Matthew setting & dates

The Setting of Matthew

Matthew’s Gospel unfolds across the land of Israel under Roman rule in the early first century AD. It opens in the south, in Judea: Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the city of David, a few miles from Jerusalem, and the family’s flight carries them to Egypt and back before settling in Nazareth. Most of Jesus’ public ministry then takes place far to the north, in Galilee, around the towns ringing the Sea of Galilee — Capernaum, which becomes His base, Chorazin, and Bethsaida — as well as journeys to the Gentile regions of Tyre and Sidon and to Caesarea Philippi at the foot of Mount Hermon.

The Gospel’s geography moves with deliberate purpose toward Jerusalem. From the midpoint on, Jesus “sets his face” to the holy city, and the final chapters center there: the triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives, the teaching and confrontations in the temple, the Last Supper in an upper room, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trials, and the crucifixion at Golgotha just outside the walls, with the burial and resurrection nearby. The Gospel ends back in the north, on a mountain in Galilee, where the risen Christ commissions His disciples and turns their eyes outward to “all nations” — from that one hillside to the ends of the earth.

Timeline

• c. 5 BC - Jesus is born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great; the magi visit and the family flees to Egypt.
• c. AD 26 - John the Baptist begins his ministry; Jesus is baptized and begins His public ministry in Galilee.
• c. AD 28-30 - Jesus’ Galilean ministry: the great discourses, miracles, and the calling and training of the disciples.
• c. AD 30 - Jesus enters Jerusalem, is crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rises from the dead; He gives the Great Commission.
• c. AD 60-70 - Matthew writes his Gospel, likely before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.