“All This Happened to Fulfill . . .”

Most scholars recognize that Matthew’s gospel places a strong emphasis on showing that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures. R. T. France, in his commentary on Matthew in the New International Commentary series, actual says that fulfillment is “the central theme of Matthew’s gospel.” Let’s look at how Matthew draws specific attention to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.

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The Fulfillment Formula

Matthew’s presentation of the story of Jesus is designed to bring to mind OT people, events or institutions which may serve as models for understanding the continuity of God’s purpose as now supremely focused in the coming of Jesus. It is not only the explicitly predictive portions of the OT that can be seen to be “fulfilled” in Jesus, but also its historical characters, its narratives and its cultic patterns, even the law itself (5:17; 11:13).

The characteristic expression of Matthew’s sustained and creative presentation of the theme of fulfillment in Jesus is the so-called “formula-quotations.”

Here’s an example of what R. T. France has in mind:

“All this happened to fulfill what had been declared by the Lord through the prophet, who said . . .”

Let’s look at the ten places where this formula shows up before we reflect on what this means.

Matthew 1:22–23

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.’”

Matthew 2:15

“This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”

Matthew 2:17–18

“Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.’”

Matthew 2:23

“And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

Matthew 4:13–16

“And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.’”

Matthew 8:17

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.’”

Matthew 12:17–21

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.’”

Matthew 13:35

“This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’”

Matthew 21:4–5

“This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

Matthew 27:9–10

“Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.’”

Reflection

These formula-quotations are presented as editorial comments on the events being narrated. Some of them draw on what were probably well-known prophetic texts, whose fulfillment in the coming of Jesus would have been widely recognized among Christians (Micah 5:2; Isaiah 9:1–2; 42:1–4; 53:4; Zech 9:9), but others would not have been on anyone’s list of “obvious” messianic prooftexts.

One focuses specifically on events in the eighth century BC (Isa 7:14); one is simply a reminiscence of the exodus (Hos 11:1); one reflects on the trauma of the Babylonian exile (Jer 31:15); one is not even from the prophets at all but expresses the psalmist’s agenda (Ps 78:2); one is an obscure prophecy of Zechariah, drastically reworked and attributed to Jeremiah (Zech 11:13); and one is so elusive that scholars are still debating what text (if any) Matthew is referring to (Mat 2:23).

There is obviously something more subtle going on here than the simple claim that messianic predictions have been fulfilled. They form a concentrated “manifesto” setting out how Jesus the Messiah fulfills the hopes of OT Israel. So it seems that far from being a pre-existing set of proof-texts, the OT passages cited in the formula-quotations have been brought freshly to Matthew’s mind by the traditions he has received, and that he has then worded those traditional stories in such a way as to help the hearer/reader to see the connection.

Yes, and Amen! Thank you, Jesus!

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