Matthew: Through Old Testament Eyes
When listening to courtroom testimony a good defense attorney will delve into a witness’ personal history giving them more credibility for our opinions; are they believable? Let’s get to know this man with two names, Levi and Matthew, before we begin focusing on the value he placed on the Old Testament Scriptures bridging an account of Jesus’ entire life from a Jewish perspective.
We don’t know where he grew up, but we do know Jesus first encountered him in the Galilee area at a tax collector’s booth. Since both of his names are Hebrew, it’s curious why Jesus would make a change. The name Levi means ‘joined or attached’ and Jesus addressed him with that name (Mark 2:13-14) when their eyes locked. Only Matthew’s account (9:9-11) tells us Jesus invited him to “Follow Me.” Interestingly, the name Matthew means ‘Yahweh’s gift’; I can speculate that our Lord desired to change his destiny from being a dishonest and hated tax collector by his own people to someone who’d be blessing those same people. Had he slid into the trap of wealth? What a contrast!
Being a tax/toll collector we can theorize he was educated with family money, possibly as an accountant-type; Rome wouldn’t entrust just anyone to their money collections. Levi is the name of the priestly tribe of Israel who were also scribes or writers; it’s reasonable to assume he was also trained in religious studies and languages. His gospel record has over 130 references to the Old Testament (religious training) and needed to speak those languages (secular training) to foreigners passing through the Galilee. That’s quite a history.
Allow me to conjecture a bit. Jesus loved to transform people from the ‘old man’ into the ‘new man’ giving them a new, Spirit-filled life and a new name: Christian. He possibly desired Levi to be joined to Him and not Rome as the name Levi presupposes. There must’ve been a moment of divine illumination for Levi to immediately leave his lucrative lifestyle for one of sacrifice and service. Isn’t that true of us as well? He sees our lives and calls us to follow Him as we leave behind our former lifestyle and have a new beginning in Him.
Matthew realized, without a doubt, that Jesus is the long-awaited, Promised Messiah he had studied in the Old Testament. Every time Jesus taught Matthew would probably think about the passages he was so familiar with: it’s really Him! One last detail, Matthew is only mentioned at his calling and the list of The Twelve Apostles; that’s not simply coincidence. It’s safe to say he was a ‘behind the scenes’ disciple, soaking up the Messiah’s words, undoubtedly unaware he’d be documenting this experience of being in the presence of God Himself, Son of David, and Son of Abraham as he began his writing in Matt. 1:1. He’ll prove to his Jewish readers with Scripture showing Jesus is the prophesied, Anointed One.
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