The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon. Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse. Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa. Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor. Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud. Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself; and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25 Rehearsal: As the Hebrews used to speak: as Gen.…
Rehearsal: As the Hebrews used to speak: as Gen. 5:1, The book of the generations.
Which Christ is also the son of Abraham.
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Jesus Christ came of Abraham of the tribe of Judah, and of the stock of David as God promised.
Of the ancestors of whom Christ came.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–25 1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,…
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Ver. 1. The Book] That is, a roll or register, catalogue or calendar, a ciphering and summing up. (Gen 5:1, זח ספר תולדת αυτη η βιβλος γενεξεως.)
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Of the generations] That is, of the genealogies, as touching his humanity (St Matthew’s main drift), for touching on his divinity (St John’s chief scope and subject), "who can declare his generation?" Isa 53:8; "What is his name and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?" Pro 30:4. He is without descent or pedigree, as Melchisedec, Heb 7:3.
Of Jesus Christ] Jesus shows he was God (for "besides me there is no Saviour," Isa 45:21). Christ, that he was man, the anointed; for in respect of his manhood chiefly is this anointing with gifts and graces attributed to Christ. The name of Jesuits, therefore, savoureth of blasphemous arrogance. One of their own gives the reason; -becanse he hath communicated unto us the thing signified by the name Christ, but not by the name Jesus. {a} And yet it is notoriously known (saith Dr Fulke, out of another of their own writers) that the most honourable name of Christians is in Italy and at Rome a name of reproach, and usually abused to signify a fool or a dolt. (Fulke in Rhem. Testara. on Acts xi., sect. 4, out of Christoph. Franch. Col. Jesuit. in fine.)
The Son of David] God’s darling, {b} one that observed all his wills, Act 13:22, and faithfully served out his time, Act 13:36.
The son of Abraham] The friend of God and father of the faithful, reckoned here (for honour’s sake) as the next immediate father of Christ, whose day indeed he saw and rejoiced, Joh 8:56; (ηγαλλιασατο); he laughed, yea, leapt for joy of this man child to be born into the world. Whose children we are, so long as we walk in the steps of his faith; that Christ, being formed in us, may "see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied," Isa 53:10-11; he may "see his seed, and prolong his days upon earth." Such honour have all his saints, Psa 149:9.
{a} Rem signatam nomine Christi nobis communicavit, non autem Iesu. Lindwood.
{b} David, amatus vel amabilis. Unde Dido Poenis, Hinc Solomon dictus est Iedidiah.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24 Chapter Introduction
Chapter Introduction
The book of the generation signifieth no more than the writing containing the genealogy or pedigree; for the Jews called all writings books. Thus, Jer 32:10,11, the evidences of a purchase are called the book. So Isa 1:1; Mar 10:4, the writings called a bill of divorce are both in the Hebrew and the Greek called a book of divorce. Thus in ecclesiastical courts still, the term libel (which signifieth a little book) is used. So as these words are not to be looked upon as the title to the whole Gospel according to St. Matthew, but only to the following pedigree of our Saviour's ancestors.
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Of Jesus Christ; of that person to whom the name of Jesus was given by the angel, as we shall hear further, Mat 1:20,21, because he should save his people from their sins (for Jesus, as also Joshua, signifies a saviour or deliverer); and who also was the Christ, or the Messiah, prophesied of by Daniel, Dan 9:25,26, expected by the Jews, as doth appear from Joh 1:41 (for Messiah and Christ denoted the same person, Joh 4:25); only Messiah was a Hebrew word, and Christ of Greek extraction, both signifying Anointed, and so God's designation of a person to the office of a priest, a prophet, or a king. The Christ signifieth a designation to all three.
The Son of David, the son of Abraham: not the immediate Son of either, but, by a long traduction, lineally descended from both. Abraham was long before David, but is here put after him, either because he was a king, or because the Jews expected Messiah was to be the Son of David; or because the evangelist's design was to begin the pedigree from Abraham, whom he therefore last mentions. Both are named, because both were concerned in the promise of Christ. It was made to Abraham, Gen 12:3; 22:18; and to David renewed and enlarged, Psa 89:36,37. Hence it appeareth that the Jews looked that Christ should be the Son of David, Mat 22:42; Mar 12:35. Hence the evangelist puts David in the front. From Abraham the Jews derived themselves, they usually gloried they had Abraham to their father. The evangelist, by proving Christ to have descended from Abraham by Isaac, proveth him an Hebrew of the Hebrews, and to be descended from the seed to whom the promise was made; and by proving him the Son of David, he proves him David's righteous Branch, or Branch of righteousness, mentioned Jer 23:5,6; Jer 33:15, and so to have descended from the royal family.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 That is, the descent of Jesus Christ, who was,…
That is, the descent of Jesus Christ, who was, according to the flesh, the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, is on this wise. And his genealogy from Abraham down to his reputed father, was thus:
Here note, That our Evangelist designing to write a narrative of our Savior’s life, begins with his pedigree and genealogy, and shews whom he descended from, namely, from David and Abraham.
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Where Observe, 1. That David is named before Abraham, because he being a king, an illustrious type of the Messiah, the Jews expected, and do to this day expect, that the son of David shall reign over them; and that they should enjoy a temporal kingdom by him.
Observe 2. The names given to our blessed Savior, Jesus and Christ; Jesus is his Hebrew name, and signifies a Savior; Christ is his Greek name, and signifies anointed: from whence some do infer an intimation and encouragement, that both Hebrews and Greeks, both Jews and Gentiles, may alike come unto Christ for life and Salvation, he being the common Savior of both; according to that of He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1Jn 2:2
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 Concerning this genealogy of our Saviour, observe,
Concerning this genealogy of our Saviour, observe,
I. The title of it. It is the book (or the account, as the Hebrew word sepher, a book, sometimes signifies) of the generation of Jesus Christ, of his ancestors according to the flesh; or, It is the narrative of his birth. It is Biblos Geneseōs - a book of Genesis. The Old Testament begins with the book of the generation of the world, and it is its glory that it does so; but the glory of the New Testament herein excelleth, that it begins with the book of the generation of him that made the world. As God, his outgoings were of old, from everlasting (Mic 5:2), and none can declare that generation; but, as man, he was sent forth in the fulness of time, born of a woman, and it is that generation which is here declared.
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II. The principal intention of it. It is not an endless or needless genealogy; it is not a vain-glorious one, as those of great men commonly are. Stemmata, quid faciunt? - Of what avail are ancient pedigrees? It is like a pedigree given in evidence, to prove a title, and make out a claim; the design is to prove that our Lord Jesus is the son of David, and the son of Abraham, and therefore of that nation and family out of which the Messiah was to arise. Abraham and David were, in their day, the great trustees of the promise relating to the Messiah. The promise of the blessing was made to Abraham and his seed, of the dominion to David and his seed; and they who would have an interest in Christ, as the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are to be blessed, must be faithful, loyal subjects to him as the son of David, by whom all the families of the earth are to be ruled. It was promised to Abraham that Christ should descend from him (Gen 12:3; Gen 22:18), and to David that he should descend from him (Sa2 7:12; Psa 89:3, etc.; Psa 132:11); and therefore, unless it can be proved that Jesus is a son of David, and a son of Abraham, we cannot admit him to be the Messiah. Now this is here proved from the authentic records of the heralds' offices. The Jews were very exact in preserving their pedigrees, and there was a providence in it, for the clearing up of the descent of the Messiah from the fathers; and since his coming that nation is so dispersed and confounded that it is a question whether any person in the world can legally prove himself to be a son of Abraham; however, it is certain that none can prove himself to either a son of Aaron or a son of David, so that the priestly and kingly office must either be given up, as lost for ever, or be lodged in the hands of our Lord Jesus. Christ is here first called the son of David, because under that title he was commonly spoken of, and expected, among the Jews. They who owned him to be the Christ, called him the son of David, Mat 15:22; Mat 20:31; Mat 21:15. Thus, therefore, the evangelist undertakes to make out, that he is not only a son of David, but that son of David on whose shoulders the government was to be; not only a son of Abraham, but that son of Abraham who was to be the father of many nations.
In calling Christ the son of David, and the son of Abraham, he shows that God is faithful to his promise, and will make good every word that he has spoken; and this. 1. Though the performance be long deferred. When God promised Abraham a son, who should be the great blessing of the world, perhaps he expected it should be his immediate son; but it proved to be one at the distance of forty-two generations, and about 2000 years: so long before can God foretel what shall be done, and so long after, sometimes, does God fulfil what has been promised. Note, Delays of promised mercies, though they exercise our patience, do not weaken God's promise. 2. Though it begin to be despaired of. This son of David, and son of Abraham, who was to be the glory of his Father's house, was born when the seed of Abraham was a despised people, recently become tributary to the Roman yoke, and when the house of David was buried in obscurity; for Christ was to be a root out of a dry ground. Note, God's time for the performance of his promises is when it labours under the greatest improbabilities.
