《Study on Matthew》

CONTENTS：

STUDY ON MATTHEW

  1. Preface
  2. Matthew Chapter One
  3. Matthew Chapter Two
  4. Matthew Chapter Four
  5. Matthew Chapter Five
  6. Matthew Chapter Six
  7. Matthew Chapter Seven
  8. Matthew Chapter Eight
  9. Matthew Chapter Nine
  10. Matthew Chapter Ten
  11. Matthew Chapter Eleven
  12. Matthew Chapter Twelve
  13. Matthew Chapter Thirteen
  14. Matthew Chapter Fourteen
  15. Matthew Chapter Fifteen
  16. Matthew Chapter Sixteen
  17. Matthew Chapter Seventeen
  18. Matthew Chapter Eighteen
  19. Matthew Chapter Nineteen
  20. Matthew Chapter Twenty
  21. Matthew Chapter Twenty-One
  22. Matthew Chapter Twenty-Two
  23. Matthew Chapter Twenty-Three
  24. Matthew Chapter Twenty-Four
  25. The Rapture
  26. Matthew Chapter Twenty-Five

PREFACE

After 1931 Brother Watchman Nee led the church in Shanghai in a study of the Gospel of Matthew intermittently for several years. This volume consists of notes taken during those studies that were later edited and polished. It covers the interpretation from chapter one through chapter twenty-five, chapter by chapter and verse by verse in sequence, and includes the exposition of all important sections. The contents are exceedingly rich and multifaceted, with a rich supply of life and the light of the truth.

MATTHEW CHAPTER ONE

Verse 1: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." In the beginning of this chapter, in the first verse, Jesus Christ is mentioned. This corresponds to the last verse of Revelation (Rev. 22:21). Furthermore, the phrase rendered "the book of the generation" is used only once, here, in the New Testament. It is also mentioned only once in the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, in Genesis 5:1, "the book of the generations of Adam." (The Septuagint Version was the version read by the Lord while He was on this earth.) One is the book of the generations of the first Adam, whereas the other is of the last Adam. The two are in contrast to each other.

"The son of David." In this book the Lord is called by this title a total of nine times: in 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9; 22:42, 45. From Adam to the Lord Jesus there were a total of seventy-five generations (see Luke 3:23-38, in which the name of Cainan is recorded twice).

Why does the chapter begin not by mentioning the son of Adam, of Isaac, or of Jacob, but, rather, by singling out two names, David and Abraham? This shows that this book has two lines. One is the line of the son of David, the line of prophets; the other is the line of the son of Abraham, the line of priests. By this we know that the Lord fulfilled these two functions. The son of David refers to Solomon. To say that the Lord was the son of David is to say that He would be Solomon. In his lifetime Solomon did two particular things. One was that he spoke the word of wisdom, and the other was that he built the temple. The Lord is greater than Solomon; as a prophet, He sent forth the Holy Spirit and built the spiritual temple. The Lord's being the son of Abraham means that He was to be Isaac. In his lifetime Isaac had two characteristics: he was offered on the altar, and he married Rebecca, a Gentile woman. The Lord was offered in His death and resurrection, and He also married the Gentiles and brought forth the church.

The genealogy of a man begins with the descendants and goes back to the ancestors, whereas the genealogy of a king begins with a king and comes down to the descendants. The genealogy recorded in Luke traces back to the ancestors, whereas the genealogy recorded in Matthew follows the generations in succession.

Verses 2-6: Here four women are mentioned. The purpose is to show that the Lord is related not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:6). Jesus did not come to call the righteous; He came to be the Savior of all. In the Old Testament the names of women and of Gentiles were never included in the genealogies. However, this time not only were four women mentioned, but they were all Gentile sinners.

Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law; she committed incest. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. Ruth was a Moabitess. In Deuteronomy 23:3 the Moabites were forbidden from entering the assembly of Jehovah, even to the tenth generation. Bathsheba was not mentioned by name but was referred to as "the wife of Uriah" (2 Sam. 11:3). This is to inform people as to what kind of person she was. From this it can be seen that, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, all have a share in Christ.

In the whole Bible man is used to signify the aspect of doctrine, the objective aspect, and woman is used to signify the aspect of experience, the subjective aspect. Examples are Solomon and the Shulamite virgin in the Song of Songs.

Although this chapter mentions fourteen kings, only David was definitely designated as "the king," for he was a man according to God's heart.

Verses 7-9: Compare this section with 1 Chronicles 3:11-12. The names of Ahaziah (2 Chron. 22:2-5, 9), Joash (2 Chron. 24:25), and Amaziah (2 Chron. 25:14-16, 27) were recorded in 1 Chronicles but omitted in Matthew 1. They were left out by Matthew because they (1) were born of Jezebel, (2) did evil, and (3) did not die a natural death. God punished such people until the third and fourth generation. They did not deserve to be kings; therefore, Matthew did not record their names.

