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Xxiv INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.

and founding a church at Rome." Eusebius himself says, that " Matthew, having first proclaimed the Gospel in Hebrew, when on the point of going to other nations, committed it to writing in his native tongue, and thus supplied the want of his presence to them by his writings." No copy of this Gospel, however, is now extant in the Aramean, or Syro-Chaldaic language. All existing manuscripts are in Greek. The translator of the work from the original into Greek is unknown.

The Gospel of Matthew was written and circulated particularly in Palestine, and was designed by its author to exhibit Jesus to the Jews as their Messiah, who had been so long predicted, and so eagerly expected. Hence he often quotes from their sacred books in the way of illustration, and to show the fulfilment of ancient prophecies, thus enlisting in the cause of the Gospel their national feelings and religious associations. As he wrote for the Jews, he takes less pains than Mark, who wrote for the Latin Christians, to explain the manners, customs, opinions, ceremonies, and geography of the country.

"The Gospel of Matthew," says Dr. Carpenter, " from the Temptation to the Last Journey to Jerusalem, is essentially Galilean. During that interval, he gives no intimation of occurrences in any part of Palestine, but Galilee and its borders."

"Great brevity in the relation of facts, and detail in the record of discourses, are two of the characteristics of St. Matthew's Gospel. His manner is calmly earnest throughout; and it has the impress of deep conviction and certain knowledge. He gives a clear, but compressed summary of the transactions which he relates; entering but little into the circumstances of each; yet tracing the main fact distinctly and forcibly. For this style of composition, his official duties had, it is probable, peculiarly qualified him; that it is his style is not to be disputed."

The writer above quoted considers Matthew's order of events, in respect to chronological arrangement, as preferable to that of the other evangelists, though there are exceptions in some places. The devotion of thirty years, with more or less application, to the study of the Four Gospels, entitles his opinions to a candid attention.

The first two chapters of Matthew, the passage contained in chap. xxvii. verses 3-10 inclusive, and the latter clause of verse 52 and the whole of verse 53, in the same chapter, are deemed by some critics, chiefly out of respect to the internal evidence as weighed in their judgments, to be interpolations. But the external evidence from manuscripts, versions, and the early fathers, was not of such a nature as to lead Griesbach to reject either of the passages from the text, or to place it under a mark of inferior authority. And his decisions, so far as that kind of testimony is concerned, have been admitted with great unanimity by almost all critics of every denomination.

THE

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.

CHAPTER I.

The Genealogy and Birth of Jesus Christ.

THE book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of

2 David, the son of Abraham.

1. The book of_the_generation. The table of the genealogy, or the catalogue of the ancestors. This is probably not the title of the whole Gospel, but the heading of the first chapter, or, more likely, of the first seventeen verses. See Gen. v. 1, xi. 10; Ruth iv. 18. The Jews were very careful to preserve their genealogies. Copies of them were kept at Jerusalem, and handed down hundreds of years. This was done, in addition to the desire common to all men of knowing their ancestry, in order to distinguish the tribes and families from each other, to secure the fulfilment of the laws respecting marriage, and the rights of succession to offices and estates, and to afford the means of ascertaining in what tribe the Messiah was born. Priests who had not kept their lineage accurately were. degraded from their office. Ezra ii. 62; Neh. vii. 64. Eusebius, the earliest ecclesiastical historian, mentions, on the authority of Africanus, a tradition that Herod the Great committed the Hebrew genealogies kept in the public archives to the flames, that he might conceal his ignoble extraction, but that they were restored either by recollection, or by private copies. The public documents were utterly destroyed in the sack of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation by the Romans, A. D. 70. Other nations have prided themselves upon their genealogies. The Welsh pretend to carry theirs back to Adam. Jesus. Saviour; the same as VOL. I. 3