III. The particular series of it, drawn in the direct line from Abraham downward, according to the genealogies recorded in the beginning of the books of Chronicles (as far as those go), and which here we see the use of.
Some particulars we may observe in the genealogy.
1. Among the ancestors of Christ who had brethren, generally he descended from a younger brother; such Abraham himself was, and Jacob, and Judah, and David, and Nathan, and Rhesa; to show that the pre-eminence of Christ came not, as that of earthly princes, from the primogeniture of his ancestors, but from the will of God, who, according to the method of his providence, exalteth them of low degree, and puts more abundant honour upon that part which lacked.
2. Among the sons of Jacob, besides Judah, from whom Shiloh came, notice is here taken of his brethren: Judas and his brethren. No mention is made of Ishmael the son of Abraham, or of Esau the son of Isaac, because they were shut out of the church; whereas all the children of Jacob were taken in, and, though not fathers of Christ, were yet patriarchs of the church (Act 7:8), and therefore are mentioned in the genealogy, for the encouragement of the twelve tribes that were scattered abroad, intimating to them that they have an interest in Christ, and stand in relation to him as well as Judah.
3. Phares and Zara, the twin-sons of Judah, are likewise both named, though Phares only was Christ's ancestor, for the same reason that the brethren of Judah are taken notice of; and some think because the birth of Phares and Zara had something of an allegory in it. Zara put out his hand first, as the first-born, but, drawing it in, Phares got the birth-right. The Jewish church, like Zara, reached first at the birthright, but through unbelief, withdrawing the hand, the Gentile church, like Phares, broke forth and went away with the birthright; and thus blindness is in part happened unto Israel, till the fulness of the Gentiles become in, and then Zara shall be born - all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11:25, Rom 11:26.
4. There are four women, and but four, named in this genealogy; two of them were originally strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, Rachab a Canaanitess, and a harlot besides, and Ruth the Moabitess; for in Jesus Christ there is neither Greek, nor Jew; those that are strangers and foreigners are welcome, in Christ, to the citizenship of the saints. The other two were adulteresses, Tamar and Bathsheba; which was a further mark of humiliation put upon our Lord Jesus, that not only he descended from such, but that is decent from them is particularly remarked in his genealogy, and no veil drawn over it. He took upon him the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3), and takes even great sinners, upon their repentance, into the nearest relation to himself. Note, We ought not to upbraid people with the scandals of their ancestors; it is what they cannot help, and has been the lot of the best, even of our Master himself. David's begetting Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias is taken notice of (says Dr. Whitby) to show that the crime of David, being repented to, was so far from hindering the promise made to him, that it pleased God by this very woman to fulfil it.
5. Though divers kings are here named, yet none is expressly called a king but David (Mat 1:6), David the king; because with him the covenant of royalty was made, and to him the promise of the kingdom of the Messiah was given, who is therefore said to inherit the throne of his father David, Luk 1:32.
6. In the pedigree of the kings of Judah, between Joram and Ozias (Mat 1:8), there are three left out, namely, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah; and therefore when it is said, Joram begat Ozias, it is meant, according to the usage of the Hebrew tongue, that Ozias was lineally descended from him, as it is said to Hezekiah that the sons which he should beget should be carried to Babylon, whereas they were removed several generations from him. It was not through mistake or forgetfulness that these three were omitted, but, probably, they were omitted in the genealogical tables that the evangelist consulted, which yet were admitted as authentic. Some give this reason for it: - It being Matthew's design, for the sake of memory, to reduce the number of Christ's ancestors to three fourteens, it was requisite that in this period three should be left out, and none more fit than they who were the immediate progeny of cursed Athaliah, who introduced the idolatry of Ahab into the house of David, for which this brand is set upon the family and the iniquity thus visited to the third and fourth generation. Two of these three were apostates; and such God commonly sets a mark of his displeasure upon in this world: they all three had their heads brought to the grave with blood.
7. Some observe what a mixture there was of good and bad in the succession of these kings; as for instance (Mat 1:7, Mat 1:8), wicked Roboam begat wicked Abia; wicked Abia begat good Asa; good Asa begat good Josaphat; good Josaphat begat wicked Joram. Grace does not run in the blood, neither does reigning sin. God's grace is his own, and he gives or withholds it as he pleases.
8. The captivity of Babylon is mentioned as a remarkable period in this line, Mat 1:11, Mat 1:12. All things considered, it was a wonder that the Jews were not lost in that captivity, as other nations have been; but this intimates the reason why the streams of that people were kept to run pure through that dead sea, because from them, as concerning the flesh, Christ was to come. Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, even that blessing of blessings, Christ himself, Isa 65:8, Isa 65:9. It was with an eye to him that they were restored, and the desolations of the sanctuary were looked upon with favour for the Lord's sake, Dan 9:17.
9. Josias is said to beget Jechonias and his brethren (Mat 1:11); by Jechonias here is meant Jehoiakim, who was the first-born of Josias; but, when it is said (Mat 1:12) that Jechonias begat Salathiel, that Jechonias was the son of that Jehoiakim who was carried into Babylon, and there begat Salathiel (as Dr. Whitby shows), and, when Jechonias is said to have been written childless (Jer 22:30), it is explained thus: No man of his seed shall prosper. Salathiel is here said to beget Zorobabel, whereas Salathiel begat Pedaiah, and he begat Zorobabel (Ch1 3:19): but, as before, the grandson is often called the son; Pedaiah, it is likely, died in his father's lifetime, and so his son Zorobabel was called the son of Salathiel.
10. The line is brought down, not to Mary the mother of our Lord, but to Joseph the husband of Mary (Mat 1:16); for the Jews always reckoned their genealogies by the males: yet Mary was of the same tribe and family with Joseph, so that, both by his mother and by his supposed father, he was of the house of David; yet his interest in that dignity is derived by Joseph, to whom really according to the flesh he had no relation, to show that the kingdom of the Messiah is not founded in a natural descent from David.
11. The centre in whom all these lines meet is Jesus, who is called Christ, Mat 1:16. This is he that was so importunately desired, so impatiently expected, and to whom the patriarchs had an eye when they were so desirous of children, that they might have the honour of coming into the sacred line. Blessed be God, we are not now in such a dark and cloudy state of expectation as they were then in, but see clearly what these prophets and kings saw as through a glass darkly. And we may have, if it be not our own fault, a greater honour than that of which they were so ambitious: for they who do the will of God are in a more honourable relation to Christ than those who were akin to him according to the flesh, Mat 12:50. Jesus is called Christ, that is, the Anointed, the same with the Hebrew name Messiah. He is called Messiah the Prince (Dan 9:25), and often God's Anointed (Psa 2:2). Under this character he was expected: Art thou the Christ - the anointed one? David, the king, was anointed (Sa1 16:13); so was Aaron, the priest (Lev 8:12), and Elisha, the prophet (Kg1 19:16), and Isaiah, the prophet (Isa 61:1). Christ, being appointed to, and qualified for, all these offices, is therefore called the Anointed - anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows; and from this name of his, which is as ointment poured forth, all his followers are called Christians, for they also have received the anointing.
Lastly. The general summary of all this genealogy we have, Mat 1:17, where it is summed up in three fourteens, signalized by remarkable periods. In the first fourteen, we have the family of David rising, and looking forth as the morning; in the second, we have it flourishing in its meridian lustre; in the third, we have it declining and growing less and less, dwindling into the family of a poor carpenter, and then Christ shines forth out of it, the glory of his people Israel.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Abraham begat Isaac,.... The descent of Christ from Abraham…
Abraham begat Isaac,.... The descent of Christ from Abraham is in the line of Isaac; Abraham begat Ishmael before Isaac, and others after him, but they are not mentioned; because the Messiah was not to spring from any of them, but from Isaac, of whom it is said, "in Isaac shall thy seed be called", Gen 21:12 and who, as he was a progenitor, so an eminent type of Christ; being Abraham's only beloved son; and particularly in the binding, sacrifice and deliverance of him.
