INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.

This is a summary only of the issues discussed at the bible study

The Gospel of Matthew is a bridge between the old and new testaments. There had been a gap of about 400 years without any prophetic vision since the last OT book was written until the birth of Jesus.

After the Babylonian captivity (beginning circa 600 BC 2 Kings 24:11-16) Israel ceased to be an independent nation and became a minor territory in a succession of larger empires. Alexander the Great conquered the region in 332 BC. He was committed to the creation of a world united by Greek language and culture. This policy, called Hellenisation, had a dramatic impact on the Jews. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC his empire was divided between his generals.

The Septuagint (sometimes abbreviated LXX) is the name given to the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. This has its origin in Alexandria, Egypt and was translated between 300-200 BC. Many Jews spread throughout the empire had lost their ability to read the Hebrew language and scholars could only read the ancient texts of scripture. It is believed that 70 to 72 Jewish scholars were commissioned to carry out the task of translation for inclusion in the Library at Alexandria. The term “Septuagint” literally means seventy in Latin, and the text is so named to the credit of these 70 scholars. As it is one of the earliest manuscripts of the OT it is widely used by modern translators. The NT was written in the Greek language. Jerome translated the scriptures into Latin (The Vulgate) completing this in 405 AD.

The Romans invaded Palestine in 63 BC. The Roman Senate elected Herod the Great King of the Jews in 37 BC. He is renowned for his building projects the best known of which is the expansion of the Second Temple at Jerusalem. After Herod's death, his kingdom was divided among three of his remaining sons, namely Herod Aarchelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip II, who ruled as tetrarchs rather than kings. Herod was never regarded as a true Jew, although he may have converted to Judaism, being an Idumean or Edomite (decended from Esau rather than Jacob), with whom the Jews always had poor relations.

Herod was paranoid and very ruthless. Because of this paranoia he murdered members of the Sanhedrin, his favourite wife, three sons (with 300 of their attendants), mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and many others, whom he thought posed a threat to his position. So it is totally consistent with his personality that he murdered the young children in the region of Bethlehem.

Herod died in 4 BC. The Anno Domini system which dates our calendar from the birth of Christ was devised by a monk Dionysius Exiguus in 525 AD. It is now generally recognised that he miscalculated and that the most probable date for the birth of Jesus was 5 or 6 BC.

Not a lot is known about Matthew. We know that his father’s name was Alphaeus and that he was also known as Levi (Mark 2:14). This might indicate that Matthew came from the tribe of Levi. We read in Numbers 1:47-57 that the Levites were set apart as what we might call ministers of religion. The male descendents of Aaron made up the priestly line while all the other members of the tribe had other responsibilities connected with the worship of God in the Tabernacle or later the Temple. Among other responsibilities they were teachers of the law, scribes of the sacred books, musicians at the temple services, etc. Being a tax collector he must have had a certain amount of administrative skill and ability and would have had to be able to speak Aramaic, Greek and probably Latin as well to carry out his job. These skills would serve him well in writing his Gospel.

Matthew’s gospel is primarily Jewish and written for Jews. Its main purpose is to prove to his Jewish readers that Jesus is their Messiah. He does this by showing how Jesus in his life and ministry fulfilled the OT scriptures and gives proof texts. He uses these quotations to drive home his basic theme that Jesus is the fulfilment of the OT predictions of the (Hebrew) Messiah - the Anointed one (Greek) Christ. His gospel is woven round five discourses the best known of which is the Sermon on the Mount. Some people say that this five-fold division may suggest that he modelled his book in the structure of the Torah, the first five books of the OT. The Jews were looking for a political leader but were in denial of other prophecies that depicted a suffering servant who would be rejected and killed. Christ’s kingdom would be much greater than David’s because it would embrace all nations and would never end.