Another reason Jesus launched his ministry from Capernaum had to do with the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, which had occupied the territories north and west of the Sea of Galilee.

In the 8th century BC, they were overrun by the Assyrians, making the Galilean residents the first of the Israelites in biblical history to be exiled (2 Kings 15:29).

Why were they exiled?

Because they abandoned worship of the Lord and fell into idolatry, worshiping the false gods of surrounding pagan nations.

To give an idea of how dark this was: they had begun to engage in sacrificing their children to the idol Molech.

This is what Isaiah’s prophecy alludes to when he says “…the people sat in darkness…in a land overshadowed by death.”

And this is why Jesus began his ministry among the Galileans: so that the first Israelites to experience the darkness of conquest and exile would be the first to see the light of God’s goodness in the Messiah.

Interestingly, the Galilean region was also ethnically diverse.

Greek rivaled Aramaic as the spoken language of public discourse. Two of Galilee’s most prominent cities, Tiberias and Sepphoris, were thoroughly Hellenistic.

Jesus’s ministry in this multiethnic land foreshadows the Church’s later mission to all nations (Mt 28:19).

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The question for us is: what is our shadow of death that needs the light of Jesus Christ?

What region of darkness in the heart have we yet to surrender to Him?

What selfish habit, disordered desire, or blindspot needs the dawn of His redemption?

There’s no place in our hearts that His love cannot redeem.

For "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Onward and upward,

Ted

A Book Worth Reading

“What if reclaiming your child’s soul starts by reclaiming their attention?” In The Tech Exit, Clare Morell delivers a bold manifesto for parents who refuse to surrender their children to the digital experiment. Morell argues that smartphones, social media, and video games aren’t neutral tools—they’re designed to hijack attention, fragment relationships, and hollow out the interior life of a generation. Her call isn’t to moderate tech use but to exit it entirely during childhood. The Tech Exit offers a path toward freedom, presence, and the restoration of wonder.

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Darkness & Light

The Comfort of Israel