Matthew 4:13

"Now when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee."

Key Reflection

When Jesus heard that John the Baptist, his close associate and precursor in ministry, had been arrested by Herod Antipas, he withdrew into Galilee. This action was significant as it marked a turning point; the original audience would have understood that Jesus was stepping away from Judea, where John's imprisonment had placed him under scrutiny. By moving to Galilee, Jesus avoided direct confrontation with Roman and Herodian authorities while continuing his mission among people who were not yet aware of his identity as the Messiah.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Verse 13. Leaving Nazareth. Because his townsmen cast him out, and rejected him. See Lu 4:14-30. Came and dwelt in Capernaum. This was a city on the north-west corner of the sea of Tiberias. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but is repeatedly in the Gospels. Though it was once a city of renown, and the metropolis of all Galilee, the site it occupied is now uncertain. When Mr. Fisk, an American missionary, travelled in Syria in 1823, he found twenty or thirty uninhabited Arab huts, occupying what are supposed to be the ruins of the once exalted city of Capernaum. In this place, and its neighbourhood, Jesus spent no small part of the three years of his public ministry.

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