Smoodock's Blog

Keep in mind, as we continue in our study of Matthew’s Gospel narrative, that, when he tells his readers, Jesus preached to multitudes, or large crowds followed him, this doesn’t mean such folks were committed believers. Although some were believers, most were simply curious or needy people. Some were seeking to be healed and nothing more, while others were fascinated by Jesus’ power to heal. These simply wanted to be awed by the next wild event that Jesus caused to occur. The needy reach out in hope to be appeased, while the curious simply wish to be entertained.

Actually, this was the point of Jesus’ skeptics in his first temptation (Matthew 4:3). Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, but where were his zealous followers or committed disciples. While he may have been wowing the public, Jesus didn’t control their strings, the Jewish authorities did, vis-à-vis the scribes and the Pharisees made themselves out to be the real ‘movers and shakers’ of Jewish society. No one gets to be Messiah without their help or approval, or so they tried to make plain!

So, Matthew begins by telling his readers that Jesus went about all Galilee and taught in their synagogues (Matthew 4:23). Galilee was an area of about 2800 square miles (roughly 70 x 40 miles)[1] that contained, according to Josephus, the first century AD Jewish historian, over three million people who lived in 240 cities and villages, each of which contained no less than 15000 people.[2] At this point, Matthew doesn’t offer a timeline for Jesus’ teaching in the synagogues of Galilee. However, if he is speaking only of Jesus’ first year of public ministry, it would have been physically impossible for Jesus to have preached in each of the 240 cities and villages throughout Galilee (20 villages per month). Matthew is giving a kind of overview of Jesus entire ministry, all 3 ½ years. But, even so, this amounts to about 6 villages per month, which doesn’t seem to ring true, if Jesus is doing a thorough job. Rather, while Matthew is, no doubt, offering an overview of Jesus entire ministry, what he probably means is, Jesus preached and taught in every area of Galilee and folks from throughout these 240 cities and villages came out to see him, to be healed, or to see what all the hullabaloo, surrounding his ministry, was about.

Jesus’ fame went throughout Syria, meaning the Roman province of Syria (Matthew 4:24), which included all of Palestine (people from the Decapolis, Jerusalem and Judea, and beyond the Jordan (Matthew 4:25), except for Herod’s territories, which included Galilee. Once Jesus began to heal folks, rumors of his power would have spread rapidly, attracting both the needy and the curious. However, Matthew’s point isn’t simply that large crowds of people followed Jesus, rather it is what Jesus did, which goes to Matthew’s point. Due to the fact that mankind had rebelled from God (Genesis 3) and sought to be independent from him (Romans 1:28), we’ve brought all kinds of evil upon our own bodies, especially incurable things.

Matthew’s point in saying Jesus healed all manner of disease (Matthew 4:23), including those who felt tortured, those who lost all control of life, those struck with paralysis and lunatic, was to say Jesus was fulfilling prophecy; he was making all thing right; he was healing the Jews’ incurable afflictions (Isaiah 35:5-6). It was proof that the Messianic Age had begun (Isaiah 11:1-5). So, whether or not the crowds of people were committed followers of Jesus, and whether or not the Jewish authorities wished to support Jesus’ claim to being the Messiah, the Messianic Age had begun. Who, but Jesus, was fulfilling what the prophets had predicted would occur?

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[1] See Expository Notes of Dr. Constable.

[2] See JOSEPHUS; Life, 45; Wars of the Jews; 3.3.2.