Verse 11: Next we are told that angels ministered to Jesus. This text is rather mysterious. How did the angels minister to Him? Did they bring Him comfort? Did they bring Him food? Did they congratulate Him? Why did angels need to minister to Him? Why couldn’t humans do so?
I do not have any answers to these questions, but one thing is clear. Although Jesus is God, He still has a human aspect to Him. He needed to be ministered to. God has no needs. Yet, we are told here, Jesus has needs. This emphasizes to us Jesus’ humanity. The temptations He just experienced affected Him the same way it would affect us.
We are not told how long it was between each of the three temptations. Did they occur one after another? Or was there time between each trial. After a person has not eaten for forty days, a few meals is not going to bring a person back to good health. Perhaps this is why the angels were needed. They had to get Jesus back His physical strength. I cannot imagine the stress Jesus must have been under and the physical exhaustion which accompanied it. He knew the weight of the world, and the eternal fate of humanity rest upon His shoulders. The devil tried to take advantage of this fact.
Verse 12: Verse 12 changes topics. We learn that John the Baptist has been arrested but we are not given any details about it. Later in chapter 14, Matthew will address this in more clarity as a kind of flashback. Nonetheless, John’s arrest occurred while Jesus was in Judea. This became a signal that He needed to leave and go back home to the Galilee.
Verse 13: Verse 13 states that Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth, but then He moved to Capernaum. Matthew says that the reason for making this one was in order to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah. In other words, some of the things Jesus did, He did purposely to fulfill Messianic prophecies concerning His coming.
Capernaum is an English translation of the Hebrew K’far Nahum, which means the village of Nahum. The village was located on the Sea of Galilee. A good part of its economy depended on fishing. The village was near the border of the tribal territories of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Verse 14: Next Matthew quotes a section of prophecy which Jesus says He is fulfilling by moving to Capernaum. The prophecy comes from Isaiah 8 and 9. Let’s read Isaiah 8:1-9:6.
The mention of Ashur at the beginning is speaking of the Assyrian kingdom which Isaiah says will conquer the ten northern tribes of Israel and carry them off. History shows us that there were scattered all over Asia and North Africa. This exile from their land is judgment upon Israel by God for their idolatry and unfaithfulness. And at the same time, while the Lord has prepared and drawn in gentile nations to be the earthly sword of God’s judgment, He is going to shatter the gentile nations for being so hard on Israel.
The people of Israel are oblivious to their own rebellion and idolatry. Even though God has sent prophets including Isaiah to warn them, they are clueless about the coming consequences. The 12 tribes are doing what is right in each man’s own eyes. The ten northern tribes have been bowing down to other gods along with insincerely worshiping God. The two tribes which form the southern kingdom are being drawn slowly into the same destructive behavior.
Finally the breaking point is reached. What Isaiah describes next is the Israelites reaching out frantically in all directions for solutions to their growing frustrations, misfortunes and overwhelming problems. They try pressuring their prophets into contacting the dead for answers. They sacrifice to other gods hoping for favor. They quit consulting God’s word for direction and look to others or to themselves. There is only one word to describe the condition of Israel at this time: confusion.
Starting in Isaiah 8:11, the prophet says that God told him that even though these are Isaiah’s own people, he is not to join them in this nonsense. Don’t listen to the conspiracy theories and do not buy in. Don’t dread what the people dread. Don’t fear what the leaders fear. In other words, do not listen to all the noise of a disjointed society and become as anxious as they are.
In Isaiah 8:23 time passes. God’s people wait for their deliverance. They wait. More time passes. They hoped that what Isaiah told them was going to happen might play out in months or maybe in a few years. Instead, 700 years go by before their hope returns.
All these areas around the Galilee which Isaiah describe are home to the people he says have been walking “in great darkness” but now these same people have seen a “great light”. In Hebrew the word “darkness” used in Isaiah’s prophecy is choshek. This is not a work which means darkness such as nighttime or a darkened room. Rather choshek is used to describe obscurity, oppression and deception. So the great darkness is a great spiritual darkness or evil which is shared by Israelites and gentiles alike.
The great light which Isaiah prophesies about is in the original Hebrew owr. It is a type of light that is not the kind which comes from the sun or from a light bulb. Instead, owr means enlightenment, truth or revelation. Matthew takes the term “great light” in Isaiah’s prophecy to mean the Messiah.
Verse 17: In verse 17, we have Jesus using the same words which John the Baptist used as he called people to his baptism: turn from your sins to God, and the kingdom of Heaven is near. He used the same words as John because that is exactly what His purpose was for His coming.
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