Redemptive History and the Covenant, and The Three Periods of Jesus’ Genealogy (Lessons 15-16)

Today we are going to look at three covenants in the Old Testament, and the three periods in Jesus’ genealogy in the book of Matthew.

The three covenants we’re going to look at are the Sinaitic covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant of Jeremiah.

Sinaitic covenant

So when did God ratify this covenant? It was in the first year of the wilderness journey, in 1446 BC, while the Israelites were at Mt. Sinai.

Moses read the book of the covenant (Ex. 20:22-23:33), and the Israelites gave their vows to obey the covenant.

Exodus 24:7 ESV

Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”

And after they gave their vows, Moses threw the blood of the covenant on them.

Exodus 24:8 ESV

And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

So what is this blood of the covenant? It’s the blood shed by sacrificial animals (Ex. 24:5-6).

This is the blood that atones for sin and reconciles us to God. And it foreshadows the blood of Jesus that would be shed on the cross for our eternal reconciliation with God.

Romans 5:9–10 ESV

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Content of the Sinaitic covenant

So what are the contents of the Sinaitic covenant?

The centrepiece of the Sinaitic covenant are the Ten Commandments, followed by the law of God.

So here is the law of God. If you accept God’s law and obey it, you become God’s possession, and God will become your guardian and protector. But if you disobey, then you will be judged according to the law.

Exodus 19:5–6 ESV

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

So the Sinaitic covenant is about identity. It’s about being God’s people. And if you are God’s people, then you will behave in a godly way. How do you know what’s the godly way? The law.

Davidic Covenant

If the Sinaitic covenant is about identity, the Davidic covenant is about the king. David comes to God and says, “I want to build You a house.” And God looks at him and says in return, “You want to build me a house? Okay, your son will do it. And in exchange, I’m going to establish your house eternally.” The covenant is recorded in 2 Sam. 7:12-16.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ESV

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

So who does this covenant point to? At first it seemed like Solomon was the fulfiller of the covenant. But his kingdom doesn’t last, and it’s divided into two because of his son Rehoboam.

Jesus comes as the true fulfiller of the Davidic covenant. He comes to establish the house of God on this earth, and His throne is established forever.

Acts 20:28 ESV

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

The New Covenant of Jeremiah

Jeremiah was a prophet who was active at the same time as the prophet Ezekiel, as the kingdom of Judah was coming to an end. The people were losing hope because of their wicked kings and the enemy armies at their doorstep. And so God gives them hope through this covenant, called the new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:33–34 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

And in this covenant, God promises to put His law within them. He promises to write the law on their hearts. He promises to be their God. He promises to forgive their iniquity. And He promises to remember their sins no more.

But here we have a problem. If the law is going to be written on our hearts, then that means we cannot escape from judgement if we sin. And yet God promises to forgive our sins. And here is where we discover the truest, fullest, deepest knowledge of God.

For God is not only a God of righteousness. He is a God of righteousness and love. It’s like that old story. What happens when an all-piercing spear strikes at an unbreakable shield? What happens when a righteous God comes before a sinner begging for mercy? Many religions choose one or the other. Either righteousness wins or love wins. But never both. Never both. Only Jesus shows us both. And it’s on the cross.

Psalm 85:10 (ESV)

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

So in this way, the new covenant foreshadows the Gospel. It’s not a Gospel that’s apart from the law, but one that fulfills the law, and reveals the beauty of the all-righteous and all-loving God.

Jesus bore the judgement in our place, and we now stand before God in His place.

Three Periods in the Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:17 ESV

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.

Matthew here organizes Jesus’ genealogy into three periods. And each period is made of 14 generations.

The first period begins with Abraham and ends with David. The second period begins with David and ends with the deportation to Babylon. The third period begins with the Babylonian deportation and ends at Jesus Christ. That’s a summary of the Old Testament.

And in each of these periods, God has a different house. In the first period, God dwells in the Tabernacle built at Mt. Sinai. In the second period, God dwells in the temple built by King Solomon. In the third period, God dwells in the temple built by Zerubbabel.

The 1st period: Abraham to David

Timespan: 1,163 years

Abraham’s birth to David’s coronation as king in Hebron (2166 BC - 1003 BC). David ruled in Hebron for seven years and six months before ruling in Jerusalem for 33 years. The first period can be considered to include David’s reign in Hebron, but not his reign in Jerusalem.

Women included in the first period of Jesus’ genealogy

Three women are recorded in the first period of Jesus’ genealogy: Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth.

Matthew 1:3–5 ESV

and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

It’s already incredible that women are included in the genealogy, since it wasn’t considered culturally acceptable. But these women have their names recorded in there, which tells us about who Jesus is.

