing pictures for the illustrated papers; and I remember my dear father writing to me, I am content, dear son, that you shall engrave on wood until God calls you to engrave on hearts.

III. How did Christ transform these men from fishermen into fishers of men?

1.He called them.

2.He moulded them, and fashioned them, and trained them. How? By precept, but principally by example.

3.He sent His Spirit, still to help them in the blessed work of catching men.Thomas Spurgeon.

Mat. 4:19. Everything more than it seems.There is something very singular and altogether unusual in the readiness with which these men seem to leave their business and go after Jesus. From the first He must have exercised over them a strange fascination. Their accepting the call immortalised them.

I. The suggestion of the way in which every calling in life is intended by God to prepare a man for something higher than itself is manifestly here in these words, Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men. Here is a calling of the simplest kindthat of the fisherman. This Jesus of Nazareth sees in it more than these men who are pursuing it see. He sees in it an education for something higher than itselfan education for the highest of all conceivable callings. Every fisherman must have certain traits of character in order to succeedamong others, great adaptability and great patience, He must learn to wait as well as to labour. He must have a keen eye and no little of good judgment. Especially must he study the Labits of the fish, and adapt himself thereto. These elements of character are all needed in fishers of men. Taking all the utterances on this theme which are scattered up and down the New Testament, I think we may safely say that every good man doing good work is doing more than he thinks. Every man on earth is qualifying or disqualifying himself for other and higher work.

II. In order to translate the lower into the higher; in order to get the commonness and the not-worth while feeling out of our every-day life; in order that we may no longer be fishers of fish, but fishers of men one thing is needful: we must accept the invitation, Come ye after Me, and I will make youwhat you are capable of being made. No one can teach us about life as Christ can. The one thing of all things we need to learn is how to live, i.e. how to use everything we find in ourselves to the best advantage.

III. The practical outcome of all this is that our every-day doings ought to become of most importance to us.In the doing we are acquiring qualification or disqualification for something on a higher level.Reuen Thomas, D.D.

Lessons from fisher-folk.The disciples were fisher-folk. Jesus was himself a fisherman, seeking and saving the lost. Disciples had to become fisher-folk such as Jesus was.

I. Fisher-folk in many ways.Single book. Many hooks on line. Wading out and throwing net. Big Seine net, etc.

II. Fisher-folk put skill into their ways.So Christs fishermen must give His work skill, heart, and effort.

III. Fisher-folk are dependent on Gods blessing in their work.Disciples toiled all night and took nothing; but when Jesus guided, they enclosed a shoal. If we work to catch others for Jesus, we must never forget our dependence on His help and blessing.Weekly Pulpit.

The genius of Christianity.What is the meaning for us of this precept Follow Me?

I. The principle that lies at the foundation of it is, that Christianity must be felt by its disciples as surpassing in worth all other things of life combined.For a mans strongest, deepest love, under all circumstances, rules his life. A man may be a religious hypocrite from all sorts of reasons; but he can be a Christian only when his love for Christianity surmounts every other love. This becomes still more clear and certain when we reflect that Christianity is a constant strugglethat nearly every principle held amongst men and every feeling of a selfish heart has to be subdued by itthat it has to engraft upon human life new habits, a fresh mode of transacting all our business and of dealing with our fellow men, in effecting which it must break through innumerable prejudices and trample down many low and sensual inclinations. It was on this principle, and not that Christ was ever unwilling to receive any disciple, that He sometimes put such severe tests to men. With the poor, the broken-hearted, the outcast, and the miserable, He never applied any test, asking only a loving faith in Himself. Having nothing else to love, already severed from outward delusions, the love that rested in Him was sure to triumph. But when men came to Him who had riches to care for, reputation to regard, and opposing inclinations to surmount, our Saviour applied very severe tests, such as would marvellously thin the ranks of the professing church in the present day.

II. The precept plainly implies the principle of progress.No one can suppose that following Christ meant just walking about the country with Him. It meant discipleship, and that means a progressive introduction into Christs thoughts and purposesinto the spirit and intention of His life and work. I will proceed to specify more minutely the particulars of this discipleship or following of Christ.

1. A Christian at the outset may have few convictions and still fewer settled points of faith; all centres in devotion to Christ.
2. The disciple comes to Christ without any system of duties or virtues, save that one principle of love to God and man which is involved in loving Christ. Life is to be interpreted by Christ; and how Christian principle will guide a mans steps is to be learnt only from the manner in which Christ acted.
3. It could not be expected of a young disciple that he would enter much into the grand designs of Christianity. But he grows up into the apprehension of these by discipleship.S. Edger, B.A.

Every one has a place to fill in life.That every one of us has his or her place to fill in life is beautifully illustrated by the great teacher Browning, in a little poem entitled, The Boy and the Angel. Theocrite was a poor boy, who worked diligently at his craft, and praised God as he did so. He dearly wished to become Pope, that he might praise God better, and God granted the wish. Theocrite sickened, and seemed to die. And he awoke to find himself a priest, and also in due time Pope. But God missed the praise which had gone up to Him from the boy-craftsmans cell; and the angel Gabriel came down to earth and took Theocrites former place. And God was again not satisfied; for the angelic praise could not replace for Him the human. The silencing of that one weak voice had stopped the chorus of creation. So Theocrite returned to his old self, and the angel Gabriel became Pope instead of him. Such is the legend; and it has its lesson. The chorus of creation can never be perfect till each of us is in his place, singing his own part, which part none other can sing.Reuen Thomas, D.D.

Forsake all and follow Me.At first it may seem a hard requirement; but if we really think it so, it is from not attending sufficiently to the entire narrative. It was quite essential that they should evince a readiness to give up all for Christ, to the most literal and the fullest extent, since only by such abandonment of all other objects of interest could they be prepared for the new life Christ would breathe into them; but though the disciples were thus ready to sacrifice all the secular interests of life, such a sacrifice was not really made, for we find them again, through the whole history, at their old occupations. Not because they had grown less zealous in their devotion to the Master, but because the actual abandonment of their common pursuits was no part of their discipleship. Thus much we can see, that they were never too busy with their fishing or other secular pursuits to obey instantly the bidding of Christ. They had forsaken all in the highest sense, so as to be no longer enslaved by any pursuit; yet they might adhere to it, making it subservient to the claims of their higher calling.S. Edger, B.A.

All for Christ.The Rev. W. Hay Aitken tells us of a young lady who, though professedly a Christian, shrank from yielding herself fully to her Lord. When pleaded with, she said with outspoken honesty: I dont want to give myself right over to Christ, for if I were to do so, who knows what He might do with me? For aught I know, He might send me out to China! Years passed, and then there came from her a deeply interesting letter, telling how her long conflict with God had come to an end, and what happiness and peace she now felt in the complete surrender of herself to her Lord; and, referring to her former conversation, she added: And now I am my own no longer; I have made myself over to God without reserve, and He is sending me to China.

Mat. 4:21-22. Christs call.I. In Christs call there is a voice. In the days of His flesh He called men by His living voice. Christ still lives, and He calls us by His voice which speaks right to our hearts.

II. The voice of Christ brings a message.

III. That message brings an invitation.One day a preacher visited a poor woman. He knocked, and again knocked, but got no answer from within. A few days afterwards he met the woman in the street, and said he was sorry that she was out when he called. She confessed that she had been in her house, but she was afraid that a creditor had come to demand payment of a debt. Christs knock, thus misunderstood, may frighten the heart. Some think that the religion of Christ is a sad and gloomy thing, and that it makes sad and gloomy people.

IV. Christs invitation is also a claim.When He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, He spoke in the gentlest tone of love, but He also spoke as one having authority. He had every right to call them, and they had no right to refuse. Christ commands when He invites. When Earl Cairns was a boy of ten, he heard a sermon in Belfast. Three of the preachers words startled him; they were, God claims you. These words kept ringing in his ears, and the thoughtful boy tried to understand them. God claims me, he said to himself, and He has a right to claim me. He resolved to yield to Gods claim. A living voice, a message, an invitation and a claimadd these four together, and you have the call of Christ.Jas. Wells, M.A.

Mat. 4:21. Christs call, and our replies.I. No was the reply of many in Christs day. There are many ways of saying No. Many to whom Christ appealed said No with politeness and regret; they had many excuses and apologies. Some said No to Him outright, bluntly and without phrases. What a strange power that is which we have of saying No to God and Jesus Christ! Each of us is like the young Hercules, the chief of the heroes and emblems of antiquity. As he was sitting at the cross-roads, two females came to him. The one, whose name was Pleasure, offered him a flowery path and every enjoyment; the other, whose name was Duty or Virtue, called him to a noble and unselfish life. He listened to the pleadings of both, and then made his choice, and his choice made him the hero he became. Mackay, the hero of Uganda, used to say, Duty before pleasure, but duty is pleasure with me.

II. Yes and no, was the reply of Judas, who betrayed his Master with a kiss. He said yes with his lips, but his lips lied; his heart and life told the truth.

III. Yes, but not now, is the reply of many whose hearts are touched by Christs appeals. Augustine, in his youth, often heard the call of Christ. He wished then to do two thingsto enjoy heathen pleasures for awhile, and at last to become a Christian. He tried to halve the difference, and used to pray, O Lord, save me, but not now. Most keenly in his Confessions does he regret his foolish delays.

IV. Yes, is the only right reply. Perhaps the Apostles when called by Christ did not say one single syllable. Their whole after-life was just a saying Yes to Jesus. No one can say Yes for you. I have heard that the Red Indians who used to live near Niagara never heard the thunders of the waterfall, but they could hear the footfalls of a beast or an enemy a mile away. The will deafened the ear to one voice, and opened it to the other. They heard only what they wished to hear. In the very same way the ear of the soul can be trained to hear the voice of God amid earths stunning noises.Jas. Wells, M.A.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Section 8. JESUS PREACHES IN GALILEE

(Parallels: Mar. 1:14-15; Luk. 4:14 to Luk. 5:1; Joh. 4:1-45)

TEXT: 4:12-17

12. Now when he heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee;
13. and leaving Nazareth. he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali:
14. that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
15. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
16. The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death. To them did light spring up.
17. From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

What influence does human activity or human weakness have upon the plan of God, as realized in the ministry of Jesus? (Cf. Mat. 4:12; Mat. 8:34; Mat. 13:58; Mar. 1:45)

b.

Why do you suppose Jesus left Nazareth and dwelt in Capernaum at this time? Why should He choose to leave His own hometown?

c.

In what sense is the ministry of Jesus to this area the bringing of light to them? How were they sitting in darkness?

d.

What is the essence of the kingdom of God?

e.

What does Jesus mean by repent?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Now after John was arrested and imprisoned by Herod, the report of the incident reached the ears of Jesus. Another factor enters to account for what follows: when the Lord knew that the Pharisees were aware of His ministry and that He was making and His disciples were baptizing more followers than John, Jesus left Judea. He returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. Jesus decided that He had to pass through Samaria. Coming to Sychar, He declared Himself to be Messiah to a Samaritan woman at Jacobs well. She, in turn, called the attention of the entire city to Him. That two-day revival in Samaria caused many Samaritans to conclude that Jesus was indeed the Savior of the world. (Joh. 4:5-42)

After the two days, Jesus departed for Galilee. At this point, He Himself testified that a prophet is not appreciated by His own people. But when He came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, for they had seen all that Jesus had done in Jerusalem at the feast, since they too were there. Jesus reputation spread through all the surrounding country. He taught in their synagogues to the great admiration of everyone.

Next, Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee where He healed the son of a Capernaum nobleman by remote control. (Joh. 4:46-54) From Cana He went to Nazareth where He had been brought up. On the sabbath. He went into the synagogue, as was His practice. There He read Isa. 61:1-2 and preached a sermon on that text, that got Him thrown out of the synagogue and of Nazareth. (Luk. 4:16-30)

Leaving Nazareth. Jesus settled down at Capernaum, a lakeside town located on the north western shore of Lake Galilee in the ancient territorial divisions of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus move to Capernaum resulted in the fulfilment of Isa. 9:1-2, which reads thus:

Land of Zebulun and Land of Naphtali,
The Land of the Road by the Sea, and beyond the Jordan,
With Galilee of the Gentiles-
The people that were living in darkness

Have seen a great Light,

And, for those who were living in the land of the shadow of death.

A Light has dawned.

It was from this period that Jesus began to proclaim the message of

Gods good news, saying, This is the time: the kingdom of God is
almost upon us! You must repent and believe the good news!

NOTES

I. GODS GRACE GIVEN TO GALILEE

Upon first reading of Mat. 4:11-12, the distinct impression is received that Jesus withdrawal into Galilee follows hard upon His victory over the tempter in the wilderness. However, let it be remembered that Matthew does not pretend precise chronological order for his narration, and it will not be surprising to learn that the following succession of events carries the full story:

1. Ministry of John the Baptist: Mat. 3:1-12; Mar. 1:2-8; Luk. 3:1-18; John 1

2.

Baptism of Jesus: Mat. 3:13-17; Mar. 1:9-11; Luk. 3:21-23

3.

Temptation of Jesus: Mat. 4:1-11; Mar. 1:12-13; Luk. 4:1-13

4.

First Acquaintance with early disciples at Jordan: Joh. 1:35-51

5 . Wedding Feast at Cana in Galilee: Joh. 2:1-11

6.

Change of Residence to Capernaum: Joh. 2:12

7.

Cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem at Passover: Joh. 2:13-22

8.

Early Judean Ministry-miracles, teaching, baptizing: Joh. 3:22; Joh. 4:1-2

9.

Teaching Nicodemus in Judea: Joh. 3:1-21

10. Arrest of John the Baptist: Mat. 4:12; Mar. 1:14 a; Luk. 3:19-20

11. Departure for Galilee through Famaria 8 or 9 months later: Mat. 4:12; Mar. 1:14 a; Luk. 4:14 a; Joh. 4:3-4

12. Samaritan Woman and Samaritan Revival: Joh. 4:5-43

13. Beginning of Galilean Campaign: Mat. 4:12; Mar. 1:14 a; Luk. 4:14-15; Joh. 4:44-45

14. Noblemans Son of Capernaum healed, Jesus at Cana: Joh. 4:46-54

15. First Rejection at Nazareth: Luk. 4:16-30

16. Return to Capernaum: Mat. 4:13-17; Mar. 1:14-15; Luk. 4:31

17. Call of Four Fishermen: Mat. 4:18-22; Mar. 1:16-20; Luk. 5:1-11

With this chronologically harmonized outline for comparison of the Gospel accounts, it becomes much more comprehensible why Jesus should decide to withdraw into Galilee at this time.

John the Baptist had unmasked the Pharisees and Sadducees for the hypocrites they really were. His popular appeal galled them at first, then, alarmed them. Then came this Jesus of Nazareth into their stronghold, the temple, challenging their position. He drove out of the temple courts their profitable sources of revenue and He openly questioned their righteousness. Besides these attacks, He wrought many miracles in the Jerusalem area (Joh. 2:23; Joh. 3:2), and began gathering such a following (Joh. 2:23) that the more intimate disciples of John began to fear for their masters waning glory in the light of the ascendant popularity of Jesus (Joh. 3:26). What the hierarchy had perhaps secretly hoped would be a temporary manifestation of religious fervor is no longer to be regarded with disdain but genuine alarm. The movement seems to be growing to revolutionary proportions: Judea is excited.

At just this moment in the tension-charged atmosphere of Judea, one of Johns sermons struck home to the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, Herod Antipas. John openly rebuked this petty kings flagrant immorality and gross violation of Gods laws. (Cf. Mat. 14:3-5; Mar. 6:17-20; Luk. 3:19-20) Herod could not tolerate this accusing finger pointed at his sins, nor could he permit this ground-swell of public sentiment to rise into a crescendo of national revolution (Josephus, Ant. XVIII, 5, 2). Perhaps John was handed over to Herod (delivered up, see paradidomi in Mat. 4:12; Mar. 1:14 a) by the Pharisees themselves. (Cf. Mat. 17:12; Joh. 4:1.). At this crisis, i.e. when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, He made His move north.

He withdrew from what or whom? Anachoreo may be translated go away, return, withdraw, retire, take refuge ( Arndt-Gingrich). If Jesus is seeking to avoid some impending danger, what is it? Certainly, Jesus could not hope for escape from a similar fate as that of John by His deliberate entrance into the political jurisdiction of Herod Antipas himself. Apparently, Herods informants had not yet singled out Jesus as the new Leader of the growing reform movement, or else, Jesus had not yet launched the same condemnation as had John, and thus would not have been noticed and apprehended. Jesus could foresee those who would be His real enemies and so chose not to bring matters to a show-down at this time, for such a crisis could d y end in a premature cross. Thus, rather than seek at once the fullest notoriety in the heart of Jewish world and provoke thereby the wrath of the religious hierarchy at Jerusalem (Joh. 4:1-3), Jesus chose the out-district of Galilee as the training and testing ground for those disciples who would establish the Church, He must yet train them in evangelism, Their false concepts of the Messiah and Gods Kingdom must be corrected, The crisis of the cross must indeed come, but not yet, He must preach to the rest of the nation first, Thus, Jesus left Judea for several reasons:

1.

John was imprisoned and Jesus wanted to maintain the momentum of Johns labor and gather around Him Johns lost, leaderless disciples.

2.

The growing anxiety of the Pharisees needed to be cooled,

3.

He already had a large following in Galilee (Joh. 2:23; Joh. 4:45).

Therefore, Jesus took the shortest, quickest route to Galilee, spending only two days in Samaria (Joh. 4:4; Joh. 4:40; Joh. 4:43).

Jesus came to Galilee: what genius! Though Galilee was not large, it had been uniquely prepared for His arrival. Galilee is that territory located in northern Palestine, bordered on the north by the heathen Syrians and Phoenicians; on the west by the plain of Accho and Mount Carmel; on the south by the half-breed Samaritans; and on the east by the Jordan River and Lake Galilee. The land area thus circumscribed was approximately that of modern Israel, north of Mount Carmel: about 60 miles long by 40 miles wide,

Josephus (Wars, III, 3, 3) describes Jesus countrymen thus:

The Galileans are inured to war from their infancy, and have always been very numerous; nor hath the country ever been destitute of men of courage, nor wanted a numerous set of them. Their soil is uniformly rich and fruitful and full of plantations of trees of all sorts, insomuch that it invites the most slothful to take pains in its cultivation, by its fruitfulness: accordingly it is cultivated by its inhabitants and no part of it lies idle. Moreover, the cities lie here very thick, and the very many villages there are here are everywhere so full of people, by the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contain above fifteen thousand inhabitants.

Jesus tactical genius is seen in His choice of Galilee, Galilees geographic and social relations as well as its religious history rendered it particularly open to the reception of new ideas. The Galileans, because of their constant contact with the outside world of Rome, Syria, Phoenicia, could not be expected to be such sticklers for traditional orthodoxy as the Judeans. These inborn characteristics of the Galileans created particularly fertile soil for the new message of Jesus.

Jesus came to Galilee: what mercy and grace! He chose to labor among these despised Galileans of mixed ancestry, corrupted from purer Judaism by the liberalizing habits of surrounding heathenism. Before Jesus arrived, life seemed to be dominated by evil. Men existed without genuine hope or exalted purposes. ALL of religion seemed to be solely the possession of a few Judean Pharisees. But Jesus entrance into Galilee shouts the joyful news to the mixed fragments of ancient Israel: Gods Kingdom is almost upon you! Evil is not the ultimate force in the universe; despair is not the final meaning to life; nor is death the last word! Thus, Gods grace was extended even to Galilee.

Mat. 4:13 and leaving Nazareth. Though kataleipo (leave) may be neutral, meaning simply a departure from a place, yet it has the predominant flavor of leaving behind something or someone (Arndt-Gingrich). Had Matthew intended merely departure, he had a wealth of words to say so (aperchomai, metairo, aphiemi, poreuomai, anachoreo, chorizo, exeimi, choreo, or metabaino). Jesus left Nazareth behind. Although the words Nazareth and Capernaum are obviously geographical place names, yet Jesus move is not without symbolical significance, and, considered the complete story of this move, these names suggest also the people who dwelt there. While Matthew does not spell out the reason for this seemingly normal change of residence to Capernaum (katoikeo), Luke tells the story behind it (Luk. 4:16-30). Jesus left Nazareth. thus, is no empty phrase, for He had faced the hard reality that a prophet is not without honor except in His own country, (Luk. 4:24). Nevertheless, He had endeavored to speak to His own townspeople, but the more He revealed of His true identity, the more difficult they found it to believe Him. He did return later for one last time to try again to convince Nazareth. but she thought she knew too much to believe His claims (Mat. 13:53-58; Mar. 6:1-6). But, He must leave behind His hometown for now. This is another early intimation of the tragedy that will culminate in Calvary, It was at Nazareth of Galilee that the Light had shined in the darkness, but the darkness could neither master it by comprehending, learning or understanding it, nor seize it with hostile intent to destroy it. (Joh. 1:9 f) He came and dwelt in Capernaum. Even if Nazareth rejected her great opportunity to enjoy the great Light come to her and was content to sit in her darkness, yet other cities would receive the Light, The loss of Nazareth meant the gain of Capernaum. Jesus had already moved from Nazareth to Capernaum earlier (Joh. 2:12), but now He makes the latter city His headquarters for the Galilean campaign. That earlier move to Capernaum suggests that Jesus had already foreseen the Nazareth rejection and had already planned His ministry in Galilee long before going south to Judea for the Passover (Joh. 2:12-13). Then the events in Judea merely triggered His plan.

Capernaum which is by the Sea. The ruins of Tell Hum, now generally identified as the site of Capernaum, lie on the north shore of the Lake. Borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: Capernaum actually lay in the ancient tribal territory of Naphtali (Jos. 19:32 f), and near that of Zebulun (Jos. 19:10 f): however, these old boundary lines had long ceased to divide the territories. Matthew uses these lines to draw attention to the prophecy which finds fulfilment in chis zone which roughly corresponds to Galilee, (Study the following passages to appreciate the intimacy of Jesus connection with Capernaum, that date from this move: Mat. 8:5; Mat. 11:23; Mat. 17:24; Mar. 1:21; Mar. 2:1; Mar. 9:33; Luk. 4:23; Luk. 4:31; Luk. 7:1; Luk. 10:15; Joh. 4:46; Joh. 6:17; Joh. 6:24; Joh. 6:59,)

II. GLADDENING GLORY GRANTED TO THOSE GROPING IN GLOOM

Mat. 4:14 that it might be fulfilled. Jesus beginning to evangelize Galilee was not with the malicious intent to produce a mechanical correspondence between His actions and the glorious prophetic predictions concerning the age of the Messiah. Jesus came north. not to fulfil messianic prophecy, but to save people. His move was prompted by loving mercy, by personal familiarity with Galilee and its people, and by events in Judea. As a result of His transfer to Galilee, the -great messianic prediction of Isa. 9:1-7 was fulfilled. Jesus, the Light of the world (Joh. 1:9; Joh. 8:12) completely fulfilled the prophecy as no prophet either before or after Him could have done. (Cf. Joh. 7:52 and Luk. 1:78-79).

