Matthew 1 IBS
Matthew Chapter 1 IBS
Gospels: of Mark’s 661 verses – 606 of them are paralleled in Matthew – IE almost all of the Gospel of Mark is contained in Matthew.
The name Matthew which is attached to this account of Christ’s life first appears in 125 AD – there is no mention of the actual author contained in the text of the letter. However, early church fathers attributed the authorship to Matthew the tax collector. Ancient testimony says Matthew was first, and since the early Christians were nearly all Jewish, this makes a great deal of sense .[1]
While all the extant manuscripts of the First Gospel are in Greek, some suggest that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, similar to Hebrew. Five individuals stated, in effect, that Matthew wrote in Aramaic and that translations followed in Greek: Papias (a.d. 80-155), Irenaeus (a.d. 130-202), Origen (a.d. 185-254), Eusebius (fourth century a.d.), and Jerome (sixth century a.d.). However, they may have been referring to a writing by Matthew other than his Gospel account. Papias, for example, said Matthew compiled the sayings (logia) of Jesus. Those “sayings” might have been a second, shorter account of the Lord’s words, written in Aramaic and sent to a group of Jews for whom it would have been most meaningful. That writing was later lost, for no such version exists today. The First Gospel, however, was probably penned by Matthew in Greek and has survived until today. Matthew’s logia did not survive, but his Gospel did. This was because the latter, part of the biblical canon and thus God’s Word, was inspired and preserved by the Spirit of God. [2]
Matthew the apostle has always been looked upon as the author of this Gospel. Eusebius indicates that it was Papias, bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia c. a.d. 130, who first associated Matthew with the Gospel. Papias said, “Matthew compiled the oracles [logia, Gk.] in the Hebrew speech, and everyone interpreted them as best as he could.” Eusebius took this to mean that the compiler of the “oracles” (understood as “sayings of Jesus”) also authored the first Gospel. The Gospel of Matthew does indeed contain many sayings of the Lord. There is no reason to question the Matthean authorship of the initial Gospel. Matthew, also called Levi, although Jewish by birth, was a customs officer for the Roman state. Such a position would have given him excellent opportunity to develop skills both in Aramaic, his spoken language, and in Greek.[3]
Although this Gospel does not name its author, some early manuscripts have the inscription “according to Matthew,” and Eusebius (c. a.d. 260–340) tells us that the early church father Papias (c. a.d. 60–130) spoke of Matthew as having arranged the “oracles” about Jesus. Subsequent tradition is unanimous that the disciple Matthew, also called Levi (9:9–13; Mark 2:13–17), was the author of this Gospel, and not until the eighteenth century was this tradition doubted.[4]
Pinpointing the writing of the First Gospel to a specific year is impossible. Furthermore, Matthew’s references to Jerusalem as the “Holy City” (Matt. 4:5; 27:53) imply that it was still in existence. But some time seems to have elapsed after the events of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Matthew 27:7-8 refers to a certain custom continuing “to this day,” and 28:15 refers to a story being circulated “to this very day.” These phrases imply the passing of time, and yet not so much time that the Jewish customs had ceased. Since church tradition has strongly advocated that the Gospel of Matthew was the first Gospel account written, perhaps a date somewhere around a.d. 50 would satisfy all the demands mentioned. It would also be early enough to permit Matthew to be the first Gospel account. [5]
Some Outstanding Characteristics of the First Gospel.
1. The Book of Matthew places great emphasis on the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ. Of the Gospel accounts Matthew has the largest blocks of discourse material. No other Gospel contains so much of Jesus’ teachings. Matthew 5-7 is commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount; chapter 10 includes Jesus’ instructions to His disciples as they were sent out to minister; chapter 13 presents the parables of the kingdom; in chapter 23 is Jesus’ “hot” denunciation of the religious leaders of Israel; and chapters 24-25 are the Olivet Discourse, a detailed explanation of future events relating to Jerusalem and the nation.
2. Some of the material in Matthew is arranged logically rather than chronologically. As examples, the genealogical tables are broken into three equal groups, a large number of miracles are given together, and the opposition to Jesus is given in one section. Matthew’s purpose is obviously more thematic than chronological.
3. The First Gospel is filled with Old Testament quotations. Matthew includes approximately 50 direct citations from the Old Testament. In addition about 75 allusions are made to Old Testament events. This is undoubtedly because of the audience for whom the book was intended. Matthew primarily had Jews in mind as he wrote, and they would have been impressed by the many references to Old Testament facts and events. In addition, if this Gospel was written around a.d. 50, not many New Testament books were available for Matthew to have cited. Those books may not have been known to his readers or even to Matthew himself. [6]
The purpose of this account was to win Jews to Christianity, by tying in the prophesies of the OT into the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The particular stress in this book is that Jesus is the Christ or Messiah of prophesy!
