Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Raymond de Hoop <rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl>]

Harold R. Holmyard III <hholmyard AT ont.com> wrote on 04-02-2001 21:18:

> It is highly unlikely to me that Matthew was a Gentile. Jesus was sent to
> the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The twelve disciples correspond to
> the twelve tribes of Israel.

Dear Harold,

With regard to Matthew the disciple you are correct. However, when I refered
to Matthew, I should have said "the author of the gospel acc.to Matthew",
because, as was said before in this discussion, the gospel acc.to Matthew is
anonymous. Accordingly we do not know anything of the author except for what
can be derived from what he has written.
However, I do not exclude the possibility he was a Jew, but others say he
was not. I do not say (and did not say) anything more than that.

Regards,
Raymond