A Person

Matthew 1

Introduction: Week 3 – Biblical Israel – The Person.

https://bibleproject.com/articles/jesus-genealogies/

We have finally arrived at the story of Jesus, which will bring the entire biblical story to a climactic fulfillment. The arrival of Jesus will introduce a massive twist into the drama, but it’s one that we’ve seen coming. In fact, to track the good news about Jesus, you’re going to need all the knowledge and skills you gained from reading the Old Testament so you can understand the first pages of the New. The first book of this New Testament is the Gospel according to Matthew. It’s the first of four accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, each one offering a unique portrait of Israel’s messianic savior. Matthew’s way of showing how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament storyline is to begin with a genealogy. You might be thinking, “Not another genealogy!” But not so fast.

Remember that the genealogies in the Old Testament are always working to communicate multiple layers of information to readers. Genealogies obviously trace family trees, but they also help us follow priestly and royal lines through Israel’s story. You can see each of these types of genealogies in the first nine chapters of Chronicles. In fact, there’s little doubt that the author of Matthew had the book of Chronicles and its genealogies in mind when he wrote his own Gospel account and began it with a genealogy.

Okay… But why does this genealogy matter?

Well, let’s start with the opening sentence of the book. Matthew tells us the two key people who are most important in this genealogy.

“The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

I. Son of Abraham

1. By calling Jesus the “son of Abraham,” the author is connecting Jesus to the father of the people of Israel. Abraham represents the moment when God selected and separated his family from the rest of the nations all the way back in the book of Genesis. It was through these Israelite people that God promised to bring blessing to all of humanity (Gen 12:1-3)
   
   
2. By linking Jesus to Abraham, Matthew is bringing the reader’s attention back to the promise of God’s rescue plan for the world. He wants us to see that Jesus is the long-awaited son of Abraham who will bring God’s blessing to all humanity. But how, exactly? Well, look now at the second key figure in the genealogy: David. Son of Abraham.

Transition:

II. A King from the Line of David

1. Jesus’ identity as a descendant of David is a major focus of Matthew’s gospel. To understand Matthew’s theology and his portrait of Jesus, we will want to examine how Matthew is bringing David into the story.
   
   
2. “Son of David,” is a term that the author of Matthew is very fond of. Verse one is the first of ten appearances of the phrase in the book, and it draws our attention to the royal line of King David. Abraham’s name pointed to a belonging amongst the people of Israel. David’s name tells us that Jesus was royalty.
   
   
3. That this was the author’s goal can be seen by the fact that Jesus’ ancestry is traced through David’s son King Solomon. In Luke’s gospel, the family line is traced through David’s son Nathan. Matthew’s author is not primarily concerned with genetic lineage, however. He is also attempting to establish Jesus as a royal successor and rightful heir to the throne of David’s kingdom. The author traces the family line from Solomon to Jeconiah, who was the surviving king of David’s line and was alive at the time of the exile. A King from the Line of David.
5. III. 14 Generations
   

Just think about the separated sections of the genealogy of Matthew. It is broken up into three parts that cover 14 generations each. But why 14?

• Within the written language of Hebrew, the letters are also used as their numbers, and so each letter is assigned a numerical value. The name of David in Hebrew is “דוד,” and from here you just do the math. The numerical value of the first and third letter “ד” (called dalet) is 4. The middle letter “ו” (called waw) has a numerical value of 6. Put it into your mental calculator: 4+6+4=14, the numerical value of the name of “David.”
  
  
• Matthew has created the genealogy so that it links Jesus to David both explicitly and in the very literary design of the list. In fact, Matthew wants to highlight this “14=David” idea so much that he’s intentionally left out multiple generations of the line of David (three, to be exact) to make the numbers work.

Wait, Matthew has taken people out of the genealogy?

Yes, but this is not a scandal. Leaving out generations to create symbolic numbers in genealogies is a common Hebrew literary practice, going all the way back to the genealogies in Genesis (the 10 generations of Genesis 5, or the 70 descendants of Genesis 46)

• Ancient genealogies were ways of making theological claims, and Matthew’s readers would have understood exactly what he was doing and why.
  
  
• Matthew didn’t make numerical adjustments only. He also adjusted a few letters in some names for the same purpose.

For example, he changed the names of Asa and Amon to Asaph (the poet featured in the book of Psalms) and Amos (the famous prophet). Matthew is winking at us here, knowing that his readers would spot these out-of-place names.

• The point, of course, is that Jesus doesn’t just fulfill Israel’s royal hopes, but also the hope of the Psalms (Asaph) and the Prophets (Amos).
  
  
• Jesus is from a line of kingly succession that also culminates the rich tradition of worship and prophecy of Israel. This way, readers are thinking about all of Israel and her history as they meet Jesus for the first time. The irony is that some modern translations haven’t gotten the pun, and so have changed the names back to their “original” referents. Ah, well.

Transition:

IV. Matthew’s More

Matthew’s packed even more into this genealogy.

• Look at the unique appearance of four women in the genealogy of Matthew: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. All four are either non-Israelites or connected to non-Israelite families. Not only is it unconventional for Matthew to list these female names in an all-male genealogy, but these particular women are all associated with potential sex scandals.
• Matthew could have highlighted Jesus’ connection to Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, the matriarchs of Israel. But instead, he mentions Canaanites, prostitutes, and Moabite women, who would be associated with Israel’s sin and covenant failure.

• Matthew wants his readers to see that God has been using all types of people to move his plan forward. This portrait of an inclusive and expanding God and kingdom will continue to appear beyond Matthew’s genealogy into the rest of his gospel. He will continue to include the rejects and outsiders into his family (see the list in Matthew 4:18-25)

Matthew 4:18-25

• And this non-Israelite strand in Jesus’ family history will expand even wider in his final commission to his followers to go and “make disciples of all the nations” (Matt 28:19

Matthew 28:19

So, we read the genealogy of Matthew and see the royal lineage of Jesus.

• He’s the one who will bring the blessing of Abraham to the whole world.
• He’s the royal son of David that all of Israel has been waiting for.
• He’s the one that the prophets wrote about, and the psalmists sang about.
• He will be the king of Israel who blesses all of the nations of the world, especially the outsiders.

We know all of this because Matthew tells us in a genealogy that carefully reveals the hope that has arrived in Jesus.

Transition: Let me wrap week 3 up by reminding us of what the messiah means.

noun: Messiah; noun: the Messiah; noun: messiah; plural noun: messiahs

1. the promised deliverer of the Jewish nation prophesied in the Hebrew Bible.

Jesus was regarded by Christians as the Messiah of the Hebrew prophecies and the savior of humankind.

• a leader or savior of a particular group or cause.

Old Testament times, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed by oil when they were set apart for these positions of responsibility. The anointing was a sign that God had chosen them and consecrated them for the work He had given them to do.

Luke 4: 16-22, ‘So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me [i]to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

19To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

20 Then He closed the book gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Christos (Christ) is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew term, Messiah (John 1:41). When Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, became acquainted with Jesus, the first thing he did was to find his brother, Simon Peter, and tell him about his exciting discovery. He told his brother, “ ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated, the Christ). And he [Andrew] brought him [Peter] to Jesus” (John 1:41).