The Greek of Matthew does not read like a mere translation, but such a widespread tradition (with no early dissent) must have some factual basis. Tradition says that Matthew preached for fifteen years in Palestine and then left to evangelize in foreign parts. It is possible that about a.d. 45 he left behind for the Jews who had accepted Jesus as their Messiah a first draft of his Gospel in Aramaic (or just the discourses of Christ), and later made a Greek edition for universal use. A similar thing was done by Matthew’s contemporary, Josephus. This Jewish historian made an Aramaic first draft of his Jewish Wars and then the final form of the book in Greek. The internal evidence of the First Gospel does fit well with a devout Jew who loved the OT and was gifted as a careful writer and editor. As a civil servant of Rome, Matthew would have to be proficient in both the language of his people (Aramaic) and of the ruling authorities. (The Romans used Greek, not Latin, in the East.) The numerical details, parables regarding money, and the monetary terms all fit in with a tax collector. So does the concise, orderly style. Goodspeed, a nonconservative scholar, accepted the Matthaean authorship of this Gospel partly from this corroborating internal evidence. If the widespread belief that Matthew made an Aramaic first edition of his Gospel (or at least of the sayings of Jesus) is so, a date for that of a.d. 45, fifteen years after the Ascension, would fit in with ancient tradition. He could have brought out the fuller, canonical Gospel in Greek in 50 or 55, or even later. [7]
From the book of Malachi to the book of Matthew, we have a period of 400 years. They are called the “silent years”. There were books that were written in this period of time. They are called Apocrypha books. In 1526 or so at the Catholic Council of Trent, the Catholic church determined that some of these apocryphal books belonged in the Holy Canon, and thus were included in the Catholic Bible. These apocryphal books had not been included in our Protestant Bible; they were in the Latin Bible, they were [some of them] found in the Codex Sinaiticus, but for various reasons they were rejected. They were not in the Hebrew scriptures either. However, in the Septuagint translation which took place a couple of hundred years before Christ, they were incorporated [some of them] in that Septuagint translation. The most notable of the Apocrypha books is the first and second Maccabees and these books are valuable from a historic standpoint because they tell of the tremendous exploits of the Jews under the leadership of one Judas Maccabeus who was so incensed at the profaning of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes that he gathered a group of just, religious zealots who began guerilla warfare against the Syrian occupation; and against insurmountable odds, defeated the Syrians and they rededicated the Temple. It was an important period of their history and the first and second Maccabees is a record of that portion of history. There was the book of Esdras (which was supposedly a book written by Ezra), the book Tobit, the book of Enoch and other books of the Apocrypha. The interesting thing is that in the New Testament Jesus does not quote from any of the Apocrypha books. Nor do the apostles quote from any of the books of the Apocrypha. There is only one quotation in the New Testament from an apocryphal book and that is in the little book of Jude where he quotes from the apocrypha book of Enoch. And he refers to that “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints” (Jude 1:14). That’s the only quotation at all in the New Testament from the Apocrypha books. However, most of the other scriptures, most of the other books, are quoted from quite fully--many, many quotations from the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. These were not considered books of the Canon by the Hebrews, they were not a part of the scriptures of the Hebrew reading, they are not accepted even today in the Hebrew scriptures and are not accepted by the Protestant church.So these were the writings that came out of this period of time but are not considered as divinely-inspired scriptures. Interesting stories, some of them quite fanciful, the wisdom of Solomon, another one of the books and some of them have..Tobit has quite a fanciful story, little gory, but nonetheless fanciful. So the silent years from Malachi who was prophesying, the last prophecy of Malachi is the prophecy of the coming of Elijah “before the great notable day of the Lord: to turn the hearts of the children unto their fathers (Malachi 4:5, 6).” Pastor Chuck
The Not-So-Silent Years: Chronology Between the Testaments
* Indicates a biblically recorded event. = Indicates a fulfillment of Bible Prophecy
605-597 BC= - Nebuchadnezzar conquers Israel, Jerusalem is destroyed and the remaining children of Israel taken into captivity in Babylon.
559 BC= – Persian Empire conquers Babylon. Cyrus rules (559-530 BC). Jewish tradition has Daniel meet with him and show him the prophecy of Isaiah, which predicts Cyrus’ coming by name (=Isaiah 45:1). There is good reason to suppose this actually happened. It explains the general good favor shown to the Jews by Persian kings.
551-479 BC – Confucius (Kung Fu) teaches philosophy in China. It is possible that displaced Jews may have indirectly influenced his moral code. The “coincidental” explosion of moral religious philosophies in this century, (like Zoroastrianism) is curious at least. Repentant Jews traded through Babylon’s commercial and intellectual “marketplace of ideas” with travelers from the Far East, making this scenario rather likely. Unfortunately, the Jewish view of God usually got corrupted in the process. Nevertheless, Messianic-styled Jewish ideas survived until the time of Jesus’ birth—the Magi of the East came from a living tradition of at least some true prophecy, probably influenced by Daniel’s ideas.
550-480 BC – Gatauma Buddha teaches in India.
