according to Matthew...

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The early church historians indicate that the narrative attributed to Matthew was the first one written. In Against Heresies, 3.1.1, Irenaeus says "Matthew also published a gospel in writing among the Hebrews in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching the gospel and founding the church in Rome. But after their death, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing what Peter used to preach. And Luke, Paul's associate, also set down in a book the gospel that Paul used to preach. Later, John, the Lord's disciple --- the one who lay on his lap --- also set out the gospel while living at Ephesus in Asia Minor".

Papias (ca 60-155--there is a disputed tradition in the Church that Papias shared in Polycarp's martyrdom.  Polycarp was martyred in 1115CE), Irenaeus (ca 130-200), Origen (ca 185-254), Eusebius (ca 260-340), Jerome (ca 340-420), and Augustine (ca 354-430) believed that the Matthean narrative was the first.  We should note that Papias, one of those who believed this lived around the time of the Bar Cochba revolt.  Papias wrote, “Matthew collected the words (λογια—sayings) in the Hebrew language (εβραιοι διαλεκτοι) and each one interpreted (ερμεηνευσεν—translated) them as best he could.”

The author of the Matthean text stresses the continuing relevance of Jewish law.  He traces Jesus' ancestry only to Abraham, father of the Jews.

The genealogy that the author constructs is a gematria of David.  For thse who don’t know gematria:  each Hebrew letter has a numeric value, which means that each Hebrew word has a value that is the sum of its letters.  The most commonly known Is 18, the gematria for chay, life.  The numeric value of chet is 8.  The numeric value of yod is 10.  Chet yod (the word chay) equals 18. 

The numeric value of Daled is 4.   The numeric value of vav is 6.  David is daleth vav daleth:  4 + 6 + 4 = 14.  The author of the Matthean text constructed a genealogy that is three sets of 14 generations of ancestors. 

There are only two canonic gospels that contain birth narratives:  The Matthean text, and the Lukan text.  The Matthean text has the birth occurring in the time of a star of great brightness.  Scholars have tried to date the birth by a presumption that the star did, indeed, occur.  However to scholars of ancient Judaism, another prospect is possible:  The Matthean text appears around the time of the Bar Cochba revolt (the rebellion that concluded with the expulsion of the Judean people from the land of Judea, and resulted in the renaming of the territory Roman Palestine).  Bar Cochba means “son of the star.”  The Rabbi Akiva believed that Simon bar Cochba was the moshiach---and anointed one.

I have remarked before on names in the text:  Yehoshua is a name that is also a verb.  The verb means “he will save.”  It is likely this was not Divinely inspired, nor was it accidental.

We know from the Matthean and the Lukan text (the only other text that has a birth narrative) that the father’s name is Yosef.  Yosef is another name that is also a verb.  Yosaf means “he will add.” “He will add” has a son named “he will save.”

We know from the text that the mother’s name is Miriam, or Mariam (we know the Greek, not the Hebrew).  In the Book of Ruth, Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, says her name should be changed to Mara “her bitterness” because she has experienced the bitterness of the deaths of her husband and her sons.  Mar-Yam means “bitter sea.”  Mar-Yom means “bitter day.”  IF we understand that the text dates from around the time of the bar Cochba Revolt, either “Bitter day” or “Bitter sea” would be understandable as the source from which “he will add” produced “he will save,”

It is very likely that the subtlety of this was lost on the early church which received this document, because the church, by that point, had detached itself from cultural Judean origins.

These details argue in favor of determining that the Matthean text was the earliest, but also in determining that it was not intended as part of any early church.  We now from TaNaKh that Jewish narrative contained plays on names (we find this in Genesis), and contained socio-political commentary (any number of other books including Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, the books of the Navi’im…)  It is likely that the narrative attributed to Matthew was written by Judeans around the time of the bar Cochba revolt as a way of incorporating the event into the Judean historical and literary canon.