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--- bible-study:matthew:matthew-004 [2026/02/13 09:53] – [Why would two tradesman just leave their job and follow Jesus?] kbieb
+++ bible-study:matthew:matthew-004 [2026/02/13 10:56] (current) – [Matthew Chapter 4] kbieb
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[..:index|Bible Study Index]] | [[matthew|Matthew]]
 ====== Matthew Chapter 4 ======
-[[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+1|NET Bible]] | [[https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/matthew-1/|Enduring Word Commentary]]
+[[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+4|NET Bible]] | [[https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/matthew-4/|Enduring Word Commentary]]
 ===== The Temptation of Jesus (1 - 11) =====
 ==== Who led Jesus to be tempted? Why is this important? ====
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 John the Baptist also says this in [[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+3|Matthew 3:2]].
 ===== The First Disciples (18 - 22) =====
-==== Why would these tradesman just leave their job and follow Jesus? ====
+==== Why would these fisherman just leave their jobs and follow Jesus? ====
-It could be there was some divine influence involved, but I don't like that explanation because it has freewill ramifications. I believe God wants only willing followers. It's very possible they knew of Him since He had been preaching and performing miracles in Galilee for some time at this point. The other Gospels also add some detail. [[https://netbible.org/bible/Luke+5:Luke 5:1-11]] talks about the great catch that Jesus caused. [[https://netbible.org/bible/John+1|John 1:35-42]] explains that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and heard about Jesus as the "Lamb of God" from him.
+It could be that there was some divine influence involved, but I don't like that explanation because it has freewill ramifications. I believe God wants only willing followers, a supernatural coercion would be in conflict with that. It's very possible they already knew of Him since He may have been preaching and performing miracles in Galilee for some time at this point. The other Gospels also add some detail. [[https://netbible.org/bible/Luke+5:Luke 5:1-11]] talks about the great catch that Jesus caused. [[https://netbible.org/bible/John+1|John 1:35-42]] explains that Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and heard about Jesus, the "Lamb of God", from him.
+One of my commentaries (ESV Study Bible) claims that Andrew and Simon and possibly James and John had already been disciples of Jesus for about a year before this event in Matthew, but had returned to their trades for a period. It references[[https://netbible.org/bible/John+1|John 1:35-42]] to reach this conclusion. This is possible because this event in Matthew occurs after John the Baptist was arrested ([[https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+4|Matthew 4:12]]), John 3:22 says that Jesus **and His disciples** were baptizing before John was thrown in prison ([[https://netbible.org/bible/John+3|John 3:22-24]]).
+Peter, James and John will become Jesus's inner circle among the twelve disciples.
+==== What does "fishers of men" mean? ====
+I think this metaphor is pretty clear. It simply means that they would catch men for God by preaching and living a spiritual life. There is a similar fishermen metaphor in [[https://netbible.org/bible/Jeremiah+16|Jeremiah 16:16]] that talks of catching evil people like fishermen.
 ===== Teaching, Preaching and Healing (23 - 25) =====
+==== What is significant about the list of conditions that Jesus was healing? ====
+The text lists "those how had seizures(epileptics)" and "those possessed by demons" as separate afflictions. It shows that the people of the time were able to differentiate between the two conditions. A common argument of materialists who don't believe in demons is that when the Bible talks about the demon-possessed, they are really talking about people with seizures. This passage proves that was not the case.