Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ

by David Francis Bacon

[♦] remove duplicated word “the”

This interesting event is recorded by Josephus; (History of Jewish War, IV. v. 4;) and is one of the numerous instances which show the vast benefit which the Christian student of the New Testament may derive from the interesting and exact accounts of this Jewish historian.

Another remarkable passage occurring in the prophecy of Jesus to his disciples, respecting the ruin of the temple, recorded by Matthew immediately after the discourse to the multitude, just given, affords reasonable ground for ascertaining this point in the history of this gospel. When Jesus was solemnly forewarning Peter, Andrew, James and John, of the utter ruin of the temple and city, he mentioned to them, at their request, certain signs, by which they might know the near approach of the coming judgment upon their country, and might thus escape the ruin to which the guilty were doomed. After many sad predictions of personal suffering, which must befall them in his service, he distinctly announced to them a particular event, by the occurrence of which they might know that “the end was come,” and might then, at the warning, flee from the danger to a place of safety. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, (whoso READETH, let him understand,) then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains.” This parenthetical expression is evidently thrown in by Matthew, as a warning to his readers, of an event which it behoved them to notice, as the token of a danger which they must escape. The expression was entirely local and occasional, in its character, and could never have been made a part of the discourse by Jesus; but the writer himself, directing his thoughts at that moment to the circumstances of the time, called the attention of his Christian countrymen to the warning of Jesus, as something which they must understand and act upon immediately. The inquiry then arises as to the meaning of the expression used by Jesus in his prophecy. “The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, as standing in the holy place,” unquestionably refers to the horrible violation of the sanctity of the holy places of the temple, by the banditti, styling themselves “Zealots for their country,” who, taking possession of the sanctuary, called in the savage Idumeans, a heathen people, who not only profaned the temple, by their unholy presence, but defiled it with various excesses, committing there a horrible massacre, and flooding its pavements with blood. This was the abomination to which both Daniel and Matthew referred, and which the latter had in mind when he mentioned it to his brethren to whom he wrote, as the sign which they in reading should understand, and upon the warning, flee to the mountains. These horrible polluting excesses are the only events recorded in the history of the times, which can with such certainty and justice be pronounced the sad omens, to which Jesus and his evangelist referred. They are known to have occurred just before the death of Zachariah; and therefore also show this gospel to have been written after the date above fixed for that event. That it must have been written before the last siege of Jerusalem, is furthermore manifest from the fact, that, in order to have the effect of a warning, it must have been sent to those in danger before the avenues of escape from danger were closed up, as they certainly were after Titus had fully encompassed Jerusalem with his armies, and after the ferocious Jewish tyrants had made it certain death for any one to attempt to pass from Jerusalem to the Roman camp. To have answered the purpose for which it was intended, then, it must have been written at some period between the murder of Zachariah, which was in the winter of the year 66, and the march of Titus from Galilee to Jerusalem, before which place he pitched his camp in the month of March, in A. D. 70. The precise point of time in these three years it is impossible to fix; but it was, very probably, within a short time after the commission of the bloody crimes to which he refers; perhaps in the beginning of the year 67.

This view of these passages and the circumstances to which they refer, with all the arguments which support the inferences drawn from them, may be found in Hug’s Introduction, (Vol. II. §4.) He dates Matthew’s gospel much later than most writers do; it being commonly supposed to have been written in the year 41, or in the year 61. Michaelis makes an attempt to reconcile these conjectures, by supposing that it was written in Hebrew by Matthew, in A. D. 41, and translated in 61. But this is a mere guess, for which he does not pretend to assign a reason, and only says that he “can see no impropriety in supposing so.” (Introduction, III. iv. 1, 2.)

Eichhorn suggests, that a reason for concluding that Matthew wrote his gospel a long time after the events which he relates, is implied in the expression used in chap. xxvii. 8, and xxviii. 15. “It is so called, to this day,”——“It is commonly reported, to this day,”——are expressions which, to any reader, convey the idea of many years intervening between the incidents and the time of their narration. In xxvii. 15, also, the explanation which he gives of the custom of releasing a prisoner to the Jews on the feast-day, implies that the custom had been so long out of date, as to be probably forgotten by most of his readers, unless their memories were refreshed by this distinct explanation.

IV. With what special design was this Gospel written?

The circumstances of the times, as alluded to under the last inquiry, afford much light on the immediate object which Matthew had in view, in writing his gospel. It is true, that common readers of the Bible seldom think of it as anything else than a mere complete revelation made to all men, to lead them in the way of truth and salvation; and few are prepared for an inquiry which shall take each portion of the scriptures by itself, and follow it through all its individual history, to the very source,——searching even into the immediate and temporary purpose of the inspired writers. Indeed, very many never think or know, that the historical portions of the New Testament were written with any other design than to furnish to believers in Christ, through all ages, in all countries, a complete and distinct narrative of the events of the history of the foundation of their religion. But such a notion is perfectly discordant, not only with the reasonable results of an accurate examination of these writings, in all their parts, but with the uniform and decided testimony of all the Fathers of the Christian church, who may be safely taken as important and trusty witnesses of the notions prevalent in their times, about the scope and original design of the apostolic records. And though, as to the minute particulars of the history of the sacred canon, their testimony is worth little, yet on the general question, whether the apostles wrote with only a universal reference, or also with some special design connected with their own age and times,——the Fathers are as good authority as any writers that ever lived could be, on the opinions generally prevalent in their own day. In this particular case, however, very little reference can be made to external historical evidence, on the scope of Matthew’s gospel; because very few notices indeed, are found, of its immediate object, among the works of the early writers. But a view of the circumstances of the times, before referred to, will illustrate many things connected with the plan of the work, and show a peculiar force in many passages, that would otherwise be little appreciated.

