Matthew 4:12-25 - the Ministry of Jesus

4:12-17

Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, and he then withdrew to Galilee, he went and lived in Capernaum, this was by the lake in the area of zebulun and Naphtali. Matthew draws attention to Isaiah 9:1,2. Jesus began to preach and His message was the same as the one John had preached “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near”.The rule of heaven is near, this is what Jesus brings.

4:18-22

Jesus then calls his first disciples, starting with Peter (Simon) and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen. Jesus said “Come follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people. They responded immediately. Note that Jesus does not tell then where He is going, but focuses on the effect that following Him will have.

Jesus then calls James and John , they too immediately followed Jesus.

4;23-25

We then read of Jesus’ ministry. He went throughout Galilee, proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, taught in the synagogues, and healed many people. His healing powers attracted many people, the sick and the demon possessed

Matthew 4:1-11 - the testing of Jesus

4:1-3

Having been baptised for us, Jesus now resists temptation on our behalf. Adam and Eve had failed, as had Israel when they should first of all have entered the Promised Land. The word sometimes translated as “temptation” is actually more accurately translated as testing.. Remember that Abraham was also tested. Jesus’ testing happened after his baptism, and he was “led by the Spirit, so it was not a mistake. It is commonly noted that Jesus responded to each test with the word of God (the quotes all come from deuteronomy), and the tests all question Jesus’ relationship with God. Adam and Eve and the Israelites failed the test, Jesus passed the test. After a “high” it is quite normal for us to be “tested”. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness and has fasted for forty days and nights. We then get what must be a gross understatement “He was hungry”. In the first test Jesus was urged to turn stones into bread “if He was indeed the Son of God”. 

4:4

Jesus responds by quoting Deut 8:3, man shall not live in bread alone. It is not that our practical physical needs are not important at all, but that they are not as essential as we sometimes think, the word of God is essential.

4:5-7

Next the devil took Him to the highest point of the temple and this time the devil quoted scripture from Psalm 91:11,12. Jesus, however, had a better understanding of Scripture than the devil, and quoted Deut 6:16. He did not need to put God to the test, He was absolutely confident in God’s care for Him, and had no need to prove it. God would intervene if necessary.

4:8-11

The last temptation comes and Satan reveals his hand, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour, and offered to give them to Jesus if Jesus would bow down to him. Whether Satan could actually have done this is doubtful. Note also that God was ultimately going to give Jesus all power and authority in heaven and on earth. So Jesus had no need to go the devil’s way. Moreover the temptation was “you are going to get this anyway, why not go an easier way?”. Jesus again quotes from Deuteronomy, this time 6:13, we must worship God alone and serve only Him. Good basic principles can guard us from much trouble.

Matthew 3:13-16 - Jesus baptised

3:13-16

Various sinners came to be baptised,but now Jesus comes to be baptised. Initially John tries to deter Him, for he knows who Jesus is, and that he, John, is unrighteous, whereas Jesus is fully righteous. It is interesting that in his answer, Jesus says it is to “fulfil all righteousness”, John then agrees to the baptism. Jesus lived and died on our behalf, he lived the life we could not live, and died the death we deserved. As soon as “he went up out of the water” heaven opened and God the father spoke, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased”, this is affirmation that Jesus is indeed His Son and is doing God’s will.

Matthew 3:1-12 - John the Baptist

3:1-12

All four gospels tell of John the Baptist preparing the way. Indeed in Matthew the summary of John’s message is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. These words are identical to those used to summarise Jesus’ teaching (Matt 4:17). John is part of the ministry of Christ. John may well have had connections to the Essene community, and interest in him persisted for many years, see Acts 19. John saw himself as preparing the way for Jesus, and fulfilling Isaiah 40:3. Repentance prepares the way for receiving Jesus. His dress and lifestyle were somewhat like Elijah. When people repented they were baptised by John. There are two unique features here. One is that John did the baptising, rather than the person baptising themself, and the other is that Israelites, rather than proselytes, were required to be baptised, everyone needed to repent and be baptised.

John did not aim for popularity, calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers”.Their refusal to recognise their own sinfulness was a perpetual problem. Ethnicity was not a guarantee of being part of God’s kingdom. A fundamental change was coming (4:10) John brought some change, repentance, Jesus would bring an even greater change , baptism with the Spirit. (4:11).

