{He departed} (met(8872)en). Literally, to lift up, change
something to another place. Transitive in the LXX and in a
Cilician rock inscription. Intransitive in  13:53  and here, the
only N.T. instances. Absence of hoti or kai after kai
egeneto, one of the clear Hebraisms in the N.T. (Robertson,
_Grammar_, pp. 1042f.). This verse is a sort of formula in
Matthew at the close of important groups of logia as in  7:28  11:1  13:53 . {The borders of Judea beyond Jordan} (eis ta horia
t(8873) Ioudaias peran tou Iordanou). This is a curious expression.
It apparently means that Jesus left Galilee to go to Judea by way
of Perea as the Galileans often did to avoid Samaria. Luke ( Lu
17:11 ) expressly says that he passed through Samaria and Galilee
when he left Ephraim in Northern Judea ( Joh 11:54 ). He was not
afraid to pass through the edge of Galilee and down the Jordan
Valley in Perea on this last journey to Jerusalem. McNeile is
needlessly opposed to the trans-Jordanic or Perean aspect of this
phase of Christ's work.