Isaac begat Jacob. The genealogy of Christ proceeds from Isaac, in the line of Jacob. Isaac begat Esau, as well as Jacob, and they two were twins, but one was loved, and the other hated; wherefore no mention is made of Esau, he had no concern in the Messiah, nor was he to spring from him, but from Jacob, or Israel, by whose name he is sometimes called, Isa 49:3
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Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. The lineage of Christ is carried on from Jacob in the line of Judah; the reason of which is, because it was particularly prophesied that the Messiah, Shiloh, the prince and chief ruler, should be of him, Gen 49:10 Ch1 5:2. And it is evident beyond all contradiction, that our Lord sprung from his tribe, Heb 7:14. The reason why the brethren of Judah, who were eleven in number, are mentioned, when the brethren of Isaac and Jacob are not, is, because though the Messiah did not spring from them, yet the promise of him was made to the twelve tribes, who all expected him, and to whom he was sent, and came. These made but one body of men, and therefore, though the Messiah came from the tribe of Judah, yet he is said to be of them all, Rom 9:4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ --…
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ -- that is, strictly speaking, the account of his birth and genealogy. This title therefore properly relates to the verses that immediately follow: but as it sometimes signifies the history of a person, in that sense it may belong to the whole book. If there were any difficulties in this genealogy, or that given by St. Luke, which could not easily be removed, they would rather affect the Jewish tables, than the credit of the evangelists: for they act only as historians setting down these genealogies, as they stood in those public and allowed records. Therefore they were to take them as they found them. Nor was it needful they should correct the mistakes, if there were any. For these accounts sufficiently answer the end for which they are recited. They unquestionably prove the grand point in view, that Jesus was of the family from which the promised seed was to come. And they had more weight with the Jews for this purpose, than if alterations had been made by inspiration itself. For such alterations would have occasioned endless disputes between them and the disciples of our Lord. The son of David, the son of Abraham - He is so called, because to these he was more peculiarly promised; and of these it was often foretold the Messiah should spring. Luke iii, 31.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 -Usherian year of the World, 4000.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.
-Usherian year of the World, 4000.
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-Alexandrian year of the World, 5498.
-Antiochian year of the World, 5488.
-Constantinopolitan AEra of the World, 5504.
-Year of the Julian Period, 4709.
-AEra of the Seleucidae, 308.
-Year before the vulgar AEra of Christ, 5.
-Year of the CXCIII. Olympiad, 4.
-Year of the building of Rome, 749.
-Year of the Emperor Augustus, i.e. from the battle of Actium, 26.
-Consuls, Augustus XII. and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
-Year of the Paschal Cycle or Dionysian Period, 530.
-Year of the Solar Cycle, 5.
-Year of the Lunar Cycle, 13.
-Dominical Letters, B A.
CHAPTER I.
The genealogy of Christ divided into three classes of fourteen
generations each: The first fourteen, from Abraham to David,
2-6.
The second fourteen, from Solomon to Jechonias, 7-10.
The third fourteen, from Jechonias to Christ, 11-16.
The sum of these generations, 17.
Christ is conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin
Mary, when she was espoused to Joseph, 18.
Joseph's anxiety and doubts are removed by the ministry of an
Angel, 19, 20;
by whom the child is named JESUS, 21.
The fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah relative to this,
22, 23.
Joseph takes home his wife, Mary, and Christ is born, 24, 25.
NOTES ON CHAP. I.
Verse 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ] I suppose these words to have been the original title to this Gospel; and that they signify, according to the Hebrew Phraseology, not only the account of the genealogy of Christ, as detailed below, but the history of his birth, acts, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension.
The phrase, book of the generation, ספר תולדות sepher toledoth, is frequent in the Jewish writings, and is translated by the Septuagint, βιβλος γενεσεως, as here, by the evangelist; and regularly conveys the meaning given to it above; e. g. This is the book of the generations of Adam, Ge 5:1. That is, the account of the life of Adam and certain of his immediate descendants. Again. These are the generations of Jacob, Ge 37:2. That is, the account or history of Jacob, his son Joseph, and the other remarkable branches of the family. And again. These are the generations of Aaron and Moses, Nu 3:1. That is, the history of the life and acts of these persons, and some of their immediate descendants. The same form of expression is also used, Ge 2:4, when giving the history of the creation of heaven and earth.
Some have translated βιβλος γενεσεως, The book of the genealogy; and consider it the title of this chapter only; but the former opinion seems better founded.
Jesus Christ] See on Mt 1:16; Mt 1:21.
The son of David, the son of Abraham] No person ever born could boast, in a direct line, a more illustrious ancestry than Jesus Christ. Among his progenitors, the regal, sacerdotal, and prophetic offices, existed in all their glory and splendour. DAVID, the most renowned of sovereigns, was king and prophet: ABRAHAM, the most perfect character in all antiquity, whether sacred or profane, was priest and prophet: but the three offices were never united except in the person of Christ; he alone was prophet, priest, and king; and possessed and executed these offices in such a supereminent degree as no human being ever did, or ever could do. As the principal business of the prophet was to make known the will of God to men, according to certain partial communications received from Heaven; so Jesus, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and who was intimately and thoroughly acquainted with all the mysteries of the eternal world, came to declare the Divine nature and its counsels to mankind; see Joh 1:18. As the business of the priest was to offer sacrifices to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people; so Christ was constituted a high priest, to make, by the sacrifice of himself, an atonement for the sins of the whole world; see 1Jo 2:2, and the whole Epistle to the Hebrews. As the office of king was to reign over, protect, and defend the people committed to his care by the Divine Providence; so Christ is set as a king upon Sion, having the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, Ps 2:6; Ps 2:8, c. Of the righteousness, peace, and increase of whose government, there shall be no end, Isa 9:7. This three-fold office, Christ executes not only in a general sense, in the world at large but, in a particular sense, in every Christian soul. He is first a prophet, to teach the heart of man the will of God; to convict the conscience of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and fully to illustrate the way of salvation. He is next a priest, to apply that atonement to the guilty conscience, the necessity of which, as a prophet, he had previously made known. And lastly, as a king, he leads captivity captive, binds and casts out the strong man armed, spoils his goods, extends the sway of the sceptre of righteousness, subdues and destroys sin, and reigns Lord over all the powers and faculties of the human soul; so that AS sin reigned unto death, EVEN so does grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Ro 5:21.
It is remarkable, that the evangelist names David before Abraham, though the latter was many generations older: the reason seems to be this, that David was not only the most illustrious of our Lord's predecessors, as being both king and prophet; but because that promise, which at first was given to Abraham, and afterwards, through successive generations, confirmed to the Jewish people, was at last determined and restricted to the family of David. Son of David, was an epithet by which the Messiah was afterwards known among the Jews; and, under this title, they were led to expect him by prophetic authority. See Ps 89:3-4; Ps 132:10, Ps 132:11, compared with Ac 13:23, and Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5. Christ was prophesied of under the very name of David. See Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 Mat 1:1. The book — That is, This is…
Mat 1:1. The book — That is, This is the book, the verb being elegantly omitted, according to the custom of the Hebrews, and also of the Greeks and Romans; of the generation — Or, as the Syriac expresses it, The writing, narrative, or account of the generation, or birth of Jesus, &c. The word γενεσις, indeed, here rendered generation, sometimes signifies the history of a person’s life, yet it is much more frequently used for genealogy, or birth; and it seems to be intended to be taken in this restrained sense here. Dr. Macknight renders the phrase, The table of the genealogy of Jesus: observing that the word Βιβλος, book, is used in this limited sense Mar 10:4, where a bill of divorce is so called: and Jer 32:12, where a deed of conveyance is termed ספר, a book. Indeed, the Jews, and also the Greeks, called all writings books, whether short or long. Of Jesus Christ — Jesus is his proper name, given him by God, his true Father, Mat 1:21; Luk 1:31; Luk 2:21. Christ is, as it were, a surname, descriptive of his unction to the prophetic, priestly, and kingly offices. To the name Christ, that of Jesus is often superadded in the New Testament, not only that Christ might be pointed out for the Saviour, as the word Jesus signifies, but that Jesus might be shown to be the true Messiah, or Christ, in opposition to the unbelief of the Jews. The son of David, the son of Abraham — i.e., a descendant of David and Abraham; the word son, in the language of the Hebrews, being put for any descendant, however remote. Here the evangelist proposes what he is going to prove; viz, that Jesus Christ, whose history he is about to give, was the son of David and Abraham, which it was necessary he should show because the grand prophetical character of the Messiah was, that he was to spring from Abraham and David. The sense of the latter clause, indeed, the son of Abraham, is ambiguous: it may mean either that David was the son of Abraham, or, which seems the more probable sense, that Christ, who was the son of David, was also the son of Abraham. This sense accords better both with the following words, and with the design of the evangelist, which was to show, that Christ was descended from both these renowned patriarchs, and that in him was fulfilled the promises made to both. David is first named, 1. That the catalogue, to begin from Abraham, might proceed regularly, without the repetition of his name; 2. Because the memory of David was more fresh upon the minds of the Jews, and his name in greater repute than that of Abraham, especially when the discourse related to the Messiah, Joh 7:42; more plain and explicit promises of him being made to David, and the prophets having spoken of Christ under the name of David. Add to this, that David was both a prophet and a king, and therefore a more manifest type of the Messiah, who sustains both of these offices, as well as that of a priest. Hence those who had entertained higher conceptions of Christ than others, termed him the son of David, as appears from many passages in the gospels.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 The book of the generation - This is the…
The book of the generation - This is the proper title of the chapter. It is the same as to say, “the account of the ancestry or family, or the genealogical table of Jesus Christ.” The phrase is common in Jewish writings. Compare Gen 5:1. “This is the book of the generations of Adam,” i. e., the genealogical table of the family or descendants of Adam. See also Gen 6:9. The Jews, moreover, as we do, kept such tables of their own families. and it is probable that this was copied from the record of the family of Joseph.