Isaiahs intention was to present a well-grounded hope to these provinces of Israel that, because of their geographical position as buffer-states, had suffered the greatest affliction and spiritual degradation. This people had suffered because of their false religious orientation begun when Jerob caused Israel to sin, because they corrupted themselves by imitation of the practices of their more civilized neighbors, because they trusted false gods and the false hopes these latter could offer, and because no complete return to whole-hearted worship of the true God, Jehovah, ever came about. Add to this religious tragedy the constant unrest that accompanies almost incessant war with the Syrians and the Assyrians. To this situation Isaiah addressed these words of hope. The geographic terms:
1. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali: see above on Mat. 4:13.

2. Toward the sea: (hodon thalases) may be translated, following a Hebrew idiom contrary to Greek usage, toward the sea (Arndt-Gingrich). Literally, it is the road by the sea (Delitzsch, Isaiah, I, 244), and speaks of that tract of land on the western shore of the Galilean Lake.

3. Beyond the Jordan: Perea, as viewed from the west side of Jordan.

4. Galilee of the Gentiles: see above on Mat. 4:12.

In Jewish thinking, the only fitting place for the beginning of the glorious reign would be Judea with His capital at Jerusalem. The concept of a Galilean Messiah was to them a self-contradiction. (See Joh. 7:52. P 66 has the article the, thus making reference to the prophet i.e. the Messiah.) Galilee was the last place on earth a Jew of that period would choose for a similar purpose. The whole area was, according to the opinion of enlightened Jerusalem, quite in the dark intellectually, morally and culturally. This latter was a position based upon quite unjustified personal pride on the part of the Judeans, whereas the language of Isaiah truly describes the actual position of the Galileans: they sat in darkness and in the region and shadow of death. The context of Isaiah (Isa. 5:30; Isa. 8:21-22) proves that this sad plight was self-inflicted, indicating the greater need for light. To Jesus, these were just good reasons why He should labor in Galilee! While this passage is a graphic description of the conditions among the Galileans, it may also describe all men who try to live without God. Compare Pauls masterful analyses: Rom. 1:18-32; Eph. 4:17-19.

Other passages which develop the theme of light and darkness: Mat. 5:14-16; Mat. 6:23; Luk. 2:52; Luk. 8:16; Luk. 11:34-36; Joh. 1:4-9; Joh. 3:19-21; Joh. 8:12; Joh. 9:5; Joh. 11:9-10; Joh. 12:35-36; Joh. 12:46; Act. 26:18; Act. 26:23; Rom. 2:19; 2Co. 6:14; Eph. 5:8; Eph. 5:13; 1Th. 5:5; 1Ti. 6:16; Jas. 1:17; 1Pe. 2:9; 1Jn. 1:5; 1Jn. 1:7; 1Jn. 2:8-10; Rev. 22:5.

III. THE GIST AND GENIUS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD

Mat. 4:17 From that time is to be taken with reference to Jesus return to Galilee, Jesus now begins the thorough evangelization of Galilee, Matthew cannot mean that He is beginning for the first time to preach anywhere, for Jesus is just returning from Judea where He taught and wrought miracles (Joh. 2:13 to Joh. 4:3 ) . Likewise, He passed through Samaria (Joh. 4:4-45) where He openly declared Himself to be the Messiah as well as where He accepted the open appraisal of His teaching as those of the Savior of the world (Joh. 4:42). Rather, Matthew intends only what he states: that when Jesus withdrew into Galilee, from that time He began to preach in Galilee. Prior to this time Jesus had not evangelized there; now He launches His Great Galilean Campaign, Jesus fame as a preacher dates from this campaign (Act. 10:37), and His complete identification with Galilee from this move (cf. Luk. 23:5-7; Joh. 7:41; Joh. 7:52).

Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is certainly Matthews summary statement that boils down into a very few words hours of preaching and teaching done in Galilee. Yet, Matthew has not omitted anything essential:

1. With reference to God Himself, the GIST of His Government is His unquestionable right to command repentance of sinful I rebels. Objectively, the gist of His government, or kingdom, is the inclination of mens repentant hearts to do His will. (See on Mat. 3:15)

2. he GENIUS of Gods Kingdom that corrects all the failures of every human reign is the fact that it begins with the willing choice of the subject to be entirely transformed by His King, In Gods Kingdom there must be no unwilling subjects.

Upon the imprisonment of John, Jesus sounds the same challenge and call to repentance that had been the heart of the Baptists message (Mat. 3:2). Jesus does this partly to maintain the continuity of the movement which John had started, but not only so, for such a call for surrender to Gods will is ever timely. To this well-known message Jesus adds a joyful, gladdening ring: The messianic times are here! Repent and believe the good news! (Mar. 1:15) Is it any wonder that the attention of all Galilee was riveted upon this Jesus of Nazareth? The ancient prophecies describing the nature of the messianic kingdom had kept the kingdom-idea before the people of Israel. John the Baptist had electrified the nation by announcing the nearness of this long-awaited era. Jesus took up the same cry, and, profiting from the keen current interest in the kingdom, successfully launched His great preaching ministry in Galilee.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

List all of the events that occur between Jesus temptations and His return to Galilee upon His hearing of the imprisonment of John. In other words, what happened between Mat. 4:11 and Mat. 4:12?

2.

Does Matthew say that Jesus return to Galilee immediately followed His temptation?

3.

What are the two major causes for Jesus sudden move to Galilee?

4.

Where had Jesus been when He withdrew into Galilee?

5.

What had He been doing there?

6.

About how long had He been gone from Galilee?

7.

Describe Galilee: its geographical position, size, sociological character, its probable religious preparation for Jesus message.

8.

What factors probably caused Jesus transfer of residence from Nazareth to Capernaum?

9.

In what ancient tribal area is Capernaum located?

10. Show the relationship between the prophecy quoted by Matthew and his use made of it: what is the context of the prophecy and how did it offer hope to the people originally addressed? How did Jesus fulfil it?
11. What was the content of Jesus preaching at this time?
12. What do these expressions mean:

a.

Sit in darkness?

b.

The region and shadow of death?

c.

Great light did spring up?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(12) Between the 11th and 12th verses there is a great break, and it is well to remember what passed in the interval: (1) the return to the Baptist, and the call of the six disciples (Joh. 1:29-51); (2) the marriage at Cana, and the visit to Capernaum (Joh. 2:1-12); (3) the cleansing of the Temple; the interview with Nicodemus, and the last testimony of the Baptist (Joh. 2:13 to Joh. 3:36). At this stage comes in the imprisonment of John (mentioned here, but not narrated till 14:3-5) and the consequent journey through Samaria to Galilee (Joh. 4:1-42). The verse now before us may be noted as implying a ministry in Juda, which for some reason the writer does not narrate.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

23. DEPARTURE INTO GALILEE; AND 25. RESIDENCE AT CAPERNAUM, Mat 4:12-17 .

12. Now With the temptation at the close of the last verse, the first two Periods of our Lord’s history, embracing the Infancy and Qualification, terminate. Thus far Matthew’s narrative has marched forward in regular chronological order. But from this point to the next great crisis, namely, his laying the platform of his dispensation in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew’s account (constituting only the remainder of this chapter,) is very brief, and unobservant of chronology.

John was cast into prison The third period, embracing our Lord’s Preparatory Ministry, has now commenced. It begins with (events which Matthew omits) his first miracle at Cana, the casting out the traders at his first passover, his discourse to Nicodemus, his baptizing, and receiving John’s final testimony, ( 19- 22;) opens more distinctly as John recedes, but maintains its preparatory character until the inauguration of the apostolic college and the Sermon on the Mount. The imprisonment of the Baptist finds Jesus tarrying and baptizing in Judea. By the divine plan, as predicted by prophecy, his preparatory ministry must take place in Galilee. He retires therefore from Judea, and takes his position at the predicted spot.

Departed into Galilee Galilee was the most northerly of the three general divisions of Palestine. There was an upper or northern part, and a lower or southern part. The latter, lying between the Mediterranean and Lake Gennesaret, was the principal scene of our Lord’s ministry. Its principal towns were Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, and Nain. Our Lord’s disciples were all from Galilee.

The Galileans were a turbulent and fighting race, whose presence frequently produced great disturbances at Jerusalem during the passover. Their dialect was considered by the people of Jerusalem as rustic and impure. Hence Peter’s speech proved his Galilean origin, and confirmed the charge of his being a follower of Christ. The name of Galilee occurs in the Old Testament as early as Jos 20:7.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now when he heard that John was delivered up (or ‘arrested’), he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.’

Note how this geographical description is later paralleled at the end of the passage by further detailed geographical description in the chiasmus. Both indicate that this is intended to be a historical description of an historical ministry.

Jesus’ ‘withdrawal’ on John’s arrest hints at His previous ministry alongside John in Judaea which the first three Gospels ignore, the reason being that it was of historical interest but not of theological interest. For it was not until John was arrested that Jesus felt free to strike out on His own on His greater ministry, so that it was then that the Messianic ministry began. It should be noted that ‘when He heard’ is a time note. Matthew is not actually saying that John’s imprisonment was the reason why He went into Galilee. After all Galilee was under the same ruler as the one who had imprisoned John. It may rather be that the imprisonment of John was seen by Him as releasing Him from responsibility in Judaea, and it may even be that Jesus wanted to indicate to Herod that He was not afraid.

There is on the other hand an interesting contrast here between Jesus bold entry into the wilderness to face Satan down (Mat 4:1-11), and His possible strategic withdrawal into Galilee at the top north west end of the Sea of Galilee. It suggests that He knew that there is a time to be bold, and a time for discretion. Whichever way we take it the delivering up of John to prison was both a warning, and an indication that now His own unique ministry must begin in earnest, and He thus made His choice where He considered that it would be best for Him to commence His ministry, in the towns that bordered the Sea of Galilee. These were both populous and on the trade routes. It should be noted that the whole of Galilee was itself a heavily populated area, and that there were large numbers of Jews there, mingled with many Gentiles.

Thus He left his home in isolated Nazareth, for that was no centre from which to reach out to Galilee, (and as we know from both Mark and Luke He was basically unwelcome there), and took up His quarters in Capernaum. This was by the Sea of Galilee ‘in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali’, and being on the trade routes was more open and willing to receive new things. This description is given at least partly in order to prepare us for the verse that follows. Capernaum was in fact in Naphtali. But Zebulun bordered on Naphtali, and was included in His wider outreach. And Nazareth was in Zebulun.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Light Commences To Shine, And The Messiah Prepares For World Conquest Through the Word (4:12-22).

Having determined His future course Jesus wastes no time in putting it into effect. But the death of John further determines Him to continue His work in Galilee, while His move from Nazareth to Capernaum lifts Him out of a place of relative obscurity into a more central part where there were more people. It may also indicate the feelings in Nazareth against Him (see Mar 6:1-6; Luk 4:16-30) but if so Matthew does not wish to draw attention to it. And Matthew recognises that this work in Galilee was just what the Scriptures had said would happen, and that it links Him with the prophecies of Isaiah, and especially with the promise of the Coming King in Isa 9:2-7.

From now on Jesus proclaims that the Kingly Rule of Heaven is present and available to those whose hearts are changed by turning to God from sin. And He demonstrates the way that lies ahead by calling four laymen, ‘ordinary people’, who are to become ‘fishers of men’. It is through ordinary people that His work is now to go forward. Then after this He continues His preaching ministry and fulfils what was expected of the Coming One, in the healing of the sick, and the casting out of evil spirits (see Mat 11:4-5). His way ahead was now clear. His Messiahship is being revealed by example if not openly by name.

As with Mark and Luke, Matthew ignores Jesus’ earlier ministry in Judaea alongside John the Baptiser. He may well have known little about it for it was before he was called. But whether he did or not it was not considered important for his portrayal of Jesus, for that had been the continuation of John’s ministry and not Jesus’ own. It had been a time of waiting prior to the commencement of Jesus’ unique ministry. None of the evangelists were interested in just providing a history, and Matthew especially concentrates on Galilee (compare chapter 28). While sticking to the facts they all wanted to bring out Who Jesus was. And that was only fully revealed when He began His own ministry.

Matthew’s specific emphasis should be noted. Here Jesus withdraws to Galilee and He is not seen again as entering Judaea until Mat 19:1, where He is followed by great crowds, presumably from Galilee. Then we read of the opposition of the Pharisees (Mat 19:3-12), the response to Him of little children (Mat 19:13-15), and the cold shoulder given to Him by the rich (Mat 19:16-30). And from then on He is going up to Jerusalem to die (Mat 20:17-28). So to Matthew Judaea and Jerusalem are not places of profitable ministry. He wants men’s minds to be concentrated on the free air of Galilee away from the centres where the Chief Priests and Rabbis hold sway. And that is where he again takes us in his resurrection narrative (Mat 28:6-20). For, as a Christian Jew, and aware of its grip and its ability to stifle true spirituality, he does not want Jewish Christians to feel too bound to Jerusalem.

(As John’s Gospel makes clear Jesus did year by year attend regularly at Jerusalem for some of the major feasts, especially the Passover, along with many Galileans. It would have been unusual had He not, as a pious Jew, done so. But Matthew does not consider that these visits were worthy of mention. They were not seen as an essential part of His ministry).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Analysis (4:12-22).

a Now when He heard that John was delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mat 4:12-13).

b That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,’

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,

The people that sat in darkness saw a great light,

And to those who sat in the region and shadow of death,

To them did light spring up. (Mat 4:14-16).

c From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, “Repent you, for the Kingly Rule of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17).

d And walking by the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen (Mat 4:19).

e And He says to them, “You come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him (Mat 4:20).

d And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him’ (Mat 4:21-22).

c And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the good news of the Kingly Rule, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people (Mat 4:23).

b And the report about Him went forth into all Syria, and they brought to Him all who were sick, gripped with many various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied, and He healed them (Mat 4:24).

a And there followed Him great crowds from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from beyond the Jordan (Mat 4:25).

Note how in ‘a’ the sphere of His ministry is emphasised with geographical detail (partly preparing for the quotation from Isaiah), and in the parallel are described those who came to hear Him, with some geographical detail emphasising the wideness of His impact. In ‘b’ the promised light is declared to have come to those in darkness and the shadow of death, and in the parallel the arrival of this light is described in terms of the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the Coming One, He heals the sick and delivers captives from darkness (Isa 42:7; Isa 49:9; Isa 45:13; Isa 49:25; Isa 61:1). It should be noted that we have now entered the special section where citations from Isaiah as a named prophet are central (Mat 3:3; Mat 4:14; Mat 8:17; Mat 12:17; Mat 13:14). See introduction. In ‘c’ Jesus proclaims the nearness of the Kingly Rule of Heaven and in the parallel He teaches in their Synagogues and preaches the good news of the Kingly Rule. In ‘d’ and its parallel we have the calling of the two sets of brothers to follow Him, which they immediately do. In ‘e’ and centrally they have been called to be ‘fishers of men’. There is here an interesting parallel with a feature of Old Testament chiasmi, a phrase followed by a repetition of a similar phrase in the second part of a chiasmus, in this case slightly different, ‘And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him’, ‘And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Moves to Galilee ( Mar 1:14-15 , Luk 4:14-15 ) Mat 4:12-17 records the event of Jesus moving from the city of Nazareth, His home town, to the city of Capernaum in Galilee, perhaps because His own city did not receive His message. Note:

1. John the Baptist is “cast in prison” (Mat 4:12) – Rejection by the Jews.

2. Christ “leaving Nazareth” and “dwelt in Capernaum” (Mat 4:13) – Rejection by the Jews.

3. “beyond Jordan” into “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Mat 4:15) – Acceptance by the Gentiles.

Arthur Pink says this passage foreshadows Jesus’ rejection by the Jews and acceptance by the Gentiles, as does the story of the magi (chapter two) foreshadow the same. [352]

[352] Arthur W. Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Carlisle, PA: Evangelical Press, 1977) [on-line]; accessed 23 February 2010; available from http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Sermon/sermon_intro.htm; Internet, “Introduction, 5 th paragraph.”

Mat 4:12  Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

Mat 4:12 Comments (1) The Location of John’s Imprisonment – Josephus tells us that John the Baptist was imprisoned in the fortified castle located at Macherus, saying, “Accordingly he [John the Baptist] was sent a prisoner, out of Herod’s suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death.” ( Antiquities 18.5.2) A description of the fortification of Macherus is given by Josephus in Wars 7.6.1 and is believed to be located east of the Dead Sea approximately in line with Bethlehem.

The Time of John’s Imprisonment – We know from a study of the Gospel of John that the imprisonment of John the Baptist took place between the First (Joh 2:13) and Second Passover (Joh 6:4), where Jesus fed the five thousand (Mat 14:13-21, Mar 6:30-44, Luk 9:10-17, Joh 6:1-15). Therefore, there was up to a year difference between Mat 4:11 and Mat 4:12 in this chapter of Matthew, between the time when Jesus was baptized and when He began His public ministry. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that Jesus began His public ministry at John’s death, although the Gospel of John gives us testimony of earlier miracles in Jesus’ ministry. Why would Jesus wait up to a year to go public? Perhaps an answer lies in the suggestion that Jesus respected the ministry of John the Baptist so that He did not make a public display until John’s ministry had come to an end. It is interesting to see how God never seems to be in a hurry.

Regarding Jesus’ respect for John the Baptist’s public ministry, I suggest the reason for Jesus waiting until John’s death to go public because of a careful study of the lives and ministries of some of the apostles both within and outside of the Scriptures. This study reveals such an attitude between the apostles themselves. There was a tremendous respect and reverence for one another’s ministry and hesitancy to overlay the other’s work, lest one gain undue credit above the other. The apostles may have learned this respect for one another as a result of observing Jesus’ behavior towards John the Baptist.

Comments (2) – Jesus withdrew from a hostile, negative environment on numerous occasions. He first withdrew from Judea into Galilee when John the Baptist was cast into prison (Mat 4:12). The people in His hometown of Nazareth tried to kill Him, and He supernaturally passed through the crowd, and moved His residence to Capernaum (Luk 4:30-31). He passed through hostile crowds miraculously on a number of other occasions (Joh 8:59; Joh 10:39). The people of the country of the Gergesenes asked Him to depart, and He did so (Mat 8:34 to Mat 9:1). He was persecuted while in Galilee and withdrew Himself (Mat 12:14-15). He hid himself several times from those who were hostile (Joh 5:13; Joh 12:36). He stopped His public ministry in Judea because the Jewish leaders sought to kill Him (Joh 7:1). Jesus once escaped across the Jordan River because of persecution (Joh 10:39-40). At one point Jesus stopped His public ministry and withdrew Himself into the wilderness (Joh 11:53-54). Jesus taught His disciples to do the same (Mat 10:23).

Mat 4:12, “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;”

Luk 4:30-31, “But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.”

Joh 8:59, “Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

Joh 10:39, “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,”

Mat 8:34 to Mat 9:1, “And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.”

Mat 12:14-15, “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;”

Joh 5:13, “And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.”

Joh 12:36, “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

Joh 7:1, “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.”

Joh 10:39-40, “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.”

Joh 11:53-54, “Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.”

Mat 10:23, “But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.”

Each time Jesus saved His own life, He knew that His time was not yet, and so He deliberately avoided being killed (Joh 7:30; Joh 8:20); for this power was in His hand and no man could take His life. However, when His time had come, He willingly gave Himself over into the hands of man (Joh 10:17-18).

Joh 7:30, “Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.”

Joh 8:20, “These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.”

Joh 10:17-18, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”

Mat 4:13  And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

Mat 4:13 Comments The city of Capernaum literally means, “the village of Nahum.” Its name is derived from the Hebrew words ( ) (village) and ( ) (nahum).

Mat 4:14  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

Mat 4:14 Comments – Comments – The phrase (that it might be fulfilled) is unique to the Gospel of Matthew, being used nine times (Mat 1:22; Mat 2:15; Mat 2:17; Mat 2:23; Mat 4:14; Mat 8:17; Mat 12:17; Mat 13:35; Mat 21:4), with similar phrases being used loosely three times in other places in Matthew (Mat 13:14; Mat 26:56; Mat 27:9). [353] The reason this phrase is unique to the Gospel of Matthew is because the primary theme of this Gospel is the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, which states that Jesus Christ is the coming Messiah, who will reign as King of the Jews. Thus, the Gospel of Matthew continually declares that Jesus Christ fulfills Old Testament Messianic passages.

[353] A tenth Matthean formula can be found in Matthew 27:35 in the KJV. However, the rules of modern textual criticism require the omission this phrase from the UBS 4 because it is not found in the earliest Greek manuscripts. Thus, only nine formulae will be considered in this commentary.

Mat 4:15  The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mat 4:17 “From that time” Comments Jesus first began to preach the Gospel when He moved from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Mat 4:17 Comments Jesus Moves to Public and Private Ministry Mat 4:17; Mat 6:21 share the common Greek phrase (from that time forth Jesus began). While some scholars have inferred that the Gospel of Matthew has a three-fold structure based upon these two verses, they actually introduce a major narrative movement in which Jesus enters His public ministry (Mat 4:17) and later narrows His focus to private ministry to the Twelve (Mat 16:21). [354]

[354] Christopher R. Smith, “Literary Evidences of a FiveFold Structure in the Gospel of Matthew,” in New Testament Studies 43 (1997): 550.

Mat 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mat 16:21, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”

The Synoptics Begin Jesus’ Public Ministry after the Death of John the Baptist – The Synoptic Gospels begin recording Jesus’ ministry after the death of John the Baptist, while John’s Gospel begins with the first days of His earthly ministry.

Mat 4:12, “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;”

Mar 1:14, “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,”

Luk 3:19-21, “But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,”

Mat 4:17 tells us that this particular event marks the beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry. Thus, the reason the Synoptic Gospels begin at John’s death is because this is also when Jesus began to preach and to teach publicly.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Kingdom of God Arrives Mat 4:12-25 contains the narrative that precedes its respective discourse (Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29), which emphasizes the teachings of the Kingdom of Heaven, a theme which I call “indoctrination.” As with all narrative material that precedes a discourse, the author records one Old Testament citation as a fulfillment of the theme of this section of material. Immediately after His temptation Jesus Christ began His Galilean ministry (Mat 4:12-25) in fulfillment of Isa 9:1-2. Thus, we can interpret the light that shone upon the land of Zebulum and Naphtali as the teaching of God’s Word from the lips of Jesus Christ. This teaching is recorded in the Sermon on the Mount.

