Matthew, Disciple and Scribe

by Patrick Schreiner

  Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope. (12:18–21)

  While this quotation is from Isaiah, the text reaches back to Davidic and monarchal language. The person of whom Isaiah speaks is “a chosen servant, a beloved one, with whom Yahweh is pleased” (cf. Matt. 12:18). This language echoes Davidic and kingly descriptions. David and Solomon are the chosen servants. The Lord does not choose the other sons of Jesse (1 Sam. 16:10), but the Lord chooses David. In Ps. 89:3 Yahweh says, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant” (emphasis added here and below). The Lord likewise chooses Solomon to build a house for the sanctuary (1 Chron. 28:10). In addition, David is a servant of the Lord (1 Sam. 25:31). In a most important text Yahweh calls David his servant: “Go and tell my servant David . . .” (2 Sam. 7:5, 8, 20). Then again in Ps. 89:3 Yahweh calls David not only his chosen one but also his servant, and this is repeated in Ps. 89:20, 39.

  This servant and chosen one is also the one who possesses the Spirit. Both Matthew and Mark attribute the Psalms to David’s being in the Sprit (Matt. 22:43; Mark 12:36).47 So while the Matthean fulfillment quotation is from Isaiah, it speaks of a future deliverer modeled after the life of David. Thus, the longest fulfillment quotation in this section, and even in the whole Gospel, tells of a future king who will be like David. Matthew portrays Jesus as the king who brings Sabbath rest like the chosen servant of the Lord, David. As in the previous narratives, the exile concepts loom large behind these stories.

  The Wise King in Matthew 13

  We have traveled through the Pentateuch in Matt. 1–9 and into the conquest and monarchy in Matt. 10–12. The third discourse can be put in parallel with the wisdom tradition.48 Toward the end of chapter 12, Matthew signals that he is moving to the end of the monarchy with his reference to Solomon and wisdom (12:42). In some ways, the heading for chapter 13 could be “Something greater than Solomon is here.”49 In chapter 13 Jesus speaks in parables and in poetic form like David (Psalms) and his son Solomon (Proverbs). Matthew explicitly quotes from the Wisdom literature, saying that these words fulfill the line “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old” (Ps. 78:2; cf. Matt. 13:34–35). As before, a key fulfillment quotation provides a clue to where readers are in the history of Israel. Two arguments point toward us seeing this quotation as informative for the section and structure of Matthew as a whole.

  First, structurally, this fulfillment quotation sits at the center of the parabolic discourse,50 and therefore it is also structurally at the center of the Gospel as a whole. Often this quotation is passed over with little comment, but Matthew may be alerting his readers to a structural clue with the placement of this text. Second, and related, as I argued in chapter 2, Matthew reduces the number of fulfillment quotations as the narrative continues and begins to drop them in to summarize large sections of his narrative. In the same way, this quotation is inserted to summarize this whole section. All of chapter 13 has Jesus opening his mouth to speak in parables, as in the wisdom tradition.

  It is not just the fulfillment quotation that helps readers see the connection with Wisdom literature in chapter 13. The word “parable” is employed twelve times in this chapter, indicating the completeness of the parabolic and mashal tradition. The Wisdom literature is thus summed up in this new son of David, who showers the people with wisdom and truth. Matthew even explicitly says that the people are astonished at his “wisdom” (13:54) immediately after Jesus gives his kingdom parables. Apart from this reference to wisdom, the word appears only in 11:19 and 12:42, with the latter being a reference to Solomon, who so impressed the queen of Sheba. In the next section, gentiles come to Jesus (15:21–29), as the queen of Sheba came to Solomon to sit at his feet, while the nation of Israel rejects him, and Jesus declares Israel to be a wicked generation (16:1–12). When the queen of Sheba comes to Solomon, the explicit wisdom referred to is the house he has built, the temple (1 Kings 10:4; chaps. 5–8). As in the past, the tabernacle’s construction was made possible by the Spirit of wisdom resting on people (Exod. 31:1–11). Now in Matthew a Solomon redivivus constructs the new temple (the new community) by spreading his message of wisdom.

