SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/20/2020
8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Right Place”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
4:12b-16
Message of the verses: “He withdrew into
Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by
the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill
what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND
THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE
GENTILES- 16 “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND TO
THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT
DAWNED.’”
We
want to talk about the area of Galilee during the Roman occupation of The Holy
Land as this is important to understand because this is where Jesus would live
and minister for much of His time on earth.
This region is about sixty miles long, north to south, and then about
thirty miles wide. We know that the Sea
of Galilee was in this area and the most populated area there was near the Sea
of Galilee. There is estimation that
this area around the sea had around two million people living there. Now the soil was extremely fertile and the
sea (lake) furnished a great quantity of fish that could be eaten. One thing that I did not know before I began
to study this section is that the Jewish historian Josephus was the governor of
Galilee and he stated “It is throughout rich in soil and pasture, producing
every variety of tree, and inviting by its productivity everywhere productive’
(The Wars of the Jews 3. 3. 2).
One
of the things that I learned is that in Galilee the Jews who lived there were
not as sophisticated and traditional than those in Judea, and especially those
in the great metropolis of Jerusalem.
More from Josephus who observed that Galileans “were fond of innovations
and by nature disposed to change, and they delighted in seditions.” We know from one of Peter’s denials for Jesus
that the Galileans had a different accent in their speech. MacArthur adds “Perhaps Jesus chose His
disciples from that area because they would be less bound to Jewish tradition
and more open to the newness of the gospel.”
We
know from Luke’s writing that Jesus was in Nazareth for a while. Luke explains that after Jesus came from
Judea through Samaria, that ‘He returned to Nazareth, where He had been brought
up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood
up to read’ (Luke 4:14, 16). Luke’s
story goes on as Jesus would read from the book of Isaiah and when He said that
the Scripture that He was reading was fulfilled in Him, the hometown crowd had
trouble believing it because they saw Him grow up, and knew His family, but
nevertheless it was all true of Him. “18 “THE
SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO
THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF
SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE
FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’” They then
tried to kill Him, but that was not going to happen until the time was right,
the time which we spoke of yesterday in that Spiritual Diary.
Next
we read after His hometown rejection “He came and settled in Capernaum, which
is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.” It is possible that the village of Capernaum
was name after the prophet Nahum for that is what Capernaum means (village of
Nahum). The word Nahum means “compassion,”
and thus it may mean that the town simply had been named for its compassionate
people. When Jesus lived there Capernaum
was a thriving and prosperous city.
Matthew who pens this gospel had his tax office there as seen in Matthew
9:9. There is little there today with
the exception of the synagogue that has been dug out and redone along with a
house that some think was Peter’s house.
This all happened because of the cruses that Jesus spoke to them
about. Capernaum had the wonderful
experience of having Jesus live there for a long period of time as it was the
headquarters of His Galilean ministry, and yet they truly did not benefit from
Him living there in there midst.
In
closing I will quote one paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew: “As we learn from Matthew’s quotation of
Isaiah 9:1 in verse 15, ‘the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the
sea, beyond the Jordon,’ had long been known as ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ (ethnoi, heathen, or nations). All of Galilee was ancient Phoenicians to the
west. It was more of a crossroads than
Jerusalem, which was isolated from much trade traffic. A famous trade route was actually known as ‘the
way of the sea.’ It went through ‘Galilee’
on its way from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and then down to
Egypt. One ancient writer said that
Judea was on the way to nowhere, whereas Galilee was on the way to
everywhere. The Galilean Jews’ constant
association with Gentiles contributed greatly to their non-traditional
character.”
As
we study the life of Christ through the different gospels I believe that it is
good to study things like are written by MacArthur’s last paragraph in order to
better understand more about Jesus Christ.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Learning about the different places that
Jesus lived and ministered makes Him feel much more real to me. It has always been my desire to visit Israel
to see where Jesus walked and lived as people who did this say it makes the
Bible come alive to them much more than just reading it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to
learn some things that my son spoke of as he spoke of his grandpa at his
funeral and said “If you don’t forgive you can’t love. If you can’t love, you can’t mourn, and if
you do not mourn you will never heal.”
Learning all of these things will certainly make me a better follower of
Jesus Christ. Humility is also on the
list of things to learn, along with asking the Lord to give me a joyful
experience as I study His Word.
2/20/2020 9:24 AM
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