Verses 10-12: Here the name of Jehoiakim (2 Chron. 36:4; 2 Kings 23:34-35) is missing, though it is found in 1 Chronicles 3:15-19. Jehoiakim was made king by Pharaoh king of Egypt, not by God. Moreover, he heavily taxed the people that he might please Pharaoh, and he also worshipped idols. Therefore, his name was struck from the King's genealogy. Uzziah in Matthew 1:8 is Azariah in 2 Kings 15:1-3, 13. Matthew 1:12 says, "Salathiel begot Zerubbabel." However, 1 Chronicles 3:17-19 says that Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah. This is because Salathiel died at an early age, and according to the custom at that time (Deut. 25:5-6), his brother Pedaiah might have married his wife and begot a son, Zerubbabel. Or, it might have been that Zerubbabel, the son of Pedaiah, was made the son of Salathiel.

Verse 12: "Jeconiah begot Salathiel." However, according to Jeremiah 22:24-30, none of Jeconiah's descendants would sit on the throne of David. Although Joseph was a descendant of Jeconiah, the Lord was not Joseph's son. This is God's marvelous doing.

Verses 13-16: In verse 16 the genealogy turns to read "Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Thus, the difficulty mentioned above is solved.

Verse 17: The genealogy of Christ has a total of forty-two generations. Forty-two is the number for the experiencing of sufferings. It is different from forty, which is the number for trials only and does not necessarily involve sufferings. After the number forty-two is concluded, the millennium will come, a time for rest. Revelation mentions forty-two months. Numbers 33 has a record of forty-two stations, and the forty-third station was Canaan. Once the number forty-two is passed, Christ comes, and there is eternal rest. Three times fourteen generations is forty-two generations. But when one counts the generations recorded in chapter one, there are only forty-one generations. This is because David was the last of the first fourteen generations and also the first of the second fourteen generations. Therefore, there were forty-one generations.

Verse 19: "Joseph...being righteous." A righteous person is both just and kind. Joseph was just; hence, he had to divorce such a woman. He was also kind; thus, he was not willing to disgrace her openly but intended to divorce her secretly. As a righteous person, Joseph was both just and kind.

Verse 20: "While he pondered these things." Joseph's pondering afforded God an opportunity to speak to him and to lead him.

Verse 21: Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua. It may be rendered "Jehovah the Savior" or "Jehovah saves." (Je is Jehovah, and sus means "salvation.")

Verse 23: Emmanuel means "God with us." It is not "God is present among us" [the rendering in the Chinese Union Version]. "God with us" is broader in meaning than "God is present among us." In Hebrew, whenever a name has "el" in it (for example, Daniel, Israel, and Eli), it always means something related to "God."

King David typifies the Lord Jesus as King: (1) the king established by God, (2) the warring king, and (3) the king despised and rejected by men.

MATTHEW CHAPTER TWO

This chapter may be divided into two sections: verses 1-12 are concerned with Herod's plot to kill, and verses 13-23 describe Jesus' flight.

Verse 1:"In the days of Herod the king." Herod was an Idumaean (Mark 3:8), an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. He was made king, a tetrarch (Luke 1:5). At Herod's time Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. This is related to the first census, as recorded in Luke 2:1-2. From the political viewpoint, the census was a decree from the Caesar. From our viewpoint, it was God's fulfillment of biblical prophecy. (At that time Joseph lived in Nazareth.) The king's heart is in the hand of Jehovah (Prov. 21:1). If the census had been taken earlier, Joseph and Mary would have returned to Nazareth immediately after they were registered. If the census had been taken a little later, they might still have been traveling on the way. However, under God's sovereignty, as soon as they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary delivered the child.

"Magi from the east arrived." According to Greek, the magi were persons of morality or principle, like the Hindu "holy men." The phrase the east does not indicate what place it was east of; it should refer to east of Jerusalem, east of Judea.

Verse 2:"He who has been born King of the Jews." This seems to indicate that the Lord Jesus was only for the Jews; however, those who first came to seek for the Lord were Gentiles. It was declared from the mouths of Gentiles that the Lord was the King of the Jews. From this verse we can see that the Lord's work was for both the Gentiles and the Jews. "We saw His star at its rising." The Bible does not give us proof of how the magi from the east learned of the Lord's birth, but we have some hint. ("Light"—Isa. 60:3; "He"—Psa. 72:4). The Gentiles also had prophets, Balaam being one of them. He was one of four prophets who prophesied the most concerning the Lord Jesus (Num. 24:17). Perhaps these prophecies had spread in the east. Perhaps the magi from the east read the prophecy in Daniel. In his captivity in Babylon, when Daniel prophesied concerning the seventy weeks, he spoke the things concerning the Lord Jesus (Dan. 9:24-25). "To worship Him" was not to worship as one would worship God but to worship the Lord with the highest honor given to a human being.

Verse 3:"When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him." For Herod to be troubled was somewhat reasonable, but for all Jerusalem also to be troubled was truly strange. From the time of Malachi to that time was a period of about four hundred and thirty years. During that period the Jews were suffering, and they were expecting the Messiah to come. When they heard this news, they should have rejoiced. Instead, they were troubled. This is for no other reason than that they were not genuinely seeking the Savior. (A Christian who expects the Lord to come or who expects to be raptured should take this as a warning—Prov. 4:23; 25:28.) Verse 3 says that Herod was troubled inwardly (the motive); verse 7 shows us that he took action outwardly (the scheme); and verse 16 is the result of the troubling (the killing).

Verses 4-6 indicate that biblical prophecy is one thing and revelation is another thing, that teaching is one thing and revelation is another thing. One may have the words of the prophets, but he still needs the heavenly star. One may have the knowledge of the Scriptures, but he still needs the divine revelation. If man is not hungry, God does not give. Perhaps the magi from the east were people who waited on God and were seeking. If one has only dead knowledge, he is merely a Pharisee. Even though he understands the word of the Scriptures, he has never seen the light from heaven. The star appeared in heaven to show the magi that there was a Savior, but it was through the Bible that they could find out the details. On the one hand, they needed the heavenly star; on the other hand, they needed Micah's prophecy (Micah 5:2). By this we can see that there are certain conditions for the receiving of God's revelation: (1) waiting and (2) desiring.

The second half of Micah 5:2 says, "And His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity." This shows that the One born in Bethlehem is God. When the Lord said, "Before Abraham came into being, I am" (John 8:58), they wanted to stone Him because they did not acknowledge Him as God.

Verse 7:"Then Herod, secretly calling the magi, determined accurately from them the time that the star appeared." Things done "secretly" are not necessarily wrong, but they usually cannot avoid becoming something of darkness. Christians may have secrets, but they should not have darkness. Herod "determined accurately" the time that the star appeared. By that time probably more than a year had passed, the evidence for which will be given later.

Verse 8:"And sending them to Bethlehem, he said, Go and find out accurately about the child. And when you find Him, report to me, so that I also may come and worship Him." Herod's intention was not to worship Him, but to kill Him.

Verse 9:"And after they heard the king, they went their way, and behold, the star which they saw at its rising led them until it came and stood over the place where the child was." There is no mention here that any scribe or Pharisee followed the magi. The magi could come from the east and find Bethlehem, but the scribes and the Pharisees would not go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. This shows that the Gentiles wanted the Lord, but the Jews rejected Him. We should understand the Bible with our mind. At the same time, we also should seek inwardly to know the power of God. Andrew Murray said that it is a pity for someone to have a great deal of Bible knowledge yet keep it merely in his fleshly mind.

"The star which they saw" was the same star they saw the first time. If we want to know the certainty of God's leading, we need a second revelation of the star after its first revelation. This is a principle: the second appearing of the star is a confirmation that its first appearing is correct. God said to Abraham, "Unto a land that I will show thee" (Gen. 12:1). If we took the first step, yet we do not have "I will show thee" as the second step, we were probably wrong in our first step. The revelation after a revelation is a confirmation that we are on the right way. This is a principle: always verify a revelation with a follow-up revelation.

Verse 10:"And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." In contrast, when the people in Jerusalem heard the news, they were troubled. Our attitude toward the Savior is an indication of the degree of our spirituality. One characteristic of the Lord is that He requires man to love Him. A Christian should not only believe in the Lord but also love the Lord. If one who believes in the Lord is not affected by the Lord in his inward emotions and feelings, he is not worthy to be called a Christian.

Verse 11:"They...saw the child." Here it does not say "a baby." This shows that a period of time had passed since the event mentioned in verse 9. The magi's traveling required some time because transportation was not convenient then. Herod had inquired previously concerning the time that the star appeared, but eventually those whom he killed were children who were two years old and under. Furthermore, this verse mentions "the house," not a manger. House is a particular word used in Matthew. This is the first time it is used. It might have been a house rented by Joseph; perhaps at that time they lived alternately between Nazareth and Bethlehem. These things may prove that the time when the magi came to see the Lord was not when the Lord was newly born.

That the magi from the east came to see the Lord shows that the Lord is King. Moreover, they went into the house to worship Him. The Gospel of Mark writes concerning the Lord as a slave; therefore, it does not give a record of His birth. The Gospel of Luke portrays the Lord as a man; therefore, it gives an account of His birth. It also tells us that those who came to see Him were shepherds, common people. He was born in a manger, but He was not the son of a manger. The Gospel of John unveils the Lord as God; therefore, instead of mentioning His birth, it only says, "The Word became flesh."