The ancient Hebrew's methods of teaching and of written communication were vastly different than ours are here today in the modern world. In understanding Matthew - as he wanted his readers to understand him - this fact has quite naturally become a major stumbling block to the twenty-first century Gentile reader, though few people have realized it. Indeed, many will say that the First Gospel needs little further illumination. But I tell you the truth; without applying these ancient methods to the book of Matthew (the very ones he used to write his gospel, and in fact, the exact same ones that were used to write the Old Testament) we are left without being able to see the whole picture. Matthew was not writing a biography of Jesus to the Greeks... no, he was writing a manual of instruction to the Jews; literally he was crafting a discipleship textbook (be sure to visit all four of the links below).
|
