The Light Commences To Shine, And The Messiah Prepares For World Conquest Through the Word (4:12-22).
Having determined His future course Jesus wastes no time in putting it into effect. But the death of John further determines Him to continue His work in Galilee, while His move from Nazareth to Capernaum lifts Him out of a place of relative obscurity into a more central part where there were more people. It may also indicate the feelings in Nazareth against Him (see Mark 6:1-6; Luke 4:16-30) but if so Matthew does not wish to draw attention to it. And Matthew recognises that this work in Galilee was just what the Scriptures had said would happen, and that it links Him with the prophecies of Isaiah, and especially with the promise of the Coming King in Isaiah 9:2-7.
From now on Jesus proclaims that the Kingly Rule of Heaven is present and available to those whose hearts are changed by turning to God from sin. And He demonstrates the way that lies ahead by calling four laymen, ‘ordinary people', who are to become ‘fishers of men'. It is through ordinary people that His work is now to go forward. Then after this He continues His preaching ministry and fulfils what was expected of the Coming One, in the healing of the sick, and the casting out of evil spirits (see Matthew 11:4-5). His way ahead was now clear. His Messiahship is being revealed by example if not openly by name.
As with Mark and Luke, Matthew ignores Jesus' earlier ministry in Judaea alongside John the Baptiser. He may well have known little about it for it was before he was called. But whether he did or not it was not considered important for his portrayal of Jesus, for that had been the continuation of John's ministry and not Jesus' own. It had been a time of waiting prior to the commencement of Jesus' unique ministry. None of the evangelists were interested in just providing a history, and Matthew especially concentrates on Galilee (compare chapter 28). While sticking to the facts they all wanted to bring out Who Jesus was. And that was only fully revealed when He began His own ministry.
Matthew's specific emphasis should be noted. Here Jesus withdraws to Galilee and He is not seen again as entering Judaea until Matthew 19:1, where He is followed by great crowds, presumably from Galilee. Then we read of the opposition of the Pharisees (Matthew 19:3-12), the response to Him of little children (Matthew 19:13-15), and the cold shoulder given to Him by the rich (Matthew 19:16-30). And from then on He is going up to Jerusalem to die (Matthew 20:17-28). So to Matthew Judaea and Jerusalem are not places of profitable ministry. He wants men's minds to be concentrated on the free air of Galilee away from the centres where the Chief Priests and Rabbis hold sway. And that is where he again takes us in his resurrection narrative (Matthew 28:6-20). For, as a Christian Jew, and aware of its grip and its ability to stifle true spirituality, he does not want Jewish Christians to feel too bound to Jerusalem.
(As John's Gospel makes clear Jesus did year by year attend regularly at Jerusalem for some of the major feasts, especially the Passover, along with many Galileans. It would have been unusual had He not, as a pious Jew, done so. But Matthew does not consider that these visits were worthy of mention. They were not seen as an essential part of His ministry).
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'.