Isa 9:1-2, “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

Outline – Note the proposed outline:

1. Jesus Moves to Galilee Mat 4:12-17

2. Jesus Calls His Disciples Mat 4:18-22

3. Jesus Begins in Galilee Mat 4:23-25

Comparison of Parallel Passages – When we compare this parallel passage of Scripture to the Synoptic Gospels, the individual themes distinguishing each Gospel clearly emerge. Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes the testimony of Old Testament Scriptures, which prophesies of the Messiah coming to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. In this Gospel the Kingdom of Heaven is established by making disciples of all nations. Thus, Matthew explains how Jesus’ public ministry began as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Mat 4:12-17). Jesus then calls disciples, who will be trained to fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations (Mat 4:18-22). Jesus then begins to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth through His teaching ministry (Mat 4:23-25).

In contrast, a parallel passage in Mark describes Jesus beginning His public ministry by preaching (Mar 1:14-15), which emphasizes Mark’s theme of the testimony of Jesus’ miracles through the preaching of the Gospel. The parallel passage in Luke records the testimony of His ministry as one of great anointing and power (Luk 4:14-15), which emphasizes the testimony of those who were eye-witnesses of the authority of Jesus’ public ministry.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Kingdom of God Has Come After the King is inaugurated as the Messiah by water baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit with the voice of the Father declaring Him as the beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ begins to declare that the Kingdom of God has arrived upon earth Mat 4:12-25, and He then inaugurates the Kingdom of God by delivering His “Inaugural Address,” called the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29). The fact that this Sermon makes clear references to the Ten Commandments reminds us of how Moses must have delivered them to the children of Israel in the book of Exodus. In His Sermon, Jesus interprets the Mosaic Law correctly for the Jews. Thus, we establish a parallel with the giving of the Law in Exodus and the first discourse in that they both serve to indoctrinate the children of God. [350]

[350] The theme of indoctrination for the Sermon on the Mount is widely recognized by scholars. For example, Benjamin Bacon says, “The first of Mt’s five Discourses is framed to meet the needs of the neophyte, who must be instructed in what is designated by Paul ‘the law of Christ,’ by Jas. ‘the perfect law of liberty,’ and by Jn ‘the new commandment’ that we ‘have from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.’ It is clear that the so-called Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5-7 aims to give more specific application to the comprehensive principle expressed in these general terms by bringing Christian practice into comparison with the Law of Moses.” See Benjamin W. Bacon, Studies in Matthew (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930), 339.

The one Old Testament prophecy of this division in Matthew’s Gospel is Mat 4:14-16, which quotes Isaiah 91-2. The fulfillment of this prophecy reinforces the theme of this section of Matthew’s Gospel, which states that He brought light, or understanding of God’s Word, into the region of Galilee by teaching doctrine.

Mat 4:14-16, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

The section of Matthew emphasizing sanctification through indoctrination (Mat 4:12 to Mat 7:29) closes with a transitional sentence that concludes each of the five discourses, telling us that Jesus had ended His teaching (Mat 7:28-29).

Mat 7:28-29, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

Literary Evidence of a Common Theme between the First Narrative Section and the Discourse that Follows There is literary evidence that the first narrative section shares a common theme with the discourse that follows, which is the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew uses the Greek word five times (Mat 5:6; Mat 5:10; Mat 5:20; Mat 6:1; Mat 6:33) in the Sermon on the Mount, a word used on two other occasions only throughout the rest of his Gospel (Mat 3:15; Mat 21:32). The first use is found in the narrative material preceding the first discourse (Mat 3:15) in which Jesus demonstrates true righteousness prior to teaching on the topic in the Sermon on the Mount. Thus, the motif of righteousness is embedded within the first discourse, in which Jesus teaches on God’s true standard of righteousness for mankind. [351] Thus, Jesus demonstrates true righteousness; then He teaches on this topic. This literary evidence reflects the common theme between the first narrative section and discourse of demonstrating and teaching God’s standard of righteousness, which is indoctrination.

[351] Christopher R. Smith, “Literary Evidences of a FiveFold Structure in the Gospel of Matthew,” in New Testament Studies 43 (1997): 545.

Sanctification: Indoctrination – Exodus 16-40 Versus The First Discourse which Establishes the Laws of the Kingdom Just as the book of Exodus establishes the doctrine of the nation of Israel by the giving of the Ten Commandments and statutes, so the Sermon on the Mount establishes the doctrine of the children of the Kingdom of Heaven. After the King is inaugurated as the Messiah by water baptism, He then delivers His “Inaugural Address,” called the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29). The fact that this Sermon makes clear references to the Ten Commandments reminds us of how Moses must have delivered them to the children of Israel in the book of Exodus. In His Sermon, Jesus interprets the Mosaic Law correctly for the Jews. Thus, we establish a parallel with the giving of the Law in Exodus and the first discourse in that they both serve to indoctrinate the children of God. The one Old Testament prophecy of this division in Matthew’s Gospel is Mat 4:14-16, which quotes Isaiah 91-2. The fulfillment of this prophecy reinforces the theme of this section of Matthew’s Gospel, which states that He brought light, or understanding of God’s Word, into the region of Galilee by teaching doctrine.

Mat 4:14-16, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

Outline: Here is a proposed outline:

1. Narrative The Kingdom of God Arrives Mat 4:12-25

2. 1 st Discourse (Giving of the Laws of the Kingdom) Mat 5:1 to Mat 7:29

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry and the Call of the Four.

With a few rapid strokes the evangelist now sketches the opening of the Messianic work of Christ in Galilee. He is not so much concerned about offering a chronological sequence of events as about grouping the incidents so as to present a continuous narrative. He here omits the return of Jesus to the Jordan, Joh 1:35, His journey to Galilee, Joh 1:41, the marriage at Cana, the trip to Capernaum and that to Jerusalem before the imprisonment of John, and His ministry in Samaria, Joh 3:1-36; Joh 4:1-54. He gives a summary of Christ’s varied activities in the North by way of introduction:

v. 12. Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee.

In his usual fearless manner, John the Baptist had felt no hesitation about reproving Herod Antipas, the ethnarch of Galilee and Perea, for his adulterous union with Herodias, his niece and already the wife of his half-brother, Herod Philip. The consequence was that the enraged princess caused his imprisonment, Luk 3:19-20; Mar 6:17. John’s last field of activity had been in Aenon, Joh 3:23, and he probably had extended his labors into Galilee. When the mouth of this faithful witness had been silenced, Jesus knew that the time had come for Him openly to enter upon His work as prophet. His ministry in Galilee began when the Baptist’s came to an end, Joh 3:30.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 4:12. Now when Jesus had heard, &c. John the Baptist was not imprisoned till after the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Between these two events, there happened what is related in the three first chapters of St. John’s Gospel. It is commonly supposed, that the ministry of John the Baptist lasted but about eighteen months at most, and that he was in prison a year after Christ’s baptism. We will just transcribe out of St. John’s Gospel, for the sake of connection, what is here omitted in the history of Christ. He went from Nazareth into Judaea, where he was baptized by John, Mar 1:9. From Judaea he returned into Galilee, Joh 1:43; Joh 2:1. He went again into Judaea, and there celebrated the passover at Jerusalem, Joh 2:13. He baptized in Judaea while John was baptizing at Enon, Joh 3:22. All this time John was at liberty, ib. Mat 4:24.; but the Pharisees having conspired against Jesus, Joh 4:1-3 and Jesus hearing that John had been put into prison by Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, Mar 1:14 he went again into Galilee. See Beausobre and Lenfant. Instead of, he departed, in this verse, we may read, he retired.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 4:12 . Fritzsche gives the sense and connection of Mat 4:12-16 thus: “Post conditi in carcerem Johannis famam discessit Jesus in Galilaeam, et relicta Nazaretha Capharnaumi quidem consedit, ut, quemadmodum apud prophetam est, magnis, amisso Johanne, tenebris oppressi Galilaei splendida Messiae luce fruerentur.” But it appears, from the words in Mat 4:12 , that Jesus, upon learning that the Baptist had been delivered over to Herod, deemed it dangerous to appear in the same district where the latter had baptized and excited so much attention, and that therefore He withdrew into the more remote Galilee (comp. Mat 12:15 , Mat 14:13 ). This belonged, indeed, to the dominion of Herod Antipas, who had caused the Baptist to be apprehended (Mat 14:3 ); but it removed Jesus more from his attention and that of the hierarchical party, and gave Him the natural retirement of home. According to Joh 3:24 , John had not yet been apprehended , and the journey to Galilee was occasioned by the marriage at Cana (Mat 2:1 ). In Luk 4:14 no external reason is stated for the journey, which is a later avoidance of the inaccurajcy of the earlier tradition (retained in Mark and Matthew) (in answer to Schneckenburger). The contradiction, however, between Matthew and John is to be recognised, and to the latter is to be assigned the preference in point of accuracy. [392] Comp. on Joh 3:24 . A longer intervening period between the temptation and the return to Galilee is not hinted at by Matthew (nor even by Mark), and is excluded by Luke.

[392] We cannot say that it is the journey to Galilee, Joh 6:1 , which is intended in our passage (Wieseler, chronol. Synopse , p. 161 f., and Beitr. z. Wrdig. d. Eu . p. 174 ff.), for that Matthew conceived the journey recorded by him as the first after the sojourn in the wilderness, is shown not only by the whole context, but also by ver. 13 ff., where the settling down at Capernaum is related, and the reason assigned for it; and by ver. 17, where Jesus first actually begins His office as teacher. This holds good against the frequent assumption that the journey to Galilee, Mat 4:12 , coincides with Joh 4:3 ; Joh 4:43-45 (Kuhn, Ebrard, Lange, Mrcker, Uebereinst. d. Matth. u. Joh. , 1868, p. 9). Exegetically, the discrepancy must remain a blank, which is also recognised by Bleek and Keim; by the latter, however, in such a way that he denies to John’s account a strictly historical character.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

B. Mat 4:12-17

Contents:First appearance of Jesus as the light of the world amidst the darkness of the land of Galilee

12 Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, [delivered up,14] he de parted into Galilee15; 13And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim16: 14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, 15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond [the] Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 17From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat 4:12. Now, when Jesus had heard.The Evangelist passes over a number of intervening events, viz.: 1. the return of Jesus to Galilee (Joh 1:41, etc.); 2. the marriage in Cana, the journey to Capernaum in company with His relatives and disciples, and that to Jerusalem to the passover (John 2); 3. the stay of Jesus at Jerusalem and in the land of Juda previous to the imprisonment of John (John 3); 4. the return of Jesus by way of Samaria, and His stay there (Joh 4:1-42).The event recorded in the text took place at the time referred to in Joh 4:43-46. In the passage before us, Matthew briefly alludes to the stay of Jesus at Nazareth,the same which is mentioned Luk 4:14 sqq.,but dilates on it more fully in Mat 13:53. We account for this transposition from the peculiar structure of the Gospel,the object of the Evangelist being to group events so as to present a continuous narrative. The actual succession of events is more accurately indicated in the Gospel by Luke, although it also contains no mention of the first passover which Jesus attended at Jerusalem, nor of His stay in Juda and Samaria. From the narrative of Luke we learn that Jesus was even at that time rejected by the people of Nazareth, and that he then uttered the saying, that a prophet had no honor in his own country. But, according to John, Jesus spoke these words when returning from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria. Commentators have felt a difficulty in explaining the circumstance, that (according to John) Jesus should have been saying that a prophet had no honor in his own country, at the very time when He was on His journey to Galilee. It might seem that such a statement would rather imply His departure from Galilee. But the difficulty is removed by recalling to mind the precise geographical arrangements of the country. In Joh 4:43, the Evangelist uses the word Galilee not in the general sense, but as a man familiar with the district would apply the terma circumstance which may be regarded as an indirect evidence of the truthfulness of his narrative. What he calls Galilee is not the province in question as contradistinguished from Juda, but the district of Upper Galilee in opposition to Lower Galilee, in which Nazareth was situate. The boundary-line between Upper and Lower Galilee ran due east and west between Nazareth and Cana. In Joh 4:43-44, the Evangelist makes only a passing allusion to the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth, and dwells in preference on the fact, that the Saviour was gladly received by the inhabitants of Galilee proper. From what we have said, it will be clear that the accounts of Matthew and John are not inconsistent, as Meyer imagines; although that commentator is right in maintaining, against Wieseler, that the passage in the text does not refer to the journey to Galilee recorded in Joh 6:1. Finally, we gather from the account in Matthew that the imprisonment of John by Antipas took place some time after the celebration of the first passover which Jesus attended, and after His stay in Juda.

That John was delivered up, (i.e. into prison).The ground on which the Baptist was imprisoned is afterwards recorded, on the occasion of his execution (Mat 14:4). Fritzsche supposes that the imprisonment of John induced Jesus to appear in Galilee, lest the people of that country should be deprived of spiritual support; while Meyer regards this event as a motive for His retirement to that province, since the more remote district of Galilee, although under the rule of Herod Antipas, would naturally attract less attention, and thus afford shelter. But although Capernaum lay in Upper Galilee, yet, from its proximity to Tiberiasthe residence of Herodand the intercourse between these two places, both situate on the Lake of Galilee, anything which occurred in Capernaum would much more readily attract attention than what took place in Nazareth, which lay out of the way among the mountains. Besides, it was at this very time that Jesus commenced His public ministry, and called disciples around Him. The connection between the imprisonment of John and the appearance of Jesus in Galilee of the Gentiles, as well as the cessation of the preparatory baptism which the disciples of Jesus had for a time administered (Joh 4:1-2,) may readily be otherwise explained. The imprisonment of John, and the tame acquiescence of the country in this act, had put an end to the hope of preparing the people for the kingdom of Messiah by Levitical purifications, or legal purity. Now that the attempt at outward purity had been thus rudely stopped, Jesus might, in the consciousness of His own inward and eternal purity, all the more readily commence His work in Galilee of the Gentiles, amidst publicans and sinners, by gathering around Him a circle of disciples.

Mat 4:13. He came and dwelt in Capernaum., , meaning, according to Hesychius, Origen, and Jerome, vicus consolationis, but according to others (Winer, Meyer), the village of Nahum. The town lay on the borders of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, on the western shore of the Lake of Gennesareth, probably near where the Jordan entered that lake. It was a thriving commercial place, on the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean. Capernaum was inhabited both by Jews and Gentiles; in Jewish writings it is characterized as the residence of heretics and free-thinkers (von Ammon, Leben Jesu, p. 359). The contrast between Capernaum, where Jesus dwelt, and Tiberias, the residence of Antipasa city which the Lord uniformly avoided, but which, after the destruction of Jerusalem, became one of the holy places of the Jews,17is striking. But the prediction of Christ in regard to Capernaum, once so highly favored, has been most signally and literally fulfilled (Mat 11:23). At this moment every trace of the site of Capernaum has disappeared. Wilson and others regard the ruins of Tell Hum (i. e. Nahum) as the ancient site of Capernaum. As the town is not mentioned in the Old Testament, it seems probable that it was built after the return from the Babylonish exile. Josephus (Vita, 72) calls the town . In another place (De Bello Jud. iii. 10, 8) he assigns the name of to a fountain in Galilee. According to Robinson, this fountain is the modern Ain et Tin, by the Lake of Gennesareth, near the Khan Minyeh, which he regards as the site of ancient Capernaum. But this opinion is not generally entertained. Comp. the art. Capernaum in the Bibl. Encycls.

Mat 4:14-15. That it might be fulfilled.In this instance we have the fulfilment of a verbal prophecy, the passages in Isa 8:22; Isa 9:1-2, being strictly Messianic in their primary meaning, although the prophet seems also to have had in view the oppression of the Assyrians, under which at that time Northern Palestine groaned. But, as in every other similar instance, the event recorded in Mat 4:13 did not take place simply on account of this prediction, but on independent grounds. The passage is cited freely from the original Hebrew: At the first (in ancient times) He brought to shame the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but afterward (in later times) He brought to honor the (despised) way of the sea, beyond Jordan, the circuit (Galilee) of the Gentiles. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. In the quotation as given by Matthew, the despised district is even more pointedly indicated as the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea (the road by the sea, or the great road of the traffic of the world), the beyond Jordan, (even) Galilee of the Gentiles. In our opinion, the Sea of Galilee was not so important a highway for the traffic of the ancient world as to give to the district around the designation of the way of the sea, more especially as the three expressions in the text are not intended to designate three different objects, but one and the same thing viewed under different aspects. In the first clause, Galilee is designated as profane, being the way of the sea for all the world; in the second clause, as extending northward beyond the sources of Jordan, the holy river; finally, in the third clause, as being really a heathen district, largely inhabited by Gentiles. But the expression , without the article, may be regarded as the nominative. Before we must again supply the of the former clause,toward the sea, or the way of the sea. The absolute accusative is a Hebraistic form like , and equivalent to the Latin versus (comp. Meyer, p. 111). The expression cannot in this instance mean Pera, or the country east of Jordan. A reference to that district would be here quite out of place, as the name Galilee of the Gentiles is intended again to designate the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. The territory of Naphtali extended northward beyond the source of the Jordan; and from a theocratic point of view, this, and not Pera, would constitute the . I., although that expression was commonly applied to Pera. Besides, Pera was not the first scene of Christs ministry. Meyer, indeed, maintains that the Evangelist overlooked the historical meaning of the passage in Isaiah, which was only Messianic in a theocratic and political sense, referring to the deliverance of Northern Galilee from the oppression of the Assyrians. But this commentator forgets that Isa 9:1 sqq. is a strictly Messianic prediction, although it rests, of course, on the historical basis of the age of the prophet.

Mat 4:16. The people which sat in darkness.Apposition to the preceding designation of the locality which was to be illuminated by the light of the Messiah. The darkness of the country is explained by the sad spiritual state of the people. In view of the spiritual condition of the people at the time, the Evangelist modifies the distinction made by Isaiah between those that walk in darkness, who see a great light, and those that dwell or sit in the land of the shadow of death. In the passage as quoted by Matthew, the state of matters has apparently become worse than in the days of Isaiah, and even those who formerly walked are now represented as sitting in darkness. But the gradation of the original is retained; and we have still the contrast between those who sit in darkness and see a great light, and those who sit in the region and shadow of death, and only become aware of the light because it has sprung up for them. In the Hebrew their passiveness is even more strongly expressed , upon them light hath shined. sedendi verbum aptum notand solitudini inerti,(the verb to sit aptly denotes a sluggish solitude).Bengel. , , tenebr mortis. On the darkness of Sheol, comp. Job 10:21, etc.

Mat 4:17. From that time Jesus began.Matthew calls attention to the circumstance, that with the settlement of Jesus at Capernaum, in Upper Galilee, a new period in His public ministry began. The of the kingdom of heaven in the strictest sense now commenced, and for this purpose He set apart some of His disciples to be His Apostles. The call, Repent, , has now a higher meaning than when first uttered by John the Baptist (Mat 3:2), and a more full manifestation of His miraculous power proves that the kingdom of heaven is really at hand. Although He does not designate Himself to the people as the Messiah, yet the kingdom of Messiah was appearing. From the manifestation of that kingdom now vouchsafed, the people are to recognise the Prince of Peace in His true and New Testament character. (The assertion of Strauss, that Jesus had not regarded Himself at first as the Messiah, requires no special answer; the suggestion, that Christ gradually changed His original plan, has been discarded even by the writer who proposed it.)

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. As John carried on his public ministry at the extreme boundary of the Holy Land, in the wilderness, so Jesus also appeared first at another extreme limit of the country, in Upper Galilee. Capernaum became His earthly residence. This choice had a twofold advantage. For while He thereby gave a practical denial to the carnal Messianic hopes and expectations of the people of Juda, He also occupied a field most suitable for His own peculiar activity. There He found the greatest susceptibility for the kingdom, and readiness to receive Him, especially among those retired worshippers of Jehovah who lived by the Lake of Galilee, and particularly among the disciples of John, whom He had already attracted around Him. This residence of the Saviour in Galilee had been predicted, and was a signal fulfilment of the great Messianic prophecy of Isaiah. Lastly, His abode among the fishermen of Galilee was in complete harmony with what His baptism and the victory over the tempter implied; being, in truth, a perfect renunciation of the world in reference to its carnal views concerning the theocracy and the Messiah.
2. But we may also regard this as a manifestation of His Spirit and of His Gospel. Just as He commenced His destruction of the kingdom of darkness, by conquering the power of Satan in his chief temptations, so He commenced the building up of the kingdom of heaven among the most despised portion of His people, the most needy and the most destitute of the means which the synagogue provided for cultivating spiritual life. It was among these that the Saviour first publicly and unreservedly proclaimed the kingdom of heaven.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Complete renunciation of the world on the part of the Lord is followed by His full proclamation of the kingdom of heaven.When the kingdom of heaven arrives, the symbolical administration of priests is at an end.When the work of John ceases, that of Christ begins.The kingdom of God will never want messengers of God who stand in the gap.If one prophet is imprisoned, a greater one will be sent in his place. If they burn the goose, a swan will arise from its ashes.18Jesus a stranger both at Nazareth, where His youthful years were spent, and at Capernaum, where He appeared after attaining to manhood.Obscurity of that which is holy in its own home, showing: 1. The corruption of the world; 2. the spiritual glory of the heavenly life.The light of salvation rising upon dark places: 1. Upon the earth, in opposition to the external heavens; 2. upon Galilee, in opposition to the land of Juda; 3. upon the Gentile world, in opposition to the Jews; 4. upon the despised Germanic races, in opposition to the ancient Romanic Church.The land of the shadow of death: 1. The home of sinners; 2. the heart of the sinner.The difference between those who see a great light, and those upon whom a great light rises. 1. The former look upwards, the latter look downwards. 2. The former descry the star of salvation, the latter only the light which it sheds.From that time Jesus began. The ancient theocratic institutions of Israel may be said to have been abrogated when John was cast into prison.The call to repentance, from the commencement to the end of the world, 1. always the same in substance; 2. always different in form.The kingdom of heaven is as closely at hand as Christ is.The call: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 1. It contains two things: (a) the kingdom of heaven is at hand; (b) therefore repent. 2. It may be summed up in the expression, kingdom of heaven; for, (a) repentance is only the gate to the kingdom of heaven; (b) the kingdom of heaven is the grand object and goal of repentance.In His humiliation, Christ has manifested His exaltation. 1. Rejected on earth, He opened up His kingdom of heaven. 2. Obscure and unknown by man, He revealed the spiritual world in all its blessedness. 3. Renouncing all, He bestows every blessing.