Jesus - See the notes at Mat 1:21.
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Christ - The word “Christ” is a Greek word, Χριστός Christos, signifying “anointed.” The Hebrew word, משׁיח mâshı̂yach, signifying the same is “Messiah.” Hence, Jesus is called either the Messiah, or the Christ, meaning the same thing. The Jews speak of the Messiah; Christians speak of him as the Christ. In ancient times, when kings and priests were set apart to their office, they were anointed with oil, Lev 4:3; Lev 6:20; Exo 28:41; Exo 29:7; 1Sa 9:16; 1Sa 15:1; 2Sa 23:1. To anoint, therefore, means often the same as to consecrate, or to set apart to an office. Hence, those thus set apart are said to be anointed, or to be the anointed of God. It is for this reason that the name is given to the Lord Jesus. Compare the notes at Dan 9:24. He was set apart by God to be the King, and High Priest, and Prophet of his people. Anointing with oil was, moreover, supposed to be emblematic of the influences of the Holy Spirit; and since God gave him the Spirit without measure Joh 3:34, so he is especially called “the Anointed of God.”
The Son of David - The word “son” among the Jews had a great variety of significations. It means literally a son; then a grandson; a descendant: an adopted son; a disciple, or one who is an object of tender affection one who is to us as a son. In this place it means a descendant of David; or one who was of the family of David. It was important to trace the genealogy of Jesus up to David, because the promise had been made that the Messiah should be of his family, and all the Jews expected that it would be so. It would be impossible, therefore, to convince a Jew that Jesus was the Messiah, unless it could be shown that he was descended from David. See Jer 23:5; Psa 132:10-11, compared with Act 13:23, and Joh 7:42.
The son of Abraham - The descendant of Abraham. The promise was made to Abraham also. See Gen 12:3; Gen 21:12; compare Heb 11:13; Gal 3:16. The Jews expected that the Messiah would be descended from him; and it was important, therefore, to trace the genealogy up to him also. Though Jesus was of humble birth, yet he was descended from most illustrious ancestors. Abraham, the father of the faithful - “the beauteous model of an Eastern prince,” and David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the conqueror, the magnificent and victorious leader of the people of God, were both among his ancestors. From these two persons, the most eminent for piety, and the most renowned for their excellencies of all the people of antiquity, sacred or profane, the Lord Jesus was descended; and though his birth and life were humble, yet they who regard an illustrious descent as of value, may find here all that is to be admired in piety, purity, patriotism, splendor, dignity, and renown.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 The first English Testament, divided into verses, was that…
The first English Testament, divided into verses, was that printed at Geneva, by Conrad Badius, in the year 1557. (Haydock) --- "The book of the Generation," is not referred to the whole gospel, but to the beginning, as in Genesis v. "This is the book of the generation of Adam." (Estius) --- The book of the[1] Generation, i.e. the generation or pedigree, which is here set down in the first sixteen verses. In the style of the Scriptures any short schedule or roll is called a book, as the bill or short writing of a divorce, is called a little book. (Matthew v. 31.) (Witham) --- Jesus, in Hebrew Jesuah, is the proper name of Him, who was born of the Virgin Mary, who was also the Son of God, "a name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." (Luke ii.) It signifies Saviour, "because he was to save his people from their sins." He was also called Christ, which signifies anointed; for though in the Old Testament kings, priests, and prophets were anointed, and though many were then designated by the name of Jesus, properly, and by an invariable custom of the New Testament, that person is exclusively signified, who, on account of the union of the divine and human nature, was anointed by the Holy Ghost above all his fellows. (Psalm xliv. and Hebrews i. 9.) Whence in this turn the hypostasis is understood, in which the two natures, the divine and human meet. (Estius)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Liber Generationis. Greek: Biblos geneseos. So Genesis ver. 1. Hic est liber generationis Adam, Greek: Biblos, &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Matthew Chapter 1
Matthew Chapter 1
The object of the Spirit of God, in this Gospel, being to present Jehovah as fulfilling the promises made to Israel, and the prophecies that relate to the Messiah (and no one can fail to be struck with the number of references to their fulfilment), He commences with the genealogy of the Lord, starting from David and Abraham, the two stocks from which the Messianic genealogy sprang, and to which the promises had been made. The genealogy is divided into three periods, conformably to three great divisions of the history of the people: from Abraham to the establishment of royalty, in the person of David; from the establishment of royalty to the captivity; and from the captivity to Jesus.
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We may observe that the Holy Ghost mentions, in this genealogy, the grievous sins committed by the persons whose names are given, magnifying the sovereign grace of God who could bestow a Saviour in connection with such sins as those of Judah, with a poor Moabitess brought in amidst His people, and with crimes like those of David.
It is the legal genealogy which is given here, that is to say, the genealogy of Joseph, of whom Christ was the rightful heir according to Jewish law. The evangelist has omitted three kings of the parentage of Ahab, in order to have the fourteen generations in each period. Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are also omitted. The object of the genealogy is not at all affected by this circumstance. The point was to give it as recognised by the Jews, and all the kings were well known to all.
The evangelist briefly relates the facts concerning the birth of Jesus-facts which are of infinite and eternal importance, not only to the Jews, who were immediately interested in them, but to ourselves-facts in which God has deigned to link His own glory with our interests, with man.
Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Her posterity was consequently legally that of Joseph, as to the rights of inheritance; but the child she carried in her womb was of divine origin, conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost. The angel of Jehovah is sent, as the instrument of providence, to satisfy the tender conscience and upright heart of Joseph, by communicating to him that that which Mary had conceived was of the Holy Ghost.
We may remark here, that the angel on this occasion addresses Joseph as “son of David.” The Holy Ghost thus draws our attention to the relationship of Joseph (the reputed father of Jesus) to David, Mary being called his wife. The angel gives at the same time the name of Jesus (that is, Jehovah the Saviour) to the child that should be born. He applies this name to the deliverance of Israel from the condition into which sin had plunged them. [2] All these circumstances happened, in order to fulfil that which Jehovah had said by the mouth of His prophet, “Behold a [the] virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
Here then is that which the Spirit of God sets before us in these few verses: Jesus, the Son of David, conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost; Jehovah, the Saviour, who delivers Israel from their sins; God with them; He who accomplished those marvellous prophecies which, more or less plainly, drew the outline that the Lord Jesus alone could fill up.
Joseph, a just man, simple in heart and obedient, discerns without difficulty the revelation of the Lord, and obeys it.
These titles stamp the character of this Gospel, that is, of the way Christ is presented in it. And how wonderful this revelation of Him by whom the words and promises of Jehovah were to be fulfilled! What a ground work of truth for the understanding of what this glorious and mysterious Person was, of whom the Old Testament had said enough to awaken the desires and to confound the minds of the people to whom He was given!
Born of a woman, born under the law, heir to all the rights of David according to the flesh, also the Son of God, Jehovah the Saviour, God with His people:-who could comprehend or fathom the mystery of His nature in whom all these things were combined? His life in fact, as we shall see, displays the obedience of the perfect man, the perfections and the power of God.
