Matthew: 1
So now we come to my favourite Gospel. Let me just offer a few things by way of background to examining Matthew. As I said earlier, when the Christian canon was being put together it was thought that Matthew was the earliest/first of the four Gospels: hence, its placement in the NT. Scholars have since recognized that Matthew was likely written second, probably between AD 75 and 85, that Matthew used the Gospel of Mark and the lost Gospel Q (see earlier blog, “Getting the Gospels”), and that he wrote independently of Luke.
One of the major reasons that the early Christians thought Matthew was written first was b/c it’s the most Jewish sounding of all the Gospels (although John’s Gospel also has quite a Jewish feel to it). Most scholars (though not all by any means) believe that Matthew’s Gospel was written by a Palestinian Jewish follower of Jesus; some of the reasons: his extensive use of the Jewish scriptures and Jewish themes, his extensive use of the Mosaic Law, and his rather Jewish use of the shepherd metaphor. His original audience/first readers were probably communities of Jewish/Jewish-oriented believers, located between Galilee and Syrian Antioch.
There quite a few different ways Matthean scholars have subdivided the Gospel, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. For the sake of expediency, I’m going to examine Matthew according to the following 6 sections: the introduction (chaps. 1-2), the proclamation of the Kingdom in words (chaps. 3-7), the proclamation of the Kingdom in deeds (chaps. 8-10), Jesus’ teaching, deeds and rising opposition in Galilee (chaps. 11-18), Jesus’ teaching and deeds in Jerusalem (19-25), and Jesus’ passion and resurrection (chaps. 26-28). First, let’s look at Matthew’s intro.
The “intro of the intro” would be Matt 1:1-17: the genealogy. The title/heading of the genealogy (possibly the whole Gospel) is Matt 1:1. Matthew introduces Jesus using three Christological titles. What is the significance of these of these particular Christological titles for Matthew? Well, for “Christ” (Greek)/“Messiah” (Hebrew), refer to my first blog on Mark’s Gospel—it would basically hold the same relevance for Matthew. The significance of “Son of Abraham” is this: God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12:1-3, 7a); well, Jesus is the fulfilment of this covenant: he is “the seed” to whom God ultimately referred. He is also the “fulfiller” of God’s promise to Abraham; that is, God promised Abraham that blessing would come to the nations/Gentiles through him, i.e., through God fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham. Well, b/c of Jesus—his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension—now Gentiles can be included in that promise, by placing their trust in Jesus as the Christ (cf. Paul’s letters to the Romans and the Galatians). This title, then, would correspond to the command in Matt 28:19, to make disciples of “all the nations/Gentiles.”
That Jesus is the “Son of David” is of special importance for Matthew. God promised King David that his throne would endure forever (2 Sam 7:11-16). The importance of Davidic lineage becomes emphasized in the Prophets, e.g., Isa 9:6-7, Ezek 34:22-24. It is also emphasized in later Jewish writings, e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Jesus this promise is fulfilled b/c Jesus’ lineage can be traced back to David, making him his son genealogically. Matthew’s motif of Jesus being the Son of David, then, gives further evidence of his strong Jewish orientation.
Why does Matthew’s story of Jesus begin with a genealogy? Well, in the Ancient Near East, lineage counts: knowing where you came from. It was particularly important for the priesthood and the monarchy: typically, only the sons of priests could become priests, and only the sons of kings could become kings. Matthew’s genealogy subtly yet purposefully stresses Jesus’ connection to King David and to his throne. First, David is introduced in the genealogy as “David the King” (Matt 1:6). Second, the name “David” receives mention 5 times within the genealogy rather than just twice (or thrice in the case of Abraham). Third, Matthew uses David as a kind of pivot point for the genealogy (Matt 1:17). Lastly, he structures the genealogy in terms of the number 14 (1:17). In Hebrew, letters pull double duty as numbers (it would be like in English, using ‘A’ for ‘1’, ‘B’ for ‘2’, etc.); well, the letters of “David” add up to . . . 14! Hence, for Matthew Jesus really is great David’s even greater Son! In the rest of the intro, Matthew compares David’s greater Son to the great prophet, Moses . . .