The Archives Devotional Magazine August 2015 | Page 3

Matthew lived under Roman rule. That
government exacted 4 kinds of heavy taxes
on Judeans: land tax, poll tax, personal
property tax, and tax on imports and exports.
If you lived in Jerusalem, you also had a
house tax, and if a Jew, an additional temple
tax. Some of these taxes were sold to
individuals who wanted to make a profit by
taking more than the tax required. Obviously,
tax collectors like Matthew were not
particularly liked.
Both the books of Matthew and Luke
have material in it that is in no other gospel.
Matthew focuses on the ethics that Jesus
taught, and his fulfillment of the Old
Testament prophecies.

Sculpture of St. Matthew in the Basilica of St. John
Lateran by Camillo Rusconi, early 1700s.