15. The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of
the sea--the coast skirting the Sea of Galilee westward--beyond
Jordan--a phrase commonly meaning eastward of Jordan; but here and in
several places it means westward of the Jordan. The word seems to have
got the general meaning of "the other side"; the nature of the case
determining which side that was.
Galilee of the Gentiles--so called from its position, which made
it the frontier between the Holy Land and the external world. While
Ephraim and Judah, as STANLEY says, were separated
from the world by the Jordan valley on one side and the hostile
Philistines on another, the northern tribes were in the direct highway
of all the invaders from the north, in unbroken communication with the
promiscuous races who have always occupied the heights of Lebanon, and
in close and peaceful alliance with the most commercial nation of the
ancient world, the Phœnicians. Twenty of the cities of Galilee
were actually annexed by Solomon to the adjacent kingdom of Tyre, and
formed, with their territory, the "boundary" or "offscouring"
(Gebul or Cabul) of the two dominions--at a later time
still known by the general name of "the boundaries (coasts or borders)
of Tyre and Sidon." In the first great transportation of the Jewish
population, Naphtali and Galilee suffered the same fate as the
trans-jordanic tribes before Ephraim or Judah had been molested
(2Ki 15:29).
In the time of the Christian era this original disadvantage of their
position was still felt; the speech of the Galileans "bewrayed them" by
its uncouth pronunciation
(Mt 26:73);
and their distance from the seats of government and civilization at
Jerusalem and Cæsarea gave them their character for turbulence or
independence, according as it was viewed by their friends or their
enemies.
JFB.
Outline
1 The temptation of Jesus
13 Jesus dwells in Capernaum
17 Jesus begins to preach
18 Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John
23 Jesus heals the sick
Drawing of the Temptation of Jesus Christ by Dore
Important Topics for Bible Study
Quick Reference Map
Map of Galilee and northern Israel
(Click to Enlarge)
Painted Illustration of Jesus Calling James and John
Ancient Customs
Geography
Capernaum
Galilee
Matthew Resources
The New Testament