539 BC* – Darius, or Gubaru the Mede becomes governor in Babylon and meets Daniel.
538 BC*= – Cyrus allows Jews to return to Jerusalem. (=Isaiah 45)
536 BC*= – Jews begin to rebuild the Temple. (=Daniel 9)
522-486 BC – Darius I (not necessarily the same as Darius the Mede in Daniel) becomes Persian King.
Circa 522-509 BC* – Writings of Zechariah the Prophet published in Jerusalem.
Circa 520 BC* – Haggai writes to spur on the Temple rebuilding in Jerusalem.
520-516 BC*= – Zerubbabel and Jesuah lead the Jews. Temple completed. (=Zechariah 3 & 4))
509 BC – Foundation of the Roman Republic.
Circa 478 BC* – Xerxes I (Ahasuerus) makes Hadassah (Esther) his queen.
465 BC* – Malachi writes against the growing apostasy around Jerusalem among the new generation.
464-424 BC – Artaxerxes Longinamus is King of Medo-Persian Empire.
457 BC* – Ezra the Scribe is sent to Jerusalem and institutes reforms that revive the teaching of the Mosaic Law. He begins to collate and edit the books of the prophets, earlier histories, and the Pentateuch into something like the Old Testament we have today.
Circa 450 BC* – Though possibly written much earlier (circa 800 BC), the Apocalypse of Joel is added to a body of smaller prophecy books that would later be assembled into a single “Book of the Lesser Prophets,” that would later still be redivided into what we know today as the OT “Minor Prophets.”
444-432 BC*= – Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to govern Judea and rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. A revival of Jewish faith breaks out once Nehemiah sets things to right. (=Dan. 9)
Circa 440-290 BC – The Jewish scribes assemble books like Zechariah, Joel, Haggai and Malachi into the Book of the Lesser Prophets. A few new psalms and proverbs are added to the books of Psalms and Proverbs. The idea of a canon list of inspired books takes shape among the scribes, which eventually produces what we know as the original Old Testament Canon (the list of books, not the writings themselves, which are much older). The Hebrew Bible consists of 3 main sections:
Torah (תורה, literally "teaching") consists of the first five books of the Bible, commonly referred to as the "Five Books of Moses." Genesis [Breishit], Exodus [Shmot], Leviticus [Vayikra], Numbers [Bamidbar], Deuteronomy [D'varim] The Hebrew names of the books of the Torah are based on the first prominent word in each book. The English names are not translations of the Hebrew, but are rather Greek names created for the Septuagint which are, in turn, based on Rabbinic names describing the thematic content of each of the Books.
Nevi'im ("Prophets") This division includes the books which, as a whole, cover the chronological era from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land until the Babylonian captivity of Judah (the "period of prophecy"). However, they exclude Chronicles, which covers the same period. This consists of the following books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel (1&2), Kings (1 &2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Ketuvim ("Writings") or "scriptures", are sometimes also known by the Greek title "Hagiographa". These encompass all the remaining books: Pslams, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles (1&2).
432-430 BC* – Nehemiah returns to Babylon. Sometime afterward, the Book of Nehemiah is authored, which becomes the last full book of the Old Testament to be written.
431-404 BC – Peloponnesian (Greek) Wars: Athens vs. Sparta.
332 BC= – Alexander the Great conquers Egypt and the Levant. He makes peace with the Jews when scribes meet him with a copy of the Book of Daniel, which foretells that Alexander will sweep the decrepit Persian Empire away. Unlike the Persians, who wanted a political empire, Alexander wants mainly to spread Greek culture and philosophy to the world from the top down. He begins a process called “Hellenization”—that is, the cultural re-education of his conquests along Greek lines. Because of his favorable first contact with the Jews, Jerusalem and its environs are left alone at first. (=Daniel 8)
323 BC= – Alexander dies young. The Greek Empire, which stretches from Sicily to India, is divided mainly among his four generals, Antigonus, Cassander, Ptolomy, and Seleucus. Antigonus and Cassander rule Greece and the Western city-state of Syracuse, Seleucus rules most of Asia, including what is now much of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Ptolomy controls Egypt and Palestine. (=Daniel 11:1-4)
323-198 BC= – The Ptolomy Dynasty controls Judea. (=The “King of the South” in Daniel 11:5-35) The Seleucid Dynasty of Syria seeks to gain control of Judea off and on. (=The “King of the North” in Daniel 11:5-35) The scribes and their followers maintain their integrity, though many migrate to the Greek port of Alexandria Egypt. Jews are both forcibly, and later voluntarily resettled in Alexandria Egypt. Life for the Jews under the Ptolomies was mostly good, but not without cultural pressures to conform.
285-246 BC – Ptolomy II “Philadelphus” rules in Egypt. He builds the Great Library of Alexandria and asks the Jews for Greek translations of all their sacred books. Seventy scribes work several decades on the Septuagint translation of the Torah, which becomes the version of Scripture used by Jesus and the Apostles. The original Hebrew manuscripts from which the Greek Septuagint is derived, later become lost, making the Septuagint text-group the oldest versions of the Old Testament we still have access to.