Matthew 2:17-23 - The return to Israel

2:17,18

Matthew then quotes from Jer 31:15,  Ramah was located about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. Rachel is used to represent Israel. The killing of the infants resulted in much weeping..

2:19,20

Joseph had been warned in  a dream to flee, now he is told to bring the child back to Israel. In this whole story dreams have played an important role. So we see how God responds to danger, there is a time to flee, and a time to return.

2:21-23

Joseph is presented as an obedient man, he always responded positively to the angelic messages. He receives a further warning, this time to go to Galilee and lived in Nazareth, this too is seemed as fulfilling God’s plan.

Matthew 2:13-18 - Murder of the innocents

2:13-15

Having appeared to the Magi, the angel also appeared to Joseph as well, warning him and telling him to escape to Egypt with his family. Matthew seems to be trying to draw a parallel between Moses and Jesus. Israel saw Moses as the founder of the nation, the one through whom the Lord worked, in the same way Jesus is the founder of the new people of God, and is the one through whom God executes His plans. So Joseph and Mary left for Egypt in the night. Matthew quotes Hos 11:1. Israel was called out of Egypt, Jesus was also called out of Egypt. Herod died in 4BC. This is why the birth of Jesus is out at 5 or 6 BC. I t was not possible for him  to have been born in 0 BC.

2:16

Herod was an insecure and violent man. His action of killing  the infants was entirely in character. The number killed was probably about 30, based on the population of Bethlehem.Dictators tend to be insecure, and their insecurity results in more violence.

2:17,18

Matthew then quotes from Jer 31:15,  Ramah was located about fifteen miles north of Jerusalem. Rachel is used to represent Israel. The killing of the infants resulted in much weeping.

Matthew 2:1-12 - Magi

2:1-12

Matthew is the only gospel to record the visit of the Magi. They came from the East, following a star. Various attempts have been made to identify an astronomical event explaining the star. These include the conjunction of two planets, a comet, a nova, but none have been entirely successful.  \the key theological points are that Gentiles came to worship Christ. Herod was king, but he was an Edomite, probably part of the reason why he was “disturbed”. Both he and the religious leaders felt threatened by the coming of a king. God disrupts man’s plans, and when God appears it becomes apparent that He is in charge, not us. It also says that all Jerusalem was also disturbed. Men in general don’t like God being in charge. Herod knew the Old Testament foretold of a Messiah and so he asked the religious leaders where the Messiah was to be born, they replied that it was in Bethlehem in Judea, as foretold by Micah (5;2,4). It is interesting that they knew the facts, but did not believe. Herod sought to use the Magi to find out where the king actually was, saying he wanted to worship him, as we know he actually had very different plans. The magi found Jesus and worshipped him, and gave their gifts.  However, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and so took another route home.

Matthew 1:18-25 - Virgin birth

1:18-23

Matthew's account gives things largely from Joseph's perspective, whereas Luke gives things more from Mary’s perspective. This may well reflect the information sources that they used. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, and this was a much more binding commitment than engagement is in our culture, it had legal significance. On learning that Mary was pregnant Joseph drew the obvious conclusion. He wanted to obey the Law, and to spare Mary undue embarrassment, so he was going to divorce her quietly. Note that the people of the day were not unduly gullible. However, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph to assure him that Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit. The angel also told him to name the child Jesus, and that he would “save His people from their sins”. Any understanding of the gospel that does not give full weight to our sinfulness is fatally flawed. Matthew quotes from Is 7:14. Matthew then gives his first quotation from the Old Testament, saying that these things happened to fulfill this saying. This first one is rather controversial, so we will look at it in some depth. First, we need to have a general look at what “fulfillment” of prophecy means. We tend to take it in the sense that a specific prediction was made, and that Jesus was the fulfillment of this. However, prophecy and prediction are not the same. Many, probably most, prophecies in the Old Testament had both a fairly immediate fulfillment, and then a later complete fulfillment. The initial fulfillment would be partial, but demonstrated the veracity and reality of the prophecy, in particular the reality of the thing it was pointing forward to (which was usually God’s plan of salvation in Christ).  The prophecy would show the sort of things that would happen, or what the Messiah would be like.

Here Matthew cites Is 7:14. The controversy arises over the fact that the original Hebrew version can mean “young woman”, not necessarily “virgin”. While the word can mean young woman, most of its uses apply to virgins. However, the partial/complete fulfillment concept is very relevant here. The immediate fulfillment referred to children that Isaiah would father, and this would not be a virgin birth! Moreover, the aspect of the verse that Matthew is focusing on is the “Immanuel” part and the salvation aspects. He is not using this as “proof” of the virgin birth.

