Matthew’s Moses
by libr8tr
The author of the first Gospel account was attempting to reach an audience who was keenly aware of the life of Moses. Matthew saw Jesus as the new Moses to such a degree that he even patterned his book with a structure of five discourses (see Scaer’s commentary on Matthew), reflecting the five books of Moses (Torah).
Additionally, James B. Jordan has discovered (On the Biblical Horizons Website) that the entire book is in the form of a Chiasm. “Chi” is the Greek letter which looks like our “X”. It is a poetic pattern familiar to the Bible, and certainly to the Jewish people. Here is the pattern of the Book of Matthew:
The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel
Here is the overall structure of Matthew, as I see it:
- A. Genealogy (past), 1:1-17
- B. First Mary and Jesus’ birth, 1:18-25
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- C. Gifts of wealth at birth, 2:1-12
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- D. Descent into Egypt; murder of children, 2:13-21
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- E. Judea avoided, 2:22-23
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- F. Baptism of Jesus, 3:1–8:23
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- G. Crossing the sea, 8:24–11:1
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- H. John’s ministry, 11:2-19
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- I. Rejection of Jesus, 11:20-24
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- J. Gifts for the new children, 11:25-30
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- K. Attack of Pharisees, 12:1-13
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- L. Pharisees determine to kill the innocent Servant, 12:14-21
- K’ Condemnation of Pharisees, 12:22-45
- J’ Gifts for the new children, 13:1-52
- I’ Rejection of Jesus, 13:53-58
- H’ John’s death, 14:1-12
- G’ Crossing the sea, 14:13–16:12
- F’ Transfiguration of Jesus, 16:13–18:35
- E’ Judean ministry, 19:1–20:34
- D’ Ascent into Jerusalem; judgment on Jews, 21:1–27:56
- C’ Gift of wealth at death, 27:57-66
- B’ Last Marys and Jesus’ resurrection, 28:1-15
- A’ Commission (future), 28:16-20
- In our day, it is assumed that educated people cannot be Christians. Well, here is a highly intelligent author (Matthew) who has written a very complex literary work. So, in the words of Bart Simpson©, tell your elitist skeptic friends, “Eat my shorts” elitist skeptics!
- God Bless,
- John
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Good stuff.
Also check out Kline’s informative article on the OT origins of the gospel genre:
http://www.meredithkline.com/files/articles/Old_Testament_Origins.html
One author I read (McCann) when I was at Concordia, Irvine, found that the Psalms are structured as five sections, mimicking the Torah:
http://www.amazon.com/Theological-Introduction-Book-Psalms-Torah/dp/0687414687
“The correspondence between the dominant second halves of Exodus and the gospels is a matter of content as well as form. For the underlying theme of the passion narratives in the gospels is precisely that of their Exodus counterpart — the inauguration of the covenant. As we shall want to observe further below, the, basically covenantal orientation of the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ as presented in these narratives is evidenced by explicitly covenantal terminology and, less directly but none the less most effectively, by the gospels’ extensive appropriation of the exodus-Sinai experiences of Israel as a typological model in the delineation of the messianic history. Incidentally, geographical peaks mark the literary heights in the gospels too. The climactic passion narratives are bracketed by the mounts of transfiguration and ascension, the former of these mountain-top episodes being most realistically related to the parallel Sinai event of the Book of Exodus by the very presence of Moses. “