[94] Bertholdt, Christolog. Judæorum Jesu ætate, § 36, not. 1 and 2; Fritzsche, Comm. in Matth., s. 169 f. [↑]
[95] Compare with the above statement the deductions of Schmidt, Fritzsche, and Usteri, as given § 54, notes 1–3, and of De Wette, exeg. Handbuch, 1, 1, s. 41 ff. [↑]
CHAPTER III.
LOCALITY AND CHRONOLOGY OF THE PUBLIC LIFE OF JESUS.
§ 57.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYNOPTICAL WRITERS AND JOHN, AS TO THE CUSTOMARY SCENE OF THE MINISTRY OF JESUS.
According to the synoptical writers, Jesus, born indeed at Bethlehem in Judea, but brought up at Nazareth in Galilee, only absented himself from Galilee during the short interval between his baptism and the imprisonment of the Baptist; immediately after which, he returned thither and began his ministry, teaching, healing, calling disciples, so as to traverse all Galilee; using as the centre of his agency, his previous dwelling-place, Nazareth, alternately with Capernaum, on the north-west border of the lake of Tiberias ([Matt iv. 12–25] parall.). Mark and Luke have many particulars concerning this ministry in Galilee which are not found in Matthew, and those which they have in common with him are arranged in a different order; but as they all agree in the geographical circuit which they assign to Jesus, the account of the first Evangelist may serve as the basis of our criticism. According to him the incidents narrated took place in Galilee, and partly in Capernaum down to [viii. 18], where Jesus crosses the Galilean sea, but is scarcely landed on the east side when he returns to Capernaum. Here follows a series of scenes connected by short transitions, such as παράγων ἐκεῖθεν ([ix. 9], [27]), passing from thence, τότε ([v. 14]), then, ταῦτα αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος ([v. 18]), while he spake these things; expressions which can imply no important change of place, that is, of one province for another, which it is the habit of the writer to mark much more carefully. The passage, [ix. 35], περιῆγεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὰς πόλεις πάσας—διδάσκων ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν, is evidently only a repetition of [iv. 23], and is therefore to be understood merely of excursions in Galilee. The message of the Baptist ([chap. xi.]) is also received by Jesus in Galilee, at least such appears to be the opinion of the narrator, from his placing in immediate connexion the complaints of Jesus against the Galilean cities. When delivering the parable in [chap. xiii.] Jesus is by the sea, doubtless that of Galilee, and, as there is mention of his house, οἰκία ([v. 1]), probably in the vicinity of Capernaum. Next, after having visited his native city Nazareth ([xiii. 53]) he passes over the sea ([xiv. 13]), according to Luke ([ix. 10]), into the country of Bethsaida (Julias); whence, however, after the miracle of the loaves, he speedily returns to the western border ([xiv. 34]). Jesus then proceeds to the northern extremity of Palestine, on the frontiers of Phœnicia ([xv. 21]); soon, however, returned to the sea of Galilee ([v. 29]), he takes ship to the eastern side, in the [[265]]coast of Magdala ([v. 39]), but again departs northward into the country of Cæsarea Philippi ([xvi. 13]), in the vicinity of Lebanon, among the lower ridges of which is to be sought the mount of the transfiguration ([xvii. 1]). After journeying in Galilee for some time longer with his disciples ([xvii. 22]), and once more visiting Capernaum ([v. 24]), he leaves Galilee ([xix. 1]) to travel (as it is most probably explained)[1] through Perea into Judea (a journey which, according to [Luke ix. 52], he seems to have made through Samaria); [xx. 17], he is on his way to Jerusalem; [v. 29], he comes through Jericho; and [xxi. 1], is in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, which, [v. 10], he enters.
Thus, according to the synoptical writers, Jesus, from his return after being baptized by John, to his final journey to Jerusalem, never goes beyond the limits of North Palestine, but traverses the countries west and east of the Galilean sea and the upper Jordan, in the dominions of Herod Antipas and Philip, without touching on Samaria to the south, still less Judea, or the country under the immediate administration of the Romans. And within those limits, to be still more precise, it is the land west of the Jordan, and the sea of Tiberias, and therefore Galilee, the province of Antipas, in which Jesus is especially active; only three short excursions on the eastern border of the sea, and two scarcely longer on the northern frontiers of the country, being recorded.