XXXIII.
JESUS MAKES A PREACHING TOUR
THROUGH GALILEE.
aMATT. IV. 23-25; bMARK
I. 35-39; cLUKE IV. 42-44.
b35 And in the morning,
a great while before day, he rose up went out [i. e., from the
house of Simon Peter], and departed into a desert place, and
there prayed. [Though Palestine was densely populated, its people were
all gathered into towns, so that it was usually easy to find solitude outside
the city limits. A ravine near Capernaum, called the Vale of Doves, would
afford such solitude. Jesus taught (Matt. vi. 6) and practiced solitary
prayer. We can commune with God better when alone than when in the company
of even our dearest friends. It is a mistaken notion that one can pray
equally well at all times and in all places. Jesus being in all things
like men, except that he was sinless (Heb. ii. 17), must have found prayer
a real necessity. He prayed as a human being. Several reasons for this
season of prayer are suggested, from which we select two: 1. It was a safeguard
against the temptation to vainglory induced by the unbounded admiration
and praise of the multitude whom he had just healed. 2. It was a fitting
preparation on the eve of his departure on his first missionary tour.]
c42 And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert
place. [Mark has in mind the season when Jesus sought the Father in
prayer, and so he tells us it was "a great while before day." Luke has
in mind the hour when Jesus faced and spoke to the multitude, so he says,
"When it was day."] b36
And Simon. [As head of the house which Jesus had just left, Simon naturally
acted as leader and guide to the party which sought Jesus] and they
that were with him [they who were stopping in Simon's house; viz.:
Andrew, James, and John] followed after him [172] [literally,
"pursued after him." Xenophon uses this word to signify the close pursuit
of an enemy in war. Simon had no hesitancy in obtruding on the retirement
of the Master. This rushing after Jesus in hot haste accorded with his
impulsive nature. The excited interest of the people seemed to the disciples
of Jesus to offer golden opportunities, and they could not comprehend his
apparent indifference to it]; 37 and they
found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee. [The disciples saw
a multitude seeking Jesus for various causes: some to hear, some for excitement,
some for curiosity. To satisfy the people seemed to them to be Christ's
first duty. Jesus understood his work better than they. He never encouraged
those who sought through mere curiosity or admiration (John vi. 27). Capernaum
accepted the benefit of his miracles, but rejected his call to repentance--Matt.
xi. 23.] 38 And he saith unto them,
Let us go elsewhere into the next towns [the other villages of Galilee],
that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth. [I.
e., I came forth from the Father (John xvi. 28) to make and preach
a gospel. His disciples failed to understand his mission. Afterwards preaching
was with the apostles the all-important duty--Acts vi. 2; I. Cor. i. 17.]
cand the multitudes sought him after him, and came unto him,
and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them. [They would
have selfishly kept his blessed ministries for their own exclusive enjoyment.]
43 But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom
of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent. [Jesus sought
to arouse the entire nation. That which the disciples regarded as a large
work in Capernaum was consequently in his sight a very small one. Those
who understand that it is God's will and wish to save every man that lives
upon the earth will not be overelated by a successful revival in some small
corner of the great field of labor.]
b39 And he aJesus went about in all Gailiee [The
extreme length of Galilee was about sixty-three miles, and its extreme
width about thirty-three miles. Its average [173] dimensions
were about fifty by twenty-five miles. It contained, according to Josephus,
two hundred and forty towns and villages. Its population at that time is
estimated at about three millions. Lewin calculates that this circuit of
Galilee must have occupied four or five months. The verses of this paragraph
are, therefore, a summary of the work and influence of Jesus during the
earlier part of his ministry. They are a general statement, the details
of which are given in the subsequent chapters of the Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke--the Gospel of John dealing more particularly with the work
in Judæa], binto their synagogues throughout
all Galilee, ateaching in their synagogues [The word "synagogue"
is compounded of the two Greek words "sun," together, and "ago,"
to collect. It is, therefore, equivalent to our English word "meeting-house."