Let me now say some general things about the virgin birth.

I want to say first of all that I absolutely believe in the virgin birth, and I have no problems whatsoever in doing so. In this short post I want to briefly explain why.

The virgin birth makes perfect sense to me, in fact I think it is a theological necessity. You and I are fully human, and that is it. Jesus is both fully human and fully God. So He is unique, and therefore it is not surprising at all that His conception (actually it is His conception, not the birth, that was unique!) was different from ours. Indeed, I think it is essential that Mary was a virgin, and it makes perfect sense to me.

Then people say that “virgin births don’t happen, so how could it happen”. This is the weakest argument against the virgin birth, and the silliest. It was a miracle, and miracles are by definition highly unusual events.Then we need to remind ourselves who God is. He is the creator of all things. He created everything on earth, He created the solar system, He created the galaxy, He created all the billions of galaxies (100 billion is apparently the latest estimate). Now if God can create all that I am sure that a virgin birth is well within His capabilities.

There is one argument that does seem, at least superficially, to have some substance to it. That argument is that apart from Matthew and Luke, there is no direct reference to the virgin birth in the New Testament preaching. They preached about the resurrection all the time, but not the virgin birth. So the argument goes that the virgin birth was just a piece of mythology added on later. However, a little thought shows that there is a perfectly rational explanation for this. Suppose you are Peter preaching on the first Pentecost and you start proclaiming that Jesus was born of a virgin, then someone in the crowd shouts out “don’t be ridiculous, you don’t get virgin births. Prove it!”. What is Peter going to do? There is no proof or evidence that he can offer. But now suppose someone in the crowd shout out “don’t be ridiculous, people aren’t raised from the dead. Prove it!” The situation is now quite different. First, Peter could say “if Jesus is dead, then show us the body! Oh, you can’t can you, the only tomb you have is an empty one!”. Then he can point to the five hundred plus people who saw the risen Christ. He, and all the apostles, could present clear evidence for the resurrection. And, contrary to the arguments of some sceptics, the gospel is evidence supported. So there is a perfectly good explanation of why they preached the resurrection all the time, but not the virgin birth. Moreover, it is the death and resurrection of Jesus that have an immediate impact on our lives, the virgin birth makes perfect sense, but is not in the same category.

1:24,25

The angel of the Lord had appeared to Joseph in a dream. Joseph woke up and did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him to do.  So he took Mary to be his wife. We can imagine the difficulties this might have caused, as no doubt neighbours would have talked and gossiped. Joseph, however, had no sexual relations with Mary until after the birth of Jesus. Matthew is stressing the reality of the virgin birth. As noted earlier, the quote from Isaiah is not used as “proof” of the virgin birth. However, Matthew and Luke both state quite clearly that it was a virgin birth.

Matthew 1:1-17 - Genealogy

1:1-17

Matthew dives right in with the genealogy of Jesus. There are some differences to the one found in Luke. He starts off by stating that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of David and the son of Abraham. Jesus is the fulfilment of all the Old Testament promises.  God had promised David that he would always have a descendant on the throne, Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise. He also goes right back to Abraham. Luke takes his ancestry back to Adam.

We find it rather strange that the gospel should begin with a genealogy, but to the Jews it was important, and Matthew was aimed at a Jewish audience. In the Old Testament we often find that when someone is introduced, their father is mentioned. Several women are mentioned.

Critics are keen to point out that there are differences between the genealogies in Matthew and Luke. Yes there are, but that is because they were not intending to give the complete genealogy in “register of births and deaths” sense. They were highlighting a point. Luke starts with Joseph and works back to Adam, and then to God. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forward to Joseph. 

Matthew also begins by declaring that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham. That Jesus is the fulfilment of all the promises in the Old Testament is a key theme in Matthew.