Starke:Let us show holy obedience in being ready to change our habitation when the Lord calls.Many live under the full blaze of the Gospel as if they still sat in the shadow of death.When the world silences one honored servant of the Lord, God raises up others; the Church shall never be left destitute of them.Repentance without faith is no repentance (and faith without repentance is no faith).Agreement subsisting between all pure teachers of the Church (John and Jesus).

Heubner:It is Gods method to cause light to arise from humble and despised places.Jesus would not be far distant even from the Gentiles.

Footnotes:

[14] Mat 4:12[, Lange: berliefert. Wicl., Tynd., Cranm., Geneva: was taken; the Bishops Bible (and the Rom. Cath. Verse of Rheims) correctly: delivered up, with the marginal explanation: that is, cast into prison, which the Auth. Vers. received into the text, while it put the translation into the margin, influenced perhaps (as Dr. Conant suggests) by Bezas version: traditum esse in custodiam, and his note: id est, in carcerem conjectum ease.P. S.]

[15] Mat 4:12Galilee proper in the narrower sense of the term.

[16] Mat 4:13.[Or: Zebulun and Naphtali, after the Hebrew spelling, which is followed by the Auth. Vers. in the Old Test. See the Hebrew concordances.P. S.]

[17][The rise of Tiberias, as a Jewish city, is, however, of much later date. For an account of the circumstances connected with its final Levitical purification, see Edersheims Hist. of the Jewish Nation, p. 488.The Edinb. Tr.]

[18][This sentence: Verbrennen sie die Gans, so kommt der Schwan, which Dr. Edersheim omitted, is an allus on to an apocryphal prophecy ascribed to the reformer Hus, who was burnt at the stake for heresy, July 6, 1415, by order of the Council of Constance, and is said to have uttered, in his last hour, the words: To-day you roast a goose,alluding to his name which is the Bohemian word for goosebut from mine ashes will arise a swanthe armorial device of Lutherwhom you will not be able to destroy. This prediction occurs first in the Latin works of Luther (Altenburg ed., vol. v., p. 599, etc.), and seems to have arisen in the age of the Reformation from certain vague and general sayings of Hus concerning the ultimate triumph of his doctrines (comp. Gieseler, Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii., Part IV., p. 417 sq). The sentence has assumed a somewhat proverbial significance, although very rarely used.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

These are sweet views of JESUS in his humbleness of character. And what a blessed proof they become in proof of his mission. Isa 9:1-2 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 13

Temptation Prepares for Work The Sculptured But Useless Stone the Restfulness of Obedience Some Texts Beyond Our Strength Good Listening

Prayer

Almighty God, if we are remembered by thee, it matters not by whom we are forgotten; thou dost engrave our names on the palms of thine hands, the walls of Zion are continually before thee, and sooner shall our eyes behold the falling of all that is in thy heavens than we shall see that thou hast forgotten them that trust thee. Whilst thou art mindful of thy children, may thy children be mindful of their Lord. May our right hand forget its cunning, and our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth if we forget Jerusalem, and prefer it not before our chief joy. May we be enabled to utter these things by the intelligence and the ardour of our love. Truly thou hast remembered us in our low estate, thou wert mindful of us before we had returned, and whilst yet we were in the far off wilderness, even then thine eye pitied and thine arm was outstretched in salvation. And now that we have returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and are enfolded with those that love and follow thee, surely thy remembrance of us will be quicker than ever, and thy tenderness will flow towards us in perpetual fulness.

We have to bless thee for thy gentle care, thy long-suffering, thy great patience. We have outworn our friends, we have tried and vexed with sore distress those who bare us, and behold thy love is greater than our mother’s, and thy patience has been without limit. We live in thy long suffering: if thou wert strict to mark iniquities, we could not stand before thee in judgment. Thou dost look upon us in thy Son Jesus Christ, our one priest and our only Saviour, and see us in him and through his work; behold thou dost count us of great value; yea, thou dost set store by us, as if we were needful to the completion of thy happiness.

The very hairs of our head are all numbered; thou dost count our steps one by one, our downsitting and our uprising are not too mean to be noticed in Heaven; thou dost beset us behind and before, and lay thine hand upon us; thou dost send thine angels to watch our life and to bless us with many benedictions. Thou hast filled our cup, thou hast made our bed, thou hast kept our dwelling-place, thou hast been round about us as a defence of fire. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards us? We are here this day to bow down our heads and to say that we are unprofitable because unclean; we have come that we might make common confession of sin, and unanimously implore the exercise of thy forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our blessed and infinite Redeemer. Wherein our conscience is. oppressed as with a great weight, wherein our life is made gloomy by the infinite darkness of aggravated sin, let the Lord manifest himself towards us in peculiar concern and sympathy, and look upon us through all the work accomplished for us by his Son Christ Jesus. Wherein we have spoiled the week thou didst give us to work in, let thy pardon come to us. Wherein the days have been blotted by our unskilful hands, wherein we have returned thy gifts perverted and dishonoured, let the Lord be merciful unto us, remembering that we came of the dust, and that we are in ourselves but as a wind that cometh for a little time and then passeth away. The Lord’s love be greater than his judgment, and the mercy of the Lord shall be more than all our sin.

We bless thee that our desire is still towards the light; once we loved darkness, now we pray for the broadening light of the day, that it may be spread over us until the whole sky be filled with its brightness and there be no shadow left, but we stand in the infinite fulness of such glory as our souls can now receive. We bless thee, too, that we care for thy truth, that we look into thy book with wistful eyes and eager heart, desiring to see and to hear what God the Lord will say. Enable us to see the beauty of thy word, to feel the nearness of the sympathy of thy spirit, and may thy revelation destroy all earthly delusions, all foolish prejudices, all narrow conceptions of our own imagining, and may we stand not in our own thinking, but in the breadth and glory of the divine revelation.

We commend one another to thy tender care. Help us to pray for one another, with a full and anxious heart. Thou knowest what we need we are always needing, our want is daily, our life is a long cry of necessity, and a long moan of pain. So would we always have the Lord’s fulness near and the Lord’s blessing at hand; we would not be for one moment without thee, for in that moment would our ruin be wrought. Where there is desire to know thee better, let the light increase in lustre and in breadth; where there is bitterness of soul on account of sin, let the infinite sweetness of thy forgiving grace be tasted; where there is a vow to live a nobler life, enable him who took the oath to fulfil it to its letter; where there is a heart struggling against difficulty, temptation, distress of mind, body, or estate, let the angel of the Lord help the struggler, and bring him into more than victory. Where there is self-conceit, self-trust, consciousness that all that is needed lies within human power, the Lord consume the delusion as with fire from Heaven, and work in every self-righteous heart the spirit of childlike humility, of Christian modesty.

The Lord help us when we need help most. The angel of the Lord be near us when the enemy would come in as a flood, and may the delivering spirit redeem us from despair and set our tried souls again high on the everlasting hills where they will catch all the brightness of the hope that is in God. Pity us when we are proud of ourselves, fight not against us when we give way before thee and fall down in penitence and expectation, and let the light of thy countenance fall upon us it will never be a burden, it will be a deliverance and a hope. If any man have a quarrel against any, let the quarrel now cease, let the spirit of reconciliation seize the heart from which it has gone in exile. If any man cry unto thee because of a peculiar trial which he cannot put into words, the Lord read his heart and secretly answer his prayer.

Remember the stranger within our gates, the traveller, the man, the woman, far from home, great seas rolling between them and the place they love, the Lord be with such and give to them to feel that this is their Father’s house, and by the elevation of Christian fellowship, by the flooding of the soul with all that is Christian and divine, may there be an uplifting above all temporary separation and distress.

The Lord’s blessing go beyond us to the sick chamber, where there is danger, where there is pain, where death has almost taken possession; to the prison where the prisoner languishes and is being taught the value of moral reflection by his isolation and punishment, to the sea where men are in trouble and in great fear, to the field of battle where the soldier’s life is one keen anxiety; yea, let thy blessing go the whole earth round, omitting none from its baptism of light, and let the earth feel that it is still in God’s hand, yea, in God’s heart, the earth that has borne the cross, and shall one day see the throne of the Saviour’s glory. Amen.

Mat 4:12-17 .

12. Now when Jesus had heard (and because he had heard) that John was cast into prison (at Machrus), he departed into Galilee (by the shortest route, through Samaria).

13. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea-coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

14. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,

15. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;

16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light: and to them which sat in the region of the shadow of death light is sprung up.

17. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say. Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The eleventh verse reads “Then the devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered unto him;” and the twelfth verse reads “Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.” You must not imagine that the events in the eleventh and twelfth verses followed one another in immediate succession. Jesus had been exercising something like an eight months’ ministry in Judea, when he heard that John was cast into prison. Still, I cannot but feel that the temptation prepared the great Worker for his marvellous toil. He was in all points tempted like as we are, how otherwise could he have been our Priest and Saviour in every sense of those immeasurable terms? No angel could have preached to me; he would not have understood me, his language would be unknown, he would have nothing in common with my deepest and most painful experience, he would be altogether above me, too grand and sublime for my spiritual conception; it was needful that he who was to speak the universal language, should pass under the universal experience. he should know the devil, he should have met him as it were face to face, he should have felt the keenness of his subtlest approaches, and the blow of his heaviest assault. Jesus Christ was thus prepared by temptation to preach the gospel to the world, and indeed to do all the work for the world which he had from eternity undertaken to accomplish.

Men are fitted for work in various ways. Some men are fitted for it by the reading of many books hard and difficult to be understood, others are fitted by a wear and tear that seems to have no expression adequate to itself in human words, a continual vexation of the soul and distress of all its best faculties, so that they come up out of great agonies to speak tender words, and they bring themselves out of the night of intolerable despair to utter the word of benediction. But no man can be prepared for any deep and vital work in the world who has not gone through the, school of the devil. You cannot be taught to preach by reading many books, how long and eloquent soever. You overshoot my life; I must hear something in your tone which will enable me to identify you as of my own kindred. Now and again there must break from your heart’s voice tones and accents which tell me that you too have been in the pit, have been dragged through the lake of fire, and have understood what it is to be almost gone. He has wonderful influence over me who can pity me in the distresses of my temptation. He who can only make my intellect wonder, touch my imagination with new and flashing lights, has but momentary fascination for me; I own it, and bid the man farewell; but he who knows the devil in and out, all the temptations in me, and who has come away from the life-battle feeling that the enemy is no small one, but subtle in suggestion and mighty in influence, and who says to me, “The battle is very heavy, do not underrate it; your strength will be tried to its very last fibre and throb, but God will help you; your extremity shall be his opportunity” then he takes me under his influence, and I yield myself to him and call him, not preacher only, and teacher, wise and true, but friend sympathetic, with whose soul mine has fellowship, and we can go together both in blessed and hopeful union to the common throne of the church, from which is dispensed the blessing which is better than bread, the word which gives the soul immortality.

Have you been fitted for your work? If so, why are you not doing it? To be qualified and yet to be idle is to incur the severest displeasure of man and of God. How many more books are you going to read before you begin to speak? How much longer are you going to study the providence of God amongst the children of men before you begin to open your mouth in witness? How many more sermons and prayers are you going to hear and endorse, before you begin in the marketplace to say, “My scales are kept in Heaven and my standards are set up in the sanctuary of the sky”? It is time that some of us were proving our fitness by our activity; sad is the sight of a man qualified, evidently fitted to do certain work, and yet not doing it. We have all heard of that wonderful stone in the quarry out of which Baalbec was builded; it was a great stone, it was cut out of the rock with great labour, the mason squared it, the sculptor chiselled it, nothing more that the tool could do to it remained to be done, and yet there it lay in the quarry, not lifted to its proper eminence, not set amid its designed surroundings, a gigantic miscarriage, a horrible failure; fitted, made beautiful, almost speaking in its perfected sculpture, and yet there it was lying with the rubbish, when it might have been shining like a living presence in some magnificent temple.

What is true of that stone is surely true of some of us. We have been a long time at school, yet we never use our learning tor the good of men, We have been much trained in music, yet we do little but mumble in the vocal worship of Almighty God. We have read many books, yet we are silent as the grave. We have passed through many a temptation, but the word of sympathy never falls from our lips. We have proved the vanity of the world and we have never told the young that the world is a gigantic lie and life but an empty wind apart from God and the infinite Saviour Jesus Christ, How much longer therefore shall we be qualified to do much and yet be doing little? How much longer shall we have studied the eloquence which is taught only in the expensive school of experience, and yet shut up our lips in criminal dumbness? Our Saviour Jesus Christ, having been qualified for his work, went to it. Arise, let us go hence.

When Jesus heard that John was cast into prison cast into prison by Herod, because the Baptist had reproved the ruler for his evil ways then the work ceased. Shut up the preacher in prison and you will shut up Christ’s Church, would seem to be the short and easy method of persons who take superficial views of divine truth. A man is plaguing you with his remonstrances: shut him up in gaol, and there will be an end of your trouble. That would be a fool’s speech to make, if ever you did make one. You can shut up the worker, but can you shut up the work? You can silence the individual minister what is he but a little creature in the presence and in relation to the power of a reigning monarch? But how can you shut up the divine truth? John was cast into prison, but there came a great light. Now, Herod, rattle your gaol-keys, get them all out and shut up the light in gaol. O the mockery, the satire, the instructive sarcasm of the King that reigns over all! John is incarcerated, and the Lord sends a great light over the lands, and bids the kings of the earth shut it up in their dungeons. So it is with the progress of divine truth. A minister dies, but the light increases: the individual speaker comes to the end of his discourse, but there are silent and subtle ministries evermore proceeding with infinite effect to work out the decree and purpose of God. The eloquent thunder ceases, the silent light goes on. This Christian kingdom is a ministry of light; it is a marvellous light, it is a great light, it is impalpable, intangible, immeasurable; it is around us and we cannot touch it; we put out our hands and dash through it, and still it stands there, an angel that fills the whole horizon. Fear not: your great Baptist is mewed up in prison and the axe is being whetted that shall take off his head: the next thing that axe will have to do will be to strike the beams off the sun. Can it perform that deed, or is the axe not yet made that can shatter one ray from the source out of which it falls?

When Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison he departed, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. Can a man not go from one city or province to another, without fulfilling some old and sacred word of prophecy? The answer to that inquiry is “No.” Did you come to church to-day by the divine decree? The answer to that inquiry is “Yes.” You could not help coming. Do not suppose that we are here by accident. We are here that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. Do not isolate yourself from the great body of history and the great stream of prophecy, and say that you do just what you like. You think you do: it is your delusion, and it will prove in the long run to be a source of unrest and pain to you. Let me feel my connection with all my kind; let me feel that I am in God’s hands, and that the bounds of my habitation are fixed; let me feel that my liberty is itself but part of the divine law. Then there will come into my soul a deep rest, a gentle peace, a profound assurance, and though the mountains be removed and carried into the depths of the sea, yet I shall remain at rest in the very heart of God.

There is nothing trifling in your life. As to whether you shall live, on this side of the street or that, will be settled for you if you will put yourself quietly into the hand of God. Why do you undertake anything on your own account? Why do you say you will do this or do that, purely of your own suggestion and to carry out some motion of your own will? I will not go out until the Master sends for me, I will tarry in dark Egypt till the angel says, “The way is clear: arise and go”: yea, I will sit down in prison until Pharaoh send for me by God’s suggestion. Could I talk so I should feel that life were worth living, and as for tomorrow’s letters, and difficulties, and fears, and perils, and distresses, I would meet them all after a long night’s deep slumber, and they would vanish before my strength. Oh, fussy little fool, a self-manager and self-controller, sit thee down and learn that to obey is better than to be clever, and to wait upon God is sometimes the sublimest genius.

Thus wondrously does the Old Testament overlap the New. Men who are critical upon these matters tell us that some two hundred and sixty times there are references in the New Testament to the Old, and thus the Old and the New overlap and intertwine, and the two Testaments are one revelation, as the morning and the evening are one day. Now and again we see a little into the details of life. This is an instance in point Jesus arises, leaving Nazareth to dwell in Capernaum, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet. Details vex us; we cannot piece them together and make anything of unity and shape of them; they fall to pieces under our clumsy fingers. Now and again there is a rent, and I see somewhat of the meaning of detail: I see that there is a hand jointing them, articulating them, and behold it is making order out of confusion. Lord, take up all the details of my life: they are exceedingly incoherent, and they baffle me; they sometimes almost make a non-believer of me; they sometimes arise and fall upon my life altogether as if they would crush it. I bless thee for these little peeps into this inner working of thine, about the hairs of my head, the guiding of my steps, the ordering of my habitation undertake for me altogether let me do nothing but in fulfilment of thy providence.

He came and dwelt in Capernaum. Thou art exalted unto heaven, take care lest thou be thrust down into hell. It is an awful and sacred thing to have a good neighbour, to come into contact with a good man, to have amongst us a voice of fire, a teaching of love, a ministry of light. He came and dwelt in Capernaum. He came as the light came into this house this morning, without making any noise, but filling the whole space. He came without noise or cry or tremulous voice, but Capernaum felt that there was a ghost, a spirit, a strange influence within itself, and that Capernaum, if it grow not right up into heaven and be absorbed into Zion, will be thrust down into hell. Our privileges become our judgments.

Zabulon and Nephthalim, Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles are these a mere cluster of words? What, the Gentiles already? His beginnings are like endings, his first words have somewhat of the ripeness and mellowness of high climaxes. Already is there flashing even in secondary light some gleam of divine lustre upon the Gentile places of the earth? Does the word Gentiles occur so soon in the sacred narrative? We are Gentiles. Whenever we see that word we should say, “There is something about us: what is it?” It is like seeing our name in a foreign book, like opening a work written in a language we cannot understand, and seeing our name broadly in the middle of the page. We are arrested, and we wonder what it means. God’s purpose is one that girdles the whole earth: it takes it little by little, but it takes it all in, and the meadow is not jealous because the mountain-tops catch the light first. You have stood on a mountain-top to watch the sun rise why didn’t you stay in the valley? Because you said, “The mountain-top will catch the first light; let us be, therefore, on the highest possible point.” And did the valleys below retire from the earth and say they would never grow any more gardens and meadows, and any more harvests of wheat, because the snowy peaks caught the first blessing and warmed to the earliest kiss? Thou art but a poor reader of history who objectest that the Jews caught the first gleam of the new morning. I would sooner think of yonder sweet blue Lucerne water grumbling and working itself up into gruff noises and tumultuous storms because Pilatus had the first gleam upon his rocky head, or because the snows of the Rhigi blushed with the dawn before the waters of the lake felt its touch. A little more time and that sun will fill the earth, a little more time and this Sun of Righteousness will shoot out his glories until every land shall be bright with the pure lustre of divine truth.

When Jesus heard that John was cast into prison he came to the front. It might have been an excellent reason for departing again into the wilderness to avoid danger. It would have been so had the kingdom which they came to reveal and establish been a kingdom of mere sentiment or a conception of merely and purely intellectual energy. This is how the Christian kingdom has advanced from the first ages until now. The front rank of soldiers all shot Forward next rank, over the dead bodies! That has been done and is being done, and none can hinder the progress of this divine kingdom, connected as that progress is with a heroism that is not of human inspiration, but of divine beginning and strength. Where there is danger there should be a provocation of courage.

We know nothing about courage now. There are some texts I dare not preach from. Dare I preach from this text “None of these things move me, yea, I count not my life dear unto me that I may finish the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus”? You will never hear me preach from that text. It would burn like a conscious lie upon my coward lips. These things do move me. I am annoyed by trifles, discouraged by trumpery circumstances of a temporary nature dare I preach from a hero’s words? There have, however, been times in the church when Christians have been heroic. We read in history not more than three hundred years old of Christians who having heard that John was cast into prison went forward to take his place. I was reading only a few days ago some such occurrence. The Christians of one town were all driven into one dungeon; they were gathered together and shut up into one prison, and the executioner came to them and took them out one by one, having first put a muffler over the eyes of the doomed victim. He led him out in the presence of the others to the place of execution, and put a knife through his throat, and leaving him half dead, he took the muffler off and went back for the next, the knife streaming with blood held between his teeth, as he tied the muffler over the eyes of the next victim. And twenty were done so, and forty and sixty, and seventy and eighty-eight, and that human butcher failed, not the Christian heroism. It was so that your liberties were bought. We were redeemed not with corruptible things, but with precious blood, and we sit here to-day, quiet, perhaps indifferent, as the result of human blood. Are we worthy of our traditions? We dare not go out if it is raining, we take offence because of trifles, we leave the work because of some little pique, not worthy of a moment’s consideration. Let us get back into the spirit of those traditions which have made the country what it is, as far as it is great and noble and influential for good.

What have we done for our Lord? Of the eighty-eight sufferers it was said that it was well borne by the elder Christians, but when the executioner came to the younger ones they were more timorous. Who wonders? Does the dear young life like to give itself out thus boldly, all at once, early in the morning? But not a heart fell back. Do not tell me that a kingdom thus begun and thus continued is going to fall. These men did not work through some delusion for which they could give no account; they accepted their fate intelligently, they gave reasons for it, they were not moved by mere delusions, but by arguments which to them were as intellectually complete as they were morally influential.

I would God we had a little more heroism in the church. I ask you younger men and women to come forward and take the places of the elder, who are not cast into prison, but who may be disabled by age, who may be constrained by one uncontrollable circumstance or another to leave the front. They have had a long and useful day, and now they desire to rest, and it is no coward’s prayer they pray when they ask for relief if not release. Will you see the place left vacant? Are you content to see great gaps in the ranks of the church? Will you be baptized for the dead? Will you know that it is your turn next? There is a soldier in front of you dying; pluck up your courage in the divine strength, and be ready to take his place. When this spirit returns to the church Herod will be troubled upon his throne, and the time is not far off when he will be consumed by the fire of the Lord.

