Messianic Hope in Matthew

Messianic hope is a very important theme in sacred scripture. In this work, we will look particularly at messianic expectations in the Second Testament and especially in Matthew's gospel. First of all, we might ask what gave rise to this hope. What is its origin? To answer this question, we will highlight two biblical stories from the First Testament. The content of these stories will then be reinterpreted in such a way as to become the cornerstone of the theological message of the Second Testament, and of particular importance in supporting the theological views of the author of Matthew.

The first story we're interested in is Abraham's Call (Genesis 12:1-3). God asks Abraham to leave his country and makes him a first promise: to bless him and all his descendants, and to make of him a "great nation". Furthermore, in verse 2, God adds to this promise: He will especially bless "those who bless Abraham, and curse those who curse him". In addition to establishing a clear boundary between blessed and unblessed people, this act constitutes the beginning of God's covenant with Abraham and prefigures the beginning of a nation under God's blessing. Now, two elements are central to this story: the promise, a sign of covenant, and the importance given to Abraham's descendants.

We can trace some of these promises in the second story that interests us, that of 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 12 to 16. Nathan, a prophet in King David's time, had an oracle containing a divine message for the king. In addition to the promise that King David's descendant would build God's house (Solomon, David's son, would later erect the first temple), God's message also contained another promise, an eternal dynasty from his line. Once again, God has a clear promise: He assures us that David's throne will be "established forever."(NIV, 2 Samuel 7:16) In this passage, God does not name the one who will rule on the throne, yet He specifies to David:

"When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom" (NIV, 2 Samuel 7:12) 

By strengthening his reign, God approves of him and promises an enduring kingdom. If we go back to the beginning, David is in one way or another the result of the covenant with God and Abraham, for he rules over the nation of Israel, the nation of Abraham. From then on, all attention turns to David's descendants, establishing a form of expectation of an individual from David's lineage. Taking up this phrase from the same chapter, which reads "I will be his father, and he will be my son." (NIV, 2 Sam 7:14) Now we shall see how, in Matthew's Gospel, this expectation is marked in a particular way by that of God's "son".

Before exploring Matthew's gospel and creating connections with the theological ideas contained in the preceding passages, it would be appropriate for us to examine the historical context of this period of transition between the First and Second Testaments. First, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus, whose name comes from the Hebrew Yeshua, (from yod shin means "to save.") Now let's ask the question: What will the people of Israel be saved from? We have to understand that at that time, the people of Israel lived through a particularly violent period, and the Jews suffered greatly under the decree of persecution ordered by Antiochus IV. Later, following the Maccabean revolt and the establishment of a new, independent Jewish dynasty, known as the Hasmonean dynasty, one of the two brothers vying for the throne sought the support of the Roman Empire. Rather than bringing peace and independence to the people of Israel, it turned out to be an opportunity for the Roman Empire to take possession of the territory, and as the story goes, oppression continued under this empire too. This is a key concept, as it is from this extremely difficult context for the Jewish people that apocalyptic beliefs and eschatological discourses emerge. This information also helps us to understand why the coming of a messiah, a saviour, is so eagerly awaited.

In Matthew's Gospel, we know that although the author is anonymous, we can deduce that he probably lived in a context strongly rooted in Jewish culture and that his writings were probably intended for members of his community who knew the Hebrew scriptures well. We can understand it in this way because even though its content contains most of the information found in Mark's Gospel, the author has modified a few elements to make it more relevant to a particular audience with traditional Jewish practices. Moreover, by inserting over sixty passages and quotations from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, his aim is to convince his Jewish community that the coming of Christ was prophesied. As an example, in this passage, the author writes:

"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)." (NIV, Matthew 1:22-23)

Here, the author wishes to make a connection with the words of the prophet Isaiah, who earlier said, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. " (NIV, Isaiah 7:14) 

This brings us to the genealogy of Jesus. In fact, the structure of Matthew's book begins directly with this theme. The author gets straight to the point, setting out Jesus' genealogy all the way back to Abraham and King David. This genealogical work linking Jesus to Abraham is a way of emphasizing Jesus' right to the throne of David, the throne mentioned in God's promise to David. Moreover, unlike Mark's and John's gospels, a birth narrative is described in Matthew's gospel. This insertion, which recounts Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, brilliantly serves to connect Jesus once again to King David, also born in Bethlehem. Again, this suggests that Matthew's entire gospel is orchestrated to get the author's theological point across to a community familiar with the Hebrew scriptures and ancient prophecies.

In conclusion, we have examined the links between the stories of Abraham and Nathan in order to understand the origin of this messianic hope in Matthew. We can understand that messianic expectations are driven by this desire and faith that God will keep the covenant of blessing and his promises. By including in his gospel Jesus' discourse on the kingdom of heaven and the beatitudes, the author of Matthew reinforces his message about Jesus as the Messiah who reigns for eternity. Now, let's save the definition of the kingdom of heaven for another subject of study.