Matthew 1:1-17- The long awaited King has arrived

theological

Hi all,

I finished my Bible read through so I decided to work through the gospels more slowly this year. I just wanted to share this passage in Matthew and a few thoughts in case it is encouraging to anyone else. It'd be great to chat a bit more about this passage on the thread.

Matthew 1:1-17 wrote:

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

It's often very easy to skim by genealogies, but I think we learn a lot from this one.

We learn at the start that this is the "book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham". It's interesting that Matthew chooses to identify Jesus with these titles, and I don't think they are titles that we associate Jesus with as much in our daily thoughts and speech about Him, but they tell us a lot.

They tell us that Jesus isn't an entirely new thing, Jesus is the fulfilment of the Jewish scriptures and God's promises to Abraham and to David.

The significant points in this genealogy lead us to three people and one event:
Abraham - the patriarch to whom God promises people, land and blessings to in Genesis 15, 17, 19. We are told in Genesis 12 that the whole earth would be blessed through him and his legacy.
David - the King to whom God promised an everlasting Kingdom in 2 Samuel 7.
The deportation to Babylon - God's people sinned against God and turned to idols and paganism. God judged them and delivered them out of the land. It looked pretty hopeless and it looked like the promises to David would never be fulfilled.

Jesus - the long awaited King who fulfils these promises despite our expectations. Jesus shows us that God is faithful to His promises and faithful to His word throughout generations.

That's a hugely encouraging truth to us in uncertain times where those who are powerful from a human perspective don't seem to have much control.

Some thoughts for prayer:
Father - thank you for your long awaited Christ. Thank you that you fulfil your promises and they find their "yes" in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Thank you for this certainty that we can have in you.

Thank you that you are a faithful God who keeps to His word.

Thank you that you continue to be with us today.

Over to you:
Do you find this passage encouraging? Why or why not?

Peregrinus

Matthew makes it easy for us by pointing out at the end the measured progress from Abraham to David; from David to the Babylonian Captivity; from the Babylonian Captivity to the Christ. We don't need to worry about all the exotic names; just about the arc of history. Matthew underlines this progress by making each of its three phases comprise exactly fourteen generations, even though in order to make the genealogy fit this pattern he has to skip out several generations that are recorded elsewhere in scripture.

So what is the point of this carefully-structured genealogy? As I see it:

Abraham is the father of the Jewish people; the point where the Jewish story begins.

David inaugurates the Davidic Kingdom; the high point of Jewish history. But - as is so often the way with high points - it doesn't last very long. David is succeeded by Solomon, and when Soloman dies the kingdom splits into two, both of which decline. The northern kingdom is completely erased quite early on, and its people scattered. The southern kingdom takes longer to decline, but eventually it too is destroyed with . . .

the Babylonian Captivity, which is the low point of Jewish history. But it, too, doesn't last very long. The Babylonian empire conquers Judah, destroys Jerusalem and deports the Jewish people, but in turn it is conquered by the Persians, who permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem and build the Second Temple, which was still standing at the time Matthew is writing.

So, yes, I agree with Theo that one of the key points here is God's eternal fidelity. Matthew starts and ends with explicit references to the Christ, or Messiah. A Messiah was promised, and a Messiah comes, even though at times along the way it must have seemed a pretty remote prospect. But I think there's a little bit more to it than that. I think there's a sense that the whole of Jewish history, including both the highs and the lows, has been leading inexorably to this moment , the coming of the promised Messiah. This isn't just something that is happening at a particular moment in history; it is the whole point of history; the reason why history unfolds at all is to bring us to this point.