MATTHEW was a Jew, residing at the wicked seaport town of Capernaum, and by profession a publican or tax collector of the tribute generally imposed by the Romans on a conquered people. His business was an odious one in the eyes of his countrymen, as it was a standing witness of their national degradation and subjection to Gentile rule, and one, moreover, generally taken up by men of a disreputable character. Harlots, publicans, and sinners are frequently classed together, and were regarded as utterly unworthy of notice or regard by any respectable Jew. Thus God, in the sovereignty of His own grace and purpose, made choice of the despised tax gatherer to establish by proofs of an incontestable kind the ancient Jewish scriptures the Messiahship of Jesus and His legal title to Judah’s throne. Thus, too, does God humble the haughty pride of man and glorify Himself in His sovereign ways.
The special design of this gospel is to make good on the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures, that Jesus, born at Bethlehem, was the long-promised and divinely predicted Messiah; to show from the concurrent testimony of the Word, that Emmanuel (which occurs but once in the New Testament), “God with us,” now dwelt in Israel; that Jehovah was present to bless, According to His power and grace; that as Son of Abraham, all blessings for, man and the earth were centered in Him, and as Son of David, He was the legal heir to the throne of Judah. Thus His genealogy is traced up to David and Abraham, the roots and sources of royalty and blessing to Jew and Gentile. The ancient oracles of God are oftener appealed to in this Gospel, and their fulfilment in the life, ways, and works of Jesus demonstrated, than in the other Gospels. There are about 80 direct references to or citations from the Old Testament. His birth and attendant circumstances (chap. 3); His ministry in Galilee (chap. 4); His miracles of grace and healing (chap. 8); His parables (chap. 13); His triumphant entry into Jerusalem (chap. 21); His celebrated prophetic discourse on Olivet (chap. 24); and His closing hours on earth (chap. 26-28), are all according to Old Testament predictions, and seal these Scriptures in a living and personal combination in Christ. The Gospel, too, supposes a knowledge of everything Jewish, as places, customs, &c., and are not explained as they are in the other Gospels. In keeping with the character of the book, which reveals Messiah in the midst of His people on the earth, we have no ascension scene as in Mark and Luke. Matthew alone of the Evangelists records the visit of the wise men to Jerusalem and Bethlehem from the far distant east; alone speaks of Jesus “born King of the Jews;” alone relates in a seven-fold series the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (chap. 13); alone uses the term “kingdom of heaven,” which he does about thirty times; alone gives the parable of the Ten Virgins; alone speaks of the church (chap. 16, 18)―which supposes His rejection by the Jews and of the keys of the kingdom to Peter (chap. 16:19); while he also omits all notice of the circumcision of Jesus, and other Jewish matters which it might have been expected would have been most carefully recorded by the Jewish Apostle. It is only in this Gospel that Jesus, in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (chap. 21:9), is saluted as “Son of David;” only here, too, that the owning of this title by the Jewish children drew forth the indignation of the rulers (chap. 21:15). All this beautifully falls in with the general scope and design of the Gospel, which is not only to present Jesus in Jewish relationship fulfilling the prophecies going before, but also to trace the result of His mission to Israel, His rejection by His people and by the Gentiles, and the resulting consequences to both. After the imprisonment of John (chap. 4:12), Jesus chiefly ministered in Galilee until His last entry into Jerusalem (chap. 20:17).
Matthew groups incidents, parables, &c., in the Lord’s life not in chronological order, that is done in Mark, nor in moral sequence, that is the mission of Luke, but the DISPENSATIONAL order is that observed in our Gospel. One clear instance will establish the truth of this. At the close of chapter 12 the Lord, after having presented Himself as Messiah in various ways, proving Himself to be the very Messiah, Son of David, and Jehovah of Israel, is so thoroughly rejected that the appeal even to their senses in the miracle wrought in their presence and before their eyes was attributed to the power of Beelzebub, prince of devils. This sealed their doom. In principle their apostacy was complete, and it only required the fact—the murder of the Messiah—to fill up the measure of their iniquity, hence the Lord Jesus in a few pregnant sentences sketches the future of the Christ-rejecting nation (verse 45); then disowns the people as a whole and breaks with Israel according to nature (verses 46-50); and in the first verse of the following chapter in the significant action of leaving the “house” disowns the whole Jewish system. Then follows the seven kingdom parables of chapter 13, which, while uttered at different times, are grouped by the Spirit of God as illustrating the dispensational change which would ensue consequent on Jewish rejection of Messiah and His claims.
We have, then, in Matthew’s Gospel the most careful and orderly combination and grouping of discourses, miracles, and parables.
Divisions
1. The birth and divinity of Jesus, King of the Jews; His kingdom announced, and the moral power of the enemy overcome at the outset. Chapter 1-4
2. The principles of the kingdom, its rejection supposed, and the character of its subjects. Chapter 5-7
3. Jesus displaying His grace and power in midst of Israel; the rejection of the leaders of the people, and finally of the nation itself, complete in the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Chapter 8-12
4. The kingdom rejected by Israel is morally established, amongst the Gentiles; its history and features during the ascension of the King. Chapter 13-20:28.
5. Final presentation to Israel, and its results to that people as well as to the Gentiles. Chapter 20: 29; 25.
6. His death, the alone ground of glory and blessing, and all power His in resurrection. Chapter 26-28.