Jesus began to preach, and he repeated John’s sermon. The sermon is one. He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Why, who preached that sermon before? John the Baptist, and Jesus Christ, seeing that John was in prison, saw that the sermon should not fail of utterance, and with another voice, that had in it wondrous possibility of intonation and colour, he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He began to preach. Have we begun to hear? Hearing is an art, listening is not possible except to the attentive soul. Who listens well? Few men. What happens to him who listens well? He hears the Spirit’s music.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

Ver. 12. Now when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison ] For Herodias’ sake, though under pretexts of fear of sedition, because of the great multitudes that followed and admired him, as Josephus hath it. This hath ever been an ordinary accusation cast upon the most innocent, to be seedsmen of sedition, and troublers of the state. Jeremiah was held and called a traitor, Elijah a troubler of Israel, Paul a pest, , Act 24:5 . Luther, tuba rebellionis, the trumpet of rebellion, &c. Invenies apud Tacitum frequentatas accusationes maiestatis, unicum crimen eorum qui crimine vacabant, saith Lipsius. There was some colour of right, yea, of piety, laid upon the French massacre, and by edicts, a fair cloak sought to cover the impious fraud, as if there had been some wicked conspiracy plotted by the Protestants against the king, the queen mother, the king’s brethren, the king of Navarre, and the princes of the blood. For there was coin stamped in memory of the matter, in the forepart whereof (together with the king’s picture) was this inscription, Virtus in rebellea Power in the rebellion, And on the other side, Pietas excitavit iustitiam. Loyalty stirs up justice. Not many years before this, Francis, king of France, when he would excuse to the princes of Germany (whose friendship he then sought after) that cruelty he had exercised against the Protestants, he gave out that he punished Anabaptists only, that bragged of enthusiasm, and cried down magistracy, stirring up the people to sedition as they had done not long before in Germany. (Scultet. Annul.) This foul aspersion cast upon true religion gave occasion to Calvin (then a young man of 25 years of age) to set forth that incomparable work, called his Institutions of Christian Religion, concerning which, Paulus Melissus long since sang,

” Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempera chartas,

Huic peperere libro saecula nulla parem. “

Since Christ’s and the apostles’ time no such book hath been written.

He departed into Galilee ] Succenturiatus prodit Ioanni, saith a learned interpreter. He therefore went into Galilee (which was under Herod’s government) to be, as it were, a supply and successor to John, whom Herod had imprisoned. How well might the tyrant say of the Church, as those Persians did of the Athenians, , , , . “We overturn them, and yet they fall not; we wound them, and yet they fear not.” (Stobaeus.) St Basil bade the persecuted Christians tell the tyrants with a bold and brave spirit, . . “If ye prevail again, yet surely ye shall be overcome again.” (Enarr. in Isa 8:10 ) For there is neither power nor policy against the Lord. Charles V (than whom all Christendom had not a more prudent prince, nor the Church of Christ (almost) a sorer enemy), when he had in his hand Luther dead, and Melancthon and Pomeran, and certain other preachers of the gospel, alive, he not only determined not anything extremely against them, or violated their graves, but also entreating them gently, sent them away, not so much as once forbidding them to publish openly the doctrine that they professed. (Acts and Mon.) For it is the nature of Christ’s Church, the more that persecutors spurn against it, the more it flourisheth and increaseth, as the palm tree spreadeth and springeth the more it is oppressed; as the bottle or bladder, that may be dipped, not drowned; as the oak, that taketh heart to grace from the maims and wounds given it, and sprouts the thicker; as fenugreek, a which the worse it is handled (saith Pliny) the better it proves. ( Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus, per damna, per caedes ab ipso ducit opes animumque ferro. Horat.) This made Arrius Antoninus (a cruel persecutor in Asia) cry out to the Christians, who came by troops to his tribunal, and proclaimed themselves Christians (so offering themselves to death): O miseri, si libet perire, num vobis rupes aut testes desunt? (Tertul. ad Scapulam. , , , .) “O wretched men, if ye be so desirous to die, have you neither rocks nor halters wherewith to despatch yourselves?” Diocletian, after he had in vain done his utmost to blot out Christ’s name from under heaven, and could not effect it (such was the constancy of the primitive Christians, that no sufferings could frighten or discourage them, but that they grew upon him daily, do what he could to the contrary), laid down the empire in great discontent, and betook himself (as Charles V also did) to a private course of life. (Bucholcer, Chronol.) As lambs breed in winter, and quails come with the wind, Num 11:31 , so good preachers and people spring most in hard times. No fowl is more preyed upon hy hawks, kites, &c., than the pigeon, yet are there more doves than hawks or kites for all that, saith Optatus. , Luk 12:32 . So the sheep; and so the sheep of Christ: “A little little flock,” he calleth it, but such as all the wolves on earth and devils in hell cannot possibly devour. The Christians of Calabria suffered great persecution, A.D. 1560; for being all thrust up in one house together, as in a sheepfold, the executioner cometh in, and among them taketh one, and blindfoldeth him with a muffler about his eyes, and so leadeth him forth into a larger place, where he commandeth him to kneel down; which being done he cutteth his throat, and so leaving him half dead, and taking his butcher’s knife and muffler all of gore blood, cometh again to the rest, and so leading them one after another, he despatcheth them all, to the number of 88. (Acts and Mon.) All the elder went to death more cheerfully, the younger were more timorous. I tremble and shake (saith a Roman Catholic, out of whose letter to his lord this is transcribed) even to remember how the executioner held his bloody knife between his teeth, with the bloody muffler in his hand, and his arms all in gore blood up to the elbows, going to the fold, and taking every one of them one after another by the hand, and so despatching them all, no otherwise than doth a butcher kill his calves and sheep. Notwithstanding all which barbarous cruelty, the Waldenses or Protestants were so spread, not in France only, their chief seat, but in Germany also, many years before this, that they could travel from Collen to Milan in Italy, and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession. It is not yet a dozen years since Pope Urban VIII (that now sitteth), upon the surrender of Rochelle into the French king’s hands, sent his breve to the king, exasperating him against the Protestants in France, and eagerly urging, yea, enforcing the destruction of all the heretics stabling in the French vineyard, as his inurbanity is pleased to express it. Reliquias omnes haereticorum in Gallica vinea stabulantium propediem profligatum iri. (Bp Hall’s Answer to Pope Urban.) But “what shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou foul tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper,”Psa 120:3-4Psa 120:3-4 , which burn vehemently and smell sweetly. God shall shortly put into the hearts of the kings of the earth (and this king among the rest of the ten) to hate the whore, to eat her flesh, and to burn her with fire, Rev 17:16 . ( Babylon altera adhuc stat, cito itidem casura, si essetis viri. Petrar.) There are not many ages past since one of his predecessors broke open the gates of Rome, mouldered the wall, dispersed the citizens, and condemned the pope to a dark dungeon, lading him with bitter scoffs and curses. There are not many years past since the realm of France was ready, upon the pope’s refusal to re-bless King Henry IV, upon conversion to them, to withdraw utterly from the obedience of his see, and to erect a new patriarch over all the French Church. (Philip le Beausandys.) The then Archbishop of Bruges was ready to accept it: and but that the pope (in fear thereof) did hasten his benediction, it had been effected, to his utter disgrace and decay. (Powell on Toleration.) Before he would do it, he lashed the king in the person of his ambassador, after the singing of every verse of miserere, until the whole Psalm was sung out. Sed exorto Evangelii iubare, sagaciores, ut spero, principes, ad nutum huius Orbilii non solvent subligacula, saith a great divine of ours (Dean Prideaux). King Henry VIII and the French king (some half a year before their deaths) were at a point to have changed the mass in both their realms into a communion: also to have utterly extirpated the Bishop of Rome, &c. (Acts and Mon., Ex testimon. Cranmeri.) Yea, they were so thoroughly resolved in that behalf, that they meant also to exhort the emperor to do the like, or to break off from him. The same emperor, to be revenged upon Pope Clement, his enemy, abolished the pope’s authority throughout all Spain, his native kingdom, declaring thereby (the Spaniards themselves, for example) that ecclesiastical discipline may be conserved without the papal authority. (A.D. 1526, Scultet. Annal.) The Eastern Churches have long since separated; the other four patriarchs dividing themselves from the Bishop of Rome, and at their parting using these or the like words: Thy greatness we know, thy covetousness we cannot satisfy, thy encroaching we can no longer abide; live to thyself. ( Odi fastum illius ecclesiae. Basil.) Neither are the Western much behind, especially since all was changed in that Church, -manners, doctrine, and the very rule of faith, in the Trent Council. Then (according to some expositors) did “the second angel pour out his vial upon the sea” (upon that conflux of all sorts at Trent), “and it became as the blood of a dead man” (those deadly decrees are written with the blood of heretics), “and every living soul died in that sea,” as once the fish of Egypt. (Field of the Church, Rev 16:3 ) For none that worship the beast “have their names written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” Rev 13:8 . Slain, I say, as in his Father’s decree and promise, as in the sacrifices of the law and faith of his people; so in his members and martyrs, beheaded, as John Baptist, or otherwise butchered for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God. But the blood of the martyrs was the feeding of the Church. ( Sanguis martyrum, semen ecclesice. Tert. Testes veritatis per Illyricum. ) God was never left without witnesses, as is seen in our catalogues; but although John was cast into prison, yea, beheaded in the prison, as if God had known nothing of him (quoth that martyr), yet there never wanted a Jesus to go into Galilee: and that guilty Edomite Herod was sensible of it, Mat 14:2 , when he said to his servants, “This is John Baptist, he is risen from the dead.” In like sort the Romish Edomite, after he had done to death Christ’s two more ancient witnesses, that (Baptist-like) came in the spirit and power of Elias, to confute and confound their Baal-worships, yet to his great grief and regret he hath seen them revive and stand upon their feet again, Rev 11:10 , in that heroic Wycliffe, who is said to have written more than two hundred volumes against him, in that goose of Bohemia, that swan of Saxony (those three famous angels, that flew in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth), together with those other noble reformers in all Christian Churches. (Pareus in Rev 14:6 . Hus in that language signifieth a “goose,” Luther a “swan,” and John Huss at his death prophesied it.) By whom, ever since the pope was declared to be antichrist, his authority (saith Bellarmine) hath not only not increased, but daily more and more decreased. The fourth beast hath lost a head, as Cusanus the cardinal hath prophesied, A.D. 1464, and after him Trithemius the abbot, A.D. 1508. A sect of religion, saith he, shall arise once within this thirteen years, to the great destruction of the old religions. It is to be feared that the fourth beast will lose one of her heads. ( Secta religionis consurget, magna veterum destructio religionum; timendum ne caput unum amittat bestia quarta. Lib. de Intelligentiis Coelestib. Bucholcer, Chron.) This he writeth in his book concerning angels and spirits: what kind of spirit it was (black or white) that dictated unto him this prophecy, which fell out accordingly, and was fulfilled in Martin Luther, I cannot tell. But the godly learned suspect it was from that evil spirit, who is said to have sung before,

” Roma, tibi subito motibus ibit amor. “

As the Emperor Frederick is reported also to have foretold in this ditty, –

” Roma diu titubans, variis erroribus acta,

Corruet; et mundi desinet esse caput. “

a A leguminous plant (Trigonella Fnum Grcum) cultivated for its seeds, which are used by farriers. D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

12 22. ] JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. CALLING OF PETER, ANDREW, JAMES, AND JOHN. Mar 1:14-20 . Luk 4:14-15 . Between the last verse and this is a considerable interval of time. After returning from the temptation (see note on Joh 1:28 , end) our Lord was pointed out by John the Baptist, (ib. Joh 1:29-34 ,) and again on the morrow to two of his disciples, Andrew and (probably) John, who followed Him, and were (on the next day? see note, Joh 1:44 ) joined by Simon Peter ( Joh 1:35-43 ): then on the morrow Philip and Nathanael were called ( Joh 1:44-51 ); three days after was the marriage in Cana ( Joh 2:1-11 ); then our Lord went down to Capernaum and remained not many days ( Joh 2:12 ); then followed the Passover; the cleansing of the temple ( Joh 2:13-22 ); the belief of many on Jesus ( Joh 2:23-25 ); the discourse with Nicodemus ( Mat 3:1-17 ); the baptizing by Jesus (i.e. his disciples) ( Joh 3:22-24 ); the question about purifying, and testimony of the Baptist ( Joh 3:25-36 ); the journey through Samaria into Galilee, and discourse with the woman of Samaria ( Joh 4:1-25 ); the return to Cana and healing of the ruler’s son in Capernaum ( Joh 4:43-54 ); and the journey to Jerusalem related in Joh 5:1 . After that chapter St. John breaks off the first part of his narrative, and between his Joh 5:47 and Joh 6:1 , comes in the synoptic narrative, Joh 4:12-25 ; Joh 5:1-47 ; Joh 6:1-34 ; Joh 7:1-29 ; Joh 8:1-34 ; Joh 9:1-38 ; Joh 10:1-42 ; Joh 11:1-30 ; Joh 12:1-50 ; Joh 13:1-38 ; Joh 14:1-15 ; Mar 1:14-45 ; Mar 2:1-28 ; Mar 3:1-35 ; Mar 4:1-41 ; Mar 5:1-43 ; Mar 6:1-30 ; Luk 4:14-44 ; Luk 5:1-39 ; Luk 6:1-49 ; Luk 7:1-50 ; Luk 8:1-56 ; Luk 9:1-10 . This omission is in remarkable consistency with St. Matthew’s account of his own calling in ch. Mat 9:9 . Being employed in his business in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, he now first becomes personally acquainted with the words and actions of our Lord. From what circumstance the former miracle in Capernaum had not attracted his attention, we cannot, of course, definitely say; we can, however, easily conceive. Our Lord was not then in Capernaum; for the ruler sent to Him, and the cure was wrought by word at a distance. If Matthew’s attention had not been called to Jesus before, he might naturally omit such a narrative, which John gives probably from personal knowledge. The synoptic narrative generally omits this whole section of our Lord’s travels and ministry. Its sources of information, until the last visit to Jerusalem, seem to have been exclusively Galilan , and derived from persons who became attached to Him at a later period than any of the events recorded in that first portion of John’s Gospel . The objections to this view are, the narrative, in the three Gospels, of the baptism and temptation; but the former of these would be abundantly testified by John’s disciples, many of whom became disciples of Jesus; and the latter could only have been derived from the mouth of our Lord Himself.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

12. . ] not ‘ returned ,’ but retired, withdrew; see ch. Mat 2:22 , and note. No notice is given whence this withdrawal took place. The narrative is evidently taken up after an interval, and without any intention that it should follow closely on Mat 4:11 . Wieseler, Chron. Synops. pp. 162 ff., sees in this a proof that St. Matthew recognized a ministry in Juda during the interval. I cannot quite think this, but certainly he does not exclude it.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 4:12-25 . Beginnings of the Galilean ministry (Mar 1:14-15 ; Luk 4:14-15 ). In a few rapid strokes the evangelist describes the opening of the Messianic work of Jesus in Galilee. He has in view the great Sermon on the Mount, and the group of wonderful deeds he means thereafter to report, and he gives first a summary description of Christ’s varied activities by way of introduction.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 4:12-13 . : note of time. Jesus returned to Galilee on hearing that John was delivered up, i.e. , in the providence of God, into the hands of his enemies. Further particulars as to this are given in chapter 14. Christ’s ministry in Galilee began when the Baptist’s came to an end; how long after the baptism and temptation not indicated. Weiss (Meyer) thinks that in the view of the evangelist it was immediately after, and that the reference to John’s imprisonment is meant simply to explain the choice of Galilee as the sphere of labour.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 4:12-17

12Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

15″The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-

16The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,

And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,

Upon them a Light dawned.”

17From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ” Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mat 4:12 The specific reasons for John’s arrest are given in Mat 14:3-5.

Mat 4:13 “and leaving Nazareth” Jesus changed His place of residence because of the city’s unbelief (cf. Luk 4:16-31). See Special Topic: Jesus the Nazarene at Mat 2:23.

“and settled in Capernaum” This was the hometown of Peter and John. “Capernaum” meant “village of Nahum.” Therefore, it may have been the traditional hometown of the OT prophet. It was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Mat 4:13-16 Because of the concluding phrase of Mat 4:13, this was fulfilled prophecy (cf. Isa 9:1-2). Everyone expected the Messiah to minister primarily to Judea and Jerusalem, but the ancient prophecy of Isaiah was uniquely fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus (cf. Joh 7:41). The land of Zebulun and Naphtali were the first to fall to the Assyrian invaders and the first to hear the good news.

Mat 4:15 “beyond the Jordan” This idiom usually referred to the east side of the Jordan (the trans-Jordan) but here it referred to the west (the promised land). It all depends on where the person speaking was standing (or thinking).

“Galilee of the Gentiles” Galilee was a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles (ethn, LXX Isa 9:1), the majority being Gentiles. This Gentile area was looked down on by the Jews of Judea. God’s heart has always been for the salvation of the entire world (i.e., Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3; Exo 19:5-6; Isa. 2:24; Isa 25:6-9; Joh 3:16; Eph 2:11 to Eph 3:13).

Mat 4:16 “The people who were sitting in darkness” This was either (1) a reference to their sin, (2) a reference to their ignorance, or (3) an idiom of derision because of their differences from the Jewish customs in Judea.

“in the land and shadow of death” This was a metaphor for great danger (cf. Job 38:17; Psa 23:4; Jer 2:6).

Mat 4:17 “From that time” This phrase is used three times in Matthew (cf. Mat 4:17; Mat 16:21; Mat 26:16) and seems to be a purposeful literary marker of the main divisions of Matthew’s presentation of Jesus.

“Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'” This is similar to John the Baptist’s message (cf. Mat 3:2). In the mouth of Jesus it takes on new significance. The kingdom is both present and future. This is the “already” but ” not yet” tension of the new age (see Robert Stein, The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings, pp. 75-79).

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE KINGDOM OF GOD

“repent” Repentance is crucial for a faith relationship with God (cf. Mat 3:2; Mat 4:17; Mar 1:15; Mar 6:12; Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5; Act 2:38; Act 3:19; Act 20:21). The term in Hebrew meant a change of actions (BDB 996), while in Greek it meant a change of mind. Repentance is a willingness to change from one’s self-centered existence to a life informed and directed by God. It calls for a turning from the priority and bondage of the self (cf. Genesis 3). Basically it is a new attitude, a new worldview, a new master. Repentance is God’s will for every human being, made in His image (cf. Eze 18:21; Eze 18:23; Eze 18:32 and 2Pe 3:9).

The NT passage that best reflects the different Greek terms for repentance is 2Co 7:8-12.

1. lup, “grief” or “sorrow” 2Co 7:8 (twice), 2Co 7:9 (thrice), 2Co 7:10 (twice), 2Co 7:11

2. metamelomai, “after care,” 2Co 7:8 (twice), 2Co 7:9

3. metanoe, “repent,” ” after mind,” 2Co 7:9-10

The contrast is false repentance [metamelomai] (cf. Judas, Mat 27:3 and Esau, Heb 12:16-17) vs. true repentance [ metanoe].

True repentance is theologically linked to

1. Jesus’ preaching of the conditions of the New Covenant (cf. Mat 4:17; Mar 1:15; Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5)

2. the apostolic sermons in Acts [kerygma] (cf. Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21)

3. God’s sovereign gift (cf. Act 5:31; Act 11:18 and 2Ti 2:25)

4. perishing (cf. 2Pe 3:9)

Repentance is not optional!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

cast into prison = delivered up. There is no Greek for “into” or “prison”. No disciples had yet been called (verses: Mat 4:18-22); therefore John could not yet have been in prison; for, after the calling of disciples (Joh 2:2, Joh 2:11) John was “not yet cast into prison”(Joh 3:24, eis ten phulaken). There is no “inaccuracy”or “confusion”. Paradidomi is rendered “cast (or put) in prison” only here and Mar 1:14, out of 122 occurrences. It means “to deliver up”, and is so rendered ten times, and “deliver” fifty-three times. Compare Mat 5:25; Mat 10:17, Mat 10:19, Mat 10:21; Mat 24:9, &c. The “not yet” of Joh 3:24 (Greek. oupo. App-105.) implies that previous attempts and perhaps official inquiries had been made, following probably on the unofficial inquiry of Joh 1:19-27. John’s being “delivered up” may have led to this departure of Jesus from Judea. Christ’s ministry is commenced at Mat 4:12. Mar 1:14. Luk 4:14 and Joh 1:35, before the call of any disciples.

departed = withdrew.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

12-22.] JESUS BEGINS HIS MINISTRY. CALLING OF PETER, ANDREW, JAMES, AND JOHN. Mar 1:14-20. Luk 4:14-15. Between the last verse and this is a considerable interval of time. After returning from the temptation (see note on Joh 1:28, end) our Lord was pointed out by John the Baptist, (ib. Joh 1:29-34,) and again on the morrow to two of his disciples, Andrew and (probably) John, who followed Him, and were (on the next day? see note, Joh 1:44) joined by Simon Peter (Joh 1:35-43): then on the morrow Philip and Nathanael were called (Joh 1:44-51); three days after was the marriage in Cana (Joh 2:1-11); then our Lord went down to Capernaum and remained not many days (Joh 2:12); then followed the Passover; the cleansing of the temple (Joh 2:13-22); the belief of many on Jesus (Joh 2:23-25); the discourse with Nicodemus (Mat 3:1-17); the baptizing by Jesus (i.e. his disciples) (Joh 3:22-24); the question about purifying, and testimony of the Baptist (Joh 3:25-36); the journey through Samaria into Galilee, and discourse with the woman of Samaria (Joh 4:1-25); the return to Cana and healing of the rulers son in Capernaum (Joh 4:43-54); and the journey to Jerusalem related in Joh 5:1. After that chapter St. John breaks off the first part of his narrative, and between his Joh 5:47 and Joh 6:1, comes in the synoptic narrative, Joh 4:12-25; Joh 5:1-47; Joh 6:1-34; Joh 7:1-29; Joh 8:1-34; Joh 9:1-38; Joh 10:1-42; Joh 11:1-30; Joh 12:1-50; Joh 13:1-38; Joh 14:1-15; Mar 1:14-45; Mar 2:1-28; Mar 3:1-35; Mar 4:1-41; Mar 5:1-43; Mar 6:1-30; Luk 4:14-44; Luk 5:1-39; Luk 6:1-49; Luk 7:1-50; Luk 8:1-56; Luk 9:1-10. This omission is in remarkable consistency with St. Matthews account of his own calling in ch. Mat 9:9. Being employed in his business in the neighbourhood of Capernaum, he now first becomes personally acquainted with the words and actions of our Lord. From what circumstance the former miracle in Capernaum had not attracted his attention, we cannot, of course, definitely say; we can, however, easily conceive. Our Lord was not then in Capernaum; for the ruler sent to Him, and the cure was wrought by word at a distance. If Matthews attention had not been called to Jesus before, he might naturally omit such a narrative, which John gives probably from personal knowledge. The synoptic narrative generally omits this whole section of our Lords travels and ministry. Its sources of information, until the last visit to Jerusalem, seem to have been exclusively Galilan, and derived from persons who became attached to Him at a later period than any of the events recorded in that first portion of Johns Gospel. The objections to this view are, the narrative, in the three Gospels, of the baptism and temptation; but the former of these would be abundantly testified by Johns disciples, many of whom became disciples of Jesus; and the latter could only have been derived from the mouth of our Lord Himself.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

4:12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

Notice that there were at that time only two great ministers of God, John the Baptist, he must go to prison and to death; Jesus, the Son of God, he must go to the desert to be tempted of the devil. If any Christians escape temptation, they will not be the leaders of the hosts of God. Those who stand in the van must bear the brunt of the battle. Oh, that all who are called to such responsible positions might be as prepared to occupy them as John was, and as Jesus was!