The titles which we have just named, and which we read in Mat 1:20-23, are connected with His glory in the midst of Israel-that is to say, the heir of David, Jesus the Saviour of His people, and Emmanuel. His birth of the Holy Ghost accomplished Psa 2:7 with regard to Him as a man born on the earth. The name of Jesus, and His conception by the power of the Holy Ghost, no doubt go beyond this relationship, but are linked also in an especial manner with His position in Israel. [3]
Footnotes for Matthew Chapter 1
[2] It is written, “For he shall save his people,” thus plainly shewing the title of Jehovah contained in the word Jesus or Jehoshua. For Israel was the people of the Lord, that is, of Jehovah.
[3] The wider relationship is more distinctively given in the Gospel of Luke, where His genealogy is traced up to Adam; but here the title of Son of man is specially appropriate.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 Jesus comes into this world, as the Messiah of…
PART FIRST
Jesus comes into this world, as the Messiah of the true Theocracy, to fulfil the Old Covenant. He remains unknown to and unrecognized by the outward and secular Theocracy of His day. Rejected and cast out by His own, He undertakes secretly His first Messianic pilgrimage into Egypt. But He is glorified and attested by God.
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FIRST SECTION
PROPHETIC TYPES OF THE MESSIAH, IN THE GENEALOGY OF THE MESSIAH
Mat_1:1-17 (Luk_3:23-38)
Contents:—1. Superscription.—2. Fundamental Idea.—3. The Three Divisions of the Genealogy.—4. Number of the Generations
1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2Abraham begat Isaac;
Isaac begat Jacob;
Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3 Judas begat Phares and Zara—
of Thamar;
Phares begat Esrom;
Esrom begat Aram;
4 Aram begat Aminadab;
Aminadab begat Naasson;
Naasson begat Salmon;
5 Salmon begat Booz—
of Rachab;
Booz begat Obed—
of Ruth;
Obed begat Jesse;
6 Jesse begat David the king; David the king1 begat Solomon—
of her that had been the wife of Urias,
7 Solomon begat Roboam;
Roboam begat Abia;
Abia begat Asa;
8 Asa begat Josaphat;
Josaphat begat Joram;
Joram begat Ozias;
9 Ozias begat Joatham;
Joatham begat Achaz;
Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 Ezekias begat Manasses;
Manasses begat Amon;
Amon begat Josias;
11 Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away (μετοικεσία) to Babylon;
12 And after they were brought to Babylon—
Jechonias begat Salathiel;
Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13 Zorobabel begat Abiud;
Abiud begat Eliakim;
Eliakim begat Azor;
14 Azor begat Sadoc;
Sadoc begat Achim;
Achim begat Eliud;
15 Eliud begat Eleazar;
Eleazar begat Matthan;
Matthan begat Jacob;
16 Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ [the Messiah].2
17So all the generations from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations; and from David, until the carrying away into Babylon, are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, are fourteen generations.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_1:1. The expression βίβλος γενέσεως might be rendered, book of the nativity, and hence be applied in a more extended sense to the whole Gospel. But it may also mean genealogy, genealogical table, pedigree; and this is the simplest and most obvious meaning. It is supported, 1) by the analogy of Gen_5:1 (Sept.); 2) by the reference in Mat_1:18, τοῦ δὲΧριστοῦ ἡ γένεσις, and in Mat_2:1, τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ γεννηθεντος.
Jesus, Joshua, יְהוֹשׁוּצַ (Exo_24:13; Num_13:16), or יֵשׁוּצַ—as the name was written after the Babylonish captivity (Neh_7:7)—God is helper, or deliverer.
Christ, Χριστός, מָשִׁיחַ, anointed: the official designation of priests, Lev_4:3; Lev_5:16; Psa_105:15;—of kings, 1Sa_24:6; 1Sa_24:10; Psa_2:2; Dan_9:25-26. In 1Ki_19:16 we also read of anointing to the prophetic office. The inspired teaching of the prophets led Israel to look for salvation in and through a personal Messiah, who, although represented in the first place as the anointed King of the stock of David, was also invested with the attributes of perfect Prophet and of High Priest.
Mat_1:2-16. From the expression “Jacob begat Joseph,” Mat_1:16, we gather that we have here the genealogy of Joseph, and not that of Mary. But why should the Evangelist present this genealogy to his readers? Joseph was descended from David through the legitimate royal line of the house of David; and it was necessary to show that Jesus, the adoptive son of Joseph, was the legal heir to the throne of David. But this line of descent was, in the most important respect, also the line of Mary, though she was descended from David through another branch (Luk_1:27; Rom_1:3). In Joseph’s line of descent, the grand characteristics which distinguish the line of Jesus appear in the most striking manner; viz., its spiritual nobility, its humiliations and consecrations in the progress of history, its glorious elevation, and its tragic reverses. It was necessary that even in His line of descent the Lord should be marked out as the chosen sacrificial Lamb of Israel and of the world.
The line of descent, as traced by Matthew, presents various difficulties.—First, in the way of omissions. The table gives Rahab as the great-grandmother of David. Yet she lived about 400, or, more precisely, 366 years before David was born. “This difficulty,” remarks de Wette, “is connected with the statement in Rth_4:20, according to which the line between David and Nahshon is represented as consisting of only four generations.” Besides, in the second division of the genealogy, the names of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are omitted, which, according to 1Ch_3:11-12, must be inserted between Joram and Ozias; also the name of Jehoiakim, which, according to 2Ki_24:6; 2Ch_36:8, should come in between Josiah and Jeconiah or Jehoiachin. These omissions were evidently made with the view of reducing the generations from David to the Babylonish captivity to fourteen. But for this Matthew must have had a sufficient reason. According to some critics, the arrangement of the genealogical table was designed merely to aid the memory. Others have imagined that it bore reference to certain cabalistic ideas. W. Hoffmann explainsthe discrepancy (das Leben Jesu, etc., Stuttgart, 1836) by the supposition that there was some confusion in the genealogical table which Matthew used. According to Ebrard (Evangelienkritik, p. 199), the descendants of the heathen Jezebel to the fourth generation were omitted, in strict accordance with the Decalogue. Thus Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah were left out. Jehoiakim also was omitted, because, in reference to the Theocracy, he and Jehoiachin really formed but one link in the great chain, and the first was the less worthy of commemoration. But none of the above suggestions supplies a valid reason for the omissions. The true explanation appears to be, that all the individuals omitted by the Evangelist had, in one respect or another, no claim to be regarded as separate and distinct links in the theocratic chain. Ahaziah was a mere puppet in the hand of his mother Athaliah, daughter of Ahaz, king of Israel. Joash deserved the title of sovereign merely so long as he continued under the guidance of Jehoiada the priest, who was the king’s son-in-law. After the death of Jehoiada, he yielded entirely to the influence of a godless court. It is remarkable that Jehoiada was buried in the tomb of the kings, but not Joash (2Ch_24:16). In accordance with an express prophetic declaration, Amaziah was destroyed on account of his impenitence—according to the Sept.—by God (2Ch_25:16; 2Ch_25:27). Jehoiakim was forcibly made king of Judah by the king of Egypt (2Ch_36:4). Similarly Zedekiah was left out, as having been merely a creature of the king of Babylon, and also because, as brother of Jehoiachin, he formed no new link between Jehoiachin and Salathiel. Assir also is passed over, because no political importance attaches to his life, which was passed in the Babylonish captivity. (Comp. W. Hoffmann, l. c., p. 152; K. Hofmanu, Weissagung und Erfüllung, ii. 37.)
Further, it will be noticed that the third division contains only thirteen generations, counting Joseph as the twelfth, and adding Jesus as the thirteenth. By this Matthew evidently intended to indicate that the name of Mary was here to be inserted in the genealogy; for in so important a matter he could not have made a mistake. Nor can we admit the supposition that he counted the name of Jechoniah twice,—the second time as anew founding the Messianic line after the Babylonish captivity. At any rate, the Evangelist wished to lay emphasis on the fact, that Joseph was not the natural father of Jesus. Accordingly, there is a sudden break in the natural order of the genealogy: Abraham begat etc., Jacob begat Joseph; and an expression is introduced which forcibly points to the circumstance that Jesus was born of a virgin.
Another point claims our attention. According to Jewish law, a stain attached to each of the four females—Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—introduced by Matthew into the genealogy. But we can scarcely infer from this circumstance, with Starke, that they are specially mentioned in order to show that Christ was not ashamed of poor sinners, since He derived from such His human nature, and had received them as His own people; for it is beyond question that Jesus was conceived by Mary without any taint of sin. It was rather the object of the Evangelist to point out to his Jewish readers a higher righteousness than that external and ceremonial sanctity which the Pharisees extolled. No doubt Thamar conceived Phares, knowing that she committed incest; while Judah, although not aware who she was, was guilty of fornication. Still, it was under the impulse of faith, though fanatical and sadly misdirected, that Thamar took that strange and sinful step. She was resolved, at all hazards, to become one of the mothers of God’s chosen race. By faith, Thamar rose over the guilt of incest, and Rahab over her former degradation of being a heathen and a harlot. By her heroic faith, Ruth, though pure and unblamable, yet a heathen, attained such distinction, that one of the books in the Old Testament canon bears her name; while Bathsheba, David’s accomplice in adultery, became the partner of his penitence and his throne.
