Matthew 1 β Genealogy, Origins, History. From the statement in the ancient Greek text, it is difficult to tell what the book of the genealogy refers to.
There is a sense in which each meaning is valid. A tax collector of that day must know Greek and be a literate, well-organized man. We might say that when Matthew followed Jesus, he left everything behind β except his pen and paper. The Son of David, the Son of Abraham : In this overview of explaining the lineage of Jesus, Matthew clearly and strongly connects him to some of the greatest men in the history of the Old Testament. Matthew begins his account of the life of Jesus Christ with the record of the lineage of Jesus from the patriarch Abraham.
Though most New Testament scholars believe that the Gospel of Matthew was not the first of the four written, it is well placed as the first book of the New Testament. There are many reasons why Matthew belongs first among the gospel accounts. For these reasons, the early church placed it first in order among the four gospel accounts. The Jewish character of this Gospel is evident in many ways.
There are many indications that Matthew expected that his readers would be familiar with Jewish culture. Yet significantly, the Gospel of Matthew also triumphantly ends with Jesus commanding His followers to make disciples of all the nations Matthew So the Gospel of Matthew is deeply rooted in Judaism, but at the same time is able to look beyond; it sees the gospel itself as more than a message for the Jewish people; rather it is a message for the whole world.
We also see that Matthew is deeply critical of the Jewish leadership and their rejection of Jesus. Some early church commentators and modern scholars say that Matthew originally wrote his gospel in Hebrew, and it was then translated into Greek.
