Matthew the Apostle, also known as Saint Matthew and possibly as Levi, was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. But Matthew did not write the Gospel attributed to him:
As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, โFollow me.โ He got up and followed him. (Matthew 9:9)
Did “Matthew” write this about himself? Why then didn’t Matthew write for example: “he (Jesus) saw ME, and my name is Matthew. I was sitting at the receipt of customโฆ” etc.
Such evidence can be found in many places throughout the New Testament. Granted, it may be possible that an author sometimes may write in the third person, still, in light of the rest of the evidence that we shall see throughout this book.
As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. (Matthew 9:10)
Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, who was also called Thaddaeus;(Matthew 10:3)
Regarding the Gospel of Matthew, the Encyclopedia Britannica says:
“Although there is a Matthew named among the various lists of Jesus’ disciples, more telling is the fact that the name of Levi, the tax collector who in Mark became a follower of Jesus, in Matthew is changed to Matthew. ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฎ๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐ป๐๐บ๐ผ๐๐.” [Biblical Literature and Its Critical Interpretation, The Gospel According to Matthew]
The passing years do not make it any plainer who actually wrote our Greek Matthew. Papias records, as quoted by Eusebius, that Matthew wrote the Logia of Jesus in Hebrew (Aramaic). Is our present Matthew a translation of the Aramaic Logia along with Mark and other sources as most modern scholars think? If so, was the writer the Apostle Matthew or some other disciple?There is at present no way to reach a clear decision in the light of the known facts. (Commentary by A.T. Robertson)
According to the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 9), Matthew the tax-collector was a Palestinian Jew. As such, his native language was Aramaic. That makes it highly unlikely that he could have written this book.
To begin with, apart from the books written by the extremely highly literarily elite Josephus, we donโt have any literary books composed in written Greek by any Palestinian Jews of the first century. Zero.
Josephus did not comment on the writings of the Christians. He likewise did not comment on the role of Greek or Aramaic usage in Galilee or Judea. He does make one comment about his own use of Greek:
…..๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ผ๐ฏ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ๐, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ, ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐บ๐๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐; ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐….
โ Antiquities of the Jews 20,11.2
And as I will be showing in a moment, this Gospel was certainly composed in Greek.
The vast majority of Palestinian Jews in this period were illiterate โ probably around 97%. The exceptions were urban elites. There is nothing to suggest that Matthew, the tax collector, was an urban elite who was highly educated.
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References:
2.” Who were author of Bible? ” Article by Rami Abdallah and Qais Ali;
3.The Encyclopedia Britannica – Biblical Literature and Its Critical Interpretation, The Gospel According to Matthew
4. “Was the Author of Matthew?” Article by Professor Bart D Ehrman.