Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 4:13

"and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali:" — Matthew 4:13 (ASV)

Leaving Nazareth—The form of the name in the older manuscripts is Nazara. Saint Matthew records the bare fact. Saint Luke (Luke 4:16–30) connects it with His rejection by the men of this very place, where He had been brought up, and their attempt on His life. Saint John (John 2:12) states a fact which implies (1) that Capernaum had not previously been the home of our Lord’s mother and His brothers, and (2) that there were ties of some kind drawing them there for a temporary visit. The reasons for the choice of that city lie, some of them, on the surface.

1. The exact site of Capernaum has long been one of the vexing questions of Palestinian topography, but research by the Palestine Exploration Society has identified it with the modern village of Tell-Hûm. There, their excavations have uncovered the remains of an ancient Roman-period building, which is believed to have been the city’s synagogue—possibly the very synagogue built by the believing centurion (Luke 7:5), where our Lord worshiped and taught (John 6:59). Its position on the shore of the lake, as a town with a garrison and a custom-house, made it the natural center of the fishing trade on the Lake of Galilee. As such, it suited the habits of the first four disciples called, who, though two were from Bethsaida, were already partly living there.
2. It was within an easy day’s journey of Nazareth. This allowed for either another visit there, as if to see whether those who lived there were more capable of faith than they had first shown themselves (Matthew 13:54), or for visits from His mother and brothers when they were anxious to restrain Him from teaching that seemed perilous to them (Matthew 12:46–50).
3. Even the presence of “publicans and sinners”—the latter term including Gentiles—may have been a factor in the decisive choice. This was the class of people who had flocked to John’s preaching and were found in the half-Romanized city, but not in the more secluded villages.
4. Lastly, Saint John’s narrative supplies another link. The healing of the son of one of the tetrarch’s officers at Capernaum (John 4:46–54) had secured a certain degree of protection and influence there.

The chronology of John 5:1 is uncertain (see the notes on that verse), but we must place the visit to Jerusalem and the miracle at Bethesda, which Saint John records there, at some time before or shortly after this move to Capernaum.