The Comfort of Israel
Icon of the Prophet Nahum
Matthew 4:13 - Jesus in Capernaum
“And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.”
—
Why does Jesus launch his public ministry from Capernaum?
Practically speaking, it was strategic.
Located on the Via Maris (Way of the Sea) trade route, it allowed His message to spread more easily throughout the region.
Salvifically, it was foreshadowed over 1,000 years before He launched his ministry.
The name Capernaum most commonly means “village of comfort,” coming from two root words in Hebrew:
Kefar —> village; Nahum —> comfort
For generations, the people of God longed for the Comfort of Israel (Is 40:1-2), “that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for.”
And long before the prophet Isaiah, the Father’s entire plan of redemption was foreshadowed (and veiled) in Genesis 5 in the names of the genealogy from Adam to Noah.
Adam (man) —>
Seth (appointed) —>
Enosh (mortal) —>
Kenan (sorrow) —>
Mahalalel (the blessed God) —>
Jared (descend) —>
Enoch (teaching) —>
Methuselah (his death shall bring) —>
Lamech (the despairing) —>
Noah (comfort or rest)
Combined, the meaning of those names reads: Man is appointed mortal, with sorrow. The blessed God shall descend teaching that His death shall bring the despairing comfort.
And then there’s the prophet Nahum (whose name means “comfort”).
His message of God’s justice and sovereignty was a word of comfort for Judah, who had suffered under Assyrian domination.
Nahum reminds us that the Lord’s divine justice is about the restoration of moral order.
What’s more, capharnaum (with a lowercase “c”) can mean “a place of chaos or a disorderly accumulation of objects.”
What’s the point for us?
Our longing to restore order to the heart’s sinful chaos finds its fulfillment in the “Comfort of Israel,” in Christ Himself.
He is the order to our chaos.
He is the answer to the question that is every human life.
Onward and Upward,
Ted
A Book Worth Reading
What’s one of the greatest motifs across the narrative arc of salvation history? Communion, God’s desire to be with His people. In Walking with God, Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins unveil the Bible as a single, unified story of God’s love and faithfulness. Through salvation history, see how every part -creation, fall, covenant, and redemption, points to God’s desire for communion with His people. This book is an invitation to step into the story personally, to see where our lives fit in God’s ongoing plan, and discover that Scripture is not just ancient history, it’s our story, unfolding even now.
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