A Long Way Away

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.-Matthew 4:23-25***Decapolis was the territory that consisted of 10 cities, 9 of them on the eastern and southeastern side of the Sea of Gailee, and the 10th city, Scythopolis, on the other side of the Jordan River, across from the Promised Land. Canaan, the Promised Land, was inhabited by idolaters when the Lord God promised to give the land to Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), and Abraham's descendants. Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and his 90-year-old wife Sarah (Sarai). When Isaac was 40 years old, he was married to Rebekah, Abraham and Sarah's grandniece. Fraternal;l twins sons Esau (Edom) and Jacob (Israel) were born to 60-year-old Isaac and Rebekah. In Padan Aram, Haran, Jacob was married to Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban the Syrian (Aramean). Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Sometime after Joseph was born to Jacob and Rachel, Jacob began preparing to journey to Canaan with his family, servants, animals, and possessions. In Canaan, Benjamin was born near Bethlehem to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel died. When Jacob was 130 years old, he moved from with his family from Canaan to Egypt, the country wherein Joseph was second-in-command. In Egypt, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenth, to be his own sons. Sometime after 147-year-old Jacob died in Egypt, and Jacob's family buried  his body in Canaan, and 110-year-old Joseph and his siblings were dead, their descendants the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were from the tribe of Levi. When Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron was 83, the Lord God sent them to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, away from Egypt, across the divinely parted Red Sea, and into the desert wilderness of Shur. During the 40-year journey to the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and  successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. Over 300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, became the 1st king to rule over the Israelites. David, from the tribe of Judah, was the 2nd king to rule over all of the Israelites. Solomon, the 2nd child born to David and Bathsheba, was the 3rd king to reign. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Israelites. After Rehoboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south, Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation, Samaria was the final royal city and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. Galilee was in the northern nation, in the portion of the Promised Land allotted to the tribe of Naphtali. Notably, Galilee became known as Galilee of the nations and Galilee of the Gentiles and was inhabited by Israelites and Gentiles, people who were not born into the Israelite tribes. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that David and a few of the other Israelites kings fought against the Syrians (Arameans). King Hoshea was the 19th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel. During the 9th year of Hoshea's reign, the Assyrians conquered Samaria, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites Less than 140 years after Samaria was conquered, Rehoboam's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Zedekiah (Mattaniah) became the 19th king to rule Judah. During the 11th year of Zedekiah's reign, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) conquered Jerusalem, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Over 500 years after Israelites began returning to Judah and Jerusalem, John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, were born. John the Baptist was born into the tribe of Levi to Zechariah (Zacharias) the priest and his wife Elizabeth (Elisabeth). Jesus the Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth's relative Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem, nearly 6 miles from Jerusalem, into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. Approximately 30 years after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and testified that Jesus is the Son of God. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to teach, preach and perform miracles among the Israelites, the treasured and chosen people of the Lord God. While Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God,   the Roman Empire was ruling the land whereupon the kingdoms of the Israelites previously stood.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, 20:1-29, 26:1-27:23, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges 1:1-2:23, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26, 6:1-8:4

Reference Information

Decapolis = Dekapoleos/Dekapolis = a group or district of ten cities in Syria

divers = poikilais/poikilos = diverse, various

Reference Scripture

After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.-John 6:1-2

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