Their opposition culminated in their putting him to death.  On the other hand Jesus also rejects the Jews.  John calls them a generation of vipers and Jesus designated them with such terms as hypocrites, blind guides and whited sepulchers, the climax being reached in chapter 23.  It is here that in their wickedness they are unable to discern between the work of God and of Beelzebub.  They are told of the application of Isaiah’s prophecy, that they have ears and hear not and that on account of their unworthiness, the kingdom is taken from them.  The blasting of the fig tree with which the miracles of Matthew ends shows what is to be the fate of the Jewish nation.

7.  It Is a Jewish Gospel.  This is seen in his use of Jewish symbols, terms and numbers without explanation.  He never explained the meaning of a Jewish word, such as Corban, nor of a custom, such as to say that the Jews eat not except they wash.  The other evangelists do.  He calls Jerusalem by the Jewish terms, “City of the great king,” and “Holy City,” and Christ the “Son of David” and the “Son of Abraham.”  He speaks of the Jewish temple as the temple of God, the dwelling place of God and the holy place.  The genealogy is traced to Abraham by three great Jewish events of history.  All this would be calculated to win the Jews, but, much more, the sixty-five quotations from the Old Testament and the oft repeated attempt to show that deeds and sayings recorded were that the “Scripture (or saying) might be fulfilled.”  And, while not seeing as much in the numbers as Plummer and others, one can hardly believe that all numbers, so characteristic of Jews, are accidental here.  The genealogy has three fourteens being multiples of seven.  There are fourteen parables, seven in one place and seven in another.  There are seven woes in chapter 23.  There are twenty miracles separated into two tens.  The number seven usually, if not always, divides into four and three, the human and the divine.  Of the seven parables in chapter 13, four touch the human or natural while three refer to the divine or spiritual side of his kingdom.  There are seven petitions in the Lord’s prayer, the first three relating to God and the last four to man.  A like division is perhaps true in the beatitudes.

Subject.  The Kingdom of God or of Heaven.

Analysis.

  I. The Beginning of the Kingdom, 1:1-4:16.

   1.  Jesus, the King, is the Old Testament Messiah, chs. 1-2.

   2.  Jesus, the King, is prepared for his work, 3:1-4:16.

 II.  The Proclamation of the Kingdom, 4:17-16:20.

   1.  The beginning of the proclamation, 4:17 end.

   2.  By the Sermon on the Mount, chs. 5-7.

   3.  By the miracles and connected teachings, chs. 8-9.

4.  By the sending of the Twelve and subsequent teachings and miracles, chs. 10-12.

   5.  By the seven parables and subsequent miracles, chs. 13-14.