MATTHAN
886
MATTHEW
lishetl. See Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Biogra- ■phij and Mythology, s. v.
Mat'than (Matt, i, 15). See Mattax.
Mat'that (Mdr&ar, prob. some form of the name Mattlnui), the name of two men mentioned only in the New Test, as maternal ancestors of Jesus. See Gene- alogy OF Jesus Cjikist.
1. The son of Levi and father of Jorim, of the pri- vate line bet\veen David and Zerubbabel (Luke iii, 29). B.C. post 623.
2. The son of another Levi, and father of the Eli who was the father of the Virgin Mary (Luke iii, 24). B.C. considerably ante 22.
Matthe'las {Ma^iiKag v. r. ]\Ia>;\ac,Yulg. Mare- a.t), a corrupt Greek form (1 Esdr. ix, 19) of the Ma- ASEiAH (q. V.) of the Hebrew text (Ezra x, 8). "The reading of the Sept., which is followed in the A.V., might easily arise from a mistake between the uncial 9 and S (C)" (Smith).
Matthes, Karl, a Lutheran minister in the duchy of Altenburg, in Germany, was born Dec. 26, 1811, at Eisenbcrg. His early studies were pursued at tlie lyce- inn of his native town, and in 1830 he entered the UuIt \crsit}' of Jena as a student of theology. After com- pleting his studies in 1833, he spent several years in the capacity of family tutor and as a teacher, and finally, in 1843, became the pastor of Ober-Arnsdorf. In 18G4 he was transferred to Bornshain, where he died suddenly .July 3, 1865. Matthes possessed in a rare degree the love and esteem of his acquaintances, who applied to him the saying of Luther, " He lived what we preach." His ripe culture, theological knowledge, and penetrating judgment find expression in his works, which comprise a Liben Philip Melancihon's (of which a second edition appeared in 1846) and a Vergleickende Sy?nbolik (pub- lished in 1854). In the latter year he assumed the pub- lication of the Allgemeinc kirchliche Chronik, a brief but comprehensive annual, reviewing important matters in the field of Church and theology. (G. M.)
Mat'the"W (MarSaToc v. r. Ma^SaTof), one of the apostles and evangelists. In the following account of him and his Gospel we freely use the articles in Kitto's and Smith's Dictionaries.
1. His Name. — According to Gesenius, the names Mdtthants and Matthias are both contractions of Mat- tathias {T\'''rV\'0, "gift of Jehovah ;" QtoSujpoQ, Qiwo- TO<S}, a common Jewish name after the exile. See Mat- TiTHiAH. Matthew had also the name of Levi (Mark ii, 14; Luke v, 27). In the catalogues — Mark iii, 18; Luke vi, 15 — he is coupled with Thomas, which has given rise to the not altogether unfounded conjecture that Matthew was the twin brother of Thomas (Disri, a tiriii)^ whose real name, according to Eusebius, //. E. i, V^. was Judas, and that they were both "brethren of our liiird'' (Donaldson, Jashar, p. 10; comp. Matt, xiii, 55; jNIark vi, 3). This last supposition would account for Matthew's immediate obedience to the call of Christ, but is hardly consistent with the indetiniteness of the words with which he is introduced — av5ip(.oirov MarS. Xfyo/(. (Matt, ix, 9); riXowtji' oi'6i.ia-i Atvii/ (Luke v, 27) — or the unbelief of our Lord's brothers (.John vii, 5). Hcracleon, as quoted by Clem. Alex (^S'/row. iv, 11), men- tions Levi as well as ^Matthew among the early teachers who did not suffer martyrdom. C)rigen also (^Contr. Cels. i, sec. 62 [48]) speaks of !> At/S*/*; rtXun'TjQ c'tKoXov- ^I'laac Ttfj 'hiaov, together with "3Iatthew the publi- can ;" but the names Af/3»';c «ih'^ Atirft; are by no means identical, and there is a hesitation about his language which shows that even then the tradition wps hardly trustworthy. The attempt of Theod. Hase (L'ibl. Bn-iii. V, 475) to identify Levi with'thc aiiostle Lebbivus is an example of misapplied ingenuity which deserves liitle attention (comp. Wolf. Cin: ad i\Iarc. ii, 14). The dis- tinction between Levi and Matthew has. however, been maintained by Grotius (though he acluiowledges thai the
voice of antiquity is against him, " ct sane congruunt cir- cumstantini"), Michaelis, De Wette, Sieft'ert, Ewald, etc. But it is in the highest degree improbable that two publicans should have been called by Christ in the same words, at the same place, and with the same attendant circumstances and consequences; and that, while one be- came an apostle, the other dropped entirely out of mem- ory. Still less can we acquiesce in the hypothesis of Sief- fert ( Ursjw. d. erst. Kanon. Ev. p. 59) and Ewald {Drei Erst. Ev. p. 344: Christus, p. 289, 321) that the name " Matthew" is due to the Greek editor of Matthew's Gos- pel, who substituted it by an error in the narrative of the call of Levi. On the other hand, their identity was assumed by Eusebius and Jerome, and most ancient writers, and has been accepted by the soundest com- mentators (Tischendorf, jMcyer, Ncander, Lardner, EUi- cott, etc.). The double name only supplies a difficulty to those who are resolved to find such everywhere in the Gospel narrative. It is analogous to what we find in the case of Simon Peter, John Mark, Paul, Jude, etc., which may all admit of the same explanation, and be regarded as indicating a crisis in the spiritual life of the individual, and his passing into new external relations. He was no longer ^"h but "^ri"?, not Levi but Theodore — one who might well deem both himself and all his future life a veritable "gift of God" (Ellicott, Ilist.L.ect. p. 172 ; compare Meyer, Coinineiif. i, 2 ; Winer, I?. W. B. s. v. Matthiius, Name). See Michaelis, Einltit. ii, 984; Kraft, Observ. sacr. v, 3 ; Biel, in the Bibl. Ei-em. vi, 1038 ; Heumann, ErUiir. d. N. T. i, 538 ; Frisch, Diss, de L^evi c. Maith. non confundendo (Leips. 1746) ; Thiers, Krit. Comment, i, 90; Sieffert, Urspr. d. Kanon. Evang. p. 54. See Name.