The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as a Jewish Messiah, or rabbi. Matthew includes such well-known scripture as the sermon on the mount and the Lord's prayer. Matthew's Jesus gives his followers rules or guidelines to follow, very similar to the way that a Jewish rabbi would be able to answer questions regarding the rules a Jewish person should follow.
The Gospel of Matthew was not thought to be written by an actual follower of Jesus, since scholars find it is based so much on Mark's Gospel (1). Matthew begins his gospel differently, however, giving a very influential background of Jesus' geneology that begins with Abraham. It is important to note why Matthew draws a connection from Jesus to Abraham, being that Abraham was the well-known at the time to be the father of the Jews (1). Matthew also is famous for being the gospel to mention Jesus' virgin birth. This view of the birth of Jesus is perfectly in line with a Hebrew prophecy of the messiah to come, which fits with the rabbinic Jesus Matthew is trying to portray to his audience, which is most likely Jewish as well. In fact, most of the events of Jesus' life in Matthew are fulfillments of the Hebrew prophecy for a messiah, which is no coincidence when one realizes the Rabbi that Matthew is trying to portray in Jesus. Matthew gives us fourteen generations that precede Jesus' birth by Mary, a significant number in geneology which Matthew employs often. This suggests, as Ehrman states, that "the entire course of Israel's history has proceeded according to divine providence. Moreover, this history has culminated in Jesus" (1).
1. Ehrman, Bart D., "The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings." New York; Oxford University Press: 2008.
2. The NIB Bible
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