Your genealogy has a lot to do with your identity. If you were born into the tribe of Levi, then you became a priest. If your great great grandgather was Aaron, Moses’ brother, then you would become a high priest. So what does the inclusion of these women say about who Jesus is?

The Bible doesn’t specify where Tamar was from, but Rahab was a Canaanite harlot living in Jericho, and Ruth was a Moabite, a cursed people.

Genesis 9:25 (ESV)

he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

Deuteronomy 23:3 ESV

“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever,

So what this tells us is that Jesus is the Savior of the cursed, those who are forbidden to enter into the presence of God or the assembly of God’s people. Furthermore, these women had a shameful past. Jesus comes, and through Him, their shameful stories receive the happiest ending.

When we trust in Jesus and follow Him, from that point on, our stories all have a happy ending.

David’s name is counted twice

David ends the first period of Jesus’ genealogy, and his name begins the second period. Furthermore, he is the only one with the title “King”, even though there were many other kings in the genealogy.

Matthew 1:17 ESV

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.

Furthermore, the 14-14-14 arrangement of Jesus’ genealogy points to David because 14 is the number of David. His name is made of the Hebrew consonants Dalet, Waw, Dalet. And the numerical value attached to Dalet is 6, whereas the numerical value attached to Waw is 4. So Dalet, Waw, Dalet amounts to 14.

So the focus is on Jesus, who comes as a descendant of David. Jesus, who comes to fulfill the covenant made with David.

Revelation 22:16 ESV

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Luke 1:31–33 ESV

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The 2nd Period: David to Babylonian exile

The second period was a humiliating period whereby the glorious kingdom of Israel was divided and conquered, resulting in Assyria destroying northern Israel and Babylon destroying southern Judah.

Timespan: 406 years

David’s reign over Jerusalem to the time when Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) was taken captive to Babylon in the second deportation (1003 BC - 597 BC).

Omissions

When we compare the Matthew genealogy with the Old Testament record, we see that seven people are omitted.

Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Jehoiakim (1 Chr. 3:11-12)

Athaliah (2 Kgs. 11:1-3)

Jehoahaz (2 Kgs. 23:31)

Zedekiah (2 Kgs. 24:18)

Women included in the second period of Jesus’ genealogy

We see one women being included in the second period of Jesus’ genealogy: Bathsheba. Or more specifically, the wife of Uriah whom David took for himself.

Matthew 1:6 (ESV)

and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,

David’s sin didn’t come about all of a sudden. It began with the things that were culturally acceptable, such as the king having multiple wives. And then from that point, he started having his own harem, his own collection of concubines. Is that a godly king? No. That’s something the gentile kings would do. And so he looks to the other kings as an excuse to satisfy his lust.

And then one day when he’s on the rooftop, he sees a woman he can’t have. And that’s when he does everything in his power to get her. David commits the sins of covetting, adultery, theft, false witness, and murder (2 Sam. 11). All because his conscience has been conditioned by the worldly standard.

And so what happens as a result of this?

2 Samuel 12:10 ESV

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

His family is messed up. It becomes a family of fratricide.

One of David’s sons, Absalom, kills his brother Amnon for raping his sister. And Absalom later tries to kill David.

One of his sons Adonijah, the 4th son, tries to be king instead of Solomon. Solomon has him killed in 1 Kgs 1.

This is the fruit of David’s sin, and it all started when he accepted the standards of the world rather than the standard of God.

So we must not accept as acceptable the things that are acceptable to the world. The fight for our soul begins here.

The 3rd Period: Babylonian exile to Jesus Christ

Timespan: 593 years

Second deportation to Babylonian to the birth of Jesus Christ (597 BC - 4 BC).

The construction of Zerubbabel’s temple

After suffering for 70 years in Babylonian exile, the Israelites could finally leave and return to Jerusalem. They rebuilt the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Ezra, and they rebuilt the city walls and gates under the leadership of Nehemiah.

The remnant who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ

The first return from Babylonian captivity happened in 537 BC. And 42,360 Israelites returned.

Ezra 2:64 ESV

The whole assembly together was 42,360,

And only those whose spirits were stirred up by God could return to Jerusalem.

Even in Babylonian captivity, God prepared a remnant who would pass down the true faith from generation to generation.

The Hebrew word for remnant is sha’ar, which refers to those who do not fade away or disappear inspite of their weakness or insignificance.

This foreshadows God’s redemptive plan to fulfill His History of Redemption through the minority of godly people who hold on to the true faith.

Isaiah 10:20–21 ESV

In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

Malachi 2:15 NASB95

“But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth.