MATTHEW—THE TAX COLLECTOR Friends - yet some of them if it were not for Jesus would have not only not have been friends would have hated each other. Here is the two that would have been the case. Matthew and Simon.. We have already looked at the life's of some of the apostles, Peter, Andrew, James 3 of them, John the beloved, Philip and Bartholomew now we look at Matthew that like the others we really don’t know a lot about. Matthew, of course, is the author of the Gospel that bears his name. For that reason, we might expect to have a lot of detail about this man and his character. But the fact of the matter is that we know very little about Matthew. The only thing we know for sure is he was a humble, self-effacing man who kept himself almost completely in the background throughout his lengthy account of Jesus’ life and ministry. In his entire Gospel he mentions his own name only two times. (Once is where he records his call, and the other is when he lists all twelve apostles.) Name He is called by his Jewish name, “Levi the son of Alphaeus,” in Mark 2:14. Luke refers to him as “Levi” in Luke 5:27–29, and as “Matthew” when he lists the Twelve in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. Matthew 9:9 9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Mark 2:14 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Luke 5:27-32 27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him. ( what happened next I will deal with in a moment.. ) The two names,, Levi - Jewish Hebrew name , from the tribe of Levi. This was a common Jewish name. Matthew - His Greek Name , meaning "Gift of God" It is quite conceivable that a Jewish employee of Roman government would go by a Greek name at work, and continue to use such a name when, later in life, he was involved in evangelical work among people of different race and cultures……………. We are also told that he was the son of Alphaeus by Marks Gospel. This would make him a brother of James the less and Simon and also a relative by marriage of Jesus. 1 Matthew is ‘the son (or brother) of Alphaeus’ (Mark 2:14) and thus perhaps the brother of James (not James the brother of John and son of Zebedee), also one of the Twelve (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13).2 MAT´THEW ( ; contraction of Mattathias, “gift of Jehovah”). The son of a certain Alphaeus, surnamed Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27). It is not known whether his father was the same as the Alphaeus named as the father of James the Less, but he was probably another.3 profession - Tax Collecting Matthew was a publicani (whence the title publican in some translations), a man who served occupying Rome against his own people as a collector of taxes. By the nature of his position, his first loyalty had to be to Rome. Nationals of a country or province occupied by Rome could buy franchises that entitled them to levy certain taxes on the populace and on travelers. A franchise required collecting a specified amount of taxes for Rome and allowed anything collected beyond that figure to be kept as personal profit. Because his power of taxation was virtually unlimited and was enforced by the Roman military, the owner of a tax franchise in effect had a license for extortion. For those reasons the publicani were understandably considered traitors by their own people and were usually even more despised than Roman officials or soldiers. The Talmud felt that tax collectors (Sanhedrin 25b) were disqualified from becoming judges or witnesses since they were no better than robbers. Many tax collectors would accept bribes from the wealthy to reduce and falsify their taxes and would then exact proportionately more from the middle and lower classes, making themselves hated still more. They amassed great fortunes under the authority of the oppressor and at the expense of their own countrymen. Most Jews believed that the only proper government over them was a theocracy-the rule of God through His appointed leaders such as they experienced under Moses, the judges, and the Jewish monarchy. Because they considered any foreign rule over them to 1 The Twelve, the lives of the apostles after Calvary - C. Bernard Ruffin 2Achtemier, Paul J., Th.D., Harper’s Bible Dictionary, (San Francisco: Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.) 1985. 3Unger, Merrill F., The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, (Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago) 1998, c1988. be illicit, they considered taxation by any such government as both unjust and unholy. Taxation by Rome was therefore not only extortive but also made them compromise both their patriotism and their religion. It was those convictions that prompted the Pharisees to ask Jesus if it was proper to pay taxes to Caesar (Matt. 22:17). For Jesus to have answered yes would in their minds have marked Him both as a traitor and a reprobate. The noted Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim reports that a Jewish publicani was barred from the synagogue and was forbidden to have any religious or social contact with his fellow Jews. He was ranked with the unclean animals, which a devout Jew would not so much as touch. He was in the class of swine, and because he was held to be a traitor and a congenital liar, he was ranked with robbers and murderers and was forbidden to give testimony in any Jewish court. Edersheim states that there were two categories of publicani. The first, whom the Jews called gabbai, collected general taxes, which included those on land and other property, those on income, and those referred to as poll, or registration, taxes. The basic land tax (the amount paid to Rome) was a tenth of one’s grain and a fifth of one’s fruit and wine. Income tax amounted to one percent of one’s earnings, and the amount of the poll tax varied. The second type of tax collector was called a mokhes, who collected a wide variety of use taxes-taxes similar to our import duties, tollway fees, boat docking fees, business license fees, and the like. The mokhes had almost unlimited latitude in their taxing powers and could attach a tax to virtually any article or activity. They could, for instance, levy a tax on a person’s boat, on the fish he caught with it, and on the dock where he unloaded it. They could tax a traveler’s donkey, his slaves and servants, and his goods. They had authority to open private letters to see if a taxable business of some sort might be related to the correspondence. There were two kinds of mokhes. One kind, called the great mokhes, hired other men to collect taxes for them and, by virtue of partial anonymity, protected at least some of their reputation among their fellow countrymen. The other kind, called small mokhes, did their own assessing and collecting and therefore were in constant contact with members of the community as well as with all travelers who passed their way. The gabbai were despised, the great mokhes were more despised, and the small mokhes were despised most. Matthew was obviously a small mokhes, because he himself was sitting in the tax office as Jesus passed through the outskirts of Capernaum. It was to that man, the most despised of the despicable, to whom Jesus said, Follow Me! It was clear to early readers of Matthew’s gospel, as it was clear to those who witnessed this amazing encounter, that Jesus extended His forgiveness even to the outcasts of society. Although we are given no details of any words Matthew may have uttered in reply to Jesus’ call, it seems evident from the context that he had been under deep conviction of sin and spiritual need. Because of Jesus’ considerable teaching and miracle working in the region around Capernaum. Matthew would have been well acquainted with His ministry, whether or not he had personally listened to Jesus preach or seen Him perform a miracle. And although he did not seek Jesus out as did the centurion (Matt. 8:5) and the paralytic (9:2), Matthew seems to have been yearning for the forgiveness that the perverted system of Judaism told him he could never have. Therefore, when the Lord called him, he immediately rose, and followed Him. Because of his modesty, Matthew does not mention the fact, but Luke tells us that the moment Jesus called him, Matthew “left everything behind, and rose and began to follow Him” (Luke 5:28). That simple call by Jesus was more than enough reason for Matthew to turn his back on everything he was and possessed. Because of his position as an agent of Rome, he knew that once he forsook his post he would never be able to return to it. He knew the cost and willingly paid it. Of all the disciples, Matthew doubtlessly made the greatest sacrifice of material possessions; yet he himself makes no mention of it.