Bible Discussion Thread

INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW (Part 1)



I. About the Author (Name and nationality):

Matthew is his Greek name. Matthew means gift of Yahweh. His Jewish name is Levi. And because his name is Levi, that tells us that he is from the tribe of Levi, and he is a priest of all people. Priests come from the tribe of Levi.

But what is interesting is this next part.

Occupation:

In Matthew 9:9, we find out that Matthew was a tax collector when Jesus called him. Now the Roman government would put the tax collection business up for bid every five years. The one that bid the highest gets to be the tax collector. And he would collect both what we call income tax and travel tax, and he would send it to the Roman government as they have prescribed. But he can tack on any amount he wants to keep for himself. So, tax collectors were very rich.

The problem is that we have a Jewish man from the tribe of Levi who should be serving as a priest in the temple, and he bids on the tax collector's job, and he starts working for the Roman government to tax his own people. Tax collectors were considered traitors by the Jews. They were unclean and unable to participate in the synagogue.

And so, here's Matthew saying I don't care, I am a rich man. Of course, the fellow Jews are calling him names and getting angry with him. But he doesn't care because he gets their money! But he is sitting at the tax collection booth when he is called by Jesus. And he gets up immediately and leaves. Right after this, and we see it in Matthew Chapter 9, but right after this, Matthew has a dinner in his home, and he invites all of his tax collector friends. He wants them to meet Jesus.

So then religious leaders got a little upset because they wanted to know why Jesus and the disciples, the people who were with Him at the beginning, why they were sitting down with tax collectors and sinners? A sinner to a Jew is somebody who didn't keep the law. They were considered traitors.