264-241 BC – 1st Punic War. Romans secure all of Italy under their dominion.
Circa 255 BC – First Septuagint versions of the Torah are completed at Alexandria.
200 BC-100 AD – Dead Sea scrolls written by the ultra-separatist Essenes scribal community at Qumran. Included are many canonic OT books, the earliest known Enoch manuscripts, the Lemech Fragment, Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Noah, the Book of the Giants, and other apocryphal works. Most of the scrolls surviving today have yet to be opened, much less translated.
175-166 BC= The radical Hellenist, Antiochus Epiphanes tries to force the Jews to Hellenize by having a pig sacrificed in the Temple, and an idol of Jupiter (erected in the Holiest of Holies (166 BC). This is the first “Abomination of Desolation” spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. According to Jesus, (Matthew 24) there would be others. (=Daniel 11:21-35) Swine are sacrificed at every Jewish town on the Sabbath. Those who refuse to eat are put to death. An aged Jewish priest of the Hasmonean line, named Mattathias, refuses to make a swine sacrifice and stabs Antiochus’ official. His clan takes to the hills.
166-160 BC – Aged Mattathias dies of the rigors of living on the run. His son, Judas Maccabeus, begins an organized revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes. Unlike the scribes, the Maccabeans will fight on the Sabbath at need. The name Judas Maccabbeus means “Jude the Hammer.”
142-135 BC – Simon, youngest of the Hasmonean Maccabeus Brothers, negotiates with the new Seleucid government to end the revolt. Simon is appointed Governor of the Judean province. The Hasmonean Dynasty begins to effectively govern Judea as a semi-independent state. This system, begun with the Great Assembly, develops into the Sanhedrin of Jesus’ day.
63 BC – The Roman General Pompey conquers the Seleucids. John Hyrcanus II becomes a puppet High Priest for Antipater and the Romans. Antipater’s sons, Phasael and Herod rule in Jerusalem and Galilee respectively.
60 BC – Collapse of the Roman Republic. Crassus, Pompey, and Caius Julius Caesar form the first Triumvirate.
51-31 BC – Cleopatra VII becomes the last of the Ptolomy Dynasty to rule in Egypt. She marries Julius Caesar and then betrays him for Mark Antony.
37-4 BC – Herod the Great appointed king of Judea by the Romans.
31 BC – Antony and Cleopatra are defeated at the Battle of Actium by Octavian. Rome rules Egypt, turning the Mediterranean Sea into a Roman lake. Death of Antony, Cleopatra, and the Ptolomaic Dynasty.
27 BC – Octavian takes the name Caesar Augustus and becomes the first Roman Emperor.
20 BC – Herod begins refurbishing the Temple.
Circa 5-4 BC*= – Birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias and Elizabeth. Jesus is born at Bethlehem of Judea. (=Micah 5:2-4)
| 1 ¶ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: | “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ” The same phrase is used at Gen. 2:4; 5:1 in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament in common use following 150 b.c. Here it may refer not only to the genealogy immediately following, but to the account of Jesus’ birth or the Gospel as a whole also.[8] The purpose of this genealogy is to substantiate that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel, a descendant of King David, Abraham and so forth. For Jews genealogy must be proved to establish the credibility of the Messiah. If a person came today and claimed to be Israel’s Messiah – the claim could never be substantiated because all the genealogies were destroyed in 70 AD. “Jesus” Greek: 2424 Iesous, ee-ay-sooce' of Hebrew origin (3091); Y@howshuwa`, or Yhowshua {yeh-ho-shoo'-ah}; from 3068 and 3467; Jehovah-saved; Jehoshua or Joshua. Gen. 49:18 I have waited for your salvation (y@shuw`ah) O LORD. (Y@hovah) “Christ” 5547 Christos, khris-tos' from 5548; anointed, the Messiah, Christ.John 1:40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He *found first his own brother Simon and *said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter). Greek: 3323. Messiav Messias, mes-see'-as the Messias (i.e. Mashiach), or Christ:--Messias. of Hebrew origin 04899 mashiyach, from 4886; anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically, the Messiah or the anointed. Psalm 2:1 ¶ Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!" 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain." Dan. 9:25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. One of the main themes of Matthew’s Gospel is that Jesus of Narazeth is the Christ! This title comes from the Greek word Christos, meaning “anointed.” “Messiah” represents the Hebrew word for “anointed”; see note 1 Sam. 2:10. In the Old Testament, anointing with oil could be performed for the office of prophet, priest, or king (Ex. 29:7; 1 Sam. 16:13; 1 Kin. 19:16). The Old Testament promises the coming of the righteous Servant of the Lord (Is. 42:1–9), who will be a prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:18, 19), a priest like Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4), and a king like David, the Lord’s anointed (Is. 55:3–5; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:24; Hos. 3:5; Zech. 12:8). Matthew reveals that Jesus is the Christ, the promised King and Deliverer. [9] The promised Messiah”: The Promises: Rom. 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Jeremiah 29:10 "For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Ezekiel 36:22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 ¶ "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. [The cross, The New Birth, Sanctification by the Holy Spirit) “the Son of David” Jesus is the Son of David literally and He is also the Son of David prophetically Psalm 110:1 Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." 2 Sam. 7:12 When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.'" Psalm 89:3 "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 4 'Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.'" Selah…35 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: 36 His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; 37 It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky." Selah Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. Matthew was a young man when Jesus called him. A Jew by birth, and a tax collector by training and practice, he forsook all to follow Christ. One of his many compensations was that he became one of the twelve apostles. Another was that he was chosen as the writer of what we know as the First Gospel. It is generally believed that Matthew was the same as Levi (Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27). In his Gospel, Matthew sets out to show that Jesus is the long-expected Messiah of Israel, the only lawful Claimant to the throne of David. [10] “Christ” Gal. 3:16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. Gen. 12:1 ¶ Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." Abraham was called a “Hebrew” Gen. 14:13 Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. [ 05680. yrbe `Ibriy, ib-ree' from 5677 [Eber – “a region across” from over there (Mesopotamia)]; an Eberite (i.e. Hebrew) or descendant of Eber [Eber – Peleg – Reu – Serug – Nahor – Terah – Abram]. So the term “Hebrew” came from being a descendant of Eber. Note: The term “Jew” – came from the name “Judah” and has come to mean all of those descended from Abraham. Technically Abraham was not a “Jew” only the descendants of Judah. Abraham was a “Hebrew” – the man God made His covenant with! Gen. 22:1 ¶ Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 2 He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." 3 ¶ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you." 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God will provide (07200 “to see”) for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 ¶ But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." 12 He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it will be provided (“Seen”)." 15 ¶ Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba. | |||||
