II. Scripture Statements respecting Mm. — His father's name was Alphreus (Mark ii, 14), probably different from the father of James the son of Marv', the wife of Cleophas, who was a " sister" of the mother of Jesus (John xix, 25). See ALPii,EUS. His call to be an apostle (A.D. 27) is related by all three evangelists in the same words, except that Matthew (ix, 9) gives the usual name, and Mark (ii. 14) and Luke (v, 27) that of Levi. Matthew's special occupation ^vas probably the collection of dues and customs from persons and goods crossing the Lake of Gennesareth. It was while he was actually engaged in his duties, KaSrjjjxivov tm to rtXw- viov, that he received the call, which he obeyed with- out delay. Our Lord Avas then invited by him to a " great feast" (Luke v, 29), to which perhaps, as Nean- der has suggested (Life of Christ, p. 230, Bohn; comp. Blunt, Undes. Coincid. p. 257), by way of farewell, his old associates, ux^og Te\wi'io7> ttoXuc;, were summoned. The publicans, jiroperly so called (publicani), were persons who farmed the lioman taxes, and they M'ere usually, in later times, Roman knights, and persons of wealth and credit. They employed imder them inferior offi- cers, natives of the province where the taxes were col- lected, called properly porlifores, to which class Jlat- thew no doubt belonged. These latter -were notorious for impudent exactions everywhere (Plautus, Menach. i, 2, 5 ; Cic. ad Quint. Fr. i, 1 ; Plut. De Curios, p. 518 e) ; but to the Jews they were especially odious, for they were the verj' spot where the Koman chain galled them, the visible proof of the degraded state of their nation. As a rule, none but the lowest would accept such an unpopular office, and thus the class became more worthy of the hatred with which in any case the Jews woulil have regarded it. The readhicss, however, with which jMatthew obeyed the call of Jesus seems to show that liis heart was still open to religious impres- sions. We find in Luke vi, 13. that when Jesus, before delivering the Sermon on the Blount, selected twelve disciples, who were to form the circle of his more inti- mate associates, Matthew Avas one of them. On a sub- sequent occasion (Luke v, 29), Matthew gave the part- ing entertainment to his friends. After this event he is mentioned only in Acts i, 13. A.D. 29.
HI. Traditionary Notices. — xVccording to a statement
MATTHEW
887
MATTHEW
in Clemens Alexaudrinus {Padagog. ii, 1), Matthew ab- stained from animal food. Hence some writers have rather hastily concluded that he belonged to the sect of the Essenes. It is true that the Essenes practiced abstinence in a high degree, but it is not true that they rejected animal food altogether. Admitting the accomit in Clemens Alexandrinus to be correct, it proves only a certain ascetic strictness, of which there occur vestiges in the habits of other Jews (comp. .Josephus, Life, •! and 3). Some interpreters find also in Kom. xiv an allusion to Jews of ascetic principles.
According to another account, which is as old as the first century, and which occurs in the Kljpvyita lliTpov in ClemensAlexandrinus (Strom, wi, lb), Matthew, after the death of Jesus, remained about fifteen years in Je- rusalem. This agrees with the statement in Eusebius {Ifisf. Eccles. iii, 2-1), that Matthew preached to his own nation before he went to foreign countries. Rufinus {Hkt. Eccles. x, 9) and Socrates {Hist. Eccks. i, 19) state that he afterwards went into Ethiopia (jMeroe) ; but Ambrose says that God opened to him the comitry of the Persians {In Ps. 45) ; Isidore, the Macedonians (Isi- dore Hisp. De Sanct. 11) ; and others the Tarthians, the Medes, the Persians of the Euphrates (comp. Florini Exercit. Jiist. j>IiiL p. 23 ; Credner, Einl. ins N'. T. I, i, 68). There also he probably preached specially to the Jews. See Abdiie, Ilistor. Apost. vii, in Fabricii Cod. apocr. i, 636; Perionii Vit. Apost. p. lU; comp. Mar- tyrol. Rom. Sept. 21. According to Heracleon^about A.D. 150) and Clemens Alexandrinus {Strom, iv, 9), Matthew was one of those apostles who did not suffer martyrdom, which Clement, Origen, and Tertullian seem to accept: the tradition that he died a martyr, be it true or false, came in afterwards (Niceph. //. E. ii, 41). Tischendorf has published the apocrj'phal "Acts and MartjTdom of Matthew" {Acta Apocrypha, Lips. 1841). See Acts, Spurious.
MATTHEW, Gospel of, the first of the four me- moirs of our Lord in all the arrangements. See New Testament.
I. Author. — There is no ancient book with regard to the authorship of which we have earlier, fuller, and more unanimous testirjony. From Papias, almost if not quite contemporary with the apostles, downwards, ^\■e have a stream of unimpeachable witnesses to the fact that Matthew was the author of a gospel ; while the quotations which abound in the works of the fathers prove that at least as early as Irenreus — if we may not also add Justin, whose " Memorabilia of Christ" we can- not but identify with the " Gospels" he speaks of as in public use — the Gospel received by the Church un- der his name was the same as that which has reached us. As in the case of the other synoptists, a subsidiary argument of no small weight in favor of the correctness of this assignment may be drawn from the comparative insignificance of Slatthew among the twelve, Anj' one desirous of imposing a spurious gospel on the Church would naturally have assumed one of the principal apos- tles as its author, instead of one whose name could add but little weight or authority to the composition.