v. Levi
Mat 9:9 Jesus ..saw a man named M
10:3
Matthew INDEX OF THE HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Matthew (Gr. Mattháios or Maththáios; perhaps from Aram. Mattay or Matta’ and, “gift of Yahweh”). He publican that he became a disciple of Jesus. The comparison between Mat 9:9 and 10:3 (Matthew) with Mark 2:14 and Luk 5:27 (Levi) clearly identifies Levi and Matthew as the same person. It may be that Jesus named him “Matthew” when calling him to discipleship (cf Mar 3:16; Jn 1:42). That in the 4 lists of the Twelve he is called Matthew before Levi (Mat 0: 3; Mar 3:18; Luk 6:15; Act 1:13) implies that this was his name as a disciple. Matthew was the son of Alphaeus (Mar 2:14), but perhaps he was not the brother of James son of Alphaeus (Mat 10:3), because the Gospel writers would have mentioned him, as they did with Peter and Andrew, and with James and John (v 2). He was a “publican,” or tax collector, established at Capernaum (Mat 9:9), probably 760 in the service of Herod Antipas. Apparently, he had listened with interest to the message that Jesus proclaimed and, when he was called to be a disciple, he immediately gave up his occupation. Not long afterward he was designated as one of the Twelve (10:2, 3). Being a tax collector he will have had some education and a good knowledge of Greek, in addition to his native Aramaic. Sometime after his call, Matthew had Jesus as guest of honor at a party to which he invited his former associates (Mark 2:14-17). The modest allusion to himself in connection with the feast (Mat 9:10; cf Luk 5:29) reminds us of the discreet way in which John also refers to himself (Joh 21:24). Nothing else is known of his life and work after the resurrection of Christ. Matthew, Gospel of. First of the 4 Gospels. In most of the Greek manuscripts that have come down to us it appears under the simple title: “According to Matthew”. It is based largely on a collection of sayings of Jesus, possibly recorded by the apostle himself, plus material found in Mark. I. Author Early Christian writers unanimously point to Levi Matthew as their author, and internal evidence indicates that it was written by a Jewish Christian. It is generally believed that it was written in Palestine, probably a few years before the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman armies (AD 70). Having served as a tax collector, and thus accustomed to keeping written reports (Mat 9:9), Matthew was well equipped to prepare this account of the life and teachings of the Lord. Around AD 140, Papias of Hierapolis, in Asia Minor, mentions that Matthew wrote an account with that content; Half a century later, Irenaeus makes a similar comment. According to these reports, the Gospel originally appeared in “Hebrew,” that is, Aramaic, the current language in Palestine. Some have understood these claims to mean that the Gospel was originally written in that language and then translated into Greek. But on the basis of current evidence it cannot be established whether the one we know today was originally written in Greek, or translated from an earlier Gospel in Aramaic. The following reasons have been suggested for rejecting the theory of an Aramaic origin: 1. The Greek text of Matthew does not reveal the characteristics of a translated work. The uniformity of language and style convey the clear impression that the book was originally written in Greek. Like most other NT writers, Matthew was no doubt thinking in Aramaic while he was writing in Greek, and Greek unconsciously reflects certain Aramaic idioms. 2. The great linguistic similarity with the Greek of Mark, in particular, and somewhat less with that of Luke, seems to eliminate the possibility that Matthew could be a Greek translation of an Athamite original. 3. The frequent citations of OT passages from the Greek translation. Had Matthew been writing in Aramaic he would have quoted from the OT Hebrew Scriptures. See Mark, Gospel of. II. Theme That the purpose of the Gospel was to convince his countrymen that the messianic prophecies of the OT had found their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth is evident from the frequent citations of suitable passages (Mat 1:23; 2:6, 15, 17 , 18; 3:3; 12:17-21; 13:35; 26:56; 27:3-10; etc.); Matthew cites about 40 such predictions. Furthermore, the book reflects a strong national consciousness (Matt 2:2; 8:11; 15:24; 19:28; 21:4, 5). The genealogy of Jesus reveals his concern from a Jewish point of view, for it traces our Lord’s line of ancestors back to David, the ideal king, and to Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation (1:1, 6, 17). ). Matthew emphasizes that Jesus was actually “the son of David” (v 1), because the OT repeatedly envisions the Messiah as the one who would restore Israel to the glory of David’s reign (2Sa 7:12, 13; Psa 132: 11; Jer 23:5, 6; cf Acts 2:29, 30). As his descendant, apparently in the direct line through the kings, Jesus has a background to be seriously considered as the one foretold by the prophets. With the fact that Matthew goes only to Abraham, and not beyond, he wants to show that Jesus was the one who fulfilled the promises given to Abraham and to his parents (Gen 12: 3; 22:18; cf Gal. 3:16 ). More than all the other Gospels combined, it presents Christ as the one to whom the OT symbols pointed and in whom they found their fulfillment. He emphasizes that Jesus did not come to set