The Gospel of Matthew looks like a biography; at least it does to the Western reader.
Ancient Hebrew authors - including those who wrote the books that make up the Old Testament - had a specific way of organizing their written material. For about the last 150 years, scholars have been working to rediscover these techniques. And what we've found so far is that the meanings of the texts are greatly affected or enhanced by the organizational patterns used by the original authors. Understanding these methods have proven extraordinarily beneficial to discerning original intent.
The Literary Structure of the Old Testament is an excellent book by David Dorsey, a professor who has worked on the subject for more than two decades. I highly recommend this work as a way to get to know the literary structures and how they were used by the ancient Hebrews.
The author of the Gospel of Matthew used some of the very same techniques found in the OT to organize his material. Matthew is a highly structured and precise treatise. But to those who are unaware of the literary structures of the ancient Hebrews, there is little chance that anyone will see anything except a simple biography of Jesus.
The main literary structure employed in Matthew was chiasmus. This technique is probably the most common among the ancient authors. Matthew was organized in such a way that the central and most important part of the whole message was purposefully located at the center of the book. For one who knew, the central theme could be found with a fair amount of effort.
The literary structure acts as a road-map within the Gospel. Certain parts are meant to be interpreted in light of other parts. These pairs are connected by many points of connection that appear to be coincidental, that is, until one knows the literary structure and how it works. When the pieces that are meant to be compared and combined are made known by the literary structure, then the real and intended meaning can be had. The coincidental similarities are then realized to be intentional and meaningful. Without the combined pericopes the enigmatic sayings of Jesus remain just that. And many still guess at their meanings.
You might be asking, "Parts of Matthew are supposed to be combined? to be compared with one another?" Yes. This was a common teaching technique of the ancient rabbis. That will be the subject of my next post so we'll just let that lay for now.
Another reason the author of Matthew used the literary conventions was concealment. Even when a person knows the common patterns, it will take much work to uncover the meanings. This is intentional. The normative method for handling a great rabbis teachings was to be treated as great wisdom. And in the Hebrew culture, wisdom was never free. It was never to be passed out as if it were of little value. It was sought after and treasured. It was purposefully hidden. One can always go back to the Old Testament and read the wisdom books to find the way they treated their great teachings.
The Seven Mysteries (Matthew 13) are the basis for the entire book of Matthew. The literary structure is centered on these enigmatic teachings. In fact, nearly the whole intent of Matthew was to deliver the meanings of these seven advanced teachings to those who were being discipled. But I assure you, they cannot be had without the knowledge of the structures and the work necessary to uncover the treasure.
So the purpose of the literary structure in Matthew was two-fold. It served to conceal the meanings of Jesus' original and advanced teachings (so well even as to alert no one who was unaware to their existence within the text) as well as serving as a road map for those who were becoming complete (another word for those being discipled in the First Century).
The First Century Christian who was being introduced to the advanced meanings in Matthew were taught the techniques (if they didn't already know them) and they were given a guide; a person who was either discipled by Jesus Himself, or by one who had been instructed by an Apostle. The meanings were secret and thus the didactic lineage back to Jesus had to be firmly established.
The Gospel of Matthew is not a biography. It is - when seen in it's original form - a textbook; an advanced training manual, hidden in plain sight)
The meanings of Jesus' original and advanced teachings are there now.
Next post: The Two Part Parable - How the Rabbis Taught