Mat 4:13-16. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might he fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Oh, the tender mercy of our God! Where the darkness is the deepest, there the light shines the brightest. Christ selects such dark regions as Nephthalim and Zabulon that he may dwell there, and shine in all his glory.

Mat 4:17. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He was not afraid to give an earnest exhortation to sinners, and to bid men repent. He knew better than we do the inability of men concerning all that is good, yet he bade them repent.

Mat 4:18-23. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

I like those words all manner that is, every kind and every sort of sickness and disease Christ met. Perhaps you, dear friend, are afflicted in your soul after a very peculiar fashion. Ay, but this great Physician heals all manner of diseases. None are excluded from the list of patients whom he can cure; twice the words all manner are used: Healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Mat 4:24. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Our Lord Jesus lived as in a hospital while he was on earth; wherever he went, the sins and sorrows of men were all open before his sympathetic gaze. But oh, what joy it must have been to him to be able to deal so well with them all! Am I addressing any who are sick in soul? Our Master is used to cases just like yours; your malady is not new to him. He has healed many like you; of all that were brought to him, it is written, he healed them. Lie before him now, in all your sin and misery, and breathe the prayer, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me, and he will surely hear you, and heal you, for he delights to bless and save all who trust him.

This exposition consisted of readings from Joh 1:19-51; and Mat 4:12-24.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mat 4:12. , …, but having heard that, etc.) The name of Jesus is expressed in Mat 4:17. It is not expressed in Mat 4:12,[144] because this passage, verses 12-16, when taken in connection with what precedes it, intimates in what manner John made room for the Lord. But in Mat 4:17, etc., is described the actual commencement of the Lords preaching, in which is included the vocation of the two pairs of brothers. Wherefore, in Mat 4:18, , Jesus, is again understood, but not expressed.-, was delivered up) sc. to confinement in prison (in custodiam).-See ch. Mat 11:2. As John decreased, Jesus increased.[145]-, he departed) The same verb occurs, ch. Mat 14:13, from a similar cause.[146]- , into Galilee) and, indeed, into that part of Galilee which was farthest from Herod and the prison of John. St Matthew speaks of the whole of Galilee in opposition to Judea, where the temptation had taken place. Jesus then came forth from private into public life.[147]

[144] So BC*DZ Memph. Vulg. (MS. Amiat.) Orig. 3, 502c, 4, 161c. Rec. Text with fewer very ancient authorities, viz., Pabc. Hil. 620, reads .-ED. E. V. renders it, Now when Jesus had heard.-(I. B.)

[145] Most fittingly the imprisonment of John is mentioned as it were in passing, and the death of the same, in Joh 14:3, not as (when) the fact occurred, but as (when) it reached the ears of Jesus. And yet a long interval cannot have elapsed between the beginning of Johns imprisonment and the report of it reaching Christ. In Joh 3:24, the Baptist was not yet imprisoned, but yet he was on the point of decreasing, Joh 4:29-30. And not even at Joh 4:1 is mention made of his imprisonment; and at Joh 5:35 he is no doubt said to HAVE BEEN (was) a burning and shining lamp, but it does not follow from this, that he, at that time, when Christ asserted this of him, was already confined in prison (for not even in that state did he altogether cease to be a burning and shining lamp). In fact, John is mentioned in the past tense (Joh 5:35), in respect to the fact that the Jews had already become sated and weary of the joy which they had derived from John, and The True Light, Jesus Christ, by His infinite splendour, had all but eclipsed John, who was, at it were, but a wax-light lamp. Besides, we must take into account, that the Saviour foreknew the imprisonment and subsequent death impending over John. Therefore the latter must have been cast into prison almost six months after the commencement of his public ministry, about Pentecost, and about a full year elapsed from that time till his death. They who maintain that more than three Passovers intervened between our Saviours baptism and His death, must of necessity assign two years to Johns imprisonment, which is less suitable to the general requirements of the case. For John ought rather to have passed over the scene quickly, even including his imprisonment. The One Great Prophet, Jesus, passed the principal part of His appointed time alone in His Office.-Harm., p. 183, 184.

[146] Our Lord now departed on account of the imprisonment, He afterwards did so on account of the death, of the Baptist.-(I. B.)

[147] Viz., that of Galilee.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 4:12-17

SECTION THREE

BEGINNING OF JESUS’ GALILEAN MINISTRY; THE

PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Matthew 4:12 to 7:29

1. JESUS RETIRES TO GALILEE

Mat 4:12-17

12 Now when he heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee.-Matthew passes over a number of intervening events; he records nothing about another visit of Jesus to Galilee (Joh 1:43), the marriage in Cana and the turning of water into wine, the journey to Capernaum in company with his relatives and disciples, and that to Jerusalem to the Passover (John 2), the stay of Jesus at Jerusalem and in the land of Judea previous to the imprisonment of John (John 3), the return of Jesus by way of Samaria, and his stay there (Joh 4:1-42.) The occasion of John’s imprisonment is stated by Matthew, but not the time. (Mat 14:1-13.) Jesus departed into Galilee or “withdrew into Galilee”; he had lived there before his baptism and temptation. As Herod Antipas lived at Machaerus in Perea, near the lower Jordan, where John was imprisoned as is supposed, and Nazareth was an obscure town in Galilee, Jesus would be comparatively safe in this retreat. John’s reason for Jesus’ going to Galilee (Joh 4:1-3) harmonizes with Matthew’s account. The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus’ growing popularity and they would seek occasion to deliver him over to Herod, that he might share the fate of John the Baptist; Jesus prevented this by retiring to Galilee, as his hour was not yet come.

Jesus went up into Galilee when he heard “that John was delivered up”; we need not conclude that the imprisonment of John and the return of Jesus to Galilee occurred immediately after the temptation of Jesus, as other writers of the gospel record numerous events that occurred between these events. It is very likely that all which is recorded in the first three chapters of John, if arranged chronologically, would come between the eleventh and twelfth verses of Matthew 4; perhaps the time that elapsed between verses eleven and twelve would be about one year.

13 Leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum.- This shows that when he returned to Galilee he went to Nazareth his old home; we do not know how long he sojourned there; probably his mother (perhaps a widow) still resided there; she was present at the marriage in Cana which was about nine miles northeast of Nazareth. Some think that this sojourn in Nazareth is identical with that mentioned in Luk 4:16-30; perhaps Luke records his reason for leaving Nazareth; if this be true, he did not leave Nazareth for some time; he began teaching in Galilee with great acceptance (Luk 4:15); and then was rejected at Nazareth; he then went to Capernaum.

Capernaum was on the Sea of Galilee “in the borders of Zebulon and Naphtali.” It was located on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee within the territory of Zebulun, not far from the line of division between Zebulun and Naphtali; the exact location of Capernaum cannot now be identified. Capernaum was afterward called “his own city” (Mat 9:1) where he paid taxes (Mat 17:24). Capernaum was one of the chief cities of Galilee at that time; it bad a synagogue in which Jesus often taught; a Roman garrison and custom station was located there; it was the home of Peter and Andrew and James and John and probably Matthew made his home there. (Mat 9:1-9; Mar 1:21; Luk 5:27; Luk 7:1; Luk 7:8; John 6 59.) Later Capernaum was denounced by Jesus for its rejection of him. (Mat 11:23.)

Matthew very accurately describes the situation at Capernaum, yet it has been destroyed and no trace of it can be found today.

14-16 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet.-Jesus had a program before him; this he carried out; his earthly life was ordered in such a way as to fulfill the divine will concerning him as was predicted by the prophet; the prophets merely announced beforehand what would be the program of Jesus. Here is a fulfillment of Isa 8:22; Isa 9:1-2; the quotation as recorded by Matthew does not follow literally that which is recorded in Isaiah; in fact, the quotations from the Old Testament in the New are seldom verbally exact.

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” refer to the territories which were allotted to these tribes; they embraced the territory west of the Sea of Galilee and constituted one of the most important fields of Jesus’ ministry. This territory extended north and east of Asher and west of the Jordan; the land of Zebulun extended along the west side of the Sea of Galilee, while the land of Naphtali extended north of Zebulun to the northern boundary of the land of Canaan. Isaiah did not use the phrase as it was used during the captivity to denote the country west of the Jordan, but east. “Galilee of the Gentiles” included all the northern part of Palestine, lying between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea and between Samaria and Phoenicia. Some think that it was called “Galilee of the Gentiles” because so many foreigners from Phoenicia, Arabia, and Egypt had settled there.

The people that sat in darkness saw a great light.-This means the people who abode in the darkness of ignorance and sin and misery; the Galileans who lived far from the temple, and who did not attend temple worship regularly, were considered a benighted as heathens. The language expresses a symbol of hopeless gloom; it signifies more than “walked in darkness”; they “sat in darkness.” They “saw a great light”; this light was the gospel which brought to them the joy of salvation. Isaiah had prophesied that this people would see this light and now it is being fulfilled in the teachings and work of Jesus. They are represented as those who “sat in the region and shadow of death”; to these “did light spring up.” “Shadow of death” is a common figure in the Old Testament. (Job 10:21; Psa 23:4; Jer 2:6.) The figure seems to be that of a person who had lost his way in the dense darkness, and upon whom arose the great light of the morning. All the Jews were in spiritual darkness, and the Galileans were inferior in religious privileges to the Judeans and despised by them. (Joh 7:41; Joh 7:49; Joh 7:52.) The meaning of this prophecy seems to be that the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali, the region about the Sea of Galilee, the country beyond the Jordan, the whole of Galilee, which was contemptuously designated as “Galilee of the Gentiles,” whose inhabitants sat in the darkness of ignorance and under the gloom of impending death, from which there was no one to deliver, these should be the first to see the light the Messiah brought to earth. In their simplicity and possibly in their ignorance, they were not blinded by the prejudice of bigoted religious leaders. So Jesus fulfilled the prophecy with this people.

17 From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye.–Jesus began his ministry at Jerusalem by casting out the traders and his conversation with Nicodemus (Joh 2:13; Joh 3:1-8), but as Matthew does not record those events, the account of Matthew begins with his work in Galilee; Matthew was an eyewitness to that which occurred in Galilee, but was not a disciple of Jesus when his work began in Judea. “From that time” means the time from which Matthew proceeds to give a record of the public ministry of Jesus. This is the time that Jesus began to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah in Galilee; his regular ministry dates from the time of his removal from Nazareth to Capernaum. (Act 10:36-37.)

“Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The substance of Jesus’ preaching was the same as that of John. (See Mat 3:1-2.) Jesus never ceased to preach repentance; he kept before the people the fact that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”; repentance was necessary to prepare the people for the reception of the kingdom. There was no cessation of Jesus on insisting that people should repent; he kept it before them from the beginning of his public ministry to the time of his death; after his death he incorporated repentance in the worldwide commission that he gave to his disciples. His preaching at first was only the preaching of repentance, like that of John the Baptist, but he grew more explicit in developing the principles and nature of the kingdom of heaven as he advanced in his public ministry. We learn from Mark that along with his exhortation to the people to repent he called upon them to “believe in the gospel.” (Mar 1:15.) The people were not only to repent of their sins as a preparation for their entrance into his kingdom, but they were to have faith in the Messiah and his gospel. Jesus at this time does not designate himself as the Messiah, yet the kingdom which was approaching was the kingdom of the Messiah, and in this indirect way they were to see in him the promised Messiah.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

the Light Begins to Shine

Mat 4:12-17

Our Lords earliest ministry seems to have been centered in Jerusalem and its contiguous villages. See Joh 2:1-25; Joh 3:1-36. But on the news of the Baptists imprisonment, He took up His testimony to the hearers of the heavenly kingdom, which is the reign of God over the hearts and lives of men. Someone has said that it is the universal awareness of God. Yet there was a difference! At the commencement of His work, the Savior showed a tenderness and a winsomeness which were very inviting to the crowds of harried sheep. See Mat 9:36. His ministry resembled the gentle, holy dawn that breaks over the mountains and dispels the black shadows of the night. The evangelist quotes the prophets anticipation of the coming of Him who is called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. Oh, do not be afraid when Jesus comes to your heart! You may be as far away from goodness and purity as Naphtali and Zebulun from Jerusalem, but Galilee of the Gentiles is included in Joh 3:16.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 8

Jesus Began to Preach

Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;) And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

(Mat 4:12-25)

When we read the four gospels, we must not imagine that each of the evangelists recorded things in the same chronological order. They did not. Each one wrote out the history of our Lords earthly life and ministry, as he was led by the Holy Spirit, to best serve the purpose of his own gospel narrative. So the fact that Matthews history is not consecutive is of no concern to us. It was not his design to make it so.

Several things happened between our Lords temptation in the wilderness and his appearance on the shores of Galilee preaching the gospel.

His Appearance to John (Joh 1:29).

The Calling of His First Disciples (Joh 1:39-51).

The Marriage Feast at Cana (Joh 2:1-11).

The Passover at Jerusalem (Joh 2:13-22) The Scourge!

The Discourse with Nicodemus (John 3).

The Samaritan Woman (John 4).

Many months had passed, probably more than a year, since our Lords temptation and the calling of his first disciples. At any rate, Matthew begins his account of our Lords public ministry in Galilee. In these verses we see the Lord Jesus preaching in the synagogues and along the streets of Galilee after the imprisonment of John the Baptist. These are sweet views, wrote Robert Hawker, of Jesus in his humbleness of character. And what a blessed proof they become in proof of his mission (Isa 9:1-2).

Our Lord Jesus was the first Preacher of that great salvation which he accomplished (Heb 1:3); and as such he is held before us as the great Pattern and Example all true gospel preacher must follow.

A Singular Message

Unlike the religious world in his own day and more especially in this day, the Lord Jesus began his public ministry with the utmost simplicity: without pomp and pageantry, without press conferences, advance men, and announcements, he just began to preach. Without calling attention to himself at all, he just began to preach!

The time when he began to preach was when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison (Mat 4:12). When John the Baptist had done his work, he was laid aside. Like the two witnesses in Rev 11:7, when he had born his testimony, John was slain, and not a moment before.

Mortals are immortal here

Until their work is done!

God never leaves himself without a witness. He never leaves his church in the wilderness without guides. When Johns work was finished, the Lord God raised up other faithful witnesses to proclaim the gospel of his grace and glory. He who raised up Moses can raise up Joshua. There is no lack with our God.

The place where our Lord began his ministry was in Capernaum, in Galilee of the Gentiles. (Mat 4:13-16). He left Nazareth because the people there rejected his message and had rejected him (Luk 4:29). He came to Galilee because some of Gods elect were to be found there. He came to Capernaum because the Scriptures had to be fulfilled (Isa 9:1-2).

Like the inhabitants of Capernaum, like the Gentiles of Galilee long ago, you and I were in gross darkness. We sat in darkness because we loved it. We did not seek the light, but upon us great light has come. The light of Christ and the grace and glory of God in him has shined into our hearts, creating in us life and faith in Christ (Joh 1:1-14; 2Co 4:4-6). When the gospel comes, light comes (Luk 1:78-79; Joh 3:19). When the gospel comes into the heart in the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, we are made new creatures in Christ (Gen 1:1-3; 2Co 5:17).

He came to Capernaum because Capernaum in Galilee, the place of Gentile nothings and nobodies, was the place from which he would fetch trophies of his grace (1Co 1:26-31). Galilean speech was crude. Galilean people were poor, illiterate, and uncouth. Galileans were the rough-necks on the other side of the tracks. These are the people from whom our Lord would call out a people to serve him, by whom he would build his church and kingdom.

The message our Lord preached was the same as that of John the Baptist. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat 4:17). Our Lord Jesus could have dazzled the brains of men with deep, profound theology, or by unraveling the hidden mysteries of prophecy, or by opening up the intricate complexities of the law. But he chose not to do so. He preached one message. He preached the necessity of repentance, the necessity of trusting him alone for acceptance with God (Act 20:21). He preached that message constantly (Luk 13:1-5). And he preached that message urgently, For the kingdom of heaven is at hand! The Lord of Glory was a preacher. Let all who claim to be preachers follow his example and reiterate his message.

There is no office so honorable as that of the preacher. There is no work so important to the souls of men. It is our office, which the Son of God was not ashamed to take up. It is an office to which he appointed his twelve apostles. It is an office to which Paul in his old age specially directs Timothys attention. He charges him with almost his last breath to preach the Word (2Ti 4:2). It is the principle means which God has always been pleased to use for the conversion and edification of souls. The brightest days of the church have been those when preaching has been honored. The darkest days of the church have been those when it has been lightly esteemed. (J.C. Ryle)

His Chose Messengers

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him (Mat 4:18-22).

When our Lord began to preach, he began to gather disciples. In these verses we see our Lords calling of two sets of brothers to himself. Here we have an example of the effectual call. Do not overlook the sovereignty of our Lords call. What marvellous light and omnipotent grace must have accompanied his words! The effectual, or irresistible call of God the Holy Spirit (2Ti 1:9; 2Pe 1:10) is that which he performs by the preaching of the gospel (Rom 10:13; Heb 4:12; 1Pe 1:23-25). It is this gracious call of omnipotent mercy by which sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins are born of God and given faith in Christ.

We also have in these verses an example of the call to the gospel ministry. Peter and Andrew, and probably James and John, had been called to Christ earlier (Joh 1:40-41). They were now called to be preachers of the gospel. They were called by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, not by mere men, but by the Son of God, to be fishers of men. What a great privilege this is! These rough, unlearned, Galilean fishermen were chosen and gifted of God to preach the gospel.

What were they doing when the Lord Jesus called them? They were taking care of business in their given sphere of life and responsibility. They were fishing. They were mending their nets. They were busy in a lawful occupation when he called them to be ministers. Our Lord does not call idlers, but fishers! (C. H. Spurgeon)

What did the Master call these men to do? Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mat 4:19). As ordinary disciples they had been following the Lord, as such it was proper for them to continue in the pursuit of their careers. But now the Lord calls them to the work of the gospel ministry. He separates them to the work of the gospel. Gods preachers are fishers of men. And Christ alone can make men fishers of men.

In order for a man to be a fisher of men, in order for a man to be a gospel preacher he must be separated unto the gospel (Rom 1:1). That means that he must follow Christ. His life must be ruled by the Word of God and the direction of God the Holy Spirit. He must drop all earthly interest and concerns. These men left their boats and their nets. Like Peter and Andrew, and these sons of Zebedee, all who are called of God to the great work of preaching the gospel must separate themselves from all earthly concerns, being entirely devoted to the work of the gospel. As James and John left their father Zebedee sitting in the boat, bewildered I imagine, so Gods servants must not allow their dearest relations to keep them from obeying him.

Yes, that means that a man who is called of God to preach the gospel is to abandon other occupations, living upon the generosity of those whose souls they serve. Gods preachers are to be supported by the free gifts of Gods people. The Word of God is crystal clear in teaching this (2Co 8:9; Gal 6:1-6).

The Masters Miracles

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan. (Mat 4:23-25).

Concerning the miraculous cures the Lord Jesus wrought among men, let me simply point out four things about them. First, they were many. Our Savior was no religious charlatan. He cured every disease known to men. He cured men of the palsy, the greatest weakness of the body. He healed lunatics of their great mental disorders. He cast out devils. And this man, who is God, even raised people from the dead by the mere word of his power. Second, they were miraculous. All were wrought in such an open and public manner that no one questioned their supernatural power. Third, they were merciful. The cures of Christs hand were all acts of mercy, free and gratuitous. And, fourth, they were mysterious.

Our Lords miraculous healings of bodily disease were meant to teach us his power, to typify his great and miraculous works of grace, to show us the tenderness of his heart, and to give indisputable evidence that he is the Christ (Luk 4:17-22).

What a delightful, comforting picture the Holy Spirit has here drawn of our blessed Savior. Remember, this is the same Savior who now intercedes for us in heaven and rules all the universe for our everlasting good. Though our Lord Jesus is now exalted, he is yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb 13:8). He is yet able and willing to heal. He is yet able and willing to save (Heb 7:25). He is yet moved by the needs of his people.

Remember what was written of him in Isa 63:7-9. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

While he walked on this earth in all the days of his humiliation, we are told, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And nothing has changed. Follow the Lord Jesus up to heaven itself and behold the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne feeding his own and drying all tears from their eyes forever (Rev 7:17). Let every believing soul be assured that this Savior will never forget you and will never leave you. It behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest for us; and that is what he is. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

I insert Robert Hawkers reflections on this chapter, hoping that his prayer may be yours and mine each time we read these verses.

Behold on the close of this chapter, how he, who in the opening of it, is said to have been assaulted by hell, is here manifesting forth his sovereignty as God. Oh! that that dear Lord, who thus in the days of his flesh, went about preaching his gospel, and healing the bodies of the diseased, would now, in the day of his Almighty power, come forth in a preached gospel, and heal the souls of his redeemed. Precious Lord Jesus, behold the diseased state of thy church, and in compassion to Zion take the glorious cause into thine own almighty hand. And as then, so now, Lord, cause the multitudes of thy people to come to thy standard, until thou shalt have brought all thy blood-bought children home to thy church, and all the blessed purposes of thy temptations and ministry be abundantly answered in the salvation of thy chosen. Amen.

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

The King setting up his Kingdom: openly

Mat 4:12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.

The history is not consecutive, for it was not Matthew’s design to make it so. He leaves out much that others record, because not suitable for his purpose. Possibly John was put in prison more than once. It seems that the imprisonment of John called our Lord away from the immediate scene of persecution to the more rustic region of Galilee. He became the more publicly active when his forerunner was laid aside. As the morning star is hidden, the sun shines out the more brightly. His departure was not caused by fear, nor by desire of self-pleasing; but he moved under the guidance of the Lord God who sent him.

Mat 4:13-16. And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Note how the movements of our King are all ordered according to divine prophecy. “Leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum” to fulfil a passage in the book of Isaiah. There was an ancient programme which settled from of old the track of his royal progresses. He went where the foreknowledge and predestination of Jehovah had declared his way.

