Matthew’s gospel employs more than half of its Old Testament citations within the gospel’s prologue (Matt. 1-4). Although these texts lead Matthew’s story, many scholars have long assumed that the scriptural citations have nothing to do with their original OT context. Was Matthew a bumbling hermeneutist? Not so, says Nicholas Piotrowski. In his book, Matthew’s New David at the End of Exile (Brill, 2016), Nicholas investigates Matthew’s OT quotations and finds that they provide reading and worldview orientation for the gospel’s audience. The seven prologue quotations all emerge from OT contexts concerned with David or the end of the exile, or both—a dual theme that provides an interpretative guide for the entire narrative of Matthew’s gospel. Nicholas G. Piotrowski, received his Ph.D. from Wheaton College in 2013. He is professor of biblical and theological studies at Crossroads Bible College and academic dean at Indianapolis Theological Seminary. Nicholas is co-founder and main speaker for the Fox Valley Theological Society and has also published with Tyndale Bulletin and Bulletin for Biblical Research. Michael Morales is Professor of Biblical Studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the author of The Tabernacle Pre-Figured: Cosmic Mountain Ideology in Genesis and Exodus (Peeters, 2012), and Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of Leviticus (IVP Academic, 2015). He can be reached at [email protected].

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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