Matthew - Introduction

Matthew is the first gospel that appears in the New Testament. It is very comprehensive, giving a pretty full account of the birth of Jesus (Luke giving somewhat more information), and covering, of course, the cross and resurrection. It includes the Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps its main feature is that one of its aims is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, and it was possibly aimed at Jewish Christians. It was probably written by Matthew the apostle. T is one of the synoptic gospels, some believe it used Mark as source material, along with the supposed source Q (a collection of Jesus’ sayings, though its existence has not been proved. Date for the gospel range from  the 650s and 60s to the 70s, though no one really knows. The gospel was written in Greek, and includes numerous references to the Old Testament, commensurate with his purpose.There are various ways of looking at Matthew, but many take five main discourses of Jesus as the framework. So we have:

Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7)

Commissioning of the apostles (chapter 10)

Kingdom parables (chapter 13)

Kingdom life (chapter 18)

The olivet discourse (chapters 24,25)

While writing these notes I am reading the following commentary:

TNTC commentary on Matthew - Rt T France, IVP (2015)

Esther 9 & 10 - Remembering

9:20

Mordecai saw this as a great time for rejoicing in how God has saved them.  Haman had sought to destroy the Jews, but had failed utterly. The people were to remember what God had done for them. One of the great dangers is that we forget what God has done for us. Remembering what He has done is vital for having a right relationship with Him. Esther cooperated with Mordecai in establishing this as a key time of celebration.

10:1-3

King Xerxes also remembered and honoured Mordecau, his acts were written in the official records, he was held in high esteem.

Esther Chapter 9 - Tables turned

9:1-4

In response to Esther’s request the king’s edict was carried out. On the day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to attack them, it was they who became the victims. They were attacked by the Jews. The nobles, satraps and governors helped the Jews. Mordecai also became more powerful.

9:5-19

Many people were killed by the Jews. Now we might have an element of revulsion about this, but the key point is that Satan’s plan was turned completely around.  It is dangerous to attack Israel, for God will act on their behalf. At times He will judge them, as he did with Assyria and Babylon, but God always wants to bring them back to himself. The king reported the news to Esther and invited her to make another request; she asked for the Jews in Susa to be allowed to repeat their actions. This request was granted. There is emphasis on the fact that the Jews did not lay their hands on the plunder. After the killing they had a day of feasting and joy.

Esther 8 - Freedom for the Jews

8:1-17

Haman’s plans and work were completely undone and reversed, just as one day Satan’s plans will all be undone.The king gave Haman’s estate to Esther. Mordecai was also honoured. Esther’s prime concern was for the well being of the Jews, and this too was granted. So the Jews were allowed to protect themselves against anyone who might try to attack them. 

The edict was sent throughout the land and there was great rejoicing among the Jews. “And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them,

Esther 7 - Haman gets his just deserts

7:1-10

So the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet. During the banquet the king asked Esther what her request was. She asked for her people to be spared, talking about the edict to kill all the Jews. The king wanted to know who had issued such an edict. Esther revealed that it was Haman. The king was angry and Haman was afraid, knowing where all this was going to lead, he pleaded with Esther for mercy. This just made the king even angrier. So Haman ended up being impaled on the gallows he had set up for Mordecai, so Haman was killed.

Esther 6:1-14 - Mordecai is honoured

6:1-14

God was working in the situation. The king could not sleep and decided to read the book of the chronicles. There he read about how Mordecai had exposed a plot to kill the king, and then found out that nothing had been done to reward Mordecai. Haman happened to be around and the king called him in to ask how a man who the king wants to honour should be honoured. Haman thought the king was talking about him. Pride distorts our thinking. So Haaman answered thinking that he was choosing a reward for himself. The king then tells Haman to do all these things for Mordecai. Haman followed these orders. However he was distraught and went home and told his wife and friends what had happened. His advisors and wife warned him against doing anything stupid, for it was futile to oppose the Jews. 

Esther 6 - Haman gets angry

5:1-8

So Esther went to see the king. He was pleased to see her, and asked what her request was, indicating that he would be willing to grant it. She did not ask directly for the Jews to be saved, but to have a banquet, and that Haman should be there. The king was agreeable. So the banquet went ahead, the king knew that Esther the banquet was not the real request. She said she would make known her “real” request at the banquet,

5:9-14

Haman was happy, but this changed when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate. As usual Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, but Haman restrained his anger. He felt honoured to be invited to the king’s banquet, and boasted about it to his family and friends, he also vented his anger about Mordecai. His wife urged him to set up an enormous gallows for Mordecai. Haman was pleased with the suggestion.

Esther Chapter 4 - For such a time as this

4:1-8

While Esther is the star of the show, Mordecai is perhaps the real star, working in the background. He became aware of what was being planned and was naturally deeply upset. In fact all the Jews became aware of the edict and were equally upset, fasting and weeping. Esther learnt about Mordecai and was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to wear, not realising why he was in sackcloth and ashes. She cared for Mordecai, but did not understand the bigger situation. So she sent one of the king’s eunuchs to find out why he was so distressed. Hathak was the one who went out and Mordecai told him everything. \he also told \hathak to tell \esther to go to the king and plead for her people.

4:9-14

Hathak did this. Esther did not think it was possible for her to go to the king without being summoned, for she could be put to death. Now Esther was also a Jew so she too would be liable to be killed under the edict. Mordecai understood that God had placed her in this position for such a time as this. Haman had been planning, but God also had been planning, and Esther was part of that plan. We also are part of God’s plan.

4:15-171

Esther listened to this, and asked Mordecai to get all the Jews to fast and pray. She would indeed go to the king, “If I perish, I perish”. Mordecai carried out Esther’s instructions.

Esther Chapter 3 - The order goes out to kill all the Jews

3:1-15

The other key event leading up to all that happened was the honouring of Haman the Agagite, this happened about four years after the installation of Esther. The king had also commanded that everyone bow down to Haman. Maybe he was a bit like the Peter Mandelson of his day. Mordecai, however, would not bow down to him This caused talk among the royal officials, they encouraged him to comply, but he refused. tHis was reported to Haman.

Haman was enraged. He was a very proud and hateful man. He also learnt that Mordecai was Jewish, and so he was determined to destroy all the Jews. Haman sought the King’s permission to pursue his vendetta against the Jews, even offering to pay money to the royal treasury. Xerxes agreed, but declined the money. So an order was written out to go to all the provinces to kill all the Jews, and the order was sealed with the king’s seal. So the fate of the Jews seemed to be all set.

Esther 2 - A beauty contest won, and an assasination plot foiled

2:1-18

After he had calmed down a little, Xerxes decided he needed to look for a replacement queen. The prime characteristic of this new queen was that she was to be beautiful. So he appointed commissioners to gather together a harem of beauties, they were to be somewhat pampered, and then Xerxes would choose the one he liked best as the new queen. Mordecai was a Jew who had been carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar; he was in charge of bringing up a cousin, Esther, who happened to be very beautiful. Esther was one of the bimbos taken to the palace. Esther ended up winning the beauty contest. She had kept her ethnicity secret, under Mordecai’s instruction. While she was in the palace Mordecai did his best to keep an eye on her.

Esther followed the guidance of Hegai, the king’s Eunuch who was in charge of the harem. Xerxes made Esther queen and held a great banquet in order to show off his new queen. A national holiday was declared.

2:19-23

So Esther was installed in the palace. While Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate he became aware of a plot to kill the king. He told Esther and she reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai, so the plot was foiled and the plotter were put to death, details of the matter were recorded in the official records.

Esther 1 - Rebellious women!

1:1-22

The book starts by setting the scene for how the situation arose.Xerxes was the ruler over a vast empire, based in Susa. He was proud of his wealth, and held a vast banquet demonstrating his wealth. Today we still see many proud rulers. It seems that this banquet was just for men, and Queen Vashti held her own banquet for the women. It seems that Queen Vashti was something of a “trophy wife” and Xerxes wanted to show her off, but she refused to come. This made the king furious. He consulted his advisers and they agreed that she had done a terrible thing, and there was a danger that the women in general would become rebellious. So Vashti was effectively deposed from her position, and he sent out an edict to all the people that “every man should be ruler over his own household”. Women could not be allowed to get too uppity!

Esther - Introduction

Introduction

Esther, like the Song of Songs, does not mention God explicitly. However, the hand of God is definitely present. The Jews’ very existence is threatened, by people who hate them, just as many today still hate Israel and the Jews. God rescues them through Esther winning a beauty contest! God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Just because there is no obvious move of God (i.e. no prophet, no godly leader) it does not mean that God is not at work.

We don’t know who wrote the book, It is set in the period 483-473 BC. As well as God not being mentioned, the book of Esther is not quoted in the New Testament either. Nor have any copies been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Moreover, there is no reference to practices of the Law, though I guess it would have been difficult for them to follow Jewish practices in Persia.

Then there is the question of why the book was written. It was probably written in Israel based on reports of what had happened, or by someone who was actually an eye-witness. The purpose may have been to encourage the people in Israel that God was still working among their fellow Jews in far off lands.