11:21,22
Various towns are mentioned by name. Chorazin was near the sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were on the Phoenician coast. Chorazin and Bethsaida were part of Israel. They would have considered themselves far superior to the non-Jewish people of Tyre and Sidon. Indeed, in Isaiah Tyre and Sidon are singled out for judgement in Isaiah 23. Yet Jesus is saying that if the people of Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles they would have repented. Yet the Jewish towns had not repented.
11:23,24
Capernaum is now mentioned, and the words allude to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 14:13-15. In fact, Capernaum gets the worst treatment here. Babylon is representative of Satan’s “kingdom” (see Revelation), then she is told that Sodom was better than her! This is about as damning a condemnation as you can get. Jesus tells them that on the day of judgement Sodom will fare better than Capernaum! It is like Jesus telling you or me that we are worse than Hitler.
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