Reading With the People of God #10 Kingdomنموونە

Focus of the month: (Kingdom)

7 Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, 8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, 10 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”.

- 1 Chronicles 17:7-14

Introduction to Matthew

Matthew’s name appears in all four Gospels but who is he? It is widely accepted that he was Levi, the son of Alphaeus, a tax collector, mentioned in Luke 5:27 and Mark 2:14. Being a Jew and a tax collector defines Levi’s social standing in Israel. The Jewish people found Roman occupation a heavy burden. The fact that Levi was acting on behalf of the enemy to tax his own people rankled his fellow countrymen. He would have been considered a social outcast.

Early in His ministry Jesus walked up to the place where Levi was sitting to receive the taxes from his people. Jesus simply said to Levi, “Follow Me.” Jesus was willing to be identified with those society rejected. Levi rose, followed Jesus, threw a party and presumably announced that he served a new master (Luke 5:29-30.) After that time it is believed he was known as Matthew, a new name for a new person.

Matthew walked with Jesus as His disciple for the three years of His ministry on earth. After Jesus ascended into heaven Matthew wrote to his fellow countrymen about Jesus to bring them to faith in their Messiah. He begins his account with the genealogy of Jesus to assure his fellow Jews that Jesus was indeed in the line of David and traces Jesus’ human roots all the way to Abraham, the father of their faith.

The early church called this book the Gospel according to Matthew but later it was just called Matthew, one of the synoptic gospels. It’s believed it was circulated around AD 50.

We don’t know much more about Matthew because his purpose was to point to Jesus, the Messiah foretold by the prophets of the Jewish scriptures. He wants us to focus our attention on the One who came to save even tax collectors and sinners. Matthew 9:11

Tradition tells us that Matthew went to Ethiopia to plant churches and was martyred there around AD 60. The church will be forever grateful for this authentic narrative of Jesus’ ministry written by a faithful and devoted disciple.

* Primer contributed by Jinet Troost