Abraham begat Isaac ; and

Joshua. Jesus is the Greek, and Joshua is the Hebrew form of the word. Joshua is called Jesus in Acts vii. 45; Heb. iv. 8.-Christ. Anointed. The same in Greek as Messiah in Hebrew. Dan. ix. 25. Priests, Prophets, and Kings were anointed as a sign of induction into their respective offices. Exodus xl. 15; 1 Kings xix. 16. It was usual among the Orientals to give significant names to their children. Our Lord was a Saviour to the world, as he came to rescue and preserve men from sin, and a Messiah, or Christ, an Anointed one, to the Jews, as succeeding in some sense to their Kings, Priests, and Prophets, combining their offices in his commission, and fulfilling the old prophecies. Son of David, &c. Descendant of David and Abraham. It was essential that the Messiah should be able to trace his ancestry to these distinguished persons, so venerable to the Jewish mind. Matthew was writing to Jewish converts, and he writes in accordance with their feelings. It is generally supposed that he gives the descent of Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus. Whilst Luke, writing for Gentiles, traces the pedigree of Jesus from Mary through her father Heli, through Nathan, David, and Abraham, back to Adam, the ancestor of both Jews and Gentiles. Luke iii. 23-38. Their lists are different, but not contradictory. They drew them no doubt from the same archives at Jerusalem. If then the genealogies are inaccurate,

Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares 3 begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat 4 Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; and Salmon begat Booz of Rachab. And Booz be- 5 gat Obed of Ruth. And Obed begat Jesse; and Jesse begat 6 David the king. And David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias. And Solomon begat Roboam; 7 and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; and Asa be- 8 gat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; 9 and Achaz begat Ezekias; and Ezekias begat Manasses; and 10 Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; and Josias 11 begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to 12 Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Elia- 13 kim; and Eliakim begat Azor; and Azor begat Sadoc; and 14 Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; and Eliud be- 15 gat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of 16

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which is improbable, for they were never impugned in early times, the error is chargeable upon the original records, not upon the Evangelists who copied them.

2. Judas and his brethren. His brethren are mentioned because they with Judah were the heads of the twelve tribes. In this genealogy some names are altered from the Hebrew to the Greek orthography, as Judah to Judas, Hesron to Esrom, Azariah to Ozias.

3. Phares and Zara. The latter introduced because he was a twin. Genesis xxxviii. 27. The names of several women are mentioned on account of remarkable events in their lives, by which their posterity are identified.

8. Joram begat Ozias. Three names, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, 1 Chron. iii. 11, 12, are here

omitted, perhaps to make the number between David and the Babylonish captivity just fourteen, and thus render the list more convenient to remember, or because there was a curse denounced against the house of Ahab, to which these princes belonged; Ozias, therefore, was the great-grandson of Joram.

11. Between Josias and Jechonias came Jehoiakim. 1 Chron. iii.

15.

13. Zorobabel. Here terminates the line as recorded in the Old Testament. The rest was drawn from later tables, or tradition.

16. Of whom. This pronoun is in the feminine gender in Greek, referring then not to Joseph, but to Mary. Jesus was the actual son of Mary, but only the reputed, or legal son of Joseph, and in that way the descendant of Joseph's ancestry.

17 whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

So all the

generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came to19 gether, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make

Called Christ. This was added in the public record to distinguish him from others of the same name. Col. iv. 11.

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17. Abraham, - David, rying away into Babylon. These were three prominent points in the Jewish history, and by attaching just fourteen names to each division, the memory was aided in retaining the genealogies. To make this number good, David and Josias have to be counted twice, once at the beginning, and once at the end of the periods in which they are respectively mentioned. These generations were on an average a little more than forty years in length. The usual period assigned now is thirty years. A generation is longer as we go back farther into antiquity. Carrying away into Babylon. The original signifies migration, change of abode; a milder word, used in accommodation to Jewish feelings, instead of transportation, exile. 2 Chron. xxxvi. This took place in the reign of Zedekiah, B. C. 605. Babylon, the splendid seat of the Assyrian and Chaldean empires, was situated in a large fertile plain on both sides of the river Euphrates, somewhat more than 600 miles, nearly east, from Jerusalem. Its stupendous walls, 87 feet thick and 350 feet high, were 60 miles in circumference, and entered by 100 gates of solid brass. Its temples, palaces,