In the arrangement and division of the genealogical tree of Jesus, Matthew was undoubtedly influenced by the Old Testament symbolism of numbers. The grand general arrangement into three groups (patriarchs, kings, and persons of royal extraction) presents an ascending and descending line. In the first fourteen generations there is a gradual ascent (in a secular point of view), culminating in royalty. The second series consists of a line of royal personages, gradually inclining downwards. The third begins during the Babylonish captivity, and forms a descending line, which finally terminates in Joseph the carpenter. Still, the main point in this arrangement is the number three. Three is the grand spiritual number. In spite of the sins and the apostasy of some of the representatives of David, that line always continued specially set apart by God and for God, constituting a hereditary spiritual nobility in the midst of the people of Israel, and of the world at large. In it the hereditary blessing of Abraham was more and more concentrated,—both the blessing of the promise and the blessing of faith. Each of these three groups was again subdivided into a series of fourteen—twice seven. The number seven denotes the full development of nature up to its consecration and transfiguration. Two is the number of contrast—of sex, of life. Accordingly, the number fourteen would indicate that the development of a genealogical line had reached its completion. The number three, on the other hand, denotes the perfect elevation of this perfect natural development of nature into the sphere of spiritual consecration. Hence the forty-two generations point to the spiritual consecration of the theocratic line culminating in Him who was full of the Holy Ghost. On the same principle, the Israelites wandered for forty years (a round number for forty-two) through the wilderness, and had in all forty-two encampments. Thus, in reference both to time and space, the old race had to pass as it were through forty-two stages before a new race (in the symbolical sense) sprang up.
We can here but briefly discuss the relation between the genealogy of Jesus according to Matthew, and the same as given by Luke. So far as their arrangement is concerned, we notice, that while the first genealogy descends from the progenitor, the second ascends from the last scion; and that, while Matthew begins with Abraham, Luke goes beyond the father of the faithful to Adam, the first progenitor of the human race, and to God its Creator. Again, so far as the contents of the two tables are concerned, we find that from David downwards the names are for the most part different, and manifestly constitute two different lines, which coincide only in the names of Zorobabel and Salathiel. Matthew’s line passes from David to Solomon, while that of Luke passes from David to his son Nathan. In Matthew’s line, the parent of the foster-father of Jesus is called Jacob, while in that of Luke he is designated Eli. The same discrepancy extends over the whole table,—always assuming that the apparent coincidence of the two lines in Zorobabel and Salathiel is simply due to similarity of names. From the earliest period, various explanations of this difficulty have been suggested. At first it was supposed that, by a marriage according to the law of Levirate (Deu_25:5-10), the two lines had converged in one link. Julius Africanus (according to Eusebius, E. H. I. 7) suggested that Eli died childless, that Jacob espoused his widow, and was the real father of Joseph. But then, according to the law, Eli alone would in that case have been mentioned as the father of Joseph (Deu_25:6). Ambrosius reversed the above hypothesis: Eli, he supposed, was the real, and Jacob the nominal father. But in that case the same difficulty recurs. Other hypotheses are even less plausible. The view most commonly adopted is that of Helvicus (see Winer’s Real-Wörterb. art. Jesus), according to which, Luke is supposed to furnish the maternal genealogy; so that the Eli mentioned in Luk_3:23 was the father of Mary, and, as father-in-law of Joseph, was called his father. The objection of Winer, that in such case Luke would not have employed the termsτοῦ Ἠλί, may be met by a reference to the similar expression τοῦ Θεοῦ, where, of course, it could not be intended to represent God as the natural Father of Adam. The objection, that the Jews were not in the habit of keeping genealogical record of females, does not apply here, as Jesus had no natural father. Besides, down to Eli, the genealogy given is that of males. Lastly, so far as the propriety of the thing was concerned, Luke also inserts the name of Joseph, as being in the eye of the law the father of Jesus. This hypothesis has been adopted by many modern expositors, as Bengel, Heumann, Paulus, Kuinoel, Wieseler, W. Hoffmann (Leben Jesu, p. 148).3 It was in accordance with the general plan of Luke’s Gospel to follow up the genealogical line beyond Abraham to Adam and God, so as to present the Lord both as the Son of man and at the same time the Son of God, and for the same reason, to trace the actual lineage of Jesus, and consequently that of his mother Mary; while Matthew in this respect also represented the theocratic and legal point of view.
Proofs and parallel passages:—Jesus, Luk_1:31. Christ, Lev_4:5; Lev_4:16, etc.; in the New Testament everywhere. Jesus Christ, Joh_20:31, and in many other places. Son of David, Psa_132:11; Isa_11:1; Act_13:23; Jer_23:5; Rom_1:3; Mat_15:22; Mat_21:9; Mat_22:42. Abraham, Gen_12:3; Gen_22:18; 2Sa_7:12; Gal_3:16, etc., etc. Isaac, Gen_21:2-3; Rom_9:7; Rom_9:9. Jacob, Gen_25:26. Judah, Gen_29:35; Gen_49:10; Heb_7:14. Pharez and Zarah, Gen_38:29-30. Hezron (Esrom), 1Ch_2:4-5. Aram or Ram, Rth_4:19 (Hezron’s first-born son omitted, 1Ch_2:9). Aminadab, 1Ch_2:10. Naashon, Exo_6:23. Salmon, 1Ch_2:11; Rth_4:20. Rahab, Jos_2:1; Jos_6:23-24. Boaz, Obed, Rth_4:13; Rth_4:17. Obed, Jesse, Rth_4:22; 1Ch_2:12; 1Sa_20:27; 1Ki_12:16. Jesse, David, 1Ch_2:15. Solomon, 2Sa_12:24. Roboam, Rehoboam, 1Ki_11:43. Abia, Asa, 1Ki_15:2; 1Ki_15:8. Josaphat, 2 Chronicles 16, 17. Joram, 2Ki_8:16; 2Ch_21:1. Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, 2Ki_8:24; 2Ki_11:2; 2Ki_12:21; 1Ch_3:11. Ozias (or Azariah), 2Ki_14:21. Joatham, 2Ki_15:7; 2Ch_26:23. Ahaz, 2Ki_15:38; 2Ch_27:9. Ezekias (Hezekiah), 2Ki_16:20; 2Ch_28:27. Manasses, 2Ki_20:21. Amon, 2Ki_21:18. Josias, 2Ki_21:24. Jechonias, Jehoiakim, 2Ki_23:35. The Babylonish captivity (2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36). “ἐπί notat tempus non stricte tantum sed cum latitudine,” just as Jechonias and his brothers were not born at one and the same time. On three different occasions, within a short period, portions of the people were carried away,—first, during the reign of Jehoiakim, then under that of Jehoiachin, and, lastly, under Zedekiah. But the Evangelist speaks of the three events as of one, because the captivity began under the first of these princes, was extended under the second, and completed under the third.—Salathiel, (Pedaiah), Zorobabel, 1Ch_3:18-19. Abiud (Hananiah), 1Ch_3:19. Abiud, Eliakim, etc., Jewish tradition (Temple registers).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Even as original sin has tainted all mankind from the womb, so, and much more, has our race participated in the riches of Divine grace. Hence, in the history of the world, the hereditary curse and the hereditary blessing have always appeared side by side—in Cain and Abel, in Ham and Shem, in the case of the heathen world and of Abraham. Not only has the curse bad a blessing for its counterpart, but on each successive occasion the blessing has widened and increased. The blessing of Shem surpassed that of Japheth; the blessing of Judah, that of his brethren; and the blessing of David, that of all Judah and Israel beside. This contrast of blessing and curse led to that between the religion of faith and heathenism. Not that the hereditary blessing of Abraham remained wholly unimpaired by the curse that flowed from Adam’s guilt. Hence it was necessary that Christ should die on the cross, though the covenant-blessing centered in Him. Still, this influence of transmitted sin could not destroy either the blessing of personal faith or the hereditary blessing of Abraham; and now that all promises have been fulfilled in Christ, the curse of original sin is, in the case of believers, not only removed, but transformed into blessing.
