12 John had been put in prison. When Jesus heard about this, he returned to Galilee. 13 Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. It was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 In that way, what the prophet Isaiah had said came true. He had said,
15 “Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Galilee, where Gentiles live!
Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
16 The people who are now living in darkness
have seen a great light.
They are now living in a very dark land.
But a light has shined on them.”
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach. “Turn away from your sins!” he said. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Read Matthew 4:12-17 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
I am fascinated by number of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in His lifetime, but not only the prophecies themselves, but also by what a number of these prophecies tell us about Jesus. In this passage, Matthew brings us to pay attention to a prophecy that the other gospel writers chose not to include, but in the words of this prophecy, a phrase jumped off the page at me that tells all of us more about God and His character.
In the middle of Matthew quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, in the middle of verse 15, we read the phrase, “Galilee, where Gentiles live!” Taken by itself, this doesn’t really seem all that significant. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, and started His ministry in the Galilee region.
But let’s look a little closer. This phrase tells us Galilee was “where Gentiles live”. Now I don’t know if the Jews had segregated their nation into only being accepting to Gentiles in certain regions, or if they blocked Gentiles from trade or travel in other parts of the country. This is unlikely.
What is more likely, is that Galilee was one of the more secular parts of the country and that it was inhabited by a greater number of Gentiles than Jews. The demographics may have shown that there were a greater number of Gentiles living in that region, or maybe that there was closer to a 50-50 split of Jews and Gentiles. Or perhaps the numbers still favored the Jews, but this was the area of Israel that contained the highest percentage of Gentiles when compared with the other areas in the country.
I don’t know the demographics, but I do know what this prophecy says about the reputation of Galilee: it was where Gentiles lived.
So what makes this so special?
Jesus, who came as God’s Messiah, chose to center the first parts of His ministry in a place where Gentiles lived. It is as though Jesus is saying that He values Gentiles as much as He values Jews, and that He came for both groups of people. While this didn’t sit well with the popular view of the Messiah at the time, it speaks loudly and clearly to us about where Jesus placed His focus.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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