Tradition and the Targums say that these Jewish houses of worship existed
from the earliest times. In proof of this assertion Deut. xxxi. 11 and
Ps. lxxiv. 8 are cited. But the citations are insufficient, that in Deuteronomy
not being in point, and the seventy-fourth Psalm being probably written
after the Babylonian captivity. It better accords with history to believe
that the synagogue originated during the Babylonian captivity, and was
brought into the motherland by the returning exiles. Certain it is that
the synagogue only came into historic prominence after the books of the
Old Testament were written. At the time of our Saviour's ministry synagogues
were scattered all over Palestine, and also over all quarters of the earth
whither the Jews had been dispersed. Synagogues were found in very small
villages, for wherever ten "men of leisure," willing and able to devote
themselves to the service of the synagogue, were found, a synagogue might
be erected. In the synagogues the people met together on the Sabbaths to
pray, and to listen to the reading of the portions of the Old Testament,
and also to hear such instruction or exhortation as might be furnished.
With the permission of the president of the synagogue any one who was fitted
might deliver an address. Thus the synagogues furnished Jesus (and in later
times his disciples also) with a congregation [174] and
a suitable place for preaching. We find that on week days Jesus often preached
in the open air. But the synagogues are thus particularly mentioned, probably,
because in them were held the most important services, because they were
necessary during the rainy and cold season, and because their use shows
that as yet the Jewish rulers had not so prejudiced the public mind as
to exclude Jesus from the houses of worship], and preaching the
gospel of the kingdom, band casting out demons [Mark singles
out this kind of miracle as most striking and wonderful], aand
healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people.
24 And the report of him went forth into all Syria [caravans passing
through Galilee back and forth between the Mediterranean seaports on the
west and the Persian cities on the east, and between Damascus on the north
and Egypt on the south, would carry the reports concerning Jesus far and
wide]: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with
divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and
palsied; and he healed them. [Thus, by his actions, Jesus showed that
the kingdom of God had come. The wonders of Moses were mostly miracles
of judgment, those of Jesus were acts of compassion. The diseases here
enumerated are still among the most difficult for physicians to handle.
The term "palsy" included all forms of paralysis, catalepsy, and cramps.]
25 And there followed him great multitudes [these popular demonstration,
no doubt, intensified the erroneous notion of his disciples that the kingdom
of Jesus was to be one of worldly grandeur] from Galilee and Decapolis
[Decapolis is formed from the two Greek words "deka," ten, and "polis,"
city. As a geographical term, Decapolis refers to that part of Syria lying
east, southeast, and south of the Lake of Galilee. There is some doubt
as to which were the ten cities named, for there seem at times to have
been fourteen of them. Those commonly reckoned are 1. Damascus. 2. Philadelphia.
3. Raphana. 4. Sycthopolis. 5. Gadara. 6. Hyppos. 7. Dion. 8. Pella. 9.
Galas. 10. Kanatha. The [175] other four are
Abila and Kanata (distinct from Kanatha), Cæsarea Philippi, and Gergesa.
None of these were in Galilee save Sycthopolis. According to Ritter, these
cities were colonized principally by veterans from the army of Alexander
the Great. A reminiscence of their Macedonian origin is found in the fact
that there was a city named Pella in Macedonia. These cities are said to
have been formed into a confederacy by Pompey the Great. In the time of
Jesus they were chiefly inhabited by Greeks or heathens, and not by Jews.
Josephus expressly calls Gadara and Hyppos Greek cities] and Jerusalem
and Judæa and from beyond the Jordan. [The land beyond
Jordan was called Peræa, which means "beyond." According to Josephus,
it included territory between the cities of Pella on the north and Machærus
on the south. That is to say, its northern boundary began on the Jordan
opposite the southern line of Galilee, and its southern boundary was at
Moab, about the middle of the east shore of the Dead Sea.]
c44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
[FFG 172-176]
