The book of Matthew starts with a genealogy. It's the genealogy of the Messiah, so it begins with Abraham. The genealogies of Genesis speak of a life and all end with phrase 'and he died'. The genealogies of Matthew emphasize birth leading to life. With the birth of the messiah Matthew leads us to the understanding that we can be born again and experience new life leading to eternal life.
2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king.
David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew presents Jesus as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the messiah King. The genealogy is the legal bloodline and goes to Joseph the legal father. If you are going to present a king, the first question is what makes him a king? What credentials does he have? Who gave this king authority? As Matthew begins with the genealogy he begins to present his case to the Jews. He starts with lineage, to a Jew, this would be the first qualifier.
These (3) groups of a 14 are a Jewish way of remembering these generations. They aren't complete, nor were they intended to be so. It was important that they be complete in detail but only complete enough to show the lineage and make the connections. There are 3 generations missing - Because these three were blotted out for idol worship. Jeconiah has a blood curse on him in Jeremiah 22:30. In verse 12 it says Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was an adopted son in law which was allowed when a father only had daughters. See the daughters of Zeloaphad in Joshua 17:3-6.
It's fascinating that the lineage is representative of the complete lineage but Matthew doesn't omit some folks that would be considered less than desirable within the family tree. First of all its interesting that he would mention the women at all, especially gentile women in a Jewish bloodline. Not only was this not normal it would be seen as undesirable.
Tamar is mentioned; you can read about her in Genesis 38:26. She was a neglected widow of Er, the son of Judah. She used deceit to get Judah to father a child so that the line of Judah would continue. She gave to birth to Perez.
Rahab is mentioned as the wife of Salmon. Rahab was the prostitute from Jericho who came to fear the Lord and trust in Him. She was found righteous in dealing by faith with the spies.
Ruth is then mentioned and if you look you will see she was King David's great grandmother. Ruth was a Moabitess. She was devoted to her mother in law Naomi and followed her to Israel where she met Boaz. As a Moabitess she was forbidden by the law of entering the Assembly of the Lord.
Bathsheba is mentioned, but not by name, only as Uriah's wife. David and Bathsheba committed adultery while she was married to Uriah. This sin led David to the sin of murder.
These life stories are noteworthy for their presence in the blood line. It really adds authenticity to the list. Anyone creating a list to impress could have left the women's names off the list and certainly wouldn't want to draw attention to this. But we should remember that each person on that list was a sinner by nature. Each one had fallen short in many ways. The righteousness of the Son of God was not reliant on a clean lineage. In fact, the message is just the opposite; the Son of God came because of people just like this and in spite of our ability to have any kind of clear bloodline.
Satan used the sins of these men and women to stop this lineage, to pollute it and harm any chance of a messiah coming from it. God includes all the baggage as a testimony to the sovereignty of God and the inclusiveness of our God to extend His mercy and grace to the worst of the worst.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed (similar to engagement; the couple was viewed as married although the marriage wasn't consummated until their wedding.) to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example (which by law he had every right to do), was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
How difficult this must have been for Joseph. He was just and thoughtful but the culture and traditions in which we are raised are powerful in our decision making and the pressure we feel. For Mary to show up pregnant during their betrothal was shameful. Mary would have been looked on as one unfaithful. The betrothal was binding and usually lasted around a year. The rumor mill would whisper about Joseph; was he the father or another. The law and culture would have said Joseph should have divorced her, for that was the only way out of the betrothal. But the message of the Lord was that Mary would bring forth a Son born of the Holy Spirit. He didn't need to worry about her faithfulness, for her conception was supernatural.
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
In verse 23 Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 - a virgin will give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel. This painful season that Joseph had to go through was necessary. Had they been married, the virgin birth would have been in question. Has she been completely unattached, she would have born Jesus as a single mother and been shunned within the community.
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
We see what kind of man Joseph is. He responds in obedience in spite of cultural and religious pressures. He took Mary as his wife, but this was an unusual marriage in that their marriage wasn't consummated until after the birth of Jesus.
©2015 Doug Ford
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