Move to Capernaum

34 – Move to Capernaum; Matthew 4:13-16

Matthew 4:13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

15

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

[a]By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the [b]Gentiles—

16

“The 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.”

Footnotes

a. Matthew 4:15 Or Toward the sea

b. Matthew 4:15 Lit nations, usually non-Jewish

Commentary

The book of Matthew omits some of the early Judean ministry contained in other gospel accounts, and it transitions quickly from Jesus’s baptism and temptation to Jesus’s ministry in Capernaum, which is where Matthew first met Jesus. This seems natural to me, given that Matthew would be inclined to retell events he had personally witnessed, more than those he had heard second-hand.

This passage begins with the phrase “and leaving Nazareth,” so I want to camp out there for just a moment. Remember that the verse immediately before this passage is Matthew 4:12 “Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee;” and the beginning of verse 13 tells us He stopped in Nazareth during His journey and continued on to Capernaum. The original text uses a verb in verse 12, which we translate as “withdrew”, but which connotes fleeing from a dangerous situation. It is the same original verb used in Matthew 2:12 when the magi leave by a different route, as well as when Jesus’s parents flee to Egypt in verse 2:14, and when they relocate to Galilee after another warning from the angel in verse 2:22. Jesus also does this same type of withdrawing later in his life in Matthew 12:15 when He is threatened by the Pharisees, as well as in verse 14:13, after He hears John has been killed (https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=25). I think we can all appreciate that when we’re nervous for our safety or well-being, the first place we often want to go is home, where we have people who will love and protect us and we know all the routes and landmarks. From His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus could develop a plan and move on.

There is a passage in Luke 4:16-30 that seems as though it could have occurred during that Nazareth visit, which would mean the stopover was a little more than ‘passing through’, but the content of the Luke passage is so similar to other passages in Matthew 13:54-58 and Mark 6:1-6 that I’m going to treat them as the same event and look at them all later on. If, on the other hand, the Lukan event did occur during this interval, Jesus also found Himself in danger in Nazareth (the people in the synagogue tried to throw Him off a cliff). Whether He left Nazareth for safety reasons or if He simply used His stop in Nazareth to decide where to go next, He may have made His way on to Capernaum because He would enjoy some political protection there, after having healed the nobleman’s son, which we just studied last week in the passage from John 4:46-54. Additionally, word of Jesus’s healing miracle, especially when supported by a person of such importance as that royal official, would have spread through Capernaum and made the town ripe and excited for Jesus’s message.

As far as Jesus’s withdrawal into Galilee, in previous studies we have discussed how there was some amount of shock and surprise that Jesus would have been from Galilee (or even spent significant time there) because it was a melting pot of so many races and was commonly believed to be a place occupied by political outlaws and revolutionaries. The Old Testament passage Matthew cites above is from Isaiah and is reminiscent of a previous study we did when we looked at “Galilee of the Nations” and how that was often a derogatory term because, due to the wide variety of inhabitants and travelers of various tribes, there was no identifiable culture there. However, as we can see from the passage in Isaiah 9:1-2, the ancient prophet had foretold that Galilee would see a great light. If the Judeans still scorned Galilee in Jesus’s day, it was only because they were so blinded by their current cultural bias that they neglected their study of the prophets. Maybe this is why Jesus repeatedly reads scripture in synagogues and illuminates its meaning for His audiences during His ministry. Similar to today, people may have been choosing which parts of the scriptures they would accept literally and which ones they would rather treat as metaphorical or mysterious, and He wanted to remind them of how they had misunderstood or hardened their hearts to the scriptures.

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2019/08/30/call-of-the-four/

Scripture References

Verse 13

Matthew 9:1 Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town.

Matthew 11:23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

Mark 1:21 Then Jesus and His companions went to Capernaum, and as soon as the Sabbath began, Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach.

Mark 2:1 A few days later, Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard He was home,

Luke 4:23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in Your hometown what we have heard that You did in Capernaum.'”

Luke 4:31 Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people.

Luke 10:15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades!

John 2:12 After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

John 4:46 So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.

Verse 15

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way to the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:

Matthew 4:25 The large crowds that followed Him came from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

Verse 16

Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way to the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:

Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

Luke 1:79 to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Luke 2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”