Matthew 9:9

§ 31. CALL OF MATTHEW.

9. Matthew The call of Matthew, as a consultation of the Synopsis will show, occurred early in the history of our Lord, before the Sermon on the Mount. It is inserted in this group of miracles, we might almost suppose, because Matthew himself considered it a miracle of love and mercy to call and inspire him with so ready a faith and so prompt an obedience. Sitting at the receipt of custom In the office of the receiver of the duties on the trades of Lake Gennesaret. Sitting Dr. Thomson remarks: “The people of this country sit at all kinds of work. The carpenter saws, planes, and hews with his hand-adze, sitting on the ground or upon the plank he is planing. The washerwoman sits by the tub; and, in a word, no one stands where it is possible to sit. Shopkeepers always sit; and Levi sitting at the receipt of custom is the exact way to state the case.”

Mr. Morier, at Persepolis, observes: “Here is a station of rahdars, or toll-gatherers, appointed to levy a toll upon kafilers, or caravans of merchants; and who, in general, exercise their office with so much brutality and extortion that they are execrated by all travellers. The collections of the tolls are farmed, consequently extortion ensues; and as most of the rahdars receive no other emolument than what they can exact over and above the prescribed dues from the traveller, their insolence is accounted for, and a cause sufficiently powerful is given for their insolence on the one hand, and the detestation in which they are held on the other.” How unpopular the publicans were in the days of Matthew, is shown by the customary phrase, “publicans and sinners.”

He arose, and followed The promptness of Matthew is not emphasized or expatiated upon, but it appears in the striking rapidity of the narrative. The call of Matthew is the fourth instance of the matter of our Lord’s engaging a disciple which we have had to note in our comment. (See notes on Matthew 8:19-22.) It differs in character from either of the other three.