Luke 4:44

‘And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judaea (some authorities say ‘Galilee').'

The passage that we have been looking at now ends with a general comment about His activity as a Spirit-inspired Prophet. He was continually preaching in the synagogues of ‘Judaea'. This might at first appear strange, for surely He was ministering in Galilee? But in fact that is what Luke is saying. On a number of occasions He uses ‘Judaea' to signify to his Gentile readers ‘the land of the Jews', the place where Jews are (Luke 1:5; Luke 4:44; Luke 6:17; Luke 7:17; Luke 23:5; Acts 10:37; compare Acts 1:8 where it is clearly inclusive of Galilee which is not mentioned; and Acts 2:9 where it again covers all Palestine).