It appears on the unimpeachable testimony of the historians of those very times, of Josephus, who was a Jew, and of Tacitus and Suetonius, who were Romans, that both before and during the civil disturbances that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, there was a general impression among the Jews, that their long-foretold Savior and national restorer, the Messiah-king, would soon appear; and in the power of God, lead them on to a certain triumph over the seemingly invincible hosts, which even the boundless strength of Rome could send against them. In the expectation of the establishment of his glorious dominion, under which Israel should more than renew the honors and the power of David and Solomon, they, without fear of the appalling consequences of their temerity, entered upon the hopeless struggle for independence; and according to the testimony of the above-mentioned historians, this prevalent notion did much, not only to incite them to the contest, but also to sustain their resolution under the awful calamities which followed. The revolt thus fully begun, drew the whole nation together into a perfect union of feeling and interest; all sharing in the popular fanaticism, became Jews again, whereby the Christian faith must have lost not a few of its professors.

In these circumstances, and while such notions were prevalent, Matthew wrote his sketch of the life, teachings and miracles of Jesus; and throughout the whole of his narrative makes constant references, where the connection can suggest, to such passages in the ancient holy books of the Hebrews, as were commonly supposed to describe the character and destiny of the Messiah. Tracing out in all these lineaments of ancient prophecy, the complete picture of the Restorer of Israel, he thus proved, by a comparison with the actual life of Jesus of Nazareth, that this was the person, whose course throughout, had been predicted by the ancient prophets. In this way, he directly attacked the groundless hopes, which the fanatical rebels had excited, showing, as he did, that he for whom they looked as the Deliverer of Israel from bondage, had already come, and devoted his life to the disenthralment and salvation of his people from their sins. A distinct and satisfactory proof, carried on through a chain of historical evidence to this effect, would answer the purpose as fully as the written truth could do, of overthrowing the baseless imposition with which the impudent Zealots were beguiling the hopes of a credulous people, and leading them on, willingly deceived, to their utter ruin. In this book, containing a clear prediction of the destruction of the temple and Holy city, and of the whole religious and civil organization of the Jewish nation, many would find the revealed truth, making them wise in the way of salvation, though, for a time, all efforts might seem in vain; for the literal fulfilment of these solemn prophecies thus previously recorded, afterwards ensuing, the truth of the doctrines of a spiritual faith connected with these words of prediction, would be strongly impressed on those whom the consummation of their country’s ruin should lead to a consideration of the errors in which they had been long led astray. These prophecies promised, too, that after all these schemes of worldly triumph for the name and race of Israel, had sadly terminated in the utter, irretrievable ruin of temple and city,——and when the cessation of festivals, and the taking away of the daily sacrifice, had left the Jew so few material and formal objects, to hang his faith and hopes on,——the wandering ones should turn to the pure spiritual truths, which would prove the best consolation in their hopeless condition, and own, in vast numbers, the name and faith of him, whose sorrowful life and sad death were but too mournful a type of the coming woes of those who rejected him. Acknowledging the despised and crucified Nazarene as the true prophet and the long-foretold Messiah-king of afflicted Judah, the heart-broken, wandering sons of Israel, should join themselves to that oft-preached heavenly kingdom of virtue and truth, whose only entrance was through repentance and humility. Hence those numerous quotations from the Prophets, and from the Psalms, which are so abundant in Matthew, and by which, even a common reader is able to distinguish the peculiar, definite object that this writer has in view:——to show to the Jews, by a minute detail, and a frequent comparison, that the actions of Jesus, even in the most trifling incidents, corresponded with those passages of the ancient scriptures, which foreshadowed the Messiah. In this particular, his gospel is clearly distinguished from the others, which are for the most part deficient in this distinct unity of design; and where they refer to the grand object of representing Jesus as the Messiah,——the Son of God,——they do it in other modes, which show that it was for more general purposes, and directed to the conversion of Gentiles rather than Jews. This is the case with John, who plainly makes this an essential object in his grand scheme; but he combines the establishment of this great truth, with the more immediate occasions of subverting error and checking the progress of heretical opinions that aimed to detract from the divine prerogatives of Jesus. But John deals very little in those pointed and apt references to the testimony of the Hebrew scriptures, which so distinguish the writings of Matthew; he evidently apprehends that those to whom he writes, will be less affected by appeals of that kind, than by proofs drawn from his actions and discourses, and by the testimony of the great, the good, and the inspired, among those who saw and heard him. The work of Matthew was, on the other hand, plainly designed to bring to the faith of Jesus, those who were already fully and correctly instructed in all that related to the divinely exalted character of the Messiah, and only needed proof that the person proposed to them as the Redeemer thus foretold, was in all particulars such as the unerring word of ancient prophecy required. Besides this object of converting the unbelieving Jews, its tendency was also manifestly to strengthen and preserve those who were already professors of the faith of Jesus; and such, through all ages, has been its mighty scope, enlightening the nations with the clearest historical testimony ever borne to the whole life and actions of Jesus Christ, and rejoicing the millions of the faithful with the plainest record of the events that secured their salvation.

Beyond the history of this gospel, the Fathers have hardly given the least account, either fanciful or real, of the succeeding life of Matthew. A fragment of tradition, of no very ancient date, specifies that he wrote his gospel when he was about to leave Palestine to go to other lands; but neither the region nor the period is mentioned. Probably, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, he followed the eastward course of the Jewish Christians; but beyond this, even conjecture is lost. But where all historical grounds fail, monkish invention comes in with its tedious details of fabulous nonsense; and in this case, as in others already alluded to, the writings of the monks of the fourteenth century, produce long accounts of Matthew’s labors in Ethiopia, where he is carried through a long series of fabled miracles, to the usual crowning glory of martyrdom.