  Overall, there are enough correspondences (the fulfillment quotation, the larger context, the form of the chapter, and the references to wisdom) to appropriately label Matt. 13 as mirroring the wisdom tradition in the OT. If the wisdom tradition comes after the monarchy, then it makes sense that Matt. 13 comes after Matt. 11–12. The true king bestows his wisdom about the kingdom to his people. As in the wisdom tradition, we learn that the kingdom is not all that everyone expects. Revelation is needed. The disciples say they understand (13:51), and they too will be called to go into the nations, calling people out of exile, but many will ask, “Where did this man get this wisdom?” (13:54).

  The Divided Kingdom in Matthew 14–17

  In chapters 14–17 Matthew moves out of the monarchy to the divided kingdom, which Solomon’s sons brought about. The rest that David brought to the kingdom was temporary in Israel’s history; now life begins to fall apart again for Israel despite the presence of the son of David showing them that the sin problem runs deep in their hearts. The former prophets emerge on the scene as chaos descends on the nation. Compared to chapters 1–13, the structure in Matt. 14–17 is harder to discern, compelling many commentators to claim that Matthew’s carefully structured first half takes a different turn.51 But these arguments are quite unsatisfying. The structure becomes more chaotic at this point because of the disorderly kingdom that followed Solomon’s reign.

  A careful look at these chapters reveals a broad structure, though a chaotic element exists. Although many Jews reject Jesus, he still holds out the promise of life to them like the prophets and the prophetic literature. There is a remnant left within Israel, though the nation is divided. The prophets give hope to the remnant and warn the Israel of the flesh that the people are headed for destruction and exile. As the Gospel continues, Jesus fulfills the role of the former prophets and even the whole of the prophetic literature. At the same time, Jesus turns to the gentiles, provides for them, and welcomes them, because his eye is focused on the new covenant. Amid this chaos, Jesus establishes his new community, built on the confession of Peter (16:16), which points to the hope of the future.

  Chapter 14 begins with the story of John’s death at the hands of Herod (14:1–12). We can see what Matthew is doing by reading both backward and forward. The narrative aligns Herod with Ahab, and John the Baptist with prophets of old. Herod is a prototypical anti-king, so here he functions as an Ahab-like figure. Herod attacks and kills the prophet of God; similarly, Ahab allows the murder of prophets (1 Kings 18:4). And “like Ahab, Herod is egged on to attack the prophet by his bloodthirsty wife (Matt. 14:6–8; 1 Kings 18:4; 19:1–2).”52 Yet this section also introduces what is to happen to God’s chosen prophets.53 Thus this opening episode (14:1–12) continues the tradition of an anti-king killing the prophet of God, foreshadowing what will happen to Jesus the prophet.

  Anti-King Prophet Fate

  Ahab Elijah Attempted death, but life

  Herod John the Baptist Death

  Pilate Jesus Death, but life

  The narrative also alerts readers to a key transition: the end of one prophet and the start of another. First, Jesus explicitly links John the Baptist to Elijah (17:12–13). Second, Jesus also specifically references John the Baptist as the “Elijah who is to come” (Matt. 11:14). Third, the Baptist’s clothing was earlier described in detail and mirrors the apparel of Elijah (Matt. 3:4; 2 Kings 1:8). Matthew therefore has told the story of John the Baptist’s death in a way that mirrors the life of Elijah. The
Baptist, like Elijah, is an eclectic prophet who challenges Israel’s leaders and therefore suffers under their wrath.

  And when Elijah dies, Elisha must take up the prophetic mantle. Matthew largely follows this chronology in chapters 14–17. As John the Baptist (Elijah) dies, Jesus (Elisha) steps onto the scene. The prophetic period has commenced. The negative response to Jesus does not diminish Jesus’s care for his people, as the prophets in the divided kingdom still exercised watchfulness for the people of Israel. Jesus still feeds Israel, though his hometown rejects him and though he knows he is going to his death at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders. The feeding of Israel (the five thousand) mirrors a story from the life of Elisha (2 Kings 4:42–44).54

  Matthew then recounts the water-crossing miracle (14:22–33). Most tie this to Moses/Joshua, who feeds the people in the wilderness and then brings them into the promised land. This is not wrong, but there is more. For when the transition from Elijah to Elisha takes place (2 Kings 2:12–14), Elisha takes up the cloak of Elijah and strikes the water, which parts, and Elisha crosses over.55 The sons of the prophets announce, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (2 Kings 2:15), just as the disciples recognize, after Jesus walks across the water, that he is “the Son of God” (Matt. 14:33). Already Matthew has tied the Spirit’s anointing on Jesus with the title of Son at Jesus’s baptism (3:16–17). The point again is that Jesus is not only the new Moses but also the new Elisha, because he stands in the prophetic stream. Interpreters don’t need to choose one theme over another; the prophetic tradition couples them.

