Matthew Grey was born and raised in the Chicago area and served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the California Santa Rosa Mission. He received a BA in Near Eastern Studies from BYU, an MA in archeology and the History of Antiquity from Andrews University, an MSt in Jewish Studies from Oxford, and a PhD in archeology and the History of Ancient Judaism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He has taught courses on the New Testament, Early Judaism, Sacred Architecture and Ritual in Judaism and Christianity, and the archeology of New Testament Palestine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and courses relating to Ancient Scripture at LDS Institutes of Religion at Notre Dame, the University of Oxford, and UNC-Chapel Hill / Duke University. Dr. Grey has worked with archeological excavations in Jordan and Israel, including the Madaba Plains Project and excavations south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He was an Area Supervisor on the Huqoq Excavation Project in Galilee when this was written. Dr. Grey and his wife, Mary, have three children.