aside the “law”, but to fulfill it (Mat 5:17); in fact, the entire Sermon on the Mount is an expansion and clarification of the implicit and explicit principles in the OT Scriptures: “the law and the prophets”. Similarly, only Matthew indicates that Jesus confirmed the authority of the scribes and Pharisees when they sit “in the seat of Moses,” and commands his followers to keep and do whatever these leaders do, from “the seat of Moses.” , they asked them to do. At the same time, it accurately records Jesus’ 761 denunciations of the Pharisees and their teachings (5:20; 8:12; 9:11, 13, 34; 12:1, 24, 27; 15:1-9; 16 :1-4; 21:43; 23:23). III. Outline Like Luke, Matthew emphasizes the true humanity of Jesus, more than Mark or John, who emphasizes his true divinity. The distinguishing feature of the first Gospel is the faithfulness with which the author records the sermons and other teachings of the Savior. He presents Christ as the great Teacher, and offers 6 rather long major speeches that the other Gospels briefly mention or omit: 1. Sermon on the Mount (chs 5-7). 2. Discourse on discipleship (cp 10). 3. Sermon by the sea, consisting mostly of parables (ch 13). 4. Discourse on humility and fraternity (cp 18). 5. Discourse on hypocrisy (cp 23). 6. Discourse on the return of Christ (chs 24 and 25). The other synoptic writers generally quote the same truths and use the same illustrations of Jesus under other circumstances. Many of the teachings of Jesus selected by Matthew consist of principles of ethical conduct, in an apparent effort to emphasize that true religion is primarily a matter of how man treats his fellow man. Although Matthew follows a general chronological scheme, he frequently reports incidents outside what would appear to be his true framework, and often groups them in thematic order (cf 8:2-9:8). For example, when reading the incidents of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, recorded in chs 4-15 in chronological order, it would be necessary to look them up in those chapters in the following order: 4, 8, 4, 8, 9, 12, 5- 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 8, 9, 11, 9-10, 13-15. Matthew deviates from the chronological sequence more than the other evangelists. He regards his narrative record primarily as a framework within which he can place the teachings of Jesus. He is not a chronicler who records events as they occur, but a historian who reflects on the meaning of events as they stand in the background of the history of the chosen people and God’s will for them. IV. Content After indicating the human ancestors of Jesus and recounting certain incidents related to his childhood and youth (Mat_1, 2), Matthew recounts the preparatory events of his ministry: baptism and temptation in the desert (chps 3 and 4 ). Like the other Synoptic Gospels, he develops the Galilean ministry in considerable detail (chs 4:12-15:20). Nearly half of that space he devotes to the Sermon on the Mount (chs 5-7), the sermon by the sea (ch 13), and the instruction on evangelistic methods (ch 10). He considers rather fully the period of Jesus’ retirement from the public ministry (15:21-18:35), and recounts certain incidents of his work in Samaria and Perea (19:1-20:34). Finally, he covers in great detail the events of the week leading up to the crucifixion (21:1-27:66), and closes his record with the resurrection of Jesus and his subsequent appearances (ch 28; see CBA 5: 265-269). For a more detailed outline of the incidents in the life of Jesus, see Gospels, Harmony of the. Bib.: EC-HE iii.39; v.8.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Yahweh’s gift Publican tax collector in Capernaum, may well be of the Romans or of Herod Antipas; also called Levi, son of Alphaeus, by Mark, and only Levi, by Luke, whom Christ saw sitting in the tax office, called him and told him to leave his office and follow him, Mt 9, 9; Mark 2, 13-14; Lk 5, 27-28. He belonged to a considered class of sinners, the publicans, for which Jesus was criticized by the scribes and Pharisees, when he was in the house of Levi eating, Lk 5, 29. Matthew Gospel according to, attributed to the apostle, one of the twelve, of the same name. Some exegetes are of the opinion that this text was the first written of the three synoptic gospels, and thus appears in the traditional order of the NT. They also think that the apostle wrote it in Palestine shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus, in the year 70. However, the majority opinion assures that the Gospel of Saint Mark is the oldest. These exegetes say that Mark is one of the sources of M. as well as that there is a second, the so-called Q source, initial of the German word Quelle, source, the sayings of Jesus. In addition, they believe that its writing is between the years 75 and 90, after the destruction of Jerusalem, which is spoken of in 22, 7: “The king was angry and, sending troops, he killed those murderers and set fire to them. the city†, although this has not been established with certainty. Basically, the main features of the life of Jesus in Luke are those that are narrated in M. But M. alternates the speeches with the stories, that is, the text is structured around the speeches, the teaching, of Jesus. M. insists on his text, above all, on the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, 3, 2; 4, 17; Kingdom that must restore the sovereign authority of God as King,…