Matthew structures Jesus’ actions and teaching in a pattern of five, in a structural allusion to the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the original constitution-like document of Mosaic Israel. ‘Torah’ means ‘teaching.’ It’s not that each ‘section’ of Matthew’ matches each ‘book’ of Moses; the structural allusion doesn’t work quite that way. The first …
Continue reading The Charter: Matthew’s Literary Structure, Part 1 – On the King’s Errand