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Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary is unavailable, but you can change that!

The visit of the Magi, the Sermon on the Mount, the Great Commission: these are only a few of the well-known passages in Matthew’s Gospel. Yet it begins with a list of unknown names and apparently irrelevant ‘begettings’. The early church may have placed Matthew first in the New Testament because it provides a Christian perspective on the relation between the church and the Jews, an issue that is...

as ‘a genuine historical echo’—those who were there would never have forgotten the conflicting emotions and beliefs in that unique experience. (Was their ‘hesitation’ also increased by the fear that they might not receive a very friendly reception from the one they had recently abandoned and denied?)61 18. In response to their ‘hesitation’ Jesus came and spoke to them in reassurance (just as he did in 17:7, the only other place where Matthew uses the verb ‘come’ of Jesus). His ringing declaration,
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