He went, moreover, where he was needed, even to “the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:” The “great light” encountered the great darkness; the far-off ones were visited by him who gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Our Lord courts not those who glory in their light, but those who pine in their darkness: he comes with heavenly life, not to those who boast of their own life and energy, but to those who are under condemnation, and who feel the shades of death shutting them out from light and hope. “Great light” is a very suggestive figure for the gospel, and “sitting in the region and shadow of death” is a very graphic description of men bowed under the power of sin, and paralyzed by fear of condemnation. What a mercy that to those who appear out of the reach of the usual means, to those who dwell “by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles”, Jesus comes with power to enlighten and quicken!

If I feel myself to be an out-of-the-way sinner, Lord, come to me, and cause me to know that “light is sprung up” even for me!

Mat 4:17. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He continued the warning which John had given: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The King exceeds his herald, but he does not differ from him as to his message. Happy is the preacher whose word is such that his Lord can endorse it! Repentance is the demand of the Law, of the Gospel, and of John, who was the connecting link between the two. Immediate repentance is demanded because the theocracy is established: the kingdom demands turning: from sin. In Christ Jesus God was about to reign among the sons of men, and therefore men were to seek peace with him. How much more ought we to repent who live in the midst of that kingdom! What manner of persons ought we to be who look for his Second Advent! “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”, let us be as men that look for their Lord.

O my gracious King and Saviour, I pray thee, accept my repentance as to past rebellions as a proof of my present loyalty!

Mat 4:18-19. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they lucre fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and

I will make you fishers of men.

Our Lord not only preached the kingdom, but he now began to call one and another into its service, and privilege. He was “walking by the sea”: and there and then he began his converting, calling, and ordaining work. Where he found himself living, there he put forth his power. Our sphere is where we are.

Jesus had a special eye for fishers. He summoned to his side the fishing brothers whom he had chosen from of old. He had previously called them by grace, and now he calls them into the ministry. They were busy in a lawful occupation when he called them to be ministers: our Lord does not call idlers but fishers. His word was imperial-“Follow me “; his work was appropriate to their occupation as fishers; it was full of royal promise-“I will make you fishers of men”; and it was eminently instructive; for an evangelist and a fisher have many points of likeness. From this passage we learn that nobody can make a man-fisher but our Lord himself, and that those whom he calls can only become successful by following him.

Lord, as a winner of souls cause me to imitate thy spirit and method, that I may not labour in vain!

Mat 4:20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

The call was effectual. No nets can entangle those whom Jesus calls to follow him. They come straightway; they come at all cost; they come without a question; they come to quit old haunts; they come to follow their leader without stipulation or reserve.

Lord, cause me ever to be thy faithful and unhesitating follower as long as I live! May no nets detain me when thou dost call me!

Mat 4:21-22. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Our Lord delighted in fishermen: possibly their bold, hearty, outspoken character fitted them for his service. At any rate, these would be the briars upon which he could graft the roses of his grace. Some he calls to preach when casting their nets, and some while mending them; but in either case they are busy. We shall need both to cast and mend nets after we are called unto our Lord’s work. Note how our Lord again calls two brethren. Two together .are better far than one and one acting singly. The Lord knows that our nature seeks companionship; no companion in work is better than a brother.

This second pair of brothers “left their father” as well as their fishery; the first left their nets, but these “left the ship “; the first have no relatives mentioned, but these quitted father and mother for Christ’s sake; and they did it as unhesitatingly as the others. It did not seem much of a prospect, to follow the houseless Jesus; but an inward attraction drew them, and they followed on, charmed to obey the voice divine. Zebedee may have thought his sons’ going was a great loss to him; but it is not recorded that he expressed any objection to their doing so. Perhaps he gladly gave up his boys for such a service; we feel sure that their mother did. In the service of Jesus we are not to be restrained by ties of kindred: he has a higher claim than father or husband.

Lord, call me, and my brother, and all my family into thy grace, if not into thy ministry!

Mat 4:23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

Our Lord was ever on the move: “he went about all Galilee.” The Great Itinerant made a province his parish. He taught “in their synagogues”, but he was equally at home in their streets: he cared nothing for consecrated places. Teaching and preaching go well with healing; thus soul and. body are both taken care of. Our Lord’s great power is seen in the universality of his healing energy: healing “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Dwell on those words, “all manner” But our Lord was not content with miracles for the body, he had the gospel for the soul, that gospel which lies in his own person as King, in his promise of pardon to believers, and in his rule of love over those who are loyal to him. He preached “the gospel of the kingdom”, a right royal gospel, which made men kings and priests. To this gospel the miracles of healing were so many seals. At this day the healing of souls is an equally sure seal of God upon the gospel.

Lord, I know the truth and certainty of thy gospel; for I have felt thy healing hand upon my heart; may I feel the rule and power of thy kingdom, and joyfully yield myself to thy sway!

Mat 4:24. And his fame went throughout all-Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Of course, men told one another of the great prophet. Even the regions beyond began to hear of him. Syria heard again that there was a God in Israel who could recover a man of his leprosy. Now the worst cases are brought to him; epileptics, the possessed, and the mad were led to him, and were not led in vain. What a bill of diseases we find in this verse! Diseases, torments, devils, lunacy, palsy, and so forth. And what a receipt at the foot: “and he healed them”! Oh, that men were eager to bring their spiritual ailments to the Saviour! It would lead to the same result: in every case we should read, “he healed them.”

Our King surrounded himself with the spiritual pomp of gratitude by displaying his power to bless the afflicted. Some kings have pretended to heal by their touch, but Jesus really did so. Never king, or prophet, could work such marvels as he did. Well might “his fame” be great!

Mat 4:25. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Juda, and from beyond Jordan.

Such a teacher is sure to have a following. Yet how small his spiritual following compared with the “great multitudes” who outwardly came to him! Our King has many nominal subjects; but few there are who know him as their Lord, so as to be renewed in heart by the power of his grace: these alone enter truly into his kingdom, and it is foolish and wicked to talk of including any others in his spiritual domain. Yet is it a hopeful sign when there is a great inquiry after Jesus, and every region and city yields its quota to the hearing throng.

Now we shall hear more from the blessed lips of him who was King in Jerusalem, and also Preacher to the people.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom

when: Mar 1:14, Mar 6:17, Luk 3:20, Luk 4:14, Luk 4:31, Joh 4:43, Joh 4:54

cast: or, delivered up

Reciprocal: Mat 10:23 – when Mat 11:2 – in Mat 14:3 – Herod Luk 23:5 – beginning Joh 3:24 – General Act 10:37 – after

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE MINISTRY BEGUN

Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum.

Mat 4:12-13

We approach now the beginning of our Lords ministry. He left His quiet country home and went forth to the great work He had come to achieve. As priests of old were washed and anointed in preparation for their priestly office, so Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King, was washed in the Jordan, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and went forth to win for us a great victory in the wilderness over Satan and sin. Matthew does not tell us the actual beginning of His work. St. John (chaps, 2, 3, 4) shows that Christ had worked at Jerusalem, in Juda, in Samaria, before He made Capernaum His centre.

I. Why Christ left Juda.Herod Antipas had shut up John in prison; the Pharisees seemed to be getting jealous of Christs growing influence (St. Joh 4:1-2), and He goes northwards, where He could pursue His work with less risk of interruption. Where would He most likely go to in Galilee? Surely to His own town, Nazareth. Yet He did not stay there. St. Luke (Luk 4:29) tells us why. What place did He then make His centre? Capernaum, a town on the extreme north-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. In our Lords day it was a fruitful and lovely spot; a splendid centre of trade and population, with the great main roads running through it.

II. The prophecy.The circumstances under which Isaiah delivered this prophecy (Mat 4:15-16) are exceedingly interesting. Ahaz was on the throne of Judah. The neighbouring kingdom of Israel, aided by the Syrians, attacked him in his capital. Isaiah foretold the speedy destruction of Judahs enemies. He told how at first the two northern tribes of Zebulon and Naphthali were to be lightly afflicted by the Assyrian invader, and how afterwards they should be more grievously afflicted when the Assyrians returned later and made an end of the northern tribes by carrying them away captive to Assyria. Yet was there comfort for these afflicted lands; a great Light was to appear, the Prince of Peace was to arise there. That prophecy was fulfilled in our Lords days. It was Galilee of the Gentiles even in the prophets day; for, lying on the borders of the heathen world, many Gentiles had flocked into it. In Christs days Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Phnicians, abounded. Probably the foreign element was larger than the Jewish. This explains why the darkness was probably darkest in Galilee; why it still deserved Isaiahs description as the region and shadow of death.

III. The Sun of Righteousness arose in Galilee.Upon the darkness of heathenism the Light shone and bright Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel.

W. Taylor.

Illustrations

(1) For some time opinions as to Capernaum were about equally divided between Tell Hm, at the north-east, and Khan Minyeh. Thomson (Land and the Book, p. 352) advocates the former; Robinson (Bibl. Researches, vol. iii. p. 348) the latter. Recently, the investigations of the Palestine Exploration Fund have pointed to Tell Hm; but Mr. Macgregor (Rob Roy on the Jordan, p. 374), whose long and minute exploration of the Lakeits waters as well as its shoresmakes him a very great authority, argues almost conclusively for Khan Minyeh; and Dr. Tristram, who advocated (Land of Israel, p. 442) a different and third view, has yielded to his reasonings.

(2) The little city, Capernaum, rose under the gentle declivities of hills that encircled an earthly Paradise. There were no such trees and no such gardens anywhere in Palestine as in the land of Gennesareth. The very name means garden of abundance, and the numberless flowers blossom over a little plain which is in sight like unto an emerald. It was doubtless a part of Christs divine plan that His ministry should begin amid scenes so beautiful, and that the good tidings, which revealed to mankind their loftiest hopes and purest pleasures, should be first proclaimed in a region of unusual loveliness. The cities, says Josephus, lie here very thick; and the very numerous villages are so full of people because of the fertility of the land. Through this district passed the great caravans on their way from Egypt to Damascus; and the heathens who congregated at Bethsaida Julias and Csarea Philippi must have been constantly seen in the streets of Capernaum. In the time of Christ it was, for population and activity, the manufacturing district of Palestine, and the waters of its lake were ploughed by four thousand vessels of every description, from the war-vessel of the Romans to the rough fisher-boats of Bethsaida, and the gilded pinnaces from Herods palace.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

4:12

The account of John’s im-prisonment is in the 14th chapter, being inserted there to explain a remark that was made by the Herod who was reigning then. We are not told in this place why Jesus departed from Galilee, but the purpose is indicated in Joh 4:43-45. When Jesus had heard. Jesus did not have to obtain information about the activities of men by the ordinary means of hearing (Joh 2:23-25), so the phrase is used merely to state the occasion on which he left Judea. It means as if it said “upon the report.” etc., Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee. The word hear is from AKOUO and has various shades of meaning which must be understood in each passage according to the connection. The word is so im-portant that I believe it will be well to give a quotation from Thayer’s lexicon on the definitions of the word. I shall quote the parts in italics since that is his direct definition, while the words in regular type are his own comments and explanation of the definitions. I urge the reader to make note of it and be prepared to consult it as occasion suggests. “To be endowed with the faculty of hearing. To attend to; consider. To understand, perceive the sense of what is said. To get by hearing, learn. A thing comes to one’s ears, to find out (by hearing), learn (hear of); to learn. To comprehend, understand. To perceive any one’s voice. To give ear to one, listen, hearken. To yield to, hear to one; to listen to, have regard to. To perceive the distinct words of a voice. To yield obedience to a voice.”

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mat 4:12. When he heard, i.e., in Judea.

Delivered up, i.e., into prison by Herod the tetrarch. The common version gives an explanation, not a literal translation. For reason of this imprisonment, see chap. Mat 14:4; Mar 6:17.

He withdrew into Galilee. A withdrawal from prudence (as chap. Mat 2:12; Mat 2:22), hinting that He had been teaching in Judea. Galilee: here the whole region of that name, since Nazareth was in lower Galilee. In Joh 4:43-45, it means upper Galilee, or Galilee in the stricter sense. Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, hence the withdrawal was not through fear of him. It was due to the opposition of the Pharisees (Joh 4:1; Joh 5:16; Joh 5:18, if that occurrence preceded).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Subdivision 2. (Mat 4:12-25.)

The King’s own Testimony.

The manifestation of the Lord’s fitness for His work is now complete. From opposite sides He is declared, what even the demons henceforth own Him to be, the Holy One of God. He can now go forth to His appointed work and we have here a brief notice of His preaching, after the close of John’s public testimony. What we have in this place is not yet any detail, but the fact of the announcement of the Kingdom by the King Himself, the place of its announcement, the association with Himself of others to carry on the work; and the signs which accompany it. Each of these things has its importance, and Matthew groups his facts for the purpose of giving a history of the testimony now given to Israel, in its fullness and sufficiency, though rejected by them, the testimony of John being already rejected when that of Christ begins.

1. We have first the place of its proclamation, Galilee being in general in this Gospel the sphere of the Lord’s labors, from Capernaum as a centre, which was now indeed, according to its name, the “village of consolation,” as the place of His residence and the scene of many of His mighty works. That it was chosen in divine wisdom to be this, one cannot doubt, and the prophet Isaiah had marked it out in this way long before, as Matthew reminds us. Galilee, as “the land of Zebulon and Naphtali” on the one hand, and now “Galilee of the Gentiles” on the other, spoke plainly of the ruin into which the people of God had sunk. Zebulon; the dweller in relationship, as he should have been, had long fulfilled Jacob’s prophecy, and “dwelling at the haven of the sea” had become the type of Israel as a whole, giving up its “dwelling alone” to mingle in adulterous commerce with the nations. Now it was but “the way of the sea,” as if swallowed up in its waters while Naphtali, the struggler, sat, struggling no more, in darkness which was indeed the “shadow of death.” But the Saviour of sinners is not hindered thus, and there in the darkness was the very place for light to spring up. And now there had come to Zebulon a Dweller, in whom God Himself could dwell with man; and to Naphtali more than a struggler, a glorious Conqueror, the woman’s Seed.

Here in outcast Galilee, the light could shine more freely than in Jerusalem, with its legal pretension and its hollowness at heart. Light, its own immediate evidence for all that have eyes to see! The Personal Word, the “Brightness of the Father’s glory” before men’s eyes! Earth had never before a revelation such as this.

2. The Lord takes up John’s word as to the coming Kingdom. The full truth, when it comes, unites in itself all preceding partial utterances. Along with this comes the call of disciples: and Peter and Andrew, James and John; answer His call to be fishers of men, with prompt obedience. It is an obvious and common remark that the Lord chooses neither men of position; wealth, or learning. The qualifications He requires are first of all spiritual, and He who sends them out means to be with them in their work. Nay, the first of all qualifications is to be dependent upon Himself. But He calls, – calls now, as ever He did and has given over to none His claim to do this. He is Lord and Master and Guide in all His people’s service.

That His call requires prompt, unhesitating obedience, He emphasizes Himself elsewhere. How great a thing is promptness, when once we are assured of the Lord’s will. There is then nothing else to be considered, while moral hesitancy may so cloud this assurance as to make obedience then impracticable. Not alone in this, with how many would the present darkness of their way be clearly intelligible, if they would face honestly their past history. And that history must, after all, be faced one day.

3. The gospel preached by our Lord had “signs” accompanying it. This is one of the common Scripture words (though not used in this place,) for what we call “miracles.” Such a word is used in Scripture also, but it emphasizes the “wonder” element only, and is of infrequent occurrence in the gospels. Important was even the power to produce wonder, as a bell to gather an audience, but the words chosen rather for these divine works speak of that in them which was to make its impress on the conscience and the heart. As “signs” they evidenced. themselves as “powers” – acts of power – which in their character revealed God. The Kingdom of heaven which the Old Testament prepared men to expect was, in fact, an interference of divine power on behalf of men which would free the earth from the burdens sin had imposed and the curse brought in by it. Miracles, therefore, formed an essential part in the “Kingdom and glory,” and are thus called by the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews “the powers of the world to come” (Heb 6:5). Most suitably, therefore, did they accompany the message that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand.

Yet John, its proclaimer, had done no miracle. His simple call to repentance required none. He saw and announced the Kingdom, but was not to introduce it. He embodied the spirit and emphasized the testimony of the old dispensation, which itself pointed beyond itself for the completion which would of necessity set it aside. He was the judicial summing up of the past, but in near view of the predicted future; and men needed only to have conscience called into activity to confirm to them the truth of what he said. They needed not and were not called to have faith in John; but to judge their own condition; and thus be ready for the coming King.

But now here was the King, – the One to whom the world was to be subject, the whole realm of nature submissive to His hand. Here miracles were the natural sign, then; of His Presence; to Him what man would call supernatural was natural: not to have manifested it would have discredited His claim. True and needful testimony it was to Him, when “all manner of disease and all manner of infirmity” yielded to His power, showing Him thus to be Master of the whole condition of things into which He had come. All the consequences of sill had found their remedy: to earth the long-lost paradise might be restored. Sin itself, therefore, as presently was to be proclaimed and certified, had found in Him its conqueror also. And, not passively content with receiving all who came, this grace in Him went forth with ceaseless activity to find its objects. God’s heart was pouring itself out in such a way as if to preclude all possibility of resistance. Who could refuse such ministry to need so manifest, in which man’s very flesh cried out for the living God: and how could then; his heart be silent?

In fact great multitudes flocked after Him from all the country round: from Galilee itself; from Decapolis, Rome’s ten colonial cities; from Jerusalem also, valuing itself for privileges which, misused, were bringing ruin upon all connected with it. Could, then; these various grades of a common humanity, one in the sad inheritance of the fall, which yet had so strangely divided them, find now in one Saviour-King their restorer to one another and to themselves? So it surely seemed as if it would be. “He made and baptized more disciples than John” was said of Him in the early days of His ministry. “The world is gone after Him,” said His enemies at a later time. But history has been slow in fulfilling such a promise. Prophecy, on the other hand, has declared that so it shall be, though under different conditions from the present. And this is the one hope for the world which, in the beggary of all other hopes, shall at last find fulfilment.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

BEGINNING HIS MINISTRY

THE STARTING POINT (Mat 4:12-17)

For antecedent and parallel events, read Joh 1:15-51; Luk 3:1-20; Luk 4:14-32, which explain why John the Baptist was imprisoned, and why Jesus left Nazareth. Identify Capernaum on the map, and read up its history in a Bible dictionary since it becomes important as the center of our Lords ministry in Galilee. Zabulon and Nephtalim, or Zebulun and Naphtali, we recognize as names of tribes of Israel and locations in Canaan, called after them. Locate them on the map, and compare Isa 9:1-2 RV, which is to have a completer fulfillment at the second coming of Christ. The Kingdom of heaven He began to preach (Mat 4:17) was that which He came to set up in Israel had the nation received Him. Not a spiritual Kingdom only, but a manifested Kingdom like that of David, wherein righteousness should reign.

THE FIRST FOLLOWERS (4:18-22)

He had met these men before (John 1), and called them to be His disciples. Having believed on Him, they are now called into His service.

THE FIRST WORKS (Mat 4:23-25)

The teaching was in the synagogues, and the preaching in the open air where the crowds gathered. Note the theme of His preaching, not the gospel of grace which now saves the sinner, but the gospel of the Kingdom: the good news that the earthly Kingdom promised to Israel was ready to be set up if they would have it. Later, when His rejection by Israel is confirmed, this gospel ceases to be preached, and the gospel of grace takes its place. The gospel of grace is preached in the present dispensation of the church, but when the church, the body of Christ, is complete, and caught up to meet Him in the air (1Th 4:13-18), then the gospel of the Kingdom will be again preached because the Kingdom will be drawing near a second time. The miracles of healing are in connection with the gospel of the Kingdom. That is not to say that there are no such miracles at present, but only that they are peculiar to setting up the earthly Kingdom, and doubtless will be seen again in a marked manner as the day approaches. The Satanic counterfeits of these miracles now in many places indicate the time is at hand.

THE FIRST DISCOURSE (Mat 5:1)

Beginning here and extending to the close of chapter 7 we have what is called the Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1); but we are not to suppose that these words were all spoken at one time, or in their present connection. In comparison with the other Gospels suggests differently. For the purpose of the Holy Spirit in Matthews Gospel, however, it was desirable to group them as though they formed a single discourse. Addressing the Jew, he is showing that Jesus is the King who has come to set up His Kingdom, and in these words, chapters 5-7 sets forth at one glance the laws or code of that Kingdom. We must be clear about this. The Sermon on the Mount does not set forth the terms of salvation for sinners. Neither is it the experience which the church will perfectly attain in this age, but is primarily Jewish and pertains to conditions on the earth when the manifested Kingdom of the Messiah is in vogue. It would be wrong to press this too far, and say that the Sermon on the Mount has no application whatever to the Christian church or the times in which we live, for God is the same through all dispensations, and the underlying principles of His government never change. But just how to apply it must be determined in detail, and by the never failing light of the Holy Spirit who has been given to lead the Christian into all the truth (Joh 16:13).

The first twelve verses, or the Beatitudes, constitute an exordium to the discourse, in which is set forth the characteristics of the heirs of the Kingdom. There are nine beatitudes, and dispensationally viewed, show us Israel, or rather the faithful remnant of Israel, in the tribulation period awaiting the Kingdom. They will be poor in spirit, and shall get the Kingdom. They will mourn and shall be comforted. They will be meek and shall inherit the earth. They will hunger and thirst after righteousness, and shall be filled.

But in an accommodated sense the beatitudes apply to believers in the present age. There is a heavenly side and an earthly side to the Kingdom, and it is only those who are poor in spirit, humbling themselves on account of sin and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who, through the new birth, receive the Kingdom. They who now mourn for their sins are comforted in forgiveness and cleansing through the blood. They who now hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled. We have here a picture of a redeemed and sanctified man, an ideal man whom the Savior is to make actual by saving him from his sin.

For private study or classroom work, it would be desirable to include the whole of the Sermon on the Mount in one lesson, but for the purpose of this commentary, we pause here.

QUESTIONS

1. Divide this lesson into four parts.

2. Did you read the scripture references for the antecedent or parallel events?

3. Have you looked up Capernaum?

4. Why does Matthew so often quote the Old Testament?

5. What is meant by the Kingdom of heaven in this case?

6. What is the distinction between the gospel of the Kingdom or gospel of grace?

7. What is set forth in the Sermon on the Mount?

8. What is set forth in the beatitudes?

9. What is their historical sense?

10. How do they apply to us in an accommodated sense?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Observe here, 1. Our Savior, hearing of John’s imprisonment, provides for his own safety, by departing into Galilee. As our holy Lord avoided persecution, so may we.

