Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stephen C. Carlson" <scarlson AT mindspring.com>]

At 08:46 AM 2/4/01 +0200, Jonathan D. safren wrote:
>Pardon my ignorance - and here I am ignorant - isn't Matthew a Jewish name?
>Mattai - a hypocoristicon of Matityahu - "Gift of YHWH"?
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Raymond de Hoop" <rdehoop AT tref.nl>
>Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2001 6:47 AM
>> Jason, this is a problematic issue indeed. The question nowadays is
>whether
>> Matthew is a Jew or that he was a gentile.

Yes, "Matthew" is a Jewish name.  However, it is not fully accepted
that the name of the person wrote the first canonical gospel was
actually Matthew.  In fact, it is facially anonymous.  Therefore,
the question "whether Matthew is a Jew or that he was a gentile"
really asks "whether the person who wrote the Gospel according to
Matthew is a Jew or a gentile."  In that case, noting that the name
Matthew is Jewish does not resolve the question.

Stephen Carlson
--
Stephen C. Carlson                        mailto:scarlson AT mindspring.com
Synoptic Problem Home Page   http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/synopt/
"Poetry speaks of aspirations, and songs chant the words."  Shujing 2.35