Day 9, Read Matt. 1:1-17

There are of necessity two genealogies of Jesus.  There is the one through Mary (Luke 3:23-38) that begins with Adam and ties Jesus to humanity (we will consider this tomorrow).  And there is this one, through Joseph, the husband of Mary, that ties Jesus to the Messianic line beginning at Abraham.  Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David, but through different sons (Joseph through Solomon; Mary through Nathan).

This record of Matthew, the disciple of Christ, is a veritable who’s who of the  Old Testament.  It establishes the link with the Davidic kings, consistent with Matthew who presents Jesus to Israel as the Messianic King.  He is the fulfillment of promises made to Abraham and David and the Nation of Israel.

You will note that Matthew presents the genealogy in three sections of fourteen generations each (cf. v17).  The divisions are logical, running from the beginning in Abraham to the establishment of the Messianic Kingship in David, and then from David until Israel’s national identity was lost under Gentile authority, and then ending with the birth of Jesus who is called Christ (v16).  As to the reason for Matthew’s concern with numbers we are not sure, although it is typical of the mindset of Jewish writers.  To accomplish this Matthew skips some generations (e.g. Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah when he goes from Joram to Uzziah, v8).  Writing as a Jew to the Jews Matthew would have been understood by his audience.  Note too that Joseph is the only one in the list of whom it was not said that he “begot” Jesus.  Joseph was Mary’s husband, and Jesus was born of Mary.

One of the remarkable things about this genealogy is its references to women.  Normally genealogies give the names of the fathers.  But five women are mentioned and should be noted.

·        v3: Tamar prostituted herself with Judah when he refused to give her to his third son after the first two had died (Gen. 38:13-30). 

·        v5: Rahab was a prostitute by trade, and a Gentile of Jericho, who came to believe in the God of Israel in the time of Joshua and the destruction of her city (Josh. 2; 6:22-25).

·        v5: Ruth was from Moab and believed in the God of Israel when her mother-in-law- Naomi returned to Bethlehem from Moab after a famine (Ruth 1-4).

·        v6: The wife of Uriah was Bathsheba with whom David committed adultery and who later bore Solomon (2 Sam. 11-12).

·        v16: Mary was a pious woman who feared God but who bore the stigma of adultery because of the virgin birth.

What amazing pictures of the grace of God we see in these women.  Mary herself would say: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:46-48).