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Mat 4:12. Ἀκούσας δὲ ὅτι, κ.τ.λ., but having heard that, etc.) The name of Jesus is expressed in Mat 4:17. It is not expressed in Mat 4:12,[144] because this passage, verses 12-16, when taken in connection with what precedes it, intimates in what manner John made room for the Lord. But in Mat 4:17, etc., is described the actual commencement of the Lord’s preaching, in which is included the vocation of the two pairs of brothers. Wherefore, in Mat 4:18, ὁ Ἰησοῦς, Jesus, is again understood, but not expressed.-παρεδόθη, was delivered up) sc. to confinement in prison (in custodiam).-See ch. Mat 11:2. As John decreased, Jesus increased.[145]-ἀνεχώρησεν, he departed) The same verb occurs, ch. Mat 14:13, from a similar cause.[146]-εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, into Galilee) and, indeed, into that part of Galilee which was farthest from Herod and the prison of John. St Matthew speaks of the whole of Galilee in opposition to Judea, where the temptation had taken place. Jesus then came forth from private into public life.[147]
[144] So BC*DZ Memph. Vulg. (MS. Amiat.) Orig. 3, 502c, 4, 161c. Rec. Text with fewer very ancient authorities, viz., Pabc. Hil. 620, reads ὁ Ἰησοῦς.-ED. E. V. renders it, “Now when Jesus had heard.”-(I. B.)
[145] Most fittingly the imprisonment of John is mentioned as it were in passing, and the death of the same, in Joh 14:3, not as (when) the fact occurred, but as (when) it reached the ears of Jesus. And yet a long interval cannot have elapsed between the beginning of John’s imprisonment and the report of it reaching Christ. In Joh 3:24, the Baptist was not yet imprisoned, but yet he was on the point of ‘decreasing,’ Joh 4:29-30. And not even at Joh 4:1 is mention made of his imprisonment; and at Joh 5:35 he is no doubt said “to HAVE BEEN (‘was’) a burning and shining lamp,” but it does not follow from this, that he, at that time, when Christ asserted this of him, was already confined in prison (for not even in that state did he altogether cease to be a burning and shining lamp). In fact, John is mentioned in the past tense (Joh 5:35), in respect to the fact that the Jews had already become sated and weary of the joy which they had derived from John, and The True Light, Jesus Christ, by His infinite splendour, had all but eclipsed John, who was, at it were, but a wax-light lamp. Besides, we must take into account, that the Saviour foreknew the imprisonment and subsequent death impending over John. Therefore the latter must have been cast into prison almost six months after the commencement of his public ministry, about Pentecost, and about a full year elapsed from that time till his death. They who maintain that more than three Passovers intervened between our Saviour’s baptism and His death, must of necessity assign two years to John’s imprisonment, which is less suitable to the general requirements of the case. For John ought rather to have passed over the scene quickly, even including his imprisonment. The One Great Prophet, Jesus, passed the principal part of His appointed time alone in His Office.-Harm., p. 183, 184.
[146] Our Lord now departed on account of the imprisonment, He afterwards did so on account of the death, of the Baptist.-(I. B.)
[147] Viz., that of Galilee.-(I. B.)