• John’s arrest prompted a change in Jesus’ life (4:12-13). John was the last of the prophets as well as the first of the gospel preachers. He was a transition character much as Samuel was. Jesus left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali (4:13).
• Jesus’ move to Capernaum fulfilled prophesy (4:14-16)
→ Capernaum was an ethnically mixed community of 15,000 to 20,000 people. It lay on a political border, had a tax office, and served as an outpost for a detachment of Herod’s troops. It lay near the mouth of the Jordan River and possessed a fishing industry.
→ “The old tribal lands of Zebulun and Naphtali were the first chunks of Israelite territory to be sallowed by Tiglath-Pileser III and reorganized as Assyrian provinces (732 B.C.), 10 years before the rest of Israel was subjugated. Isaiah proclaimed that the first territories to feel God’s wrath would also be the first to enjoy salvation at the birth of the messianic king (Isa. 9:1-7)” (Smith, 68).
• Jesus’ move to Capernaum fulfilled prophesy (4:14-16)
4:15 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES–
4:16 “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” (cf. Isa. 9:1-7).
• Jesus began to preach (4:17)
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:17b).
→ This statement is the nucleus of Jesus’ message.
→ Jesus’ words indicate that the kingdom would be brought about through Him.
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