Regardless of how this name change is explained, this toll collector may have been trained in accounting and documenting records and may have been functionally bilingual or trilingual in order to converse with travellers moving between the territories of Philip and Antipas. The account in the three Synoptics is identical, the vocation of Matthew-Levi being alluded to in the same terms. Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 24; Luz, Matthew 820, 32, 32n.14. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthews house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. Christian Soldiers in the Ancient Roman Army, Destruction of Jerusalem, c. 586 BCEyewitness Account, Assassination of Julius CaesarAncient Accounts, Claudia ActeNeros Mistress, Secret Christian, Emperor Tiberius & The Resurrection Of Jesus, Plinys Letter To Trajan About Christians, Ancient TechnologyThe Antikythera Mechanism, The Lycurgus CupNanotechnology in Ancient Rome, Monte TestaccioAncient Romes Garbage Dump, Metal Detector FindRoman Coins & Lost Emperor of Britain, Stirring of Water in the Pool of Bethesda. Dr. Beth Harris: In the Contarelli Chapel. There is no indication that Matthew wrote anything (contra John 21:24; Gos. The double tradition is mostly comprised of sayings, but there are a couple of narratives (e.g., Matt 4:111/Luke 4:113; Matt 8:513/Luke 7:110). A few scholars have likened Papiass oracles to a testimonium source or collection of prophetic proof-texts from the Hebrew Bible that were translated and integrated into the Gospel of Matthew. [9] In both instances, certain copyists of Marks Gospel were unaware of the conflation of Levi with Matthew in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3, yet still turned the character in Mark 2:14 into an apostle. Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. [29] Thus, some scholars who otherwise defend the traditional authorship of Matthews Gospel admit that Papias erred in his belief about the original language in which it was written. [38] For the latter view, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 64-66; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 224. Krzinger and Gundry insist that dialektos would be preceded by an article if a language was intended (cf. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collectors booth. Matthew (also known as Levi) doubtless was one of the tax collectors who responded to John the Baptist's call to repentance. 135; Matt. Saint Matthew made a very small decision at the time that ended up not only affecting his life, and the people of his time, but he made a choice that affected all of mankind in the future as well. Maybe Jesus had seen Levi often as he sat in his chair with his table, papyrus, quill and ink made from carbon (soot or lampblack), water and gum arabic, a natural gum from the acacia tree used to control the inks viscosity when applied to the papyrus. Jonah was in the belly of the whale 4 days. Matthew had a lucrative, though dishonest, tax collecting business for the occupying Roman government. So it is more than probable that Matthew or someone else translated Matthews biography of Christ into Greek in order to spread the Good News beyond the Jews. At best, they were learned and prudent. Vose Seminary He called us when all we had was need. Krzingers and Gundrys proposals have varying degrees of persuasiveness, but most scholars have not been swayed by their contention that Papiass words on Matthew have been misread through the centuries. Jesus casually says to Levi the tax collector,follow me and Levi got up and followed him. Just like that. Many think that just as Simon was named Peter (the rock) by the Lord, Levi was likewise renamed Matthew (the gift of God) by Jesus. [6] Tal Ilan, Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Part I: Palestine 330 BCE 200 CE, TSAJ 91 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). In the Christian Bible, he was cited as one of the Jesus' apostles. Warren Carter underscores how Papiass erroneous supposition served to underline the antiquity of this gospel and link it to the apostles.. The Romans were their enemies. [27] For instance, see Ulrich Krtner, Papias von Hierapolis: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des frhen Christentums, Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 133 (Gttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1983), 203206; Davies and Allison, Matthew IVII, 16; Black, Rhetorical Terminology, 3334, 38; France, Evangelist and Teacher, 57; Hagner, Matthew 113, xlv; Morris, Matthew, 1314; William R. Schoedel, Papias ANRW 2.27.1 (1993): 257, 263; Carson, Matthew, 13; Armin Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus im kleinasiatischen Gottesdienst. The Pharisees asked them, Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Teilband 1, ed. Wright --University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies When Jesus called Levi, Jesus never told him, "Repent, and follow Me." Jesus only said, "Follow Me." Jesus sought out someone like Levi, who was in need of God's mercy and helped him to make a decision to follow Jesus; that is to turn to God. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews. He was honored that His Lord considered him such a gift, But as Levi he had immediately joined his life to Jesus and His Mission. Matthew 9:9-13 begins with Jesus calling Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him as His disciple. Aelius Theon, Prog. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. Band: Evangelien und Verwandtes. 30.3.7; 30.13.214.4), was the Gospel according to the Hebrews, though Epiphanius derided it as the Ebionites mutilation of Matthews Gospel. This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. Matthew belonged to a family of tax gatherers, or publicans, but was himself a customs collector in Capernaum, where he lived. Clement, str. 3.2-3), but failed to place them in a rhetorically effective arrangement (taxis), whereas Matthew arranged (sunetaxato) the oracles (logia) in a Hebrew style.[21] That is, they surmise that Matthew applied Jewish exegetical techniques and forms of argumentation to the material at his disposal to shape it into a cogent presentation about how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures. 184.9-10) and Eusebius regarded the text as disputed but not unorthodox (h.e. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. This is not a solitary occurrence within Matthews Gospel: the evangelist inserted the mother of the sons of Zebedee into one pericope (Matt 20:20; cf. [37] See B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins (London: MacMillan, 1924). Assuming that the identification of Matthew with Levi is correct, Matthew (probably meaning Yahwehs Gift) would appear to be the Christian name of Levi (called by Mark Levi the son of Alphaeus), who had been employed as a tax collector in the service of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Jesus speaking or understanding Greek is the least controversial of the three. B. The meaning in Hebrew of the word day always means a 24 hour period of time. C hristmas Day may be Dec. 25, but it's not the end of Christmas story. "John, James, Andrew and Peter were the disciples closest to Jesus," Traylor says. For objections against this view, see Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 25n.26; Luz, Matthew 820, 32. 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews I. James son of Alphaeus is traditionally identified as James the Less and James the brother of Jesus. [2] B. Most general Bible readers have the mistaken impression that Matthew, the opening book of the New Testament, must be our first and earliest Gospel, with Mark, Luke and John following. 2) Jesus explains his action in having a meal with tax collectors and sin-ners by saying "Go and learn what it means 'I desire mercy and not sacri-fice'" (Matt 9,13; Hos 6,6). Assuming that the identification of Matthew with Levi is correct, Matthew (probably meaning "Yahweh's Gift") would appear to be the Christian name of Levi (called by Mark "Levi the son of Alphaeus"), who had been employed as a tax collector in the service of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Matthew was saying, Jesus IS the fulfillment of Old Testament predictions of our coming Messiah, Anontied One. He is called the Son of David nine times in the Gospel of Matthew. There were 12 men chosen to be disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus was becoming popular. They contend that the conjunction. Numerous textual indications point to an author who was a Jewish Christian writing for Christians of similar background. To follow Jesus requires renouncement. He may call peop Even so, most readers of the New Testament throughout history have taken the identification of Levi with Matthew for granted. He it was who gave a feast, for attending which Jesus and the disciples were severely criticized by the Pharisees, k on the charge that it was unseemly for Him to eat with publicans and sinners. 5.10.3; Clement, in h.e. However, Mark . Tax collectors were rich people. Saint Matthew's decision lives on into eternity and benefited not millions . After all, a toll collector may have at least needed functional literacy to perform certain tasks. Indeed, Papias commented on a story about the Lords encounter with a condemned woman that Eusebius located in this Gospel (cf. The tax collector had already counted the cost.Sandra Sweeny Silver, Slaves Were Lifeless Tools in Ancient Rome, The Exotic Animal Business in Ancient Rome. Verse 15. If Jesus proclaimed the 'Kingdom of God," sneered Pilate, let him die as "King of the Jews" (Mark 15:2,9,12,18,26). [15], The Original Language of Matthews Gospel, Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. [42], It was not until Epiphanius (Pan. Therefore, commentators often appeal to Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 as evidence that the Apostle Matthew was capable of composing either the Greek text of the first canonical Gospel or one of the literary sources incorporated into it. 2.12.87; Didymus, Comm. ill. 2), but several of his quotations were lifted from previous Greek texts penned by figures such as Ignatius (cf. 3.39.1, 15), which subtly contrasts with an exclusive interest in the Lords logoi or sayings (3.39.14). 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. See W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew, AB (Doubleday: New York, 1971), CLXXVIII. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Ein Beitrag zur Lsung eines alten Problems ZNW59 (1968): 4056; Mark Kiley, Why Matthew in Matt 9:913Biblica65.3 (1984): 34751; Michael J. Kok, Re-naming the Toll Collector in Matthew 9:9: A Review of the Options JGAR (forthcoming). Matthews relics were reputedly discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080. Gundry, Matthew, xxii. Unlike the modern deductions about Matthews level of literacy, Papias did not presuppose Matthews facility in Greek. 30.1; Jerome, Matt. In many Western Christian traditions, there are 12 days of Christmas, culminating around . The debate over the authorship of Matthews Gospel usually focuses on the replacement of Levi, the son of Alphaeus, with Matthew (Matt 9:9; contra Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27) and the addition of the descriptor the toll collector after Matthews name (Matt 10:3; contra Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). They were dishonest and were also seen as. There were, however, at the time of Christ and the Apostles two languages spoken by JewsAramaic and Greek. In this post, let us take a deeper . 3.2) that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was associated with Matthew. 1/27/2013 09:47:39 pm. Jesus Calls Levi | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org One of the themes of Jesus' ministry is that He is not bound to choose the most obvious candidates for ministry according to social convention. Jesus does not say "On you I will build my church" but "on this rock ." "This rock" is distinct from Peter, although connected to him. (Matt. Matthews Gospel has more quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament author. [5] On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan,[6] Richard Bauckham makes it clear why these examples may be irrelevant to this case: "[I]f Matthew and Levi were the same person, we should be confronted with the virtually unparalleled phenomenon of a Palestinian Jew bearing two common Semitic personal names (Matthew: ninth most popular, 62 occurrences; Levi: seventeenth most popular, 25 occurrences). Calling of St. Matthew by Alexandre Bida, 1875. These Jewish tax collectors were disdained by the Jews. [18] B. C. Butler, The Originality of St Matthew: A Critique of the Two-Document Hypothesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 16566; Albright and Mann, Matthew, XXXVIXLVIII; Powers, Progressive Publication, 4749. As Jesus was having a meal in Levi's home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples . Zavada, Jack. Alternatively, the textual variant that has James instead of Levi as the son of Alphaeus in Mark 2:14 in a handful of manuscripts was plausibly motivated by a desire for uniformity by having a single son of Alphaeus (cf. [21] Krzinger, Papias, 1214, 2122, 5256; Gundry, Matthew, xxixxii, 61820; idem, Pre-Papian Tradition, 6364, 6768. This is a depiction of a moment of spiritual awakening and conversion, which was something many Baroque artists were interested in painting, especially Caravaggio. The fact of one man having two names is of frequent occurrence among the Jews. Perhaps they did so because Levis call narrative closely resembled the summons of the first four apostles to discipleship in Mark 1:1620 and Alpheus was already remembered as the father of one of the apostles in Mark 3:18. On the other hand, the oldest quotations from the Gospel according to the Hebrews were not attributed to a named author (e.g., Clement, str. 3.25.5; cf. Key Verse: 6:13, "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles". praef. [28] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 26364. Vir. [14] For the theory that Matthew was either the founder of a putative Matthean community or the source of their traditions, see Pesch, Levi-Matthus, 56; Gundry, Old Testament, 184; Hill, Matthew, 5354, 173; Gnilka, Matthusevangelium, 1.331; Davies and Allison, Matthew VIIIXVIII, 2.99; Hagner, Matthew 113, xlvi; John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 3-4; Witherington III, Matthew, 5, 29; Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 40; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 111.
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