Matthew 4:12

New Catholic Bible

Footnotes

1. Matthew 4:12 By action and word Jesus inaugurates the kingdom of heaven. The phrase means the kingdom of God, but, like the Jews of his time, Matthew avoids naming God and says, instead, “heaven.” This kingdom or reign is a power that will continue to make its way into the world from now on. Jesus begins his activity in Galilee, a northern province, which some, thinking of Isa 8:23 and 9:1, regarded as the Messiah’s land. It was a region in which different populations and religions lived side by side. The faithful followers of Yahweh, who were pretty much cut off from Jerusalem and its temple, gathered in the synagogues. Different populations, even in the pagan Decapolis (a confederation of ten independent Greek cities, beyond the Jordan), acknowledge the Messiah.
2. Matthew 4:12 John had been arrested: after John’s arrest (v. 12), Jesus makes Capernaum the center of his activity (v. 13) and preaching (v. 17). The citation from Isa 9:1-2 identifies the ministry of Jesus as fulfilling the prophecy of the restoration of the northern kingdom defeated by the Assyrians in 721 B.C. See notes on Mk 1:14 and Lk 3:20.