How Matthew Is Like Moses and What that Reveals about Jesus

Keywords

Matthew’s Jewish audience, Moses and Torah, Genesis parallels

Abstract

Matthew wrote his gospel for a Jewish audience. He did so in a way that mirrored Moses and the Torah (the Five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).

Matthew 1 Is Like Genesis

Genesis is the opening of the Bible, so too is Matthew 1 the opening of the Gospel. Just as Genesis is full of genealogies and introduces the main characters and themes in the story, so too, Matthew 1 begins with an introduction to the main characters and themes of the Gospels. One of the first words that Matthew uses is genesis. Matthew 1:1 reads “The book of the generation [Greek = genesis] of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”, clearly calling to mind for readers the first book of the Old Testament.

Original Publication Citation

How Matthew Is Like Moses and What that Reveals about Jesus, January 14, 2019. (Republished on LDS Living January 19, 2019. #13 article on LDS Living.)

Document Type

Other

Publication Date

2019

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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