Perhaps most plain is the calling of the disciple Matthew, also known as Levi the tax collector. [8] 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. 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. Levi asked Jesus to come to dinner at his home. However, Jesus Christ is of the tribe of Judah. However, Mark . However, Didymus the Blind spotted a similar story in certain Gospels in his Commentary on Ecclesiastes (223.613) and one of those Gospels could have been the Gospel according to the Hebrews that he cited elsewhere in his Commentary on the Psalms (184.910). Mich. 7.6; Is. His symbol is an angel, and he is a patron saint of tax collectors and accountants. Phil. Indeed, Levi is Israel's priestly tribe, as stated in the Bible: "The priests the Levites the priests the Levites the priests the Levites" (Deuteronomy 17:9, 17:18, 18:1). After all, a toll collector may have at least needed functional literacy to perform certain tasks. nor any utilization of the first-person voice to present Matthews perspective on the unfolding events (contra Acts 16:1017; 20:515; 21:118; 27:137; 28:116; Gos. Levi had to keep very accurate records. Ps. had his name changed from Levi to Matthew likely by Jesus Himself who changed Simon's name to Peter. Jerome may have anticipated that he would track down the Gospel according to the Hebrews in Pamphilus library in Caesarea (cf. It would be psychologically impossible that such a man as Matthew, trained and experienced in writing records and reports he was a Roman official and such work was requisite for him since it went with the job would not have recorded things Jesus said. As most of us know, the tax collector named Levi became Saint Matthew. 2. 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. 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. [37], The final option is that a non-extant Jewish Gospel stands behind Papiass reference to Matthews oracles or, at least, the New Testament Gospel that bears the name Matthew was mixed up with a Jewish Gospel circulating in Papiass milieu. Several theories have been offered to account for why the toll collector Levi was re-named Matthew in Matthew 9:9 (cf. 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. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn. 5. F. C. Burkitt, Levi Son of Alphaeus JTS 28 (1927): 27374; Metzger, Textual Commentary, 78; Brent Nongbri, Matthew and Levi. Benjamin Bacon (Studies in Matthew [New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1930], 3940) conjectures that the textual variant in Mark 2:14 predated the composition of Matthews Gospel, leading a pre-Matthean scribe who was transmitting a list of the Twelve that was originally independent of Mark 3:1619 to preface the name James the son of Alphaeus with the title the toll collector. The author of Matthews Gospel, however, copied this list in Matthew 10:24 and wrongly took this scribal insertion in reference to Matthew since James was immediately preceded by Matthew in the list of names. in Mt. He was thirty-one years old and married and had four children. Jesus was very popular in the Capernaum area where He and Levi lived and it is sure Levi had seen and heard the Nazarene. Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea, after which he supposedly missioned to the East, suggesting Ethiopia and Persia. There is a lot of controversy in recent centuries about that subject. Religion is "a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, & far less the public, [has] a . The Ipuwer PapyrusWere The 10 Biblical Plagues Real? Tax collectors were rich people. 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. Who translated it after that in Greek is not sufficiently ascertained. Francis Watson, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 126. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Hist. In Matthew's parabolic aside, the wisest advice Pilate got that day -- our Good Friday -- was from his wife: "Have nothing to do with that innocent man" (27:19). 1. Jesus speaking or understanding Greek is the least controversial of the three. The First Disciples [Matthew 4:18-22, Luke 5:1-11, John 1:35-51] . [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). But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Matthew 9:9-13, Matthew is the ONLY one of the Gospel writers who uses his changed name from Levi to Matthew. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. T/F, 5. People had to pay taxes to the *Romans. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:13-17. But Pilate replied, I imagine, "What happens in Jerusalem, stays in . Clement, str. From the place where he collected taxes near the Sea of Galilee (probably on the outskirts of Capernaum), Matthew may often have heard Jesus speak and must have known about his many miracles. 1.62), though these observations contradict Origens argument in his commentary above. Mark 3:18). [36] Dennis MacDonald, Two Shipwrecked Gospels: The Logoi of Jesus and Papiasss Exposition of Logia about the Lord (Atlanta: SBL, 2012), 15. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. Numerous textual indications point to an author who was a Jewish Christian writing for Christians of similar background. Rather, he plainly states, So Matthew composed the oracles in the Hebrew language and each person interpreted them as best he could (in Eusebius, h.e. Christian missionaries have taught people in Papua, New Guinea who had many gods before their conversion to recite the Hebrew Shema announcing only ONE GOD. The task of the present article is to explain these two variations in . When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said,It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. In this post, let us take a deeper . 29.9.4; 30.3.7; 30.13.2; 30.14.3) and Jerome (Epist. Some Patristic interpreters guessed that the evangelists Mark and Luke called Matthew by his less popular name Levi out of deference for his apostolic status, while Matthew himself had the humility to confess that he was once employed in a disreputable profession under his better-known name (e.g., John Chrysostom, hom. I. Jesus casually says to Levi the tax collector,follow me and Levi got up and followed him. Just like that. CLICK HERE for Jesus and the Constant Crowds article. While Jesus was having dinner at Levis house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. As a tax collector, Matthew . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 3.39.17. See John P. Meier, The Vision of Matthew: Christ, Church, and Morality in the First Gospel(New York: Paulist, 1978), 2425. [14] Nevertheless, it is conceivable that the two verses in Matthew 9:9 and 10:3 were the basis for why this Gospel was later ascribed to Matthew. Ward Powers enthusiastically endorses this line of reasoning in the following bold claim: "To have this evidence about the apostle Matthew his background, training, and employment in the Roman administration; his response to the call to follow Jesus; his appointment to the role and responsibility of apostle and to believe that he would. Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Media, Video and Lectures From The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies of the University of Arizona, Teaching the Bible in Public Schools and Higher Ed, Scholars, Frauds, the Media and the Public, Essays on Minimalism from Bible and Interpretation, Final Reports on the Yehoash Inscription and James Ossuary from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Essays on the James Ossuary and the Temple Tablet from Bible and Interpretation, University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies, Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville. 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). For two reasons *Jews did not like the men who did that work. Matthew, of course. Mark 2:1, 1314). 184.9-10) and Eusebius regarded the text as disputed but not unorthodox (h.e. Matthew's Gospel was written in approximately A.D.___, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Both Eusebius and Epiphanius missed Irenaeuss point that schismatics rejected the fourfold Gospel canon and selected one of the four Gospels, but their doctrines were refuted by the very Gospels that they privileged. Matthias was chosen to be one of the Apostles after Judas of Iscariot had betrayed Jesus and died ( Acts 1:26 NIV). Pan. Why is Matthew called Levi? He followed Jesus to his death. , TSAJ 91 (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002). R. McL. [34] 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). Until that moment, she'd always thought Jesus was . 58 Matthew seems to have written his Gospel primarily to the: Jews Matthew was a Levite from the priestly tribe of Levi, making his role that of writing on Christ's priesthood. [4] See Manlio Simonetti, Matthew 113, ACCS New Testament 1a (Downers Grove: IVP, 2001), 177; Ulrich Luz, Matthew 820, trans. Tax collectors at that time were known as dishonest and corrupt people. Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 24; Luz, Matthew 820, 32, 32n.14. Hence Levi was the original name of the man who was subsequently called Matthew; the Maththaios legomenos of Matthew 9:9, would indicate this. Alternate titles: Levi, St. Matthew the Apostle, St. Matthew the Evangelist. 2.9.45.5; Origen, Jo. It is not surprising he watched Jesus carefully and wrote down the first of the four Gospels, the biographies of Jesus of Nazareth. There must have been at least 15-20 people eating in Levis spacious home. Jesus' death by crucifixion was the worst death that anybody would have to endure. I. Both are true because Matthew and Levi are two names for the same person. On the other hand, after scrutinizing the onomastic data compiled by Tal Ilan. Change the way you think and act, and believe (trust in, rely on, and adhere to) this Good News. There were what the Jews called publicans aka tax collectors like Matthew who collected taxes for customs or tolls on imports, exports, and merchants who came to buy or sell in Israel. Beth: And it's in a chapel with two other paintings by Caravaggio all about Matthew. Matthew (also known as Levi) doubtless was one of the tax collectors who responded to John the Baptist's call to repentance. Vir. [10] For the debate over whether Mark 2:14 and 3:18 refer to the same individual or to two different individuals named Alphaeus, see Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 87n.17. Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1 Pet 4:11;1 Clem. Luke, also, describes his calling: After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. [22] Krzinger, Papias, 22; Gundry, Matthew, 619; Pre-Papian Tradition, xxi, 68; cf. [2] B. Likewise, Jerome prematurely announced that he had finished his translations of the Old and New Testaments when he just started the task (Vir. [1] 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. James E. Crouch; Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), 32n.12; Ian Boxall, Matthew through the Centuries (Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, 2019), 31, 172. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. While He was on the cross, He cried out, "Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani," which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". Magi, or "wise men," were royal counselors. Watchthe video below. Epiphanius and Jerome later confused the traditional account of the authorship of Matthews Gospel with the origins of the Gospel according to the Hebrews. [29] Baum, Ein aramischer Urmatthus, 262. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Matthew, McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia - Biography of Matthew, Catholic Online - Biography of St. Matthew, Catholic Information Network - St. Matthew Apostle and Evangelist. Per tradition, Matthew was killed by by a soldier on the order of the king of Ethiopia. There is no evidence that any of the Patristic authorities made any inferences about Matthews proficiency in Greek or level of education in rhetorical composition based on Matthews former occupation alone. Luke 6:12-26. It felt "weird," Carr said. 1/27/2013 09:47:39 pm. For an alternative approach, W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann speculate that an Aramaic source identified the toll collector as a Levite and that this was mistranslated as the personal name Levi in the Greek texts of Mark and Luke. The Identification of the Toll Collector as Matthew. Jesus was becoming popular. The thesis that the first canonical Gospel was published under the name of a pseudonym is defended by George D. Kilpatrick. But lets hear Matthews own account of his calling: As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collectors booth. [44] As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (e.g., Vir. Ward Powers, The Progressive Publication of Matthew: An Explanation of the Writing of the Synoptic Gospels (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010), 2829. Or Levi was having a lot of friends over for dinner that night and asked Jesus if He would come, too. 20.5; Vir. 3. Early Christian CommunionWine or Mingled Wine? The fact of one man having two names is of frequent occurrence among the Jews. Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 167; Klijn. 8:2; 19:13; Isa. 135; Matt. This writer will explore what the ancient writers who were closer in time to Matthew had to say about the language in which Matthew was originally written: Matthew also issued a written gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:1 c.175-185 A.D. The first (Gospel) is written according to Matthew, the same that was once a tax collector, but afterwards an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah, who having published it for the Jewish believers, wrote it in Hebrew. Origen circa 210 CE, quoted by Eusebius, Eccl. This is very possible, as scholars point to Simon (Peter) and Saul. Third, Matthew Wanted to Tell Others about Christ. In Matthew 4:18-21, he tells them he will make them "fishers of men.". 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. He was a man of moderate wealth, the only one of any means belonging to the apostolic corps. "Follow me," he said to him. He called us when all we had was need. Papiass notice that Matthew addressed a Palestinian Jewish audience in their own vernacular language (i.e., Aramaic) was repeated in subsequent Patristic literature (e.g., Irenaeus, As for Jerome, he boasted that he translated the, The majority position among the experts is that the fragments Jerome inherited from the Nazarenes do not derive from the. Pelag. 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). For objections against this view, see Meier, The Vision of Matthew, 25n.26; Luz, Matthew 820, 32. [43] Daniel A. Bertrand, Lvangile des Ebionites: une harmonie vangelique antrieur au Diatessaron NTS 26 (1980): 54863; Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 16671; Klijn, Gospel Tradition, 28-30; Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels, 5154; Luomanen, Jewish-Christian Sects, 3738; 83, 25152; Frey, Die Fragmente des Ebioniterevangeliums, 60722; Kok, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 43; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 10, 171261. [46] Other scholars suspect that the Nazarenes only supplied Jerome with their own translations and commentary on Matthews Gospel. 3.39.17). 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. [46] Vielhauer and Strecker, Jewish Christian Gospels, 15465; Klijn, Jewish Christian Gospel Tradition, 29-30, 3132; Klauck, Apocryphal Gospels, 4351; Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher bersetzung. News and Interpretations on the Bible and Ancient Near East History. