THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S as soon as Christ gave the word, to leave all for ;His sake. When Levi became a follower of Jesus, he changed his name from Levi to Matthew, which means “th e g ift of God’’ and is the same as th e Greek name “Theodore.” This practice was not unusual, and may be illu strated by th e instances of Saul and of Simon, who also adopted new names in th e new life. The same day Matthew made a feast — perhaps a farewell to his associates— to which he invited Jesus and His dis ciples. We may conceive what a joy ous banquet th a t was for Matthew, when for th e first tim e as an eye-wit ness he m arked th e words and acts of Jesus, and stored w ithin his memory th e scene and the conversation which he was inspired to w rite according to his clerkly ability for th e instruction of th e Church in all afte r ages. A fter this, Matthew is not once named in all Gospel history, except in th e list of th e twelve; in th e other Gospels he appears seventh on the list, in his own Gospel eighth— th e last in the second division. In his own Gospel again— a fu rth e r m ark of hum ility— he designates him self as “Matthew the publican.” His nearest companion seems to have been Thomas. Since Capernaum was in th e te trar- chy ■of Herod Antipas, it may be in ferred th a t Levi was an officer in the service of th a t prince, and not in th e service of tth e Roman government as is sometimes assumed. This is not un im po rtan t in estim ating th e call and conversion of Matthew. A Hebrew who en tirely acquiesced in th e Roman su premacy could hardly have done so a t th is period w ithout abandoning th e na tional hopes. Jesu s alone knew the secret of reconciling the highest as pirations of the Jewish race w ith sub mission to Caesar. But to acknowl edge th e Herodian dynasty was a dif feren t th ing from bowing to Rome. Herod was a t least not a foreigner and a Gentile in th e same sense as the Roman Idumea had coalesced w ith Is rael. It is therefore conceivable th a t a Jew who was w aiting fo r Messiah’s reign may have in very despair learned to Took for the fulfillment of his hopes in th e Herodian family. If it was im possible to connect Messianic thoughts With an Antipas, m ight not God in His providence fuse by some means th e ' house of Herod w ith th e house of David? Probably th e tyrannical An tipas owed the stability of his throne
739 in some measure to a party among the Jews who .cherished these ideas. Matthew was a Hebrew of th e He brews deeply learned in the history and prophecies of his race, eagerly looking forw ard to th e ir realization; b u t he had been content to find or a t least to expect th a t realization in th e fam ily of Herod. But when th e plan and teach ing of Jesus were unfolded to his mind stored w ith national memories, he in stan tly recognized th e tru th , , beauty and completeness of th a t ideal and gave him self up h ea rt and soul to the cause of th e Son of David. F o r th a t cause and kingdom he resigned all his hopes of advancement in Herod’s king dom, his lucrative calling and the friends he had made. We may picture Matthéw to ourselves as a Silent, unobtrusive, contemplative man, swift to h ear and slow to speak, bu t w ith a mind teem ing w ith th e as sociations of his nation and deeply con scious of th e momentous dram a which was: .being enacted before him, of which he felt himself called- upon to be the chronicler and In terp reter to his own people. Eusebius, the historian, says o f Mat thew, th a t being about to~ ¡depart for d istan t lands to preach to others also, he left as a memorial to his P alestinian converts th e story of th e New Covenant comm itted to w riting in th e ir own tongue, th e Aramaic or Hebrew dialect which they used. This parting gift of the evangelist was th e origin of the w ritten Gospels. By th e most ancient testimony the death of th is apostle is attrib u ted to n atu ra l causes. T raditions of the Greek Church and Greek artists repre sent him dying peacefully. The West ern Church has placed Matthew on the list of m artyrs, and in the work of Italian painters he is portrayed perish ing by th e excutioner’s sword.— Rev. A. Carr, in Cambridge Bible. Something can be inferred from the fact th a t Matthew was a publican. He would be capable of d isloy alty ,: he would be selfish and w ithout sympathy for th e feelings and DEVOTIONAL aspirations of his COMMENT countrymen. He m ust F . W. F a r r have been careless of losing favor and good
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker