Lesson Two - According to Matthew
Jesus as the new Moses

Connections Between Jesus and Moses
                Jesus’ story as told by Matthew contains numerous references to Jesus which parallel those to Moses.
  1. Just as Pharaoh killed all the baby boys of the Hebrews, and only Moses is saved (Exod. 1:22 – 2:10), so also Herod (the King of Israel at the birth of Jesus) kills all the male babies in Bethlehem, and only Jesus is saved (Matt. 2:13-18).
  2. When Moses’ life is in danger, he flees from Egypt to Israel, but returns to Egypt after many years (Exod. 2:15; 7:6-7); when Jesus’ life is in danger, he takes the reverse itinerary: from Israel to Egypt and later back to Israel (Matt. 2:13-21).
  3. Just as Moses goes up to a mountain to receive the Law (incl. the Ten Commandments) from God (Exod. 19:3), so also Jesus goes up to a mountain to give a new Law (incl. the Nine Beatitudes) to the people (Matt. 5:1).
  4. The people are saved through the blood of the lamb in the Passover sacrifice (which Moses brings from God) and the new covenant is sealed in the blood of Jesus who dies as a new Passover sacrifice.
  5. Jesus is portrayed in Matthew’s Gospel as a great teacher, prophet and lawgiver, equal to or even greater than Moses.
  6. Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, ‘See the blood of the covenant . . . that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words’ (Exod. 24:8). . . . Through blood Moses was the mediator of the old covenant. Through blood Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant.
  7.  Just as Moses does not eat or drink for forty days and forty nights while on the mountain, recording God's Law (Exod. 34:28), so also Jesus fasts for forty days and forty nights in the desert, being tempted by Satan (Matt. 4:2).
  8.  Just as the lawgiver, at the close of his life, commissioned Joshua both to go into the land peopled by foreign nations and to observe all the commandments in the law, and then further promised his successor God’s abiding presence; so similarly Jesus, at the end of his earthly ministry, told his disciples to go into all the world and teach observance of all the commandments uttered by the new Moses; and then he promised his abiding presence.
  9. Tradition tells that [at Moses’ death] the angels mourned, the heavens were shaken, lightning flashed, and a heavenly voice spoke.  When Jesus died there were also several strange things that happened. The sun went dark (Matt. 27:45). Then the temple veil was rent (27:51). Then the earth quaked (27:51). And then the dead rose up (27:52-53).
  10. Just as Moses was thought to have written the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (Gen., Exod., Lev., Num., Deut.), so also the teaching of Jesus is contained in five speeches or extended ‘discourses’ in Matthew (ch. 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 22-25). 
This sense of Jesus as the new Moses helps us to understand the concept of Messiah in the Gospel.
  1. Jesus is the one who will lead the people from captivity to freedom (through his own sacrifice and not through violence).
  2. Jesus’ teachings are ones that are to be followed, just as the people followed the law.  They are not optional (as noted in the lesson) 
  3. Jesus is the one who fulfills all that God has promised to the people, thus he is the great teacher and prophet (the lesson covers this)
 
Audience
                The connections between Jesus and Moses/Prophets help us to see that Matthew is writing to Jews or to Jewish Christians.  Typically, Gentiles (Roman or Greek) would not have been familiar enough with the Hebrew Scriptures to catch all of the references or if they did, the references would not have had the same effect on them as it would have had on those of Jewish background.  From my perspective, this Gospel was necessary at the time of its compilation (75-80 CE) because of two factors. 
First, the church was becoming more and more Gentile.  The percentage of Jewish believers was rapidly dwindling and there was pressure building for Jews to leave the Jesus’ community.  Second, Christians were now being seen by Romans, as separate from Jews, thus implying that Jews who followed Jesus had left the true faith.  Matthew’s Gospel helps Jews to see that their faith in Jesus is in line with the ancient traditions…especially those coming from Moses.
 
​Questions:
  1. How does Jesus as the new Moses help you see a continuity between the Hebrew Scriptures and our own?
  2. How does Jesus as the new Moses offer you a new perspective on Jesus?
  3. What does it mean to you to see Jesus as the one who leads people out of captivity and into the Land of Promise?
  4. Which of the connections between Jesus and Moses speaks to you the most and why?
  5. What was your favorite part of Matthew and why?