02-27-2022, 08:36 AM
I wish we could know about it myself. Matthew quotes Isaiah referring to "Galilee of the Gentiles" because of how recently Jews had moved back into that area. A significant portion of the Jews there had been forcibly converted a century before under John Hyrcanus, while others were transplants who went there from Judea looking for work. This is part of why the Pharisees considered Galilee the territory of unlearned peasants. Most of the elite there were highly paganized, so that the leadership kept pulling the common people astray. Jesus worked hard in that area to restore the Covenant. While the common folks responded, the leadership did not.