A "publican" or taxgatherer for the Roman government stationed at Capernaum, where he was sitting at the receipt of custom (the place of toll—R.V.), when Jesus, passing by, called him to be an apostle.  Obedient at once to the sacred summons, he made a parting feast to his friends, and, without further delay, followed our Lord (Matt. ix. 9-13; cf. x. 3).  When the same event is recorded in Mark and Luke, the custom-house officer of Capernaum is called, not Matthew, but Levi.  The identity of the incidents recorded by the several evangelists in connection with his call to the apostleship shows that Matthew and Levi were one and the same person (cf. Mark ii. 13-17; Luke v. 27-32 with Matt. ix. 9-13).  Both Mark (iii. 18) and Luke (vi. 15) give the name as Matthew, and not Levi, in their lists of the apostles.  It is probable that originally he was called Levi, but that when he quitted the unpopular occupation of a "publican" and took a fresh departure in life, he altered his name to Matthew.  Mark (ii. 14) says that "Levi" was the son of Alphæus, and makes the same statement with respect to James the Less; the two may therefore have been brothers.  This is, however, improbable, as their names are not placed together in the lists of the apostles.  The name of Matthew is prefixed to the first gospel.  [¶] He was alive after the resurrection of Christ (Acts i. 13).  Nothing further is satisfactorily determined as to his future history. (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894)