THE READERS FOR WHOM MATTHEW WROTE HIS GOSPEL. 183 



to Nazareth. He proceeds to show that in both the flight into 

 Egypt and the choosing of Nazareth as a residence there was a 

 fulfilment of prophecy. Did not Hosea say: " I have called 

 my Son out of Egypt," and Isaiah declare that " a branch 

 (netzer) should grow out of the roots of Jesse "? As Jesus of 

 Nazareth He was the man of the branch. The Israelites of 

 Parthia might be as hkely as the scribes of Jerusalem to have 

 imbibed the prejudice that " out of Galilee ariseth no prophet 

 this Matthew answers by showing that it was precisely in Naph- 

 thali and Zabulon that the Messianic light was to shine forth. 

 The Mission and Message of the Baptist would be widely known ; 

 even Josephus thinks it worthy of being chronicled. Matthew 

 relates his testimony. It is unnecessary to multiply proofs that 

 the writer of the first Gospel relates every action of the subject 

 Oi his work to prophecies going before, step by step, to the 

 triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the soldiers casting lots on 

 His garments at the foot of the Cross. 



Another peculiarity is manifested in the record of Matthew. 

 The Evangelist, assuming that his countrymen east of the 

 Euphrates hoped, as did their kindred in Judea, for a royal 

 Messiah, calls that time of coming glory a Kingdom. But while 

 the other Synoptists "designate it the Kingdom of God," 

 Matthew invariably calls it " the Kingdom of Heaven," or rather 

 " of the Heavens." In this he follows the reverent practice of 

 the Eabbins, who by this synonym avoided the undue obtrusion 

 of the Sacred name. It was the same feeling which led the 

 Jews to cease, in reading the Hebrew Scriptures, to pronounce 

 the name of Jhwh, and say instead of " Lord," till now the true 

 pronunciation is lost. The Jews in Babylon were more under 

 scribal domination than were their brethren in Jerusalem. The 

 influence of the Scribes was not in Babylon counter-balanced either 

 by the party of the Sadducsean High Priest, or by the Hellenizing 

 tendencies of the Herods. To use this term to describe the 

 Messianic glory, is an evidence of the intention of the Evangelist 

 to suit his message to his eastern public. 



Further, some rumour of the wonderful works of Jesus of 

 Nazareth may have reached the eastern Dispersion. Matthew 

 narrates many of these, but in doing so makes his narrative 

 subserve his purpose of showing Jesus had loftier claims than 

 the Messiah they expected. In one of the first miracles he 

 describes, the healing of the paralytic, Jesus before healing the 

 sufferer forgives his sins. The force of this is emphasized by the 

 objection of the Scribes from Jerusalem: " Who can forgive sins 

 but God only? " The implied claim is not denied, but reiterated 

 and ratified by the performance of the miracle. By the method he 

 has adopted in describing the miracle and the attitude of the 

 Scribes from Jerusalem, the Evangelist wishes to show that Jesus 



