Prior to turning our attention to the text of the New Testament itself, there is some important context which needs to be discussed, which will make our later discussion more intelligible.  One thing that is important to know is that there is a common dating convention among historians and Biblical scholars, in which the First Temple era is the time period from the initial construction of the Temple until its destruction by the Babylonians, which led to the Babylonian exile.  The Second Temple period is the time from the reconstruction of the Temple under the Persians until its destruction (and the sacking of Jerusalem as a whole in 70 CE by the Romans).  The first destruction of the Temple caused an incredible efflorescence of Scripture.  For example, a widely held theory by Biblical scholars is that the so-called “Deuteronomistic histories” (Joshua, Judge, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings) advance the argument that the Babylonian exile is divine punishment for insufficient fidelity to God (and in particularly the adoption of foreign religion practices because of intermixing with non-Hebrews).  Significant portions of the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible should be understood as discussing the impending calamity of Babylonian invasion or its recent occurrence.  As we have seen with Zechariah, its first eight chapters deal directly with the restoration of Jerusalem under the Persians, whereas its latter chapters seem to recount the Babylonian conquest in various symbolic ways, while promising the ascendance of Jerusalem and Judah and the ultimate triumph of God.  

The end of the Second Temple era was equally formative.  Lin, in The Formation of Jewish Canon, makes a fairly compelling argument that the list of books which composed the Hebrew Bible and their order was ultimately solidified as a result of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. Prior to the destruction of the Temple, Hebrew religious practice centered around ritual sacrifices within the Temple, overseen by a hereditary priestly caste.  A number of Jewish religious sects flourished at the end of the Second Temple era, including Pharisees, Sadducees, early Christians, and Essenes. 

With the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, the central practices of Hebrew religion were no longer possible.  The two major heirs of temple-centered Hebrew religion were the Pharisees, whose practices eventually evolved into Judaism as we know it today, and the early Christians.  This background is important because the Gospels are in many places making an argument about which of those traditions is actually hewing most closely to the proper covenant with God, and also because in places the Gospels seem to adopt the methods of Hebrew Scripture to make arguments that the destruction of the Temple was a sign of God’s wrath for the lack of fidelity by the Pharisees and religious elites. 

The other very important context before we turn our attention to Matthew is the likely dates of composition for the various Gospels. Scholars being scholars, there is some debate about specific dates for each of the Gospels, but generally the consensus is that Mark was composed either just before the destruction of the Temple or just afterwards (66-70 CE), Matthew & Luke were written shortly after the destruction of of the Temple (85-90 CE) and John was written somewhat later (90-110 CE).  Matthew in particular seems to have been intended for an audience of primarily Jewish Christians, and so relies heavily on Hebrew Scripture to make sense of the destruction of the Temple.  With that context out of the way, now let us turn our attention to the text of Matthew itself!