(15-16) The citation is remarkable as the only reference in the New Testament to what seems to us the most wonderful and majestic of all Messianic prophecies; and still more remarkable as dwelling, not on the words so familiar to us, "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . . ," but on the merely local imagery which is a prelude to that great utterance, and on that, in a version which is neither a true rendering of the Hebrew, nor a correct citation from the received Greek version. We have to recognise the fact that the Evangelist did not study prophecy as we study it. Books were scarce, and the publican of Capernaum, though his occupation implied some clerkly knowledge, probably had few, and heard rather than read the Scriptures which he quotes. What strikes a man who learns in this way is the coincidence of single words and phrases with familiar facts. He speaks not of what has been written, but of what has been spoken. He is not careful about the context. When St. Matthew looked back on the change that had come over Capernaum in the arrival of the prophet of Nazareth--a change extending to his own life--these words seemed the only adequate description of it. Here was the very scene of which Isaiah had spoken, the old border country of Zebulon and of Naphthali. To him and to others who had been in the darkness of spiritual ignorance, neglected and uncared for, as sheep gone astray in the dark valley of death, there had sprung up a marvellous Light. Unconsciously he adds his testimony to that of St. John, that the presence of Jesus was felt to be that of the "true Light" that "lighteth every man" (John 1:9).

Verse 15. - The land of Zabulon, etc. From Isaiah 9:1, 2, spoiled in the Authorized Version, but rendered correctly in the Revised Version. Isaiah says that those parts of the land which had borne the first brunt of the Assyrian invasions under Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings 15:29; el. Zechariah 10:10), shall be proportionately glorified by the advent of Messiah. Wetstein gives a tradition from the 'Pesikt. Zut.,' of Messiah ben Joseph first appearing in Galilee; but the whole passage (quoted in Dalman's 'Der Leidende und der Sterbende Messias,' pp. 10-13) clearly points to a knowledge of the New Testament. As to the form of the quotation, observe:

(1) Matthew disregards the Hebrew construction, and gives merely the general sense.

(2) He takes it from the Hebrew, not the LXX.

(3) This last point is doubtless to be connected with the fact that the quotation does not occur in the other Gospels, i.e. that it did not belong to the Petrine cycle of teaching, and if it did belong to the "Matthean" cycle, not to that form which was current among Gentile Christians (cf. A. Wright, 'Composition of the Four Gospels.' p. 104). Zabulon and... Nephthalim, equivalent to the later Upper and Lower Galilee. By the way of the sea; toward the sea (Revised Version); cf. Jeremiah 2:18; "i.e. the district on the W. of the Sea of Galilee, as opposed to 'the other side of Jordan,' and 'the circle of the nations,' i.e. the frontier districts nearest to Phoenicia, including 'the land of Cabul' (1 Kings 9:11-13), which formed part of the later Upper Galilee. Via Marls, M. Renan observes, was the name of the high road from Acre to Damascus, as late as the Crusades. 'Way,' however, here means 'region' (cf. Isaiah 58:12; Job 24:4)" (Cheyne, on Isaiah 9:1). Yet hardly so; ὁδόν, is adverbial, 1 Kings 8:48 (equivalent to 2 Chronicles 6:38), and designates the stretching of the districts of Zebulun and Naphtali towards the sea. The sea is the Sea of Galilee. The close union of this clause in the Authorized Version with the following words, "beyond Jordan," misses its true meaning as explanatory of the position of Zebulun and Naphtali, and rather takes it as describing some special locality east of Jordan. Beyond Jordan; i.e. the eastern side, mentioned in 2 Kings 15:29 as having suffered with Naphtali under the Assyrian invasion; see further ver. 25. Galilee of the Gentiles (vide supra, "by the way of the sea").

4:12-17 It is just with God to take the gospel and the means of grace, from those that slight them and thrust them away. Christ will not stay long where he is not welcome. Those who are without Christ, are in the dark. They were sitting in this condition, a contented posture; they chose it rather than light; they were willingly ignorant. When the gospel comes, light comes; when it comes to any place, when it comes to any soul, it makes day there. Light discovers and directs; so does the gospel. The doctrine of repentance is right gospel doctrine. Not only the austere John Baptist, but the gracious Jesus, preached repentance. There is still the same reason to do so. The kingdom of heaven was not reckoned to be fully come, till the pouring out of the Holy Spirit after Christ's ascension.That it might be fulfilled which was spoken,.... Christ's dwelling in Capernaum accomplished a prophecy of the prophet Isaiah 9:1 and he went and dwelt there, that it might be fulfilled which he had spoken: the meaning of which prophecy is (x), that as those parts of the land of Israel, there mentioned, had suffered much by Tiglathpileser, who had carried them captive, 2 Kings 15:29 and is "the vexation" referred to; so they should be honoured, and made very glorious, by the presence and conversation of the Messiah among them, and which now had its literal fulfilment: for Christ now came and dwelt in Capernaum, which lay between the lands and upon the borders both of Zabulon and Nephthalim; was situated by the sea of Tiberias, beyond Jordan, and in, "Galilee of the nations"; the upper Galilee, which had in it people of other nations besides Jews. The ancient Jews expected the Messiah to make his first appearance in Galilee; which expectation must be grounded on this prophecy; for so they say (y) expressly,

"the king Messiah shall be revealed , "in the land of Galilee."''

And in another place (z) explaining Isaiah 2:19 they paraphrase it thus,

""for fear of the Lord"; this is the indignation of the whole world: and for the "glory of his majesty"; this is the Messiah; when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth, when he shall arise and be revealed , "in the land of Galilee": because that this is the first place to be destroyed in the holy land; therefore he shall be revealed there the first of all places.''

Here Jesus, the true Messiah, made his first appearance publicly; here he called his disciples, and began his ministry.

(x) See my treatise upon the "Prophecies of the Messiah", &c. p. 147, &c. (y) Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 3.((z) Ib. in Exod. fol. 3. 3. & 88. 3.