Matthew 4:12-22

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 (Matthew 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. (Matthew 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” (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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’ (Matthew 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 (Matthew 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 (Matthew 4:24).

a And there followed Him great crowds from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and from beyond the Jordan (Matthew 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 (Isaiah 42:7; Isaiah 49:9; Isaiah 45:13; Isaiah 49:25; Isaiah 61:1). It should be noted that we have now entered the special section where citations from Isaiah as a named prophet are central (Matthew 3:3; Matthew 4:14; Matthew 8:17; Matthew 12:17; Matthew 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’.