Observe, 2. The place in Galilee he comes to, Capernaum. Christ had three cities which he called his own; Nazareth, where he was bred; Bethlehem, where he was born; and Capernaum, where he dwelt: this was a sea-coast town in the bordes of Zabulon and Nephthali.

Observe, 3. The special providence of God in this change of our Saviour’s habitation; for by that means the prophecy, Isa 9:1 was fulfilled, which declares, that in that dark part of the country, the Messiah, the true light, should shine forth.

Learn hence, 1. That a people destitute of the saving knowledge of the gospel are in great darkness, how great soever the light of their outward comforts may be. This people had natural light enough, and civil light enough; they had an abundance of wealth and riches, peace and plenty; but they wanted the light of Christ and his gospel,and therefore are said to sit in darkness.

2. That wherever the gospel is preached amongst a people, it is a light springing up and shining forth among them; quickening and enlivening, reviving and cheering, the souls of those who entertain it, how great soever their outward darkness and distress may be. The people that sat in darkness saw great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up, &c.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 4:12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison Namely, for reproving Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, for taking his brother Philips wife, and for other evils, Mat 14:3-4 : he departed into Galilee Viz., from Judea. This it seems he did, partly to avoid the envy of the Pharisees, Joh 4:3, and partly to encourage Johns disciples, and to continue the preaching interrupted by his confinement, being desirous to improve those good impressions which the ministry of John had made on the minds of the people, and which would not be erased but deepened by the injurious things they saw him suffer. Thus it becomes one messenger of God to carry on the work begun by another. But it is to be observed, that this was not the first, but the second time of Jesuss going into Galilee. Nor did he take this journey immediately upon his temptation; but at some distance of time: viz., after the events had taken place which are recorded in the latter part of the first, and in the second and third chapters of Johns gospel. His first journey from Judea into Galilee is mentioned Joh 1:43; Joh 2:1. Then he went into Judea again, and celebrated the passover at Jerusalem, Joh 2:13. He baptized in Judea, while John was baptizing at Enon, Joh 3:22-23. All this time John was at liberty. But the Pharisees being offended, chap. Mat 4:1, and John put in prison, he then took this journey into Galilee.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

XXVI.

JESUS SETS OUT FROM JUDA FOR GALILEE.

Subdivision A.

REASONS FOR RETIRING TO GALILEE.

aMATT. IV. 12; bMARK I. 14; cLUKE III. 19, 20; dJOHN IV. 1-4.

c19 but Herod the tetrarch [son of Herod the Great, and tetrarch, or governor, of Galilee], being reproved by him [that is, by John the Baptist] for Herodias his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done [A full account of the sin of Herod and persecution of John will be found at Mat 14:1-12, Mar 6:14-29. John had spoken the truth to Herod as fearlessly as to the Pharisees, publicans and soldiers], 20 added this also to them all [the sins of Herod, as a ruler, already outweighed [138] his virtues; (comp. Dan 5:27); but, with reckless abandon, Herod went on, adding to the weighty reasons which justified his condemnation], that he shut up John in prison. [In the fortress at Machrus, east of the Dead Sea, as we learn from Josephus. The duration of the ministry of John the Baptist is variously estimated at from fourteen to eighteen months.] b14 Now after John was delivered up [either delivered up by the people to Herod ( Mat 17:12), or delivered up by Herod himself to the warden of the castle of Machrus ( Luk 12:58), or by Providence to Herod himself– Act 2:23], awhen he [Jesus] heard [he was in Juda when he heard it] that John was delivered up [and], d1 When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John [We saw at Joh 3:26 how the Baptist heard about the number of Jesus’ baptisms, being informed by his jealous friends. Like jealous friends, no doubt, informed the Pharisees. Jesus may have known of this information being given by reason of his supernatural powers, but it is more likely that he heard of it in a natural way] 2 (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples) [Jesus, as divine Lawgiver, instituted baptism, and his disciples administered it. We nowhere hear of the disciples of John administering baptism. In fact, the Baptist, like the disciples of Jesus, baptized under a divine commission, and could not delegate the power to others. It was the office of Jesus to commission others to this work, not to perform it himself. Had he done so, those baptized by him might have foolishly claimed for themselves some peculiar honor by reason thereof ( 1Co 1:14, 1Co 1:15). Jesus was the spiritual baptizer, in which baptism the efficacy lies in the administrant; but water baptism, the efficacy of which lies rather in the spirit of the one baptized than in the virtues of the administrant, Jesus left to his disciples], 3 he left Juda, and departed again {awithdrew bcame} dinto Galilee. [We have in these verses two reasons assigned for the withdrawal of Jesus into Galilee, namely: 1. The imprisonment of John the Baptist [139] 2. Knowledge of the Pharisees that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John. The first gives us the reason why he went to Galilee, the second the reason why he left Juda. Jesus did not go into Galilee through fear of Herod, for Herod was tetrarch of Galilee. The truth is, the absence of John called for the presence of Jesus. The northern part of Palestine was the most fruitful soil for the gospel. During the last six or eight months of John’s ministry we find him in this northern field, preparing it for Christ’s kingdom. While we can not say definitely that John was in Galilee (Bethabara and non being the only two geographical names given), yet he certainly drew his audiences largely from the towns and cities of Galilee. While John occupied the northern, Jesus worked in the southern district of Palestine; but when John was removed, then Jesus turned northward, that he might sow the seed of the kingdom in its most fruitful soil. But if there was a reason why he should go to Galilee, there was an equal reason why he should depart from Juda. His popularity, manifesting itself in the number of his baptisms, was exciting that envy and opposition which caused the rulers of Juda eventually to take the life of Jesus ( Mat 27:18). The Pharisees loved to make proselytes themselves ( Mat 23:15). They no doubt envied John’s popularity, and much more, therefore, would they be disposed to envy Christ. The influence of the Pharisees was far greater in Juda than in Galilee, and the Sanhedrin would readily have arrested Jesus had he remained in Juda ( Joh 7:1, Joh 10:39), and arrest at this time would have marred the work of Jesus. Therefore, since it is neither sinful nor unbecoming to avoid persecution, Jesus retired to Galilee, when he remained until his second passover. By birth a prophet of Juda, he became, in public estimation, by this retirement, a prophet of Galilee. Though Jesus first taught in Juda, the ministry in Galilee so far eclipsed the work in Juda that it was spoken of as the place of beginning ( Luk 23:5, Act 10:37), and prophetically designated as the scene of the divine manifestation– Mat 4:14.] 4 And he must needs pass through Samaria. [The province which [140] took its name from the city of Samaria, and which lay between Juda and Galilee. Owing to the hatred which existed between Jews and Samaritans, many of the Jews went from Jerusalem to Galilee by turning eastward, crossing the Jordan, and passing northward through Pera. This journey required about seven days, while the more direct route, through Samaria, only took three days. Galilans often passed through Samaria on their way to and from the Jerusalem feast (Josephus’ Ant. xx. 6, 1). The arrest of John would scatter his flock of disciples ( Mar 14:27), and Jesus, as chief shepherd ( 1Pe 5:1-4), hastened to Galilee, to gather together those which might else go astray and be lost.]

[FFG 138-141]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

JESUS GOES TO GALILEE

Mat 4:12; Mar 1:14; & Luk 4:14. And after that John was cast into prison, Jesus came unto Galilee. Having entered upon His official Messiahship by purifying the temple at the Passover, and preached to the multitudes gathered on the Temple Campus during the great national feast; delivered that wonderful discourse to Nicodemus at night, the Apostle John bearing witness; and having wrought many miracles of which we have no specification; after the Passover, going out into the country north of the metropolis, He continues to preach and work miracles, His disciples baptizing the people, John the Baptist preaching in Enon near by, so that intercommunication between the audiences springs up, all observing that while Jesus is rapidly rising and magnetizing the multitudes, John is waning, a crisis supervenes, resulting from the arrest of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, and king of Galilee and Perea. Immediately after this, Jesus leaves Judea, and goes away to Galilee, apparently because of Johns arrest and imprisonment lest a similar fate shall overtake Him, and thus interfere with the work which He came to do. We see many judicious precautions adopted by Him at different times in order to prevent the interruption of His ministry till His work is done,

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mat 4:12-17. Jesus Announces the Kingdom in Galilee (Mar 1:14 f.*, Luk 4:14 f.)More precisely than Mk., Mt. gives Johns arrest by Herod Antipas as the reason why Jesus began to preach. Galilee was part of Antipas realm, but it was remote from the scene of Johns work and imprisonment, hence perhaps the word withdrew. Mt. anticipates Jesus settlement at Capernaum in his desire to work in a fulfilment of one of his Messianic testimonia. Galilee (lit. the district) of the nations was a tract in the old tribal territory of Naphtali, which had a large heathen population. It gave its name to the larger (NT) Galilee. Isa 9:1 f.*.

Mat 4:13. Capernaum: either the modern Khn Minyeh or (more probably) Tell Hm, close to the northernmost point of the Lake of Galilee. Cf. p. 29, and Mar 1:21*. Jesus made it his own city (Mat 9:1).

Mat 4:17. From that time: cf. Mat 16:21, where the phrase introduces the period of private instruction to the disciples.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 12

It seems, from John 3:22-26, that Jesus had commenced his public ministry before this time in Judea. He now retired to Galilee, a place of greater seclusion and safety. Galilee was the northern province of Palestine, a retired, mountainous region, far less exposed to tumults and popular commotions than the region of Jerusalem; and it was very probably on this account that Jesus, who was constantly taking precautions to avoid occasioning public excitements, chose it as the scene of ministrations for some time after the imprisonment of John. The narrative of Matthew from Matthew 4:12-20:17, gives an account of the Savior’s journeys, discourses, and miracles among these quiet villages; and then it follows him to the more exciting scenes witnesses towards the close of his life, in Judea and Jerusalem.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

4:12 {2} Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;

(2) When the Herald’s mouth is stopped, the Lord reveals himself and brings full light into the darkness of this world, preaching free forgiveness of sins for those that repent.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

II. THE AUTHORITY OF THE KING 4:12-7:29

Having introduced the King, Matthew next demonstrated the authority of the King. This section includes a narrative introduction to Jesus’ teaching and then His teaching on the subject of His kingdom.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

A. The beginning of Jesus’ ministry 4:12-25

Matthew gave much prominence to Jesus’ teachings in his Gospel. The first of these is the so-called Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7). To prepare the reader for this discourse, the writer gave a brief introduction to Jesus’ ministry (Mat 4:12-25). In it Matthew provided a résumé of His work.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The setting of Jesus’ ministry 4:12-16

Comparison of John’s Gospel and Matthew’s shows that Jesus ministered for about a year before John the Baptist’s arrest. John had criticized Herod Antipas for having an adulterous relationship with his brother Philip’s wife (Mat 14:3-4; Mar 1:14; Luk 3:19-20). Jesus ministered first in Galilee (Joh_1:19 to Joh_2:12) and then in Judea (Joh_2:13 to Joh_3:21). Then He returned to Galilee by way of Samaria (Joh_3:22 to Joh_4:42). Why did Matthew begin his account of Jesus’ ministry with John’s arrest? John’s arrest by Herod signaled the beginning of a new phase of Jesus’ ministry. The forerunner’s work was now complete. It was time for the King to appear publicly.

"In royal protocol the King does not make His appearance in public until the forerunner has finished his work. Matthew, emphasizing the official and regal character of Jesus, follows this procedure exactly." [Note: Toussaint, p. 81. Cf. Johnson, "The Argument . . .," p. 146.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The word "withdrew" (NASB) or "returned" (NIV; Gr. anachoreo) is significant. Evidently Jesus wanted to get away from Israel’s religious leaders in Jerusalem who opposed John (Joh 4:1-3; Joh 5:1-16). It is unlikely that Herod Antipas would have imprisoned John if the religious authorities had supported John. Matthew used the same Greek word, paredothe ("to be taken into custody"), later when he described Jesus’ arrest (Mat 26:15-16; Mat 26:21; Mat 26:23; Mat 26:25; Mat 27:3-4). The religious leaders evidently played a significant role in both arrests.

To Matthew, Galilee had great significance for two reasons. First, it was the place where Isaiah had predicted Messiah would minister (Isa 9:1). Second, since it was an area where many Gentiles lived, it corroborated Messiah’s influence over the nations as well as Israel.

Jesus moved the base of His ministry from Nazareth to Capernaum (Mat 4:13). Matthew described it as he did in view of the prophecy that Jesus’ residence there fulfilled (Mat 4:15-16). This town stood on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee (Mat 14:34). It was the town where Peter, Andrew, James, and John (the fishermen) and Matthew (the tax collector) worked (Mat 8:14; Mat 9:9). Estimates of its population in the first century range from 1,000 to 15,000. [Note: See France, The Gospel . . ., p. 141.]

"If Joseph settled in Nazareth after the return from Egypt (Mat 2:22-23), Jesus now leaves Nazareth and moves to Capernaum (Mat 4:12-13), which becomes ’his own city’ (Mat 9:1). He is thus poised to begin his public ministry." [Note: Kinsgbury, p. 57.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 6

Beginning of His Galilean Ministry – Mat 4:12-25.

DID our Lords ministry begin in Galilee? If so, why did He not Himself set the example of “beginning at Jerusalem?” As a matter of fact we learn from the fourth Gospel that He did begin at Jerusalem; and that it was only after He was rejected there that He changed the scene of His labours to the North. Why then do the three Evangelists not mention this earlier ministry in the South? The answer to this question seems suggested by the stress laid by each of the three on the fact of Johns imprisonment, as giving the date after which Christ commenced His work in the North. Here, for example, {Mat 4:12} it is put thus: “Now when He heard that John was delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee.” Their idea, then, seems to be that the Judean ministry of Christ belonged rather to the closing months of Johns career; and that only after Johns mission, the sphere of which had been mainly in the South, had closed, could the special work of Christ be regarded as having begun.

If we review the facts we shall see how natural and accurate was this view of the case. John was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, to open the door of Jerusalem and Judea for His coming. At first the herald meets with great success. Jerusalem and Judea flock out to him for his baptism. The way seems ready. The door is opened. The Messiah has come; and John has pointed Him out as “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Now the Passover is at hand. People will be gathered together from all parts of the land. What better time for the Lord to come to His temple? And, as we are told in the fourth Gospel, Jesus takes the opportunity, goes up to Jerusalem, enters into the Temple, and at once begins to cleanse it. How is He received? As one whose way has been prepared, whose claims have been duly authenticated by a prophet of the Lord, as all acknowledge John to be? Not at all. Forth step the Temple officials and ask Him by what authority He does these things. He has come unto His own; His own receive Him not. He does not, however, too hastily accept their suicidal refusal to receive Him. He gives them time to think of it. He tarries in the neighbourhood, He and John baptising in the same region; patiently waiting, as it would seem, for signs of relenting on the part of the rulers and Pharisees, -one of whom, indeed, has come by night and made inquiries; and who can tell what the result will be-whether this Nicodemus may not be able to win the others over, so that after all there will be waiting for the King the welcome He ought to have, and which He is well entitled to expect after the reception given to His herald? But no: the impression of Johns preaching and baptism is wearing off: the hardness of heart returns, and passes into positive bitterness, which reaches such a height that at last Herod finds the tide so turned that he can hazard what a few months before would have been the foolhardy policy of seizing John and shutting him in prison. So ends the mission of John-beginning with largest hope, ending in cruellest disappointment.

The early Judean ministry of Christ, then, as related by St. John, may be regarded as the opportunity which Christ gave to the nation, as represented by the capital and the Temple, to follow out the mission of John to its intended issue-an opportunity which the leaders of the nation wasted and threw away, and which therefore came to nothing. Hence it is that the three Evangelists, without giving any of the details which were afterwards supplied by St. John, sum up the closing months of the forerunners ministry in the one fact which suggests all, that John was silenced, and shut up in prison. We see, then, that though Jesus did in a sense commence His work in Galilee, He did not do so until He had first given the authorities of the city and the Temple the opportunity of having it begin, as it would seem most natural that it should have begun, in the centre of the old kingdom.

But though it was His treatment in the South which was the immediate cause of this withdrawal to the North and the beginning of the establishment of the new kingdom there, yet this was no unforeseen contingency-this too was anticipated in the prophetic page, for herein was fulfilled the word of Isaiah the prophet, spoken long ago of this same northern land: “The land of Zabulon and the land of Nepthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”

It is the old story over again. No room in the inn, so He must be born in a manger; no safety in Judea, so He must be carried to Egypt; no room for Him in His own capital and His Fathers house, so He must away to the country, the uttermost part of the land, which men despised, the very speech of which was reckoned barbarous in the polite ears of the metropolitans, a region which was scarce counted of the land at all, being known as “Galilee of the Gentiles,” a portion of the country which had been overrun more than any other by the foreign invader, and therefore known as “the region and shadow of death”; here it is that the new light will arise, the new power be first acknowledged, and the new blessing first enjoyed one of the many illustrations of the Lords own saying, “Many of the last shall be first, and the first last.”

Here, then, our Lord begins the work of setting up His kingdom. He takes up the same message which had seemed to return void to its preacher in the South. John had come saying, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The people of the South had seemed to repent; and the kingdom seemed about to come in the ancient capital. But the repentance was only superficial: and though it still remained true that the kingdom was at hand, it was not to begin in Jerusalem.

So, in the new, and. to human appearance, far less promising field in the North, the work must be begun afresh; and now the same stirring words are ringing in Galilee, as rang a few months before in Judea: “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

It is now in fact close at hand. It is interesting to note its first beginnings. “And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. And going on from thence He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him.”

Observe in the first place that, though John is in prison, and to all human appearance failure has been written on the work of his life, the failure is only seeming. The multitudes that had been stirred by his preaching have relapsed into their old indifference, but there are a few whose souls have been permanently touched to finer issues. They are not of the lordly Pharisees or of the brilliant Sadducees; they cannot even claim to be metropolitans: they are poor Galilean fishermen: but they gave heed when the prophet pointed them to the Lamb of God, the Messiah that was to come; and though they had only spent a short time in His company, yet golden links had been forged between them; they had heard the Shepherds voice: had fully recognised His Kingly claims; and so were ready, waiting for the word of command. Now it comes. The same Holy One of Nazareth is walking by the shores of their lake. He has been proclaiming His kingdom, as now at last beginning; and, though the manner of its establishment is so entirely different from anything to which their thoughts have been accustomed in the past, their confidence in Him is such that they raise no doubt or question. Accordingly, when they see Him coming alone and unattended, without any of the trappings or the suits of royalty, without any badge or sign of office, with a simple word of command, – a word of command, moreover, which demanded of them the sacrifice of all for His sake, the absolute trusting of themselves and all their future to His guidance and care, -they do not hesitate for a single moment; but first Andrew and Simon his brother, and a little further on James and John his brother, straightway leave nets, father, friends, home, everything, and follow Him.

Such was the first exercise of the royal authority of the new King. Such was the constitution of His-Cabinet shall we call it?-or of His Kingdom itself, shall we not rather say? for, so far as we can see, His cabinet at this moment was all the kingdom that he had. Let us here pause a moment and try to realise the picture painted for us in that grey morning time of what we now call the Christian Era. Suppose some of our artists could reproduce the scene for us: in the background the lake with the deserted boats upon the shore, old Zebedee with a half sad, half bewildered look upon his face, wondering what was happening, trying to imagine what he would do without his sons, and what his sons would do without him and the boat and the nets; and, in the foreground, the five men walking along, four of them without the least idea of where they were going or of what they had to do. Or suppose that, instead of having a picture of it now, with all the light that eighteen centuries have shed upon it, we could transport ourselves back to the very time and stand there on the very spot and see the scene with our own eyes; and suppose that we were told by some bystander, That man of the five that looks like the leader of the rest thinks himself a king: he imagines he has been sent to set up a kingdom of Heaven upon the earth; and he has just asked these other four to join him, and there they are, setting out upon their task. What should we have thought? If we had had only flesh and blood to consult with, we should have thought the whole thing supremely ridiculous; we should have expected to see the four men back to their boats and nets again in a few days, sadder but wiser men. How far Zebedee had a spiritually enlightened mind we dare not say; perhaps he was as willing that his sons should go, as they were to go; but if he was, it could not have been flesh and blood that revealed it to him; he as well as his sons must have felt the power of the Spirit that was in Christ.

But if he did not at all understand it or believe in it, we can fancy him saying to the two young men when they left: “Go off now, if you like; you will be back again in a few days, and foolish as you have been, your old father will be glad to take you into his boat again.”

It is worth while for us to try to realise what happened in its veriest simplicity; for we have read the story so often, and are so thoroughly familiar with it, that we are apt to miss its marvel, to fail to recognise that it is perhaps the most striking illustration in all history of the apostles statement, “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, that no flesh should glory in His presence,”

Where was ever a weaker thing in this world than the beginning of this kingdom? It would be difficult to imagine any commencement that would have seemed weaker in worldly eyes. Stand by once again and look at it with only human eyes; say, is it not all weakness together?-weakness in the leader to imagine He can set up a kingdom after such a fashion, weakness in the followers to leave a paying business on such a fools errand. But “the foolishness of God is wiser than men: and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” And now that we look back upon that scene, we recognise it as one of the grandest this earth has ever witnessed. If it were painted now, what light must there be in the Leaders eye, what majesty in His step, what glory of dawning faith and love and hope in the faces of the rest-it must needs be a picture of Sunrise, or it would be utterly unworthy of the theme!

Now follow them: where will they go, and what will they do? Will they take arms and call to arms the countryside? Then march on Jerusalem and take the throne of David, and thence to Rome and snatch from Caesar the sceptre of the world? “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Teaching-preaching-healing: these were the methods for setting up the kingdom. “Teaching”-this was the new light; “preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom” – this was the new power, power not of the sword but of the Word, the power of persuasion, so that the people will yield themselves willingly or not at all, for there is to be not a shadow of constraint, not the smallest use of force or compulsion, not the slightest interference with human freedom in this new kingdom; and “healing,”-this is to be the great thing; this is what a sick world wants, this is what souls and bodies of men alike are crying out for-“healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Heavenly light, heavenly power, heavenly healing-these are the weapons of the new warfare: these the regalia of the new kingdom. “And the report of Him went forth into all Syria; and they brought unto Him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with devils, and epileptic, and palsied; and He healed them” (R.V). Call to mind, for a moment, how in the extremity of hunger He would not use one fraction of the entrusted power for His own behoof. “Himself He cannot save.” But see how He saves others. No stinting now of the heavenly power; it flows in streams of blessing: “They brought unto Him all that were sick and He healed them.”

It is daybreak on the shores of Galilee. The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary