Matthew: From Biblical Text to Contemporary Life (The NIV Application Commentary) - Hardcover

Wilkins, Michael J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310493102 ISBN 13: 9780310493105

Publisher: Zondervan Academic, 2004

Synopsis

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context.

To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections:

• Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context.
• Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible.
• Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved.

This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

About this title

About the Author

Michael J. Wilkins (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament language and literature and former Dean of the faculty at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He is the author of The Concept of Discipleship in Matthew’s Gospel, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship, and the volume on Matthew in the NIV Application Commentary series.

From the Back Cover

The importance of the Gospel of Matthew in church history cannot be overstated. For Jewish readers, it affirmed the Messiahship of Jesus, referring consistently to the Scriptures to establish his credentials. For Gentile disciples, it provided powerful and dramatic support of their inclusion in God's kingdom. The cross of Christ had removed the division between Jew and non-Jew, and through Matthew's writings, we see Israel's God drawing the entire world to himself through Jesus. 'The Gospel according to Matthew . . . Was the most widely read and frequently used of any of the four Gospels in the formative years of the church, ' writes Michael Wilkins. In this volume of the NIV Application Commentary, Wilkins explains Matthew's broad appeal not only to his ancient readers, but also to us today. Exploring the links between the Bible and our own times, Wilkins shares perspectives on Matthew's Gospel that reveal its enduring relevance for our twenty-first-century lives. Most Bible commentaries take us on a one-way trip from our world to the world of the Bible. But they leave us there, assuming that we can somehow make the return journey on our own. They focus on the original meaning of the passage but don't discuss its contemporary application. The information they offer is valuable---but the job is only half done! The NIV Application Commentary Series helps bring both halves of the interpretive task together. This unique, award-winning series shows readers how to bring an ancient message into our present-day context. It explains not only what the Bible meant but also how it speaks powerfully today. 'This series promises to become an indispensable tool for every pastor and teacher who seeks to make the Bible's timeless message speak to this generation.' Billy Graham 'It takes more than interpretation of God's Word to change lives, it takes application. Application is the bottom line in preaching and teaching. Without it, we've missed the point of the Bible. The NIV Application Commentary is an outstanding resource for pastors and anyone else who is serious about developing 'doers of the Word.' Rick Warren, Pastor Saddleback Valley Community Church

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Matthew

By Michael J. Wilkins

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2004 Michael J. Wilkins
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-49310-5

Contents

Series Introduction................................11General Editor's Preface...........................13Author's Preface...................................15Abbreviations......................................19Introduction.......................................37Outline of Matthew's Gospel........................47Bibliography.......................................53Text and Commentary on Matthew.....................973Scripture Index....................................1000

Chapter One

Matthew 1:1–17

* * *

A RECORD OF the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,

4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,

5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,

6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,

7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor,

14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud,

15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Original Meaning

During this time the Mediterranean world experienced the famed pax Romana (Lat., "Roman peace"), a condition of comparative calm that originated with the reign of Caesar Augustus (27 B.C.–A.D. 14) and lasted at least to the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161– 180). The Roman historian Tacitus attributes the beginnings of this period of peace almost single-handedly to the immense powers of Augustus. But as Tacitus observes, the concord that Augustus inaugurated did not bring with it freedom for all of his subjects. Many throughout the Roman world hoped for change. He writes:

Nobody had any immediate worries as long as Augustus retained his physical powers, and kept himself going, and his House, and the peace of the empire. But when old age incapacitated him, his approaching end brought hopes of change. A few people started idly talking of the blessings of freedom. Some, more numerous, feared civil war; others wanted it.

Tides of revolution continually swirled just below the surface and periodically rose to disturb the pax Romana.

In one of the remote regions of the empire, where a variety of disturbances repeatedly surfaced, the hoped-for freedom finally arrived in a most unexpected way. A rival to Augustus was born in Israel. But this rival did not appear with fanfare, nor would he challenge directly the military and political might of Rome. Even many of his own people eventually became disappointed with the revolution that he would bring, because it was a revolution of the heart, not one of swords or chariots.

This was the revolution brought by Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. Matthew's Gospel harks back upon a long history of anticipation within Israel. His recounting elucidates how Jesus' life and ministry fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament prophets, but also shows how Jesus disappointed many of the misplaced expectations of the people.

Jesus Messiah Brings a New Beginning for Humanity (1:1)

Matthew introduces his Gospel with language reminiscent of Genesis. The Greek word that the NIV renders "genealogy" in 1:1 is genesis ("beginnings"), which is also the title of the first book of the Old Testament in the Septuagint (the LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament). In fact, an almost identical expression to Matthew 1:1 occurs in the LXX of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1 to narrate both the beginning record of God's creation and the first genealogy of God's human creatures. Moreover, in Matthew the expression functions not only as a heading for the genealogy in 1:2–17, but also for the beginning narrative of Jesus' infancy in 1:18–2:23. A case can also be made that the expression functions as a title for the entire book about Jesus that follows. Just as Genesis gave the story of one beginning—God's creation and covenant relations with Israel—so the Gospel of Matthew gives the story of a new beginning—the arrival of Jesus the Messiah and the kingdom of God (cf. also Mark 1:1).

Matthew's opening words ("Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham") had special importance to a Jewish audience, which traced its ancestry through the covenants God made with Israel. The heading, with Jesus' names and his ancestry, is packed with meaning.

In common practice a person had a single personal name, which often carried some religious significance. This book is about "Jesus" (Iesous), which is his historical, everyday name, the name normally used in the narrative of the Gospels. This name is Yeshua in Hebrew (meaning "Yahweh saves," cf. Neh. 7:7), which is a shortened form of Joshua (yehosua), "Yahweh is salvation" (Ex. 24:13); this name will come to have profound notions of salvation associated with it in Jesus' life and ministry (cf. 1:21).

"Christ" (Christos) is a title, derived from the Hebrew masiah ("anointed"), that harks back to David as the anointed king of Israel. The term came to be associated with the promise of an "anointed one" who would be the light of hope for the people of Israel. God had promised David through Nathan the prophet that his house and throne would be established forever (2 Sam. 7:11b–16)—a promise now seen as having been fulfilled in Jesus as the Messiah. The full name using the transliterated form (i.e., "Jesus Christ") is accurate and traditional, but in common usage it can be misunderstood to be something like a first and last name.

"Son of David" is an important expression in Matthew's Gospel (9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30–31; 21:9, 15; 22:42, 45). Matthew uses the name of this great king seventeen times, more than any other book of the New Testament. King David was the revered, conquering warrior of Israel's history. The wording "son of David" expresses a promised figure who would perpetuate David's throne, thereby pointing to the Messiah's lineage and royal expectation (see 2 Sam. 7:11b–16). But it also evoked images of a Messiah who would come conquering—a mighty warrior like David who would destroy Israel's enemies and reestablish the throne in Jerusalem and the kingdom of Israel as in the golden days of David.

But Jesus is also "the son of Abraham." In tracing the ancestry not only to David but also to Abraham, Matthew holds a light of hope to the entire world. The covenant God made with Abraham established Israel as a chosen people, but it was also a promise that his line would be a blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12:1–3; 22:18).

Consequently, the introduction of this Gospel with its ancestry of Jesus offers an important key to interpreting Matthew's message. Jesus' ministry brought fulfillment of God's covenant to the particular people of Israel (e.g., 10:6; 15:24), but it also brought fulfillment of God's promise to bring universal hope to all the nations (cf. 21:43; 28:19). This latter theme becomes increasingly pronounced in the Gospel and rises to a climax in the concluding commission (cf. 28:18–20).

Jesus Messiah's Genealogy (1:2–17)

Genealogies were important in the ancient world and played an especially significant role for the Jews. According to the Old Testament (e.g., 1 Chron. 1–9), God's people kept extensive genealogies, which served as a record of a family's descendants but were also used for practical and legal purposes to establish a person's heritage, inheritance, legitimacy, and rights. Knowledge of one's descent was especially necessary, if a dispute occurred, to ensure that property went to the right person.

