Matthew 1:2-17

DAY 5

Review of question from last week-
Who – or what – are you trusting in?

Matt 1:2-17 The Genealogy of Jesus
What are the main points we want to get today?

Main Point 1:  Direct evidence. 
Showing thru his genealogy that Jesus is the Messiah.

Having walked with Jesus for three years, Matthew knows first-hand that Jesus is the Messiah. And he starts right here in the supposedly dry and boring genealogy. He begins his journey of showing us that Jesus is the Messiah in the first verse, which we looked at last week, by pointing to the hope of all Jews; the hope of the promises God gave in the covenants of David and Abraham. Now, in looking at the rest of the geanaology, we start to see more evidences that Jesus is the Christ. That’s Point 1: showing that Jesus is who He says He is.

Main Point 2:  Indirect evidence.
We know that Jesus has a soft spot for sinners and the lost. And we can see from this genealogy that God does too!

One of the many ways that Matthew shows us that Jesus is the Messiah, is by showing us that God the Father has the same heart for sinners in the OT, as Jesus the Son does is in the NT.  This is an important connection. One of the ways we see that is by the attitude that both God and Jesus have for sinners and for the lost. Both God and Jesus have the same heart for the lost and the sinner. 

Can someone read Luke 19:10?
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
What does this verse mean to you? What does it say about Jesus?

Can someone read Ezekiel 34:16? Just the first sentence only. 
“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.”

And … Ps 147:3
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

See also Pro 18:24, Pro 14:31, and especially Isaiah 53. 

Can someone read Matt 9:10-13?
“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. (This is opposite world!) When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is well known in the NT for being a friend of tax collectors and sinners. 
Here are a few verses that show that… 
Lk 12:4; Lk 5:33-34; Jn 15:13-15; Jn 21:5; Paul also calls many people “friends” as does Peter and John.

That Jesus’ heart reflects the very heart of God can be seen very clearly in John 14. Here are a few sample verses from that chapter. But, please, read the whole chapter on your own!

“If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.” Jn 14:7
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jn 14:9
“… it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” Jn 14:10
And John 10:30 really sums it up when Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.”

Ok. Let’s look at Jesus geneology.

Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, (Reuben, not Judah, was Jacob’s firstborn, and  would normally be expected to be listed in a Hebrew geneology. But Judah is mentioned because the Messiah will come thru Judah – Gen. 49:10)
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, (1st woman – unusual. She “played the prostitute” but was not really one, and Tamar had Perez and Zerah out of wedlock – she was Judah’s daughter-in-law!. See Gen. 38 for the story.)
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, (2nd woman – a genuine prostitute. She her story in Joshua 2.)
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, (3rd woman – a Moabitess; a gentile. She the book of Ruth)
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David. (Notice Matthew doesn’t just say “David.” He says “King David.” Not an accident!)
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, (4th woman – Bathesheba. Urriah was a Hittite. We don’t know if Bathsheba was or not.)
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah

(Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin had a curse put on him by God thru Jeremiah. See Jeremiah 22:24-30, and 23:5-6, and Jer. 36:30.   Note: Jeconiah (also referred to in Scripture as Jehoiachin) was the second to the last of the kings of Israel (Judah), and his uncle Zedikiah, NOT his son, succeeded him as the last king of Israel because of the curse. Jeconiah was cursed and could not have a son sit on the throne, which would include Jesus, which creates a real problem. That is why it is so important that both Matthew and Luke have geneologies, AND that they are different. 
Matthew’s is a “Royal” or legal geneology, whereas Luke’s follows a bloodline, the bloodline of His mother, whose geneology goes thru Nathan (son of David) rather than Solomon (as does Matthew’s), also a son of David. 
In Matthew’s geneology, Jesus could not be a blood relative of Jesus, because Joseph was not His biological father. God the Father was through the Holy Spirit. 
In Luke’s geneology, a blood line geneology, Jesus is fully human because He was born of Mary, Mary was His blood relative, and He is therefore a blood relative of both David and Abraham, qualifying Him as the Messiah.
And since He is also in the “Royal” or legal line of Joseph, He is further qualified as the Messiah. The only human to be qualified both ways.) by and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, (5th woman, who could have been stoned to death!)
and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

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 Messiah.

So, one interesting thing about this genealogy is that there are five women included in the genealogy of Jesus. Highly unusual as usually genealogies included mostly all males.

Another interesting point is that this genealogy is different than the one in Luke. The one in Luke is Jesus’ BLOOD LINE, proving Him to be a direct blood decendant of both David and Abraham. The geneology in Matthew is a LEGAL LINE, or a ROYAL LINE, again proving His qualification as Messiah. Whoever would be Messiah would need BOTH LINES, proving both His legal, or Royal heritage, as well as His blood heritage. 

So – to sum up, we see a lot in this genealogy. 

1. Matthew presents more evidence that Jesus is GOD.
2. We know Jesus has a heart for the lost and the sinner. This genealogy, at least it seems to me, also reveals God’s heart for the lost, and the sinner, and the outcast and the rejected. Not only does this connect the OT to the NT, but it connects God the Father to God the Son. So, in turn, this passage also begins to give us glimpses of the Trinity, that The Father and The Son are one in heart, one in Spirit and one in purpose, working together for one goal; the redemption of the lost sinner. This will become even more evidence in upcoming passages. STAY TUNED!!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: A QUESTION

What do you see when you look at Jesus?

What do you see when you look at God?

(How accurate do you think those two visions are?)

Next week is an Off Topic week!

—————————————————

Various random notes:

So, to our two MAIN POINTS, mentioned at the beginning,

MAIN POINT 1: 

Matthew shows Jesus to be indisputably qualified to be the Messiah. And no one ever disputed this fact. Some commentators, in fact, claim this alone as sufficient evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. Our Holman author included. But Matthew continues presenting his evidence all throughout his Gospel, to the point that the evidence is overwhelming.

MAIN POINT 2: 

Matthew begins to show, as John does so very well in his Gospel, that not only are Jesus and the Father on the same page about everything, but that they are, in fact, of one mind when when it comes to lost and hurting people; the broken-hearted, the destitute and the sinner. Matthew will continues to show this, sometimes in subtle ways, all throughout his Gospel. 

————————————————————

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife Uriah, who is Bathsheba and Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

In some ways, this paves the way for acceptance of how God will use Mary. 

Three of the four women (Rahab, Tamar, Ruth and the wife of Uriah) were gentiles for sure, and the reference to Bathsheba as the wife of Uriah the Gentile, seems to possibly indicate that Bathsheba may have been a gentile also. And if not, was at least married to one, making a “Gentile” connection. Matthew is foreshadowing and alluding to the “universal” nature of the Abrahamic promise of blessings to all peoples on earth (Gen. 12:3), and while Matthew’s audience is clearly Jewish, this “hinting” at the nature of God’s “global” or universal mission was a bit shocking and unexpected to some Jews, and a great dismay to many other Jews. By this time in their history, the Jews had become a nation of “separatists.”

While the main focus of Matthew’s Gospel is the Jews, Matthew also does include other hints that eventually – and soon – God’s plan will include Gentiles. The visit of the Magi in chapter two is another such hint, as well as the story of the centurion in Matthew, chapter 8.

Craig Keener, a leading authority on first century Jewish culture and history, says “The purpose of Jewish genealogies is to emphasize the purity of one’s Israelite ancestry.” Ancient genealogies usually included only men. 

God in the OT, and Jesus in the NT, both have a soft spot for sinners, which, we will see today in Jesus’ genealogy, includes Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba. God, as does Jesus, also has a soft spot for sinners, including prostitutes, which includes  Rahab, and possibly Tamar), andGod has a soft spot for the oppressed – Tamar and, David, and also for the “least of these” (Ruth, David, Tamar, Rahab). (See Matt 12:50, Matt. 25:40, Pro 18:24, Pro 14:31. From these verses, and others, we can begin to get a picture of God from the OT that is the same as Jesus in the NT. God the Father, and God the Son are the same!)

Every week close with SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: A QUESTION

——————————————

After class notes

(May 19, 2024)

Matt 1:2-17