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. [32] The diversity of text-forms evident in Matthews biblical citations and allusions, however, disproves the notion that the evangelist was reliant on one testimonium source. [2] For some examples, see Robert Gundry, The Use of the Old Testament in St. Matthews Gospel: With Special Reference to the Messianic Hope(Leiden: Brill, 1975), 183; David Hill, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 1; R. T. France, Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989), 6768; Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 14; Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 113 (Dallas: Word, 1993), lxxvi; D. A. Carson, Matthew: Chapters 1 through 12 (EBC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 1819; Grant R. Osbourne, Matthew, ECNT (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 34; B. Zavada, Jack. They contend that the conjunction oun (therefore) in Papiass statement about Matthew (3.39.16) was connected to his prior statement about Mark (3.39.15), entailing that Matthew published his narrative of Jesuss life in response to the perceived shortcomings of Marks account. This leads Dennis MacDonald to maintain that Papiass supposition about the multiple translations of Matthews oracles was an explanation for the dissimilar Greek texts of Q and Matthew. Because Levi's occupation was one that earned distrust and contempt everywhere, the scribes of the Pharisees criticized Jesus on seeing him eat with tax collectors and sinners, whereupon Jesus answered, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:15-17). Corrections? St. Matthew (Matthew 9:10) modestly says, "in the house," keeping himself as much as possible in the background.St. [38] For the latter view, see France, Evangelist and Teacher, 64-66; Bauckham, Eyewitnesses, 224. Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27), but some commentators factor this verse in as evidence for the Matthean authorship of the first canonical Gospel or, at a minimum, for one of its major sources. [20], Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. Krzinger and Gundry re-read the Papian fragment through the lens of rhetorical categories. Excessive. Vose Seminary 6.14.2; Epiphanius, Pan. Gundry, Matthew, xxii. 4. He was one of the earlier followers of Jesus Christ. Matthew's " original name, Levi, suggests that he was a man of the priestly tribe." Levi means " adhesion ." But Matthew was re-Christened " gift " or "given," a profound switch for a tax. These Jewish tax collectors were disdained by the Jews. [26], 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. As Brent Cunningham expressed it the changing of the names represented Jesus' ownership of them. http://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=316 Born in Palestine sometime in the 1st century, Saint Matthew was one of Jesus's 12 apostles and also one of the four Evangelists, according to the Bible. Jesus sees value in all people. 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. Pet. When Jesus said He would be there, Levi was so excited he invited lots of his friends. 13:3; Pol. Matthew (also known as Levi in the Gospels of Luke and Mark) was a Jewish tax collector, or publican, living in Capernaum. Soon, Jesus and His disciples are having dinner in . [48] Frey, Die Fragmente des Nazorerevangeliums, 626; Gregory, Gospel according to the Hebrews, 50, 50n.35. March 2020. Legend differs as to the scene of his missions and as to whether he died a natural death or a martyrs. It was to that man, the most despised of the despicable, to whom Jesus said, "Follow Me!" 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. 2:1-10; Acts 8:9-24). The answer is very simple. 1.8.1; Clement, str. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. [34] Friedrich Schleiermacher, ber die Zeugnisse des Papias von unsern beiden ersten Evangelien, TSK 5 (1832): 73568; Manson, Gospels and Epistles, 7787; Hill, Matthew, 2427; Davies and Allison, Matthew IIV, 1.17; Black, Rhetorical Terminology, 3235; Hagner, Matthew 113; xlvxlvi; Nolland, Matthew, 3; Carter, Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist, 1617; Sim, R. [12] Neither Matthew 9:9 nor 10:3 advances an explicit authorial claim. though this example differs slightly from Matthew 9:9 inasmuch as the woman is left unnamed. A minority view during the Patristic period was that Levi and Matthew were separate individuals. It's unclear why Matthew/Levi was called by both names. He was included as one of the Evangelists according to the Christian tradition. He may call peop 6.25.4; Epiphanius, Pan. And many followed him ( Mark 2:15 ). There were only 8 people in Noahs Ark. Ancient and modern scholars have been perplexed by the fact that the name of the toll collector in Matthew 9:9 differs from its synoptic counterparts. 30.13.45), indicating that it was published in Greek at the outset. 3.39.16 with the Gospel according to the Hebrews in h.e. Q. The Patristic Traditions about the Evangelist Matthew. Matthew was obviously a small mokhes because he himself was sitting in the tax office as Jesus passed through the outskirts of Capernaum. 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. ill. They kept it for themselves and became very rich. Outside the New Testament, a statement of importance about him is the passage from the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis preserved by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea: So then Matthew composed the Oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could. The Gospel According to Matthew was certainly written for a Jewish-Christian church in a strongly Jewish environment, but that this Matthew is definitely the Synoptic author is seriously doubted.