The name Matthew means ' the gift of God'. His real name was Levi. He was a tax collector by profession. He is full of humility that he never fails to mention that he was a tax collector before Jesus called him to be an apostle. Tax collectors are always considered to be sinners and outcasts because they were very rude and always cheated on people. Among the synoptic gospels, Matthew was the first to write. His main targeted audience was the Jews. This book is dated before the destruction of the temple which must be before 70 A.D.
Matthew has composed this book as a firsthand experience of the works and life of Christ. Since he was mainly focusing on the Jews,
1. he starts the genealogy from Abraham and not from Adam, unlike Luke.
2. he portrays Jesus as the King and Messiah of Israel.
3. over 60 OT passages have been mentioned.
4. emphasizes how Christ is the fulfillment of the OT prophecies.
5. he mentions several Jewish customs without explaining why they are done (because since it was for the Jews they would not need an explanation)
6. refers to Christ as Son of David.
7. he mentions the Kingdom of Heaven 32 times ( not God unlike Luke)
8. he uses Palestinian Greek rather than Hellenistic Greek.
Purpose✒
- To show that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah.
- He ties Jesus to the OT prophecies.
- He tries to depict Christ as their promised King.
- He is also keen to show the errors in the actions of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not because of the existing animosity between Pharisees and tax collectors but to open the eyes of the Jews to the errors in the customs they were following.
- Portrays Christ's rejection as Messiah but at last, he writes that Christ will return victoriously as the King of Kings in the last days.
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