{"id":561,"date":"2015-02-02T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2015-02-02T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=561"},"modified":"2015-02-01T21:37:31","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T21:37:31","slug":"matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Walking through Capernaum (\u201chis own town\u201d\u2014Matthew 9:1), Jesus came across Mathew sitting at a tax collector\u2019s booth. Christ plucked the man out of obscurity with these two words, \u201cFollow me\u201d (Matthew 9:9). Here\u2019s what we know about that man:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The name Matthew means \u201cgift of Jehovah,\u201d or \u201cgift of God.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Matthew was also called \u201cLevi\u201d (see Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-28) which may have been his birth name, changed later by Jesus to Matthew. Or it may have been a nickname. Or it may have been a tribal designation meaning he was from the Israelite tribe of Levi. Or it may have been part of his full name as in, \u201cMatthew Levi.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>He was a known tax collector, a lucrative but despised occupation in ancient Israel. Matthew was well-acquainted with other tax collectors and \u201csinners,\u201d and invited them to a large party where Jesus was the guest of honor.<\/li>\n<li>Some scholars believe that Matthew and Jesus knew each other, or at least knew of each other, prior to the day when Christ called for the tax collector to follow. The assumption is that Jesus\u2019 family would have had to pay taxes at Matthew\u2019s toll booth at one time or another, and also that Matthew would have heard about\u2014or even heard firsthand\u2014Jesus\u2019 preaching in the area of Capernaum.<\/li>\n<li>He left his career as a tax collector and became one of Christ\u2019s twelve, trusted \u201cinner circle\u201d disciples. He is named in every list of disciples as such.<\/li>\n<li>He is generally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Matthew included the New Testament. Scholars theorize that he wrote this gospel sometime between 60 and 90 A.D., and that he used at least three sources (including the Gospel of Mark) to compile his account of Jesus\u2019 life, death, and resurrection. In fact, about 95% of the Gospel of Mark is included in some form in the Gospel of Matthew.<\/li>\n<li>Matthew preserved for history the best, and most complete record of Jesus\u2019 teachings on various subjects, including the now-famous compilation of Christ\u2019s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and a collection of Jesus\u2019 kingdom parables.<\/li>\n<li>Tradition tells us that, after Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, Matthew preached as a missionary in Ethiopia and that he was martyred there, killed by either an axe or a sword.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[WWB, 306-308; DOS, 394-395; AMB, 232; JOB, 134]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walking through Capernaum (\u201chis own town\u201d\u2014Matthew 9:1), Jesus came across Mathew sitting at a tax collector\u2019s booth. Christ plucked the man out of obscurity with these two words, \u201cFollow me\u201d (Matthew 9:9). Here\u2019s what we know about that man: The name Matthew means \u201cgift of Jehovah,\u201d or \u201cgift of God.\u201d Matthew was also called \u201cLevi\u201d&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[78,302,234],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-personalityandcharacter-studies","tag-capernaum","tag-matthew","tag-tax-collectors"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Walking through Capernaum (\u201chis own town\u201d\u2014Matthew 9:1), Jesus came across Mathew sitting at a tax collector\u2019s booth. Christ plucked the man out of obscurity with these two words, \u201cFollow me\u201d (Matthew 9:9). Here\u2019s what we know about that man: The name Matthew means \u201cgift of Jehovah,\u201d or \u201cgift of God.\u201d Matthew was also called \u201cLevi\u201d&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-02T12:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-01T21:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"Walking through Capernaum (\u201chis own town\u201d\u2014Matthew 9:1), Jesus came across Mathew sitting at a tax collector\u2019s booth. Christ plucked the man out of obscurity with these two words, \u201cFollow me\u201d (Matthew 9:9). Here\u2019s what we know about that man: The name Matthew means \u201cgift of Jehovah,\u201d or \u201cgift of God.\u201d Matthew was also called \u201cLevi\u201d&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2015-02-02T12:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-02-01T21:37:31+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html","name":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-02T12:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-01T21:37:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/02\/matthew-99-13-the-calling-of-matthew-personality-and-character-studies.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 9:9-13; The Calling of Matthew (Personality and Character Studies)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}