  Jesus turns to the nations, and the gentiles respond rightly (symbolized by the Canaanite woman in 15:21–28; see Isa. 57:19). This is unlike what we see in 2 Kings, for Jehoshaphat comes to Elisha, asking if he should go and destroy the Moabites, and Elisha says the Moabites will be given into his hand (2 Kings 3:18). Yet it also mirrors Elisha’s ministry, since as Jesus heals the Canaanite woman’s daughter, so too Elisha raises the Shunammite’s son (2 Kings 4:8–37).56 Both healings have food as central to the story, in both the disciples of the prophets try to keep the women away (Matt. 15:23; 2 Kings 4:27), and in both it is followed by a healing on or near a mountain (Matt. 15:29–31; 2 Kings 4:27–37). Feeding accounts also follow these stories (feeding of the four thousand in Matt. 15:5–12; feeding of the prophets in 2 Kings 4:38–44), and there is leftover bread (Matt. 15:37; 2 Kings 4:44).

  Peter’s confession introduces the hope of a new community amid a divided kingdom (Matt. 16:13–20), and Jesus also instructs his new community on how to act (chaps. 18–20). Though Peter recognizes who Jesus is, he misunderstands the path to Jesus’s enthronement. Therefore Jesus reveals his glory to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration, where the two prophets par excellence (Moses and Elijah) show up beside Jesus (17:1–8). The transfiguration of Jesus, like the baptism and the fulfillment quotations, are hot spots for what Matthew is doing with his narrative. It might even mirror Elijah’s ascension in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2), or the glory of angels that surround Elisha (2 Kings 6:15–17). “Of the nine uses of the name of Elijah, six are in chapters 16–17.”57 Like Elisha, Jesus tells his disciples to “have no fear” (Matt. 17:7; 2 Kings 6:16).58 The cluster of explicit or implicit references to Elijah and Elisha places us in a divided-kingdom context, which naturally flows from what we have seen earlier with the two different responses to Jesus from Israel and the gentiles (chaps. 14–17). Yet Jesus creates his new community in the midst of this divided kingdom. Though he feeds the people, the religious leaders are angry at him. Though his hometown rejects him as a prophet, and some ask for signs, no sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. The strain of hope will not be snuffed out because God preserves his people amid chaos. He will establish his new community and bring them into their land.

  Prophetic Hope and Judgment in Matthew 18–25

  Prophetic Hope in Matthew 18–20

  Chapters 18–20 continue the prophetic theme and center on the new people of God, which the prophets predicted (Isa. 49:3–6; 66:18–21; Zech. 2:11; Ezek. 47:21–23). Through the visionary words of Jesus, he establishes and teaches his ἐκκλησία (church).59 This is both in contrast to and in continuity with the “assembly of Israel” (cf. Deut. 4:10). The new community even has its own structures of authority and the presence of God uniquely to enforce standards (Matt. 18:15–20). The people of God, like Israel of old, are to remember the Torah and the instructions about humbling themselves before God and caring for the down-and-outs (18:1–14). They are to become like children in humility (18:1–6) and care for little ones (18:10–14). Likewise, they are instructed to be peacemakers (18:15–35) and care for one another, seeking out reconciliation. In short, Jesus forms a remnant in the midst of a hardened people and instructs them on how to live in the new kingdom he is establishing. The disciples and followers of Jesus represent an Israel within Israel, those who will follow the teachings of the true prophet. This is just as Elijah and Elisha did during the false dynasty under which they lived.

  Chapters 19–20 provide the ethics of this new community as Jesus begins to travel south. Now Jesus heads to Judea and Jerusalem (the southern kingdom). As he does so, he turns to his disciples to train them in the way of the covenant, as a prophet would. On the way, Jesus also welcomes the children, reversing the curse on the children who have rebelled against Yahweh. Isaiah said: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. . . . Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged” (Isa. 1:2, 4). But Jesus calls to his estranged children and welcomes them to his side, “for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14).60 Jesus establishes his new community and redeems the children who have rebelled against him (see Isa. 45:11; 49:25; 54:1, 13; 60:9), thus launching his new community.