| 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. | “the Son of Abraham” Jesus the Messiah is clearly a descendant of Abraham. He is the promised “seed” who God would use to bless the world. Gen. 12:1 ¶ Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."…22:18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Gen. 15:1 ¶ After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." 2 ¶ Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir." 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." 5 And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." 6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 7 ¶ And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it." 8 He said, "O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?" 9 So He said to him, "Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon." 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 ¶ Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." 17 ¶ It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. Cutting a covenant: Jer. 34:18 'I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts-- 19 the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf-- 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. The question should be asked; “who took Abraham’s place in the covenant?” Who “stood in” for Abraham? The answer to those questions is “Jesus Christ – the only begotten Son of God.” John 8:56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 57 Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. “Abraham…Isaac…Jacob” (From Genesis 12:1-49:33) Ex 3:4 “…God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." Matt 22:31 "But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: 32 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living." “Jacob” Gen. 28:10 Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. 12 He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. 14 "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." John 1:43 ¶ The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus *said to him, "Follow Me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip *found Nathanael and *said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip *said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael *said to Him, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered Him, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51 And He *said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." “Judah and his brothers” Not only did God bless Jacob in his years up North with Laban and his daughters, he gave him 12 sons during that time by his wives Rachael, Leah and their maids; Bilhah and Zilpah. By Leah he had Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. By Bilhah he had Dan and Naphtali. By Zilpah he had Gad and Asher. By Rachel he had Joseph and Benjamin. [Gen. 30] (PS Don’t try this at home!) Ex 1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. Judah is mentioned first, though he is not the firstborn, because the line of the Messiah comes through Judah! Gen. 49:10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Rev. 5:1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. 4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals." 6 ¶ And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." | |||||
| 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. | “Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar” Tamar was not Judah’s wife, she was his daughter-in-law; by whom he had Perez & Zerah. Another interesting fact about Matthew’s genealogy is the inclusion of four Old Testament women: Tamar (Matt. 1:3), Rahab (v. 5), Ruth (v. 5), and Solomon’s mother (v. 6), Bathsheba. All of these women (as well as most of the men) were questionable in some way. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes (Gen. 38:24; Josh. 2:1), Ruth was a foreigner, a Moabitess (Ruth 1:4), and Bathsheba committed adultery (2 Sam. 11:2-5). Matthew may have included these women in order to emphasize that God’s choices in dealing with people are all of His grace.[11] Gen. 38:1 ¶ It came to pass at that time that Judah departed from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he married her and went in to her. 3 So she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 And she conceived yet again and bore a son, and called his name Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. 6 Then Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar (Hebrew “Palm Tree”). 7 But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD killed him. 8 And Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother." 9 But Onan knew that the heir would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD; therefore He killed him also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house till my son Shelah is grown." For he said, "Lest he also die like his brothers." And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house. [Deut. 25:5 "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband's brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. 6 "And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 "But if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.' 8 "Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, 'I do not want to take her,' 9 "then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, 'So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother's house.' 10 "And his name shall be called in Israel, 'The house of him who had his sandal removed.'] Gen. 38:12 After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him. 13 When Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep," 14 she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, "Come now, let me sleep with you." "And what will you give me to sleep with you?" she asked. 17 "I'll send you a young goat from my flock," he said. "Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?" she asked. 18 He said, "What pledge should I give you?" "Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand," she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him…24 About three months later Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out and have her burned to death!" 25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. "I am pregnant by the man who owns these," she said. And she added, "See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are." 26 Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah." And he did not sleep with her again. 27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, "This one came out first." 29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, "So this is how you have broken out!" And he was named Perez. 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out and he was given the name Zerah. 1 Chron. 2:3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan and Shelah. These three were born to him by a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shua. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death. 4 Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all. “Rahab” Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. Jos 2:2 The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land." 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut. 8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death." 14 "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land." 15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall…22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel…25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-- and she lives among the Israelites to this day. Heb 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. 