Matthew most likely draws on some of the genealogies found in the Old Testament and uses similar wording. For the list of individuals after Zerubbabel, when the Old Testament ceases, Matthew probably uses other records that have since been lost. Sources indicate that extensive genealogical records were extant during the first century, with some of the more important records of political and priestly families kept in the temple. Later rabbinic tradition, for example, tried to establish the descent from David of a near contemporary to Jesus, Rabbi Hillel, through a genealogical scroll that was purportedly located in Jerusalem. The official extrabiblical genealogies were lost with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in A.D. 70, though private genealogies were retained elsewhere.

Luke gives a genealogy of Jesus as well (see Luke 3:23–38). There are several basic differences between Matthew's (1:2–17) and Luke's list. (1) Matthew gives a descending genealogy, beginning with the earliest ancestor, Abraham, placed at the head and citing later generations in forward lines of descent (i.e., moving from father to son), culminating with the birth of Jesus. This is the more common form of Jewish genealogy in the Old Testament (e.g., Gen. 5:1–32). Luke gives an ascending form of genealogy that reverses the order (moving from son to father), starting with Jesus and tracing it backward to Adam (Luke 3:23–38; cf. Ezra 7:1–5). This reverse order is more commonly found in some Greco-Roman genealogies.

(2) Matthew places special emphasis on the covenants made with Israel, in line with the opening verse of his Gospel, by tracing Jesus' lineage to David (1:6) and Abraham (1:2). Luke places special emphasis on Jesus' relation to all of humanity and to God himself by tracing his lineage to "Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38)—Jesus is the son of Adam and the son of God.

(3) The names of several persons after the Babylonian deportation differ between the two genealogies. For example, Matthew follows the line through Jeconiah, Shealtiel, and Zerubbabel, while Luke follows the line through Neri, Shealtiel, and Zerubbabel.

(4) Matthew omits several names that are found in the genealogy of Luke, most likely for the purpose of literary symmetry for memorization (see comments on 1:17, below). The verb gennao ("give birth to, father") is used in each link of Matthew's genealogy and is often used to indicate a more remote ancestor (e.g., grandfather or great-grandfather).

(5) One of the most significant features of Matthew's record is his emphasis on Jesus' kingly lineage. David is not simply the son of Jesse (Luke 3:31– 32) but he is "King David" (Matt. 1:6). Further, Matthew traces Jesus' genealogy through David's son Solomon, who had succeeded his father as king of Israel, while Luke traces the line through David's son Nathan, who never reigned as king (cf. 1:6; Luke 3:32; cf. 2 Sam. 5:14).

What accounts for the differences in the genealogies of Jesus given in Matthew and Luke? Two basic explanations are often cited, although the variations are numerous. (1) The first view emphasizes generally that Matthew gives Jesus' line through his father Joseph while Luke gives Jesus' line through his mother Mary. (2) The second basic view emphasizes that Matthew and Luke focus on Joseph in both genealogies but for different purposes. While fully accounting for the differences remains unsolvable with the information we now possess, it does seem clear that Matthew intends to demonstrate Jesus' legal claim to the throne of David. David's greater Son, the anticipated Davidic messianic king, has arrived with the birth of Jesus.

From Abraham to King David (1:2–6a). Matthew's emphases in his genealogy give clues to his understanding of Jesus' identity and ministry. The basic pattern of the genealogy is established in the first listing: "Abraham was the father of Isaac" (lit., "Abraham fathered Isaac"). This is in line with the typical Old Testament wording, such as the LXX rendering of 1 Chronicles 1:34: "Abraham fathered Isaac." This same pattern occurs forty times, using the active voice of the verb gennao (cf. the KJV expression, "begat"). This expression emphasizes the human descent of each generation, which paves the way for a dramatic change of construction in 1:16, where a passive voice occurs, by which Matthew points to the divine origin of Jesus.

