“And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.”
And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. The summary of Jesus' following anticipates what the gospel will develop: crowds from every direction, from every territory — Galilee, the ten Gentile cities of the Decapolis, Jerusalem and Judea, and Transjordan. The gathering from all these regions corresponds to the Isaiah 9 text Matthew cited: the light that dawned on Galilee of the Gentiles is drawing people from every corner of the Jewish world and beyond. What begins as a walk by the Sea of Galilee and the calling of four fishermen has already produced a following that spans the territory. The kingdom has arrived; the question posed by chapters 5–7 is what kind of community the kingdom creates.
Church Fathers on Matthew 4:25
Kings, when about to go to war with their enemies, first gather an army, and so go out to battle; thus the Lord when about to war against the Devil, first collected Apostles, and then began to preach the Gospel.
An example of life for doctors; that they should not be inactive, they are instructed in these words, 'And Jesus went about.'
[ed. note: A passage is here inserted in Nicolai’s edition which is not in the original. It is of no doctrinal importance.] By which too He shewed the Jews that He came not as an enemy of God, or a seducer of souls, but as consenting with his Father.
Read all 24 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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