24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. God’s sovereign grace is sufficient for the vilest of sinners (cf. Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:1–10; 1 Tim. 1:15). [12] 1Co 6:9 ¶ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1Ti 1:12 ¶ I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. “Ruth” Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. [Gen. 19:36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.] After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband…16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 2:1 ¶ Now Naomi had a kinsman of her husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter." 3 So she departed and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers; and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. She went out by faith doing what she could to take care of her mother-in-law and it just so happened that she ended up in Boaz’s field. God doesn’t do just so happens!! God works in everyday life with divine appointments for us. …4:1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down. 2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. 3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line." "I will redeem it," he said. 5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property." 6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it." 7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal. 9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!" 11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." 16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 21 Salmon (Rahab) the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. Deut. 23:2 "No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the LORD. 3 "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, 4 because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. “by her who had been the wife of Uriah” 2 Sam. 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant." So let’s recap. God chose to have Mary, who became pregnant while engaged to Joseph, be a descendant of Abraham through 4 women, one a Canaanite prostitute, one a widow having children by her father-in-law, one a Moabite widow and a product of incest, and one a Hittite adulterous – none of these women would qualify as a chase woman, yet 3 of them at least are known for their faith and righteousness. They exemplify the principle of the sovereign grace of God, who not only is able to use gentiles (and disreputable ones at that) to accomplish his eternal purposes, but even seems to delight in doing so. It is really a picture of God’s grace John 8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they *said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." 12 ¶ Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." Luke 7:36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-- that she is a sinner." 40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41 "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-- for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." There are many interesting features in this register. For example, in this paragraph, four women are mentioned: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (her who had been the wife of Uriah). Since women are seldom mentioned in eastern genealogical tables, the inclusion of these women is all the more astonishing in that one of them was a Gentile harlot from Jericho (Rahab), one a “jilted” daughter- in-law (Tamar), one a Gentile (Moabite – a descendant of incest! Gen. 19:36 So both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today.) widow (Ruth), and one an adulteress (Bathsheba). Their inclusion in Matthew’s introduction is perhaps a subtle suggestion that the coming of Christ would bring salvation to sinners, grace to Gentiles, and that in Him, barriers of race and sex would be torn down. [13] | |||||
| 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. | “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” Edmund Burke“Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it” George Santayana “Solomon” Solomon of Proverbs fame, the world’s wisest man, went bad in his meddle age. In fact he is responsible for a downslide of the nation of Israel from its greatness to the captivity in Babylon – which was God’s judgment on them for the evil they had turned to. 1 Chron. 23:1 Now when David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel…2 Chron. 1:13 So Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel. 14 Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. 15 The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland. 16 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue (Modern Turkey); the king's traders procured them from Kue for a price. 17 They imported chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver apiece and horses for 150 apiece, and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram. 1 Kings 11:1 ¶ Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods." Solomon held fast to these in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away. 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. 8 Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9 ¶ Now the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD had commanded. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. 12 "Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 "However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen." Solomon disobeyed the Law of God: Deut. 17:14 ¶ "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16 "Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' 17 "He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. “Rehoboam…Abijah…Asa...Jehoshaphat…Joram” While there were some shining moments in the lives of the men who came between Solomon and Uzziah – the country still continued it’s down hill path. “Uzziah” 2 Chron. 26:16 ¶ But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men. 18 They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, "It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the LORD God." 19 But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense. 20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the LORD had smitten him. 21 King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first to last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written. 23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, "He is a leper." And Jotham his son became king in his place. Isaiah 6:1 ¶ In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. | |||||
| 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. | “Jotham” 2 Chron. 27:1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. 2 He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; however he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people continued acting corruptly….2 Chron. 36:15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. “Jeconiah” or “Jehoiachin” 1 Chron. 3:16 The sons of Jehoiakim were Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. 2 King 24:8 ¶ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done. 10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. 12 Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. His father was cursed: Jeremiah 36:29 "And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, 'Thus says the LORD, "You have burned this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will make man and beast to cease from it?'" 30 'Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, "He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. And he was cursed: Jeremiah 22:24 "As I live," declares the LORD, "even though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were a signet ring on My right hand, yet I would pull you off…30 "Thus says the LORD, 'Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.'" “were carried away to Babylon” 2 Chron. 