So Matthew is not so much citing Scripture to prove to other Jews that Jesus is the Messiah as employing Scripture to give expression to the confession that he and his readers share – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In the light of that confession Scripture as a whole and in its individual parts can now be read as prefiguring Jesus. And if Scripture prefigures Jesus, then it is not surprising that Matthew, as we have suggested above, can go further and in some places use the prefigurement in Scripture to shape his narration of the story of Jesus’ birth.
