The Gospel of Matthew, Lesson 6.4

Reading the Old Testament in the New: The Gospel of Matthew

Lesson Six: David’s Son, David’s Lord

Lesson Objectives

  1. To read Matthew 19-28 with understanding.
  2. To understand the Old Testament background to Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, His Passion and death.
  3. To understand the deep Old Testament context by which Matthew conveys that Jesus is the long-awaited “Son of David” and the “Son of God.”

IV. Study Questions

1. What is the relation between God’s covenant with Abraham and His "everlasting covenant" with David? Reviewing Lesson 1 of this course, describe why at the time of Jesus’ birth, it appeared to many that the covenant with David was, in effect, a broken promise.

2. Review the texts of 2 Kings and Isaiah and explain how Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom in the Gentile region of Galilee is an announcement of the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.

3. How is Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem compared to the Old Testament coronation of the son of David?

4. In what ways did the New Testament see Jesus as prefigured in Psalm 110?

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Lesson Outline

  1. Review and Overview
    1. Reading the Last Book
    2. Promised of Old
    3. The New Son of David
  2. To the City of David
    1. The Blind See the Son of David
    2. Making a King’s Entrance
    3. Enemies in the Temple
  3. The Son’s Identity Revealed
    1. The Lord of His Lord
    2. The Son of God
    3. Gathered Against the Anointed
    4. The Nations Are His Inheritance
  4. Study Questions

Other Lessons

  • Lesson One: Learning to Listen for Echoes: A New Approach to the New Testament
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To understand how important the Old Testament is to reading and interpreting the New Testament.
    2. To learn what “typology” is and to appreciate its significance for reading the New Testament.
    3. To understand the relationship between the writers of the New Testament and other first-century Jewish interpreters of Scripture.

    Begin Lesson One

  • Lesson Two: Son of David, Son of Abraham
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 1-2 with understanding.
    2. To learn the Old Testament history and background behind the quotations and allusions used in the prologue to Matthew’s gospel.
    3. To gain a fuller appreciation of Matthew’s depiction of Jesus as a “new Moses.”

    Begin Lesson Two

  • Lesson Three: ‘Not to Abolish, But to Fulfill’
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 3-7 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background and allusions in Matthew’s depictions of John the Baptist, the Baptism of Jesus and His temptation in the wilderness.
    3. To understand the crucial importance of Jesus’ summary in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

    Begin Lesson Three

  • Lesson Four: Healing and Restoration
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 8-10 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background and allusions in Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ healings and other miracles and the growing tensions with the scribes and Pharisees.
    3. To understand how Matthew uses evocations of select Old Testament prophets to convey that in Jesus, the long-anticipated “restoration” of Israel has begun.

    Begin Lesson Four

  • Lesson Five: Riddles of Rejection, Rock of Foundation
    • Lesson Objectives
    1. To read Matthew 11-18 with understanding.
    2. To understand the Old Testament background to Jesus’ teaching in parables.
    3. To understand the deep Old Testament context by which Matthew conveys that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and the Church is the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom.

    Begin Lesson Five