READ IT! - Introduction to Matthew 1-3

Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew 

Context of Matthew 

Author: 

The work is anonymous. Traditionally Matthew (also called Levi), one of the Twelve. Because the writer uses Mark as his primary source, scholars believe it unlikely that he was an apostolic witness to the events he describes. 

Date: 

The 80s CE, at least a decade after the destruction of Jerusalem. Time of high tensions between postwar Jewish leaders and early Christians. 

Place of composition: 

Probably Antioch in Syria, site of a large Jewish and Jewish-Christian community. 

Sources: 

Mark, Q, and special Matthean material (M). 

Audience: 

Greek-speaking Jewish Christians and Gentiles who were, at least partly, Torah observant. 

Themes of Matthew 

Emphasis on the miraculous and supernatural 

Jesus as the inaugurator of a New Covenant 

Jesus as fulfillment of specific prophecies of the Hebrew Bible 

Jesus as Messiah 

Matthew’s Gospel is the Gospel that is most explicitly concerned with the nature and function of the church. 

Chapter 1 

Chapter one is an introduction to the Messiah that begins with a very Jewish genealogy which is laid out in sevens. It’s divided into three sections of fourteen. The numbers of words it contains is divisible by seven. The number of male names is divisible by seven. 

Five women are also mentioned in the genealogy (unusual to mention women). All of these women paint a picture of how God can use even the most horrible of situations to bring about something beautiful – in this case, the Messiah, God in the flesh, and the salvation of the entire world. 

The first woman mentioned is Tamar… who had children with her father-in-law. 

The second is Rahab… who was a Canaanite prostitute 

The third is Ruth… who was a Moabitess, and a descendent of incest between Lot and his daughter 

The fourth is Bathsheba… the wife David stole from Uriah 

The fifth is Mary… who was accused of adultery 

We then come to the Infancy Narratives detailing the birth of Jesus Christ. We learn that Joseph is pledged to be married to Mary, but he finds out she’s pregnant. He plans to divorce her quietly so as not to cause embarrassment, but an angel appears to him in a dream and tells him to go ahead with the marriage because the Holy Spirit is the one who impregnated her. 

The angel says, ”She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” The name “Jesus” is just the Greek version of the Hebrew name “Joshua” which means “the LORD saves.” Matthew then says, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ’The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).” Here, Matthew is quoting from Isaiah 7:10-25, where Isaiah is predicting the timing of the destruction of two foreign kings, Rezin and Pekah. Some would say that he is drawing out a deeper meaning from Isaiah that was not originally understood from that text. 

Chapter 2 

We then hear about how after Jesus was born in Bethlehem Magi from the east came to Jerusalem to visit the Messiah, saying that the saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. King Herod and the whole city of Jerusalem freak out when they hear this. Herod gathers the teachers of the Law and asks them where the Messiah was supposed to be born. They say he will come from Bethlehem. Bethlehem, (Beit Lehem) in Hebrew, means “House of Bread.” This was to be the place where the Messiah was to be born, per the prophecy in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Additionally, only lambs raised in the flocks of Bethlehem were acceptable as sacrifices in the Temple during the first century – primarily because the Sadducees owned these flocks and they were a source of wealth for this religious party. And so it is that we have Jesus, the Bread of Life, born in the “House of Bread” – the Lamb of God, born in the flocks of Bethlehem, the only sheep allowed for sacrifice. Do you see the picture being painted here? 

Herod instructs the Magi to go find this newborn king and report back to him so that he may come and worship him as well. The Magi follow the star to a house where they find Mary and her child. They bow to him and present him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They are warned in a dream not to return to Herod so they go back to their own country by a different route. 

After the Magi leave, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee the country and take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because Herod will try to kill Jesus. So Joseph gets up in the night and they flee to Egypt. Matthew then says that this event fulfilled the prophesy of Hosea, who said, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Herod is filled with rage when he learns that the Magi outwitted him, so he gives orders to kill all the boys of Bethlehem and its vicinity who were age two or younger. 

Matthew adds: 

“Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 

“A voice is heard in Ramah, 

weeping and great mourning, 

Rachel weeping for her children 

and refusing to be comforted, 

because they are no more.” 

After Herod dies, an angel tells Joseph in a dream to take his family back to Israel. Joseph takes them back, but when he finds out that Herod’s son Archelaus was reigning in Judea, he was afraid to go there. He has another dream and is told to go north to the region of Galilee where he settles in the town of Nazareth. 

Matthew adds, “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” 

Wait a minute… what’s Matthew talking about here? What prophet said the Messiah would be a Nazarene? 

In Isaiah 11, we read: 

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” 

In the Hebrew, a “shoot” from an olive stump is called a netzer. The religious Jews of the first century saw this passage in Isaiah as a prediction of the coming Messiah – a “shoot” from the stump of Jesse. Because of this, it was believed that he would be called netzer in some fashion, as a symbol of this. This led to a debate as to whether he would be from netzeret (Nazareth – “shoot-ville”), whether he would be nazir (a Nazarite), or possibly both. As a result of this, the people from Nazareth, known to be fanatically religious, were convinced that the former possibility was true, and that their town would be the home of the future Messiah. The name by which these people called themselves would be translated into English as “Branch Davidians” (yes, you read that correctly), because the branch/shoot from the stump of Jesse (David) would come from their town. Because of this, the people in Nazareth were thought of as being “cultish” and suspect. 

We even read from one of Jesus’ disciples: “Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. And so it was that the coming of the Messiah was announced by John the Baptizer, a nazir, and this Messiah, Yeshua, was a netzer – a shoot – from netzeret. 

Chapter 3 

We then read about the beginning of Jesus’ proclamation and how John the Baptist prepares the way. Jesus comes up from Nazareth and is baptized. John declares that Jesus ought to be the one baptizing him. Jesus says, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” 

The text then reads: “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” 

The voice from heaven is quoting two passages of scripture. 

“I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: 

He said to me, “You are my son; 

today I have become your father.” 

- Psalm 2:7 

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, 

my chosen one in whom I delight; 

I will put my Spirit on him, 

and he will bring justice to the nations.” 

- Isaiah 42:1 

This passage as well as others led a number of early Christians to believe that Jesus was a man who became the Son of God when he was baptized. However, the church eventually agreed that Jesus was always the Son of God and that he was setting an example for us in his own baptism that we could all become the children of God through the cleansing of sin and the filling of the Holy Spirit.