does Jesus retreat?

Matthew 4:12-17

There must be something really significant about the location that Jesus withdrew to because Matthew is really specific about the spot. The main reason is to show the direct correlation between the location that Jesus went to and the prophecy that Isaiah made - he uses almost the exact same language. Speaking completely humanistically, it seems like Matthew wanted his Jewish audience to make the connection between the location and the prophecy but then didn't trust them to make the connection so inserted the prophecy itself. This appeal to fulfilled prophecy is consistent with the rest of Matthew's writing - his purpose it to prove that Jesus is the prophecied Messiah and meets all the requirements of the prophecies.
I've commented on Jeff's blog that I sometimes feel, again speaking completely humanistically, that Matthew stretches the interpretation of the prophecies to match the circumstances of Jesus' life. I believe that Matthew was inspired by the Holy Spirit and that means that his interpretation of the prophecies must also be inspired. I guess my problem is that we have tried to use Matthew's method of seeing fulfilled prophecy to convince people that Jesus is the Christ. I think we must acknowledge that the times and audience to which we are speaking are different than the times and audience to which Matthew was originally writing. I also think that we must acknowledge that if I tried to interpret Scripture and prophecy in a college class that Matthew does here that I would fail the class. I think we must be honest and true about our methods in which we try to convince our audience of the truth of our claims. I think the Bible itself acknowledges that different methods are needed for different times and audiences (why we have four gospel accounts for instance). So, while the argument of fulfilled prophecy might have worked as an apologetic for the modern era, I think we have to look for other methods to defend the truth of our faith in the post-modern era.
It's interesting to me that Jesus, after retreating in light of the news of John the Baptist's arrest, comes back with the exact same message as John did: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near." I don't know why - perhaps it was to show the authourities that God's message to his people could not be hushed no matter what they might do to stop it. Any ideas?