3. =It was a year of retirement.= We do not find that Jesus sought the multitudes during this year, though in new places he was sought by them (Luke 11. 29; 12. 1). He seems to have chosen most of the time a secluded life, preferring to be alone with his disciples. See instances in Mark 7. 24, 32, 33, 36; 8. 22, 23, 26; 9. 30.
4. =It was a year of instruction.= He chose to be alone with his disciples, knowing that he was rapidly nearing the close of his life on earth; and he wished to instruct his chosen followers in the deeper truths of the gospel before he should be taken from them. His teaching in this period presented the spiritual side of truth and the doctrines of the cross. Notice how often during this year he foretold his own death (Mark 8. 31; 9. 31, 32; 10. 32-34; John 12. 7, 8).
5. =It was a year of opposition.= Nearly all the people had now forsaken Jesus and turned against him. Note the attitude of the Pharisees. (Matt 12. 23, 24, 38, 39; 23. 23.) The Sadducees, who were the office-holding class, are mainly referred to in John 11. 47, 48, 53. The attitude of the people. (John 6. 66.) Jesus was now rejected by the rulers, the leaders of the religious class, and by the people.
II. =The Localities of the Period.= Beside the five provinces, Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Bashan and Peræa, two other lands or districts are named:
1. =Phoenicia=, called in the gospels "the borders of Tyre and Sidon," narrow strip of territory between Mount Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea, northwest of Palestine.
2. =Decapolis.= The word means "ten cities," and refers to a region, partly in Bashan and partly in Peræa, wherein were ten important cities, not Jewish but Gentile.
In addition to the above we meet with names of eight cities:
3. =Cæsarea Philippi=, at the foot of Mount Hermon, in the province of Bashan.
4. =Bethsaida=, on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
5. =Capernaum=, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
6. =Bethabara=, in the Jordan Valley, east of the river, south of the Sea of Galilee.
7. =Jericho=, in the Jordan Valley, west of the river, near the head of the Dead Sea.
9. =Bethany=, two miles east of Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives.