The Gospel of Matthew and Judaic Traditions

Book excerpt: In The Gospel of Matthew and Judaic Traditions, Herbert W. Basser, with the editorial help of Marsha Cohen, utilizes his encyclopaedic knowledge of Judaism to navigate Matthew’s Gospel. This close, original reading explicates Matthew’s use of Jewish concepts and legal traditions that have not been fully understood in the past. Basser highlights Gospel sources that are congruent with a wide swath of extant Jewish writings from various provenances. Matthew affirms Jesus’ end-of-days—the coming of the Kingdom—salvation message: initially meant for Jews, it is the Gentiles who embraced his message and teachings that encouraged their faith and simple trust. Matthew’s literary art manages to preserve the Jewish details in his sources while disclosing an anti-Jewish and pro-Gentile bias.