Matthew states that Jacob fathered "Judah and his brothers," probably to point to the inclusiveness of the covenant family of Israel from which Messiah would come. Judah was the son of Jacob who would carry the scepter, the ruling staff (Gen. 49:8–12). The Messiah would come from the royal line of Judah (Gen. 49:10), but he lived within the covenant people that came from the lines of the other brothers. Through Tamar, Judah fathered two brothers, Zerah and Perez (Matt. 1:2), who are probably mentioned because they were twins (Gen. 38:27–30).

Approximately 450 years are enclosed within the four generations of the families from Perez to Amminadab, who was connected with the first census taken of the Israelite nation by Moses during the desert wanderings (Num. 1:7). Approximately 400 more years elapse during the span of time of the six generations listed from Nahshon, who led the tribe of Judah in the desert, to the rise of the monarchy with David's birth. This is a direct indication that Matthew omits names from the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2:5, 9–15. Such omission was common in the ancient world, primarily to make a genealogy easy to memorize (see comment on 1:17).

Boaz (cf. 1 Chron. 2:11–12) is the first person in the genealogy since Judah who is well known in the Old Testament narratives. He is one of the leading characters in the book of Ruth, where he marries Ruth the Moabitess and fathers Obed (Matt. 1:5; cf. Ruth 4:17, 21; 1 Chron. 2:12). Little else is known of Obed except that he fathers Jesse (Matt. 1:5; cf. Ruth 4:17, 21), who in turn fathers David. Jesse figures prominently in the Old Testament narrative, primarily during the anointing of David by Samuel, the early rise of David to power in the court of Saul, and David's initiation to military life with the slaying of Goliath (1 Sam. 16–17).

The inclusion of five women in Jesus' genealogy—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary—is often recognized as a clue to Matthew's emphasis. Women were not usually included in Old Testament genealogies, for descent was normally traced through men as the head of the family. When women were included, there was usually some particular reason. Similarly, Matthew seems to have several reasons for including these women in Jesus' genealogy (see Bridging Contexts).

Tamar (cf. Gen. 38), Judah's daughter-in-law, gave birth to Perez and Zerah after she tricked Judah into thinking that she was a temple prostitute and had intercourse. Judah had not fulfilled his vow of giving her to his youngest son, so she took the situation into her own hands. Her lineage is not made clear—some suggest that she was a Canaanite, while others insist she was not. Tamar is also listed in the genealogy found in 1 Chronicles 2:4: "Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah." Since Matthew's phraseology is so similar to that of 1 Chronicles, Matthew may have brought over her name simply because it was listed there, or he may have intended to include a woman whose rights were abused by men.

Rahab (cf. Josh. 2) was a Gentile and a prostitute of Jericho, who protected the two spies sent by Joshua to reconnoiter the land promised to the people of Israel (Josh. 2:1–21). Only here do we find Rahab featured in David's ancestry, a fact not recorded elsewhere in Scripture nor anywhere else in Jewish writings.

Ruth (cf. Ruth 3) is a Moabitess (e.g., Ruth 1:4; 2:1, 6). To the tenth generation a Moabite was not to be admitted to the congregation (Deut. 23:3), but here Matthew makes clear that Gentile women, Rahab and Ruth, were in the royal line of Jesus.

As noted above, one of the most significant features of Matthew's record is the emphasis on Jesus' kingly lineage. David is not simply the son of Jesse (as is stated in Luke's genealogy, Luke 3:31–32) but is "King David" (Matt. 1:6), an explicit emphasis on royalty in the genealogy of Jesus. From here Matthew maintains an emphasis on kingship, using the word "king" twenty-two times, more than any other book in the New Testament. Throughout his Gospel, Matthew maintains a focus on Jesus as "the King of the Jews."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Matthewby Michael J. Wilkins Copyright © 2004 by Michael J. Wilkins. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0310493102
• ISBN 13: 9780310493105
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1008