It will be recalled from chapter 2 that the situation of crisis, either real or perceived, which led certain Jewish and Christian groups to resort to apocalyptic eschatology, could take any number of forms. Some of those circumstances which were identified seem not to be applicable to Matthew and his group. Unlike the circles which produced the Parables of Enoch and the Epistle of Enoch, there is no hint that the Matthean community suffered economic oppression. On the contrary, a number of scholars have put forward the view that certain pointers in the gospel indicate that the Matthean community was comparatively wealthy. Moreover, the crisis of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, which prompted a number of apocalyptic-eschatological works, was not directly the situation of crisis which motivated Matthew to write his gospel in the manner he did. The evangelist, like the authors of 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch and the Apocalypse of Abraham, saw these events as God's punishment for the sins of his people (22:7), but in distinction to these Jewish writers, he is not moved to ponder the injustice of the situation. For Matthew, the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was God's appropriate and just response to the rejection of his messiah by his people.

The social setting of the Matthean community, like that of the book of Revelation, is rather a complex one which involves a number of historical and social factors working in unison. Of most importance are the effects of the Jewish war on the Matthean community.