Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary Matthew 1a - Flipbook - Page 13
Matthew
AD 50
AD 55
Silvanus sent to Antioch
Jerusalem Council
Ventidius Cumanus
AD 60
AD 70
AD 49
Fire in Rome
Nero’s persecution
Jewish revolt in Jerusalem
AD 49
AD 48–52
AD 65
Porcius Festus
Herod Agrippa II
AD 59–62
Lucceius Albinus
AD 62–64
Gessius Florus
AD 64–66
Temple destroyed
Roman Legate Rule
Marcus Antonius Julianus
AD 66–70
AD 50–93
Antonius Felix
AD 52–59
Nero
AD 54–68
Vespasian AD 69–79
MATTHEW
T
INTRODUCTION
he backgrounds of the four Gospel writers present a fascinating
study in contrasts. John Mark had likely been a teenage hanger-
on accompanying the disciples. He may have been the young
man who fled the scene of Jesus’ arrest in an embarrassing fashion
(Mark 14:51-52).1 Then, after a shaky start in ministry with Paul and his
own cousin, Barnabas (Acts 12:25–13:13; 15:36-41; see Col. 4:10), Mark
went on to become a faithful assistant to the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 5:13),
ultimately penning what was probably the earliest written Gospel,
based on Peter’s firsthand testimony.
Luke, on the other hand, was a physician (Col. 4:14). As a w
ell-
educated Gentile skilled in Greek, Luke applied his meticulous, critical
mind to collecting, verifying, and arranging information so as to write a
careful, orderly account of the life of Christ (Luke 1:1-4). Then he wrote
a sequel recounting the earliest decades of the church, partly based on
his own firsthand participation in ministry (Acts 1:1-2).
John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 20:2), started out as a
young fisherman willing to cast off the entanglements of fishing nets
and become a fisher of men (Matt. 4:18-22). By the time John penned
his Gospel around ad 97, he not only likely had access to the other three
Gospels but also had had a lifetime to reflect on the deep theological
truths concerning who Jesus was and what that really meant.
This brings us to Matthew. Not a b
lue-collar fisherman like John.
Not a sophisticated, white-collar physician like Luke. And not a young
hanger-on like Mark. Matthew had been a tax collector.
A TAX COLLECTOR!
It’s hard for us to picture what that meant to a first-century Jewish audience. Banish from your mind the image of a well-dressed IRS auditor just
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