Shroro

The Syriac Orthodox Christian Digest - May, 2005

Bible Study - Commentaries
Verse 4:11-13

from Kaniyamparmabil Achen, the Great Teacher of Malankara

Verse 4:11 “Behold, angels came and ministered to Him”

Some people teach that the devil did not approach him directly. Instead the testing was through our Lords thoughts. This verse shows that this is not correct. The church fathers say that since the angels came for real, so did the devil. Combine this with Luke 22:43, where angel came to strengthen Him. Though angels are spirit beings (Psalm 104:4; Hebrews 1:4), they can appear in human form and can talk (Gen 19:1; Gen 3:2; Numbers 22:22-31; Judges 2:1, 6:11, 22:13, 3:6; 1 Chronicles 21:16,20; Mathew 1:20; Luke 1:26; John 20:12; Acts 7:30, 12:7,8).

Each passage Jesus quoted back to Satan in this section which comes from Deuteronomy chapters 6 and 8. Since there was no one near our Lord during these testing times, we can guess that our Lord Himself told this to the Apostles. 

V 12- 17: In Capernaum, the first Galilean ministry. (Ref: Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14-15)

Verse 4:12 “heard that John was delivered up”

John the Baptist was imprisoned at “fortress of Machaerus" (Antiq., 18, 5, 2) by Hedrod Antipas. The reason why he was imprisoned is in Mathew 3:3-12. 

“He retired to Galilee”

The same forces that persecuted John would have persecuted the one John witnessed to. John Chrisostom says, “we should not jump into dangers and if we are in a danger, we should tolerate it as a man”. 

Galilee, an area of about 60 by 30 miles, was west of Palestine. It is bordered by Sea of Galilee in the east and Syrian in the Northeast. Josephus says that there were some 204 villages with none having less than 15,000 people. The people were brave and quick decision makers. The way of the sea from Damascus to Egypt was through Galilee.

Verse 4:13 “came and dwelt in Capernaum, by the side of the sea, on the confines of Zebulon and Naphthali.”

When Israelites came here first this area was given to Asher, Zebulon and Naphthali tribes. From BC 200 onwards, it came under Syrians, Assyrians, etc. In BC 164, Simon Maccabee drove Syrian out and by B.C 104 took complete control of these regions. Since Romans had built forts and others structures, it had a significant Roman and Greek population.

Capernaum:
It is a city on the northern banks of Sea of Galilee (Gannasareth Lake). Maglana is just south of this city. South of this is Thiberiayas. Many traders traveled through this city. This was a gambling center and a Roman military center, too (Mathew 4:13; 8:15; 11:23; 17:24). Our Lord traveled though this city many times.

Galilee of the Gentiles: 
Galilee is divided into two, Galilee of Jews and Galilee of Gentiles. This division started from the time of Solomon. Solomon gave 20 towns to Herom the king of Tire for helping Solomon build the Jerusalem temple (1 Kings 9:11). This place is referred to as Galilee of Gentiles.

[Translator: Lord began His ministry of Light in the Gentile area of Galilee - not in Jewish Jerusalem to the south. Paul asserts "salvation has come to the Gentiles (Roman 11:11)] 

Maps:
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/capernam.htm
http://www.bibleplaces.com/capernaum.htm