VI. MATTHEW’S HOUSE

Matth. 9:9, 10.—“And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith unto him, Follow me; and he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house , behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him.”

How natural for a man, speaking of a transaction which concerned himself, to forget for a moment the character of the historian, and to talk of Jesus sitting down in the house, without telling his readers whose house it was! How natural for him not to perceive that there was vagueness and obscurity in a term, which to himself was definite and plain! Accordingly, we find St. Mark and St. Luke, who deal with the same incident as historians, not as principals, using a different form of expression. “And as he passed by,” says St. Mark, “he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me: and he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meat in his house.” 2:15.

“And Levi,” says St. Luke, “made him a great feast in his own house.” v. 29.

It may be further remarked, that a number of publicans sat down with Jesus and his disciples upon this occasion; a fact for which no reason is assigned, but for which we discover a very good reason in the occupation which St. Matthew had followed.

I think the odds are very great against the probability of a writer preserving consistency in trifles like these, were he only devising a story. I can scarcely imagine that such a person would hit upon the phrase “in the house,” as an artful way of suggesting that the house was in fact his own, and himself an eye-witness of the scene he described; still less, that he would refine yet further, and make the company assembled there to consist of publicans, in order that the whole picture might be complete and harmonious. It may be added, that Capernaum, which was the scene of St. Matthew’s call, was precisely the place where we might expect to meet with a man of his vocation—it being a station where such merchandize as was to be conveyed by water-carriage, along the Jordan southwards, might be very conveniently shipped, and where a custom-house would consequently be established. There is a similar propriety in the habitat of Zaccheus (Luke 19:2); he was a “chief among the publicans,” and Jesus is said to have fallen in with him near Jericho. Now Jericho was the centre of the growth, preparation, and export, of balsam, a very considerable branch of trade in Judea; and therefore a town which invited the presence of the tax-gatherers. These are small matters, but such as bespeak truth in those who detail them.