Week 36 Matthew
Back in the OT Isaiah had forecast that: the land of Zebulun and Naphtali will soon be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory… (then Isaiah explained that promise).
Many years later Jesus moved to Capernaum. Matthew says that that relocation fulfilled Isaiah’s old prophecy: in the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River – in Galilee where so many Gentiles live – the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light…
I look at a map of the original land distribution in Joshua. Zebulun-Naphtali are up near the top of the map – west of the Sea of Chinnereth. I flip to a map of NT times. The Sea of Chinnereth is renamed the Sea of Galilee and there on the lakeshore is the town of Capernaum. This seems like a pretty decent prediction Isaiah made. The prophecy might be a little unfocussed around the edges but what are the odds of having someone he called wonderful-counselor mighty-God everlasting-father and prince-of-peace come north to live on the shores of Galilee?
I don’t know for sure. But it looks like some pretty great and luminous man from the family line of David has to show up in the region of the Sea of Galilee or else Isaiah is wrong.
Note: quotes from Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7 & Matthew 4:15-16 (NLT)