  Like the prophets, Jesus instructs his community to keep the commandments given in the covenant, but he also says they must follow him and give up what is most precious to them (Matt. 19:16–26). They must not demand to be first but must understand that the kingdom of Jesus is one where status consciousness has no place. They must remember that Yahweh dwells “in the high and holy place,” yet he also dwells with “him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15). God will look on the humble, those who tremble at his word (66:2). The new community must become a servant of all, a servant to the nations, so that all can come and drink from the wealth of the king. Matthew 18–20 thus constitutes the “hope” and instruction that the prophets hold out to the community willing to come back to Yahweh as their true king and thus release them from exile.

  Prophetic Judgment in Matthew 21–25

  Matthew 21 marks a definite shift. Though Jesus has given hope to his community in Matt. 18–20, from here onward Jesus is the “judging prophet.” He enters the city of Jerusalem on a colt. This comes in fulfillment of Zech. 9:9, which speaks of the king coming in a humble way. “Though the entry certainly has royal overtones, the crowds announce that the prophet has arrived (21:11).”61 In the Zechariah context, the prophet assures Israel that they will be saved by a coming king; Matthew shows that not all Israel is true Israel, and they are not ready to receive their king. Rather than coming into the city as the conquering messiah, Jesus acts as the condemning prophet by three related temple acts. First, he confronts the temple system. Second, he castigates the leaders of Israel (especially the scribes) in the temple. Third, he foretells the destruction of the temple. For Israel, the destruction of the temple and exile went hand in hand.

  Jesus first enters the temple and confronts the current regime. Jeremiah also prophesied against the temple in his so-called temple sermons (Jer. 7; 26). Jesus’s language even mirrors Jeremiah’s as he calls the temple a “de
n of robbers” (Matt. 21:13; Jer. 7:11). The temple is not a place where the poor can come and find solace; rather, it has become like a cave, where robbers lie in wait for the poor who would travel along the road. The condemnation of the temple is confirmed when the prophet-king curses the fig tree (Matt. 21:18–22). The cursing of the fig tree builds on Jeremiah and Isaiah’s vineyard parable (Jer. 12:10–11; Isa. 5), where these prophets speak of Israel as grapevines or fig trees; when the Lord tries to gather fruit, “there are no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered” (Jer. 8:13). Therefore, the nation will be overthrown.62

  Second, Jesus condemns the religious leaders in Matt. 23–25, which matches the condemnation by the prophets, especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. As Leithart says, “Jesus is the last and greatest of the Prophets. He is the Prophet that Moses predicted (Deut. 18). That means He gives the final word, brings the blueprints for the final temple, speaks the final world into existence, and has complete and permanent access to the divine court, where He can offer a defense for His people. Everything prophets have done, Jesus does, and more.”63 Though the setting of chapter 23 is not made explicit by Matthew, it seems that Jesus is most likely still in the temple. This again establishes strong connections to the temple sermons of Jer. 7 and 26. Jeremiah’s declaration sounds like a perfect summary of Jesus’s message: “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place” (Jer. 7:3). Jesus himself laments that Jerusalem is “the city that kills the prophets” (Matt. 23:37), and he says, “See, your house is left to you desolate” (23:38; cf. Jer. 22:5).

  Significantly, Jesus tells the religious leaders that he has sent them prophets, wise men, and scribes, but they have rejected all of them. God has sent them these prophets (and Jesus himself) so that “the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah” might come on them (Matt. 23:34–35). He links Abel and Zechariah through righteous blood being shed, which reveals Matthew’s awareness of the larger story line of the Hebrew Bible. Abel is the first in the Hebrew Bible whose blood is spilled (Gen. 4:10), and Zechariah is the last prophet whose violent death is reported (2 Chron. 24:21). In essence Matthew is saying that the blood speaks from “cover to cover,” from Genesis through Chronicles.64 The major point here is that Matthew is aware and tracing themes from beginning to end. In the last discourse, he reveals he is cognizant of the trajectory of the OT.