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bridges, and hanging gardens, were the wonder of the world. But hardly a vestige of it now remains. Nebuchadnezzar then sat upon the throne. The children of Israel were held captive seventy years, but returned to Judea in the reign of Cyrus, Ezra i. 1, 2; and rebuilt their temple in the reign of Darius Hystaspes. Ezra vi. 15.

18. Birth. Nativity. Having traced his descent, the Evangelist goes on to relate the circumstances of his birth. Luke i. ii. On this wise. Old English for in the following way. When as. Whenas, at the time when; now obsolete. Espoused. Betrothed, engaged. Even young children were sometimes espoused to each other by their parents. Among the Jews, unfaithfulness during an engagement was deemed as heinous as after marriage. Deut. xxii. 23, 24. - Of the Holy Ghost. Of is frequently used for by in our version of the Scriptures, and in old English writers. The Holy Ghost is not a distinct person, as is implied by printing it in capitals, but the holy breath, spirit, influence of God. The simple idea is that it took place by divine power, according to the divine counsel. For other instances of miraculous creation, or conception, see Genesis ii. 7, 22, xxi. 2; Luke i. 57.

19. A just man. Conscientious. The word just implies rectitude of

her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the 20 Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying: Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall 21 bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins. (Now all this was done, 22

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feeling in this place, rather than rectitude of principle. Not willing, &c. Such was his rectitude, or propriety of feeling, upon this trying occasion, that he was not only unwilling to cause her to be punished by the rigor of the law, but even to subject her to public ignominy. He was reluctant to expose one whom he loved, even in her supposed guilt, and injury to himself, to death, or to shame. Was minded. A private divorce, according to the laws of the Jews, could be made in the presence of two witnesses, without reasons being assigned for it, or disgrace being incurred. A divorce was as necessary in a case where the parties were only espoused, as where they were actually married; and they were as much called husband and wife before marriage as after. See verses 16, 20. Joseph's affection prompted him to put her away without publicly stating the cause, or exposing her to the severity of the law. Deut. xxiv. 1. Cases occur where it is the part of justice not to push the laws of justice to extremity.

20. While he thought on these things. This argued a commendable deliberation. Supposing himself to be grievously wronged, yet he did not act rashly, but exercising the beautiful wisdom of patience, he met with its rich reward. Time and docility will clear up the darkest perplexities. -Behold. Lo. A word used in the Classics and the Scriptures to denote the approach

of something extraordinary, and to awaken attention. Angel. A messenger. An angel is any instrument or form of the divine communication. This title is given to men, to beings of other spheres, to fire, storms, winds, plagues, and other modes by which God either publishes or executes his will. Gen. xxviii. 12; Exod. iii. 2, with Acts vii. 30; Psalms lxxviii. 49; Acts xii. 23; Psalms civ. 4; Rev. i. 20. Angel is often the name of an office, not of a distinct person, or conscious intelligence. - A dream. A frequent mode of divine communication in the elder ages, but it can be called little short of superstition to suppose that this sort of miracles is continued to the present day, and to put reliance upon the unchecked and grotesque wanderings of the imagination in sleep, as necessarily descriptive either of our duty or fortunes. - For that which is conceived. This was the reason why he should not hesitate to marry her. She had committed no crime, the conception was miraculous.

21. For he shall save, &c. That entitles him to be called Saviour. He saves men in a twofold manner, as affording a preventive and a remedy; as rescuing them from sins already committed, and restraining them from committing more. But he saves none against their will, none without their efforts; saves none in their sins, but only from their sins. - His people. All men who believe in him and be

come his disciples. He came to

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