“And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:”
And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus moves from Nazareth — where he had grown up and would be rejected (Luke 4:28–30) — to Capernaum on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum becomes his base of ministry, the city Matthew 9:1 will call his own city. The geographical specificity — the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali — matches the fulfillment citation of verses 14–16: Isaiah had named these exact territories as the ones who would first see the light. Matthew is showing that Jesus' residential choice is itself a fulfillment of prophecy, that even the details of his domestic geography are part of the pattern of the coming kingdom.
Church Fathers on Matthew 4:13
Matthew having related the forty days' fast, the temptation of Christ, and the ministry of Angels, proceeds, 'Jesus having heard that John was cast into prison.'
By God without doubt, for none can effect any thing against a holy man, unless God deliver him up. 'He withdrew into Galilee,' that is, out of Judaea; both that He might reserve His passion to the fit time, and that He might set us an example of flying from danger.
It is not blameworthy not to throw one’s self into peril, but when one has fallen into it, not to endure manfully. He departed from Judaea both to soften Jewish animosity, and to fulfil a prophecy, seeking moreover to fish for those masters of the world who dwelt in Galilee.
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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