The Gospel of the Messianic King
Table of Contents                     Scripture                                                                 Comment 

Section 1 The Presentation of the King


Book 1. The Book of the Origin of Jesus Christ

The text is taken from "The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan," but the subtitles are my own.

Chapter 1

1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ

 As to the title of Matthew's gospel...
In ancient times literature was not "titled" the way it is today; rather, each article was known by its first few words. That's how we know that when Jesus was on the cross crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," He was thinking of Psalm 22! Psalm 22 is a perfect prophetic description, not only of the agony He was suffering, but also of His expression of love and admiration for the Father at the same time. And He wanted those witnessing His crucifixion (and us) to understand what He was thinking as He bore the sins of the world.

With this understanding we can see that Matthew selected his opening words very carefully. In effect, he patterned them after the section breaks Moses used in Genesis. The Hebrew of Genesis, which are generally translated "These are the generations of..." could just as easily be translated "The book (or record) of the generations (or genealogy of." Matthew respected Moses enough to follow his example when presenting the record of the generations of the Messianic King.
the son of David, the son of Abraham: 1. The Unique Genealogy of the Messianic King
Matthew specifically calls out these particular men at the beginning of his genealogy because they were recipients of covenants from God. Abraham received a covenant promising him a family and an eternal habitation. David received a covenant promising an eternal dynasty. Jesus is the fulfillment of, and the heir to, both these covenants.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.		 A pedigree is used to determine the proper heir to an estate or a throne; and in fact, God did make specific promises to Abraham and David regarding an estate and a throne, respectively. Both promises contained "eternal life clauses," meaning a person would have to live forever to be able to receive the benefits of the promises, yet both men died. However, their deaths do not mean the promises are of no effect. Rather, in each case the benefits pass an heir...and in both cases, the heir is Jesus Christ.

Now to be sure, in resurrection, both Abraham and David will participate in the benefits of the promises but, as noted, the promises themselves have passed to their common heir, Jesus Christ. So in resurrection Abraham will live in the promised land, but Jesus Christ will hold title to it; and in resurrection David will live in the palace, but Jesus Christ will occupy the throne.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and
Josiah the father of
Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.		 Matthew was a man of patterns. In the study of his gospel it becomes very clear that he actually looked for them...and when he saw one he called it out. In the case at hand, the genealogy of the Lord, he saw several very important numbers working together to form an instructive pattern...meaning a divine design.

First, he saw the genealogy divided into 3 sections (three is the number of perfection and divinity, indicating the divine plan). There were three sections of 14 persons each. Fourteen is twice the number 7. That actually makes 6 sevens. Six is the number of man and 7 the number of completion, so as these numbers are found together in 3 groups (the number of God) they would indicate that in the plan of God (3) we have the complete (7) genealogy of the man (6) Jesus. In other words, Jesus, being the seventh of the sixth "7", is the completion of the human line of God’s messiah.

Note also that his sevens are not linear. Rather, each successive group flows out of the last member of the previous group - sort of. Actually, as the first group ends with David, the second group flows out of David. Then, as the second group ends with the exile, the third group flows out of the exile.

Matthew was neither a mathematician nor a scientist. Thinking in his culture was driven by relationships. That's why the "14's" are counted the way they are. This is difficult to grasp at first, but as we progress in our study we'll see that this middle eastern style of thinking is key to understanding Matthew.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Eliud,
15 Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and
Jacob the father of
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born
Jesus, who is called Christ.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ. 		Jeconiah was named twice because he flowed out of the exile. It was the exile that provided this breaking point for the genealogy in Matthew's mind.

Note also that Matthew left some names out of the genealogy. This was common practice if a person was considered totally unworthy of mention.



The clear indication in Matthew's genealogy that Joseph is not the biological father of the Lord is consistent with Luke's version and with the claim of the scriptures that he was the literal son of God. Jesus was born of Mary, but not of Joseph. Nevertheless, this genealogical line is important in that it provides the legal pedigree of the King, from David to Jesus through the males line.

 
Joseph’s predicament
18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

God’s solution
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (Isa. 7.14)—which means, “God with us.”

Joseph’s obedience
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. 		2. The Unique Birth of the Messianic King.
Matthew's presentation of the story of the Lord's birth is told from Joseph's point of view. Joseph, recognizing Mary as a maiden of virtue, made arrangements with her father according to the "betrothal" customs of the day. Once those arrangements were made, even though Mary would continue to live in her father's house for several months, she and Joseph were legally bound as husband and wife (betrothed). It was during this period of betrothal that Mary was discovered to be with child. We don't have a specific indication as to how Mary explained this to Joseph, but we are told his reaction.

Mary's pregnancy brought dishonor on Joseph, on her family, and on the community as a whole; and under the customs of that culture she could have been executed for her "indiscretion." However, the decision was left to Joseph and he specifically chose not to disgrace her in public, even though he did plan to divorce her quietly. The mechanism of the divorce was to send her off to visit a distant relative until the child was born - or, more likely, forever. That would satisfy the community's sense of honor because to them her absence was equivalent to death. The other town would know she was a mother out of wedlock, but they would be less offended as she was not a member of their community. The story of her trip to visit her cousin Elizabeth is included in Luke's version of the birth story.

After Joseph had time to cool off, an angel appeared to him in a dream, explained the situation, and instructed him to bring his wife home. Apparently he was delighted with this news and sent for her immediately. She was likewise overjoyed to receive the message - so overjoyed, in fact, that she abandoned her cousin in her hour of greatest need (just as she was about to deliver her child who would grow up to be John the Baptist). No doubt there were ample midwives in Elizabeth's community, so the family could afford to share in her happiness and urge her immediate departure to her husband's home.

We should be careful to respect Joseph for the man of faith and honor he was. Firstly, he did not want the blood of a young girl on his hands, even if she did offend him terribly. That was good character. But even more than that, when the angel explained the situation and gave him instructions, he did not balk, or even ask for a sign. He just accepted it as from God and obeyed forthwith! That's the kind of faith God seeks and there are very few examples of it in the scriptures. We can't even say this of Abraham, the man of faith! The only other examples I know of are Mary when the angel spoke to her, and David when God gave him the Covenant.
  3. The Unique Reception of the Messianic King.
For this segment of our study, please open this document.