O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

cannot be said where exactly Matthew originated. The most common view is thatMatthew originated in Syria, and perhaps in Antioch (Allison 2005:xiii; Keck 2005:48;Long 1997:3). Antioch is the most common suggestion, because of the “prominenceof that city in the early church (Leske 1998:1255).” Antioch was a fairly large cityand was occupied by a cosmopolitan mix of people (Long 1997:3).The early church Fathers’ said Matthew was more likely written in a Palestiniansetting (Leske 1998:1255). This would probably have been in Galilee, as the antipharisaictone of the book would be somewhere where the Pharisees wereprominent. However, Leske acknowledges that Antioch, which is much further north,is still a possible alternative. Those who argue for Palestine are in the camp ofscholars who argue for a dating of Matthew before 70 A.D. Those who assume a latedating will find a Palestinian origin hard to accept (Davies & Allison 1998: 140).Even though scholars are unable to settle on Matthew’s place on origin, what isconsistent is that scholars believe the church was probably located in a prosperousurban area (Long 1997:2). As Green (2000:37) notes, a great city must haveembraced Matthew in order to account for its popularity in antiquity.2.4.3 Jesus ContextWhile it was noted that finding the original audience of Matthew is difficult, the textdoes give the reader information about the context of the original hearers of theSermon. Further, as this thesis is assuming that the apostle Matthew is the author, itcould be that some of the original hearers of the Sermon would have heard or readMatthew’s Gospel.2.4.3.1 AudienceThe question has been asked as to whom the SOM was sermon addressed.Matthew 5:1-2 tells the reader that Jesus, after seeing the crowds, ascended themountain and that Jesus’ disciples went to him and he began to teach them.However when the Sermon ends the author mentions that the crowds were amazedat Jesus’ teaching (Mtt. 7:28). I.e. there were both crowds and disciples being13