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Interpretation Past and PresentWriting a scholarly commentary on Matthew must be a very difficult task. Matthew’s length (28 chapters) poses a problem for the scholar who wants to keep the commentary to one volume. How much attention should each verse receive? How detailed should the commentary be? How many variant interpretations need to be mentioned?

A single commentary cannot possibly answer all of the questions that the biblical text raises. That’s why supplemental books can be helpful and at times necessary for correctly intepreting Scripture.

Dale Allison’s Studies in Matthew is a supplemental book that brings together several of Allison’s essays on Matthew. The book serves as a resource for the tougher passages of the Gospel, so that one can dig deeper than the average commentary will allow.

In this volume, Allison seeks to answer various questions and problems that surface upon one’s reading of Matthew. One chapter deals with the “star” that led the wise men to Jesus. Was it a “star” in the astronomical sense, or is this a biblical allusion to an angel? Allison trots out a handful of early church interpreters in order to make his case for seeing the star as an angel.

Another chapter probes the difficult promise in the Beatitudes that the pure in heart will “see God.” What does this mean? How is this possible? How has this verse been interpreted through the centuries?

Later chapters deal with the structure of the Sermon on the Mount, how early chapters in Matthew foreshadow the Passion narrative, and how a variety of church fathers viewed Matthew’s Gospel.

Studies in Matthew is a splendid companion piece to any highly-regarded commentary of the Gospel of Matthew. It is worth consulting on a host of exegetical and interpretive issues.

written by Trevin Wax. © 2008 Kingdom People Blog

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