36:1 ¶ Then the people of the land took Joahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in place of his father in Jerusalem. 2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and imposed on the land a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother and brought him to Egypt. 5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon. 7 Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. 9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 10 At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the LORD, and he made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. ***11 ¶ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD. 13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel. 14 Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem. 15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; 16 but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand. 18 All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. 20 Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete. ***2 Kings 24:15 So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king's mother and the king's wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon. 17 Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. | |||||
| 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. | “Jeconiah begot Shealtiel” 1 Chron. 3:17 The sons of Jeconiah, the prisoner, were Shealtiel his son…” “Zerubbabel” Ezra 1:1 ¶ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: 2 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 'Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 'Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.'" 5 ¶ Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem…2:1 ¶ Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. 2 These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah. 2 Chron. 36:22 ¶ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia--in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah--the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!'" | NAME | Date B.C. | Persian Name | Bible Name | Bible Background |
| Cyrus | 539-530 | Koorush | Cyrus | Isaiah 45, Daniel, Ezra 1-3 | ||
| Cambysses | 530-521 | Cambujieh | Ahasruerus | Ezra 4-6 | ||
| Pseudo Smerdis | 521 | Berooyeh Doroughi | Artaxerxes | Ezra 4:7-23 | ||
| Darius the Great | 521-486 | Darryoosh | Darius | Ezra 5,6 | ||
| Xerxes | 486-465 | Khashayarshah | Ahasurerus | Esther 1-10 | ||
| Artaxerxes I | 464-423 | Ardeshier Deraz Dast | Artaxerxes | Nehemiah 1 - 13, Ezra 7-10 |
Jer 29:8 ¶ "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 'For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,' declares the LORD. 10 "For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'
“Joseph the husband of Mary” The differences with Jesus’ genealogy in Luke 3:23–38 are a problem that no one has been able to solve adequately. The problem is that Joseph’s ancestors in Matthew’s genealogy are different from his ancestors in Luke’s genealogy, especially from Joseph to King David. The theory that most scholars subscribe to now is that Matthew gave the legal line of descent from David, stating who was the heir to the throne in each case, and Luke gave the actual descendants of David in the branch of David’s family to which Joseph belonged.58 [14]
“Mary, of whom was born Jesus” Of whom in English could be construed as referring to both Joseph and Mary. However, in the original Greek, whom is singular and in the feminine gender, thus indicating that Jesus was born of Mary, but not of Joseph. But in addition to these interesting features of the genealogy, mention must also be made of the difficulties which it presents. [15]
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.
“are fourteen generations” The point of this genealogy is to show that Jesus was a legal descendant of King David. It was put into 14’s in order memorize. Some people were left out just the major players were put in. This is not a complete genealogy but an abbreviated one. Its purpose was not to show everyone in the line, but to add to Matthew’s theme that Jesus is God’s Son and the Messiah of Israel. **We have approx. 200 years of history represented with 52 generations which would average between 38-40 years per generation.
Pastor Chuck: There are some omissions in these generations so that there were actually more than fourteen generations from David to the carrying away of Babylon. There are three prominent omissions and they are the seed or the descendants of Athaliah. Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab. King Ahab’s wife was Jezebel, their daughter Athaliah married the king of Judah. Jezebel and Ahab were as wicked as anybody can be. Their daughter, Athaliah, was a horribly wicked person and she sought to wipe out all of the descendants of David to ensure her family’s position on the throne in Israel. And so the three who are the descendants of Athaliah are omitted from the fourteen generations. There are other omissions, it is obvious that Matthew was just seeking to set them up in fourteen, fourteen and fourteen. There were actually from Abraham to David fourteen generations literally over a period of one thousand years. The next 400 years from David to the carrying away of Babylon the fourteen generations, and then from Babylon unto Joseph, the fourteen generations—that was a period of 600 years--so a total of 2,000 years and the total generations would be the three times fourteen, or fifty-two generations from Abraham to Joseph, the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus.
18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed 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, 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.
“Mary was betrothed to Joseph” 1:16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
Marriages were arranged for individuals by parents, and contracts were negotiated. After this was accomplished, the individuals were considered married and were called husband and wife. They did not, however, begin to live together. Instead, the woman continued to live with her parents and the man with his for one year. The waiting period was to demonstrate the faithfulness of the pledge of purity given concerning the bride. If she was found to be with child in this period, she obviously was not pure, but had been involved in an unfaithful sexual relationship. Therefore the marriage could be annulled. If, however, the one-year waiting period demonstrated the purity of the bride, the husband would then go to the house of the bride’s parents and in a grand processional march lead his bride back to his home. There they would begin to live together as husband and wife and consummate their marriage physically. Matthew’s story should be read with this background in mind.[16]
“before they came together” Mary would have probably been between the ages of twelve and fourteen (sixteen at the oldest), Joseph perhaps between eighteen and twenty; their parents likely arranged their marriage, with Mary and Joseph’s consent. Premarital privacy between betrothed persons was permitted in Judea but apparently frowned upon in Galilee, so Mary and Joseph may well not have had any time alone together at this point. [17]
“she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” Luke 1:26 ¶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 "And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." 34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 "Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 "For with God nothing will be impossible." 38 Then Mary said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Jesus was virgin born. He did not have the sin nature of His earthly father in His blood!
“not wanting to make her a public example” Deut. 22:23 "If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 "then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor's wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 25 "But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 "But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. 27 "For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her. 28 "If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 "then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
“an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream” It’s interesting that Joseph does fade from the picture very early. We know that Joseph was a man of God. The Lord spoke to Joseph in dreams. Here we find the Lord speaking to Joseph and as he is in this troubled state of mind--this gal that I’m espoused to is pregnant, she’s trying to tell me that it’s somehow involved with the Holy Spirit, that she’s still a virgin—and he’s troubled. We know that the Lord spoke to Joseph and warned him to flee with the child and his mother to Egypt. We know that the Lord then spoke to him and told him that he could come back at the death of Herod. And we know that they moved to the region of the Galilee and they lived in Nazareth so that Jesus grew up in the little village of Nazareth in the Galilee region. And we know that Joseph was a carpenter. And thus we assume that Jesus learned the carpenter’s trade there in Nazareth under Joseph. But beyond that, in the ministry of Christ, there is no mention of Joseph at all. It is assumed that he probably died early, died young because he drops quickly out of the picture. Pastor Chuck
21 "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." 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." 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.
“forth a Son” Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
“you shall call His name JESUS” The Greek equivalent of “Joshua,” meaning “Yahweh is salvation,” or “Yahweh saves.” Often in names only the first syllable of God’s name is used (e.g., Elijah; Isaiah; Joshua). [18]
“for He will save His people from their sins” Iniquity, transgression and sin are the main problems of human beings. We are born in sin and in desperate need of a Savior!
Ex 34:5 ¶ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. 6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."
Psalm 103:6 ¶ The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Isaiah 53:4 ¶ Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10 ¶ But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
“the prophet” The prophet in question is Isaiah. By the way I forgot last week that the Talmud tells us that Isaiah was stuffed into a hollow log and then the log was sewn in two by the men of King Manasseh and at his order.
Twelve times in his Gospel Matthew identifies O.T. prophecies as being fulfilled in the life of Jesus (cf. also 2:15, 23; 3:15; 4:14; 5:17; 8:17; 12:17; 13:14, 35; 21:4; 27:9). This is a major theme in his Gospel, and one uniquely designed to speak to his Jewish audience.[19]
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child” Isaiah 7:13 Then he said, "Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. [“Immanuw'el” from 5973 and 410 with a pronominal suffix inserted; with us (is) God;]
“and did not know her till” The teaching that Mary remained a virgin all of her life is disproved by the consummation of their marriage mentioned in this verse. Mark 6:1 ¶ Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" And they were offended at Him.
Joseph acts like Old Testament men and women of God who obeyed God’s call even when it went against all human common sense. Marriage consisted of covenant (at the betrothal; the marital contract also involved a monetary transaction between families), a ceremony and consummation, which ratified the marriage, normally on the first night of the seven-day wedding. Joseph here officially marries Mary but abstains from consummating the marriage until after Jesus is born. Jewish teachers thought that men had to marry young because they could not resist temptation (many even blamed a woman’s uncovered hair for inducing lust). Joseph, who lives with Mary but exercises self-control, thus provides a strong role model for sexual purity. [20]
“her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS” Luke 2:1 ¶ And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 ¶ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 "And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.
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[1]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Mt 1:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[2]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:15). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3]Believer's Study Bible. 1997, c1995. C1991 Criswell Center for Biblical Studies. (electronic ed.) (Mt 1:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[4]Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version. Includes index. (Mt 1:1). Nashville: T. Nelson.
[5]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:15). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:16). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
OT Old Testament
[7]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Mt 1:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[8]Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version. Includes index. (Mt 1:1). Nashville: T. Nelson.
[9]Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version. Includes index. (Mt 1:1). Nashville: T. Nelson.
[10]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Mt 1:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
v. verse
[11]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:18). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[12]King James Version study Bible . 1997, c1988 (electronic ed.) (Jos 2:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[13]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Mt 1:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
58 58. See I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, pp. 157–65, for further discussion and advocates of this and other views.
[14]Tom Constable. (2003; 2003). Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible (Mt 1:17). Galaxie Software.
[15]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Mt 1:16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[16]Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:20). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[17]Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Mt 1:18). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
[18]Whitlock, L. G., Sproul, R. C., Waltke, B. K., & Silva, M. (1995). Reformation study Bible, the : Bringing the light of the Reformation to Scripture : New King James Version. Includes index. (Mt 1:21). Nashville: T. Nelson.
[19]Believer's Study Bible. 1997, c1995. C1991 Criswell Center for Biblical Studies. (electronic ed.) (Mt 1:22). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[20]Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary : New Testament (Mt 1:24). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
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