2. Abraham was told, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” It was not said, “In thy oral tradition,” or “In thy written records.” According to the notions of many, the New Testament should have begun with a list of the books of the Old Testament. Instead of this, however, it begins with a genealogical tree. Through Abraham’s faith the blessing had descended in his seed as an heirloom. Antipædobaptists overlook this mystery, otherwise they would see more meaning in the admission of infants into the visible Church.
3. Down to David, Joseph’s line of descent was the same as that of Mary. It then diverged into two branches. While, however, the royal line terminated in the pious carpenter, Joseph, the line of Nathan, who, though one of David’s sons, never ascended the throne, was selected to comprehend the chosen mother of the Lord. In general, the greatest number of the humiliations of the royal house occurred in Joseph’s line. In it the godless kings appear in contrast to the pious. Doubtless, it was so ordered that the affliction and obscurity of the house of David should serve to restore its spiritual glory.
4. Even among the ancestors of Jesus, the blessing and the promised salvation was transmitted through the righteousness which is by faith, as distinguished from legal righteousness. This appears not only from the lives of Abraham and David, the fathers of the faithful, and from the pious sovereigns among their descendants, but also from the ancestresses of Jesus, Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba, specially mentioned by the Evangelist.
5. A sacred pedigree—which may be regarded as symbolizing the real import of noble descent and hereditary nobility, whether Christian or national—conferred not personal holiness on the Jewish monarchs. Spirituality was the attainment of the individual, not the quality of the race, and in every case the combined result of Divine grace and human freedom. Still less could we suppose that the sacredness of the pedigree ultimately manifested itself in the advent of Christ Himself. Christ sprung from the fathers according to the flesh: this was His only connection with them through Mary. According to the Spirit, He was the Son of God, and, as such, the new and perfect manifestation of the Divine Being, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The genealogical table of Jesus, considered as the first New Testament testimony about Him. As a testimony, 1. to His human nature; 2. to His hereditary right; 3. to His Divine character and mission.—The genealogical tree of Jesus a kind of law and gospel for all other genealogical trees, from the lowliest to the highest.—The genealogy of increasing life compared with that of decreasing life, Gen. v.—Christ’s human extraction viewed in the light of His Divine origin (John 1): His human descent is based on the Divine, and serves to reveal it.—Contest between the hereditary blessing of Abraham and the hereditary curse of his race.—The hereditary blessing of Abraham in its bearing upon the question of infant baptism.—The family—its import at all times in connection with the kingdom of heaven.—The pious family amidst the storms of the world and of time. 1. It may sink, but not perish.4 2. It endures, because it resists. 3. Its apparent extinction is its glorification.—The sacred birth of Christ and the second birth of man in their agreement and their difference.—Jesus Christ the sum and substance of all religion. 1. Jesus, the man; Christ, His Divine calling and qualification. 2. Jesus, the Hebrew name specially intended for His own people; Christ, the sacred name indicating His designation for the whole world. 3 Jesus, the one Redeemer; Christ, the Mediator of the triune covenant. Or, 1. Jesus as the Christ; 2. the Christ as Jesus.—Jesus Christ the Son of David. 1. The Son of the shepherd of Bethlehem; 2. the Son of the persecuted fugitive in the cave of Adullam; 3. the Son of the warrior and conqueror, the prince of Zion.—Christ the Son of David. 1. In reference to His appearance in the flesh, the last scion of His race, dying on the cross. 2. In reference to His heavenly character, the Prince of the kings of the earth. Or, 1. The end of the Old Testament kingdom; 2. the beginning and the head of the New Testament heavenly kingdom.—Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham. 1. The Finisher of faith; 2. the Fulfiller of the promise.—Jesus the antitype of Abraham in his relation to the world. Abraham, in nascent faith, must go out from the world; Christ, in the fulness of the blessing of faith, enters into it.—Jesus, the Son of Abraham, the seal of God’s covenant-truth.—Jesus Christ, as the Son of Abraham, the great witness of God’s covenant-faithfulness. 1. In Him was fully revealed the promise which had been given to Abraham. 2. In Him was this promise gloriously fulfilled. 3. In Him it was renewed and glorified.—Christ the Son of Abraham and of David, or the spiritual transfiguration both of the pilgrim’s tent and of the throne.—Christ the Son of Abraham and of David, or the Finisher of faith: 1. of faith in the promise; 2. of faith in sovereign grace.—How the advent of Christ was preparing throughout the whole course of antiquity: 1. By means of the house of David; 2. by means of the race of Abraham; 3. by the whole course of events in the world.—The root out of a dry ground.—Known to, and fixed by, the Lord is every hour and event in His kingdom.—The vicissitude of glory and obscurity in the history of the kingdom of God. Christ appeared, not in the days of Israel’s power and glory, but in the days of their humiliation.—The share which the royal line of Solomon had in giving birth to Christ. 1. How infinitely it receded behind the lineage of Mary; 2. yet how at the same time it symbolizes the protection extended by the State to the Church.—The Lord’s humiliation and exaltation prefigured in His genealogical tree.—In His ancestors Jesus has lived through the whole extent of the world’s previous history.—The history of the ancestors of Jesus shows that the life of each successive individual was preserved as by a miracle.—Jesus the sacred heir of the ancient world. 1. As heir of the blessing, He is the Prophet of the world. 2. As heir of the sufferings entailed by the curse. He is its atoning High Priest. 3. As heir of the promise, He is its King.—Jesus Christ the end of the world, and the beginning of the world.—Jesus Christ the closing of the old, and the commencement of the new dispensation.—Abraham and Mary as the beginning and the end of the old covenant.—Jesus, the Son of Mary: 1. the affinity; 2. the contrast.
Braune:—Jesus Christ, the second Adam—God’s grace is constantly renewed through the line of generations.—All sorts of men, kings, heroes, shepherds, mechanics, heathens, sinners, prophets, poets, sages are among the ancestors of Christ, and become poorer and obscurer as they approach Christ.
ADDENDA
BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
The Sinaitic Manuscript of the Bible, which Professor Tischendorf rescued from the obscurity of the Convent of St Catharine on Mount Sinai, and carefully edited in two editions in 1862 and 1863,* two years after the issue of the third edition of Dr. Lange’s Commentary on Matthew, has been carefully compared in preparing the American edition of this work from Chapter 8 to the close of the Gospel of Matthew. I thought I was the first to do so, but just before I finished the last pages of this volume, I found that Bäumlein, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John,** and Meyer, in the fifth edition of his Commentary on Matthew, both of which appeared in 1864, had preceded me, at least in print. No critical scholar can ignore this manuscript hereafter. For it is the only complete, and perhaps the oldest of all the uncial codices of the Bible, or at least of the same age and authority as the celebrated Vatican Codex (which is traced by some to the middle of the fourth century), and far better edited by the German Protestant Professor, Tischendorf, than the latter was by the Italian Cardinal, Angelo Mai. In the absence of a simpler mark agreed upon by critics (the proposed designation by the Hebrew א has not yet been adopted, and is justly objected to by Tregelles and others on the ground of typographical inconvenience), I introduce it always as Cod. Sin., and I find that Dr. Meyer in the fifth edition does the same. As I could not procure a copy of the printed edition of this Codex till I had finished the first seven chapters, I now complete the critical part of the work by adding its more important readings in the first seven chapters where they differ from the textus receptus, on which the authorized English, as well as all the older Protestant Versions of the Greek Testament are substantially based.
*Novum Testamentum Sinaiticum, sive Novum Testamentum cum Epistola Barnabœ et Fragmentis Pastoris (Hermæ). Ex Codice Sinaitico auspiciis Alexandri II., omnium Russiarum imperatoris, ex tenebris protracto orbique litterarum tradito accurate descripsit Ænotheus Friderious Constantinus Tischendorf, theol. et phil. Dr., etc. etc. Lipsiæ, 1863. The text is arranged in four columns and covers 148 folios; the learned Prolegomena of the editor 81 folios. There is besides a magnificent photo-lithographed fac-simile edition of the whole Sinaitic Bible, published at the expense of the Emperor of Russia, in 4 volumes (3 for the Old and 1 for the New Testament, the latter in 148 folios), under the title: Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. Auspiciis augustissimis imperatoris Alexandri II. ed. Const. Tischendorf. Petropoli, 1862. A copy of this rare edition I have also consulted occasionally, in the Astor Library of New York. For fuller information on this important Codex (in the words of Tischendorf: “omnium codicum uncialium solus integer omniumque antiquissimus”), we must refer the reader to the ample Prolegomena of Tischendorf, also to an article of Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, vol. vii. (1864), p. 74 ff. (who is disposed to assign it to a somewhat later age), and to Scrivener’s treatise, which I have not seen.
**Hengstenberg, in his Commentary on John, concluded in 1863, pays no attention whatever to this Codex, and is very defective in a critical point of view
Mat_1:6.—Cod. Sin. omits the second ὁβασιλεύς, the king, after David. See Commentary, Crit. Note 1 on p. 48.
Footnotes:
[1] Mat_1:6.—[The title ὁ βασιλεύς, the king, is repeated in the textus receptus with the majority of MSS. and retained by Meyer, Wordsworth, Lange, but omitted by some of the oldest MSS. and versions, and in the critical editions of Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford (in his fourth ed.). The repetition may be defended on the ground of emphasis as giving a clue to the design of this genealogy and showing the kingship of Christ, the heir of the whole theocracy. Dr. Wordsworth makes use of the textus receptus as an argument for his view of the relation of the two genealogies: “The genealogy of St. Matthew is Christ’s official succession to David as a king (see Mat_1:6, where David is twice called ὁ βασιλεύς). That of St. Luke is the derivation of his origin from David as a man,—hence he traces the Lord’s pedigree further backward, even to the first man, Adam, the father of the human race.” Dr. W., following the fathers, regards both genealogies as the pedigrees of Joseph, not of Mary.—P. S.]
[2][The authorized English version of the Greek Testament after the latest standard edition of the American Bible Society (New York, 1862), is made the basis of this Commentary, and all occasional corrections are included in brackets (see the Preface). But in this section which contains the genealogy of Christ, I have deviated from the rule and conformed to the new German version of Lange in three points: 1, in the order and arrangement, with the view to bring out more clearly the three divisions or periods of Christ’s ancestry; 2, in omitting the oft repeated and unnecessary and (for the Greek δέ) between the members of the pedigree; 3, in italicizing the female ancestry of Christ, Mat_1:3; Mat_1:5-6; comp. Comment, p. 49. Italics then do not indicate here additions to the Greek text, as in the Common Version, which, in this genealogy, only supplies the words: “that had been the wife,” Mat_1:6. As regards the spelling of proper nouns I have (in the text, not in the notes) adhered to the C. V., although in a revision of the English Bible (which is in no way attempted in this Commentary) uniformity in the spelling should undoubtedly be aimed at as much as possible, and Hebrew names should, as a rule, be conformed to the Hebrew, Greek names to the Greek spelling. Thus in this genealogy Judah should be substituted for Judas, Phares for Phares, Hezron for Esrom, Ram for Aram, Nahshon for Naasson, Boast for Booz, Rahab for Rachab, Uriah for Urias, Rehoboam for Roboam, Jehoshaphat for Josaphat, Uzziah for Ozias, Jotham for Joatham, Ahaz for Achaz, Hezekiah for Ezekias. Josiah for Josias, Jeconiah for Jechonias, Zerubbabel for Zorobabel, Zadoc for Sadoc. Comp. the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries; Dr. Geo. Campbell’s translation of the four Gospels with preliminary dissertations, Lond. 1834, Diss. xii. Pt. Mat_3:10-14; and Dr. T. J. Conant’s “Revised Version of Matthew,” New York, 1860, p. 2.—P. S.]
[3][For another and a remarkably ingenious explanation of the two genealogies, we refer the reader to Lord Arthur C. Hervey’s article, “Genealogy of Jesus Christ,” in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, i. p. 666. This is not the place to enter into details of his theory: suffice it to say. that, according to Lord Hervey, both the genealogies (in Matthew and Luke) are those of Joseph. The genealogy of St. Matthew is “Joseph’s genealogy as legal successor to the throne of David; i.e., it exhibits the successive heirs of the kingdom, ending with Christ as Joseph’s reputed son. St. Luke’s is Joseph’s private genealogy, exhibiting his real birth, as David’s son, and thus showing why he was heir to Solomon’s crown.” Lord Hervey farther suggests, “that Salathiel, of the house of Nathan, became heir to David’s throne on the failure of Solomon’s line in Jechonias, and that as such he and his descendants were transferred, as ‘sons of Jeconiah,’ to the royal genealogical table, according to the principle of the Jewish law, laid down Num_27:8-11.” On the same principle, the other divergences of the two genealogies are explained, till we reach Matthan, who had two sons, Jacob and Hell. The elder of these, Jacob, whose daughter Mary was mother of the Lord, dying without male issue, the succession to the throne of David now devolved on Joseph, the son of Hell.—The Edinb. Translator.]
[4][German: “Es kann sinken, aber nicht versinken;” It may go down, but not go out. Mr. Edersheim translates: “It may sink, but not utterly.” The word-play in the next sentence: “Es besteht, well es widersteht,” might be rendered: “It stands because it withstands,” comp. Eph_6:13.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob…
Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren--Only the fourth son of Jacob is here named, as it was from his loins that Messiah was to spring (Gen 49:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 § 9. — THE ROYAL PEDIGREE OF JESUS THROUGH…
§ 9. — THE ROYAL PEDIGREE OF JESUS THROUGH HIS LEGAL FATHER Mat_1:2-17.
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1. The book — Rather a roll or scroll than a book. For when we read the word book in the Bible, or any work of antiquity, we must completely banish all conception of a modern volume from the press, bound in leather, neatly printed on fine paper, cheap, and easy to handle. On the contrary, we must shape in thought a cumbrous roll of linen, papyrus, or parchment, with letters laboriously written with a calamus or reed pen, or a stilus or iron pen, very expensive, and to be read by unrolling successive portions. When rolled up, it was bound round with thongs, called in Latin, lora. The scroll was continuous in length, and was read by unrolling the one end, and rolling up the other end, so as to glide the eye down the open page, as is seen by the illustration on the next page. The Latin word for roll, volumen, (from volvo, to roll,) is the origin of our word volume. When the reading was finished the Romans deposited the roll in a round case or box called scrinium. As comparatively few could possess a book, authors often read their productions in public. And it was important that very valuable documents should be kept in a safe repository. Manuscript copies of the Old Testament were kept in the temple and the synagogues. So also copies of the Gospels and Epistles were preserved in the Christian churches.
When the author produced his book, it was immediately transcribed, and copies were put in circulation among purchasers; others were deposited in the archives of the various churches. The multiplied copies were checks upon each others’ correctness. Of the Gospels and Epistles, numerous copies were circulated in Europe, Asia, and Africa within a century after their first publication. It was therefore impossible that any counterfeit, or any great alteration, should come into existence. The very perfect agreement (with the exception of slight mistakes in copying) of all manuscript copies throughout the world, places beyond all doubt the genuineness of all the four Gospels.
The first two chapters of Matthew are in some degree a sort of separate part or section, giving an account of the royal pedigree and divine birth and infancy of the Saviour. They are so given as to demonstrate, both by miracle and prophecy, that he is the true Messiah, the God-man, the Divine Saviour which was to come.
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The book of the generation — Strictly, this is the title of the genealogy or pedigree only which now follows. But as in the Old Testament, so here, the pedigree is naturally followed by biographical sketches and narrations. Matthew doubtless gives the genealogy of Joseph; (and so it was only the legal genealogy of Mary and Jesus;) whereas Luke gives the natural descent of Mary. It was customary with the Jews very carefully to preserve their pedigrees or family registers. We see them distributed all through the Old Testament. They were cherished especially from the fact that in some family the Messiah was to be born. So Josephus, who was of priestly family, says: “I give the descent of our family exactly as I find it written in the public records.” So noble a family line as that of the royal David, of course had its records public at Bethlehem, the place of David’s birth; to which place Mary had to go and be enrolled by public authority. Matthew either gives the public record verbatim, or perhaps the family tree with its abridgements and annotations, as kept in Joseph’s home. In the time of the Emperor Domitian, about the close of the first century, all the descendants of David were sought out by royal command. The rumour of their regal descent had rendered the emperor jealous. The descendants of our Lord’s brethren were brought into his presence, and questioned as to their claims of royalty. But as they appeared to be unambitious Christian men, looking only for a heavenly kingdom, the emperor dismissed them in peace.
That the record of David’s royal line was preserved, we are expressly told by Josephus, who says in his autobiography, “I am myself of the royal lineage by my mother.” When Jerusalem was sacked, the genealogical records were completely destroyed; so that it is impossible for the Jews to trace the line of David for any Messiah yet to come. This is a complete refutation of their expectations of that kind.
Jesus Christ — The word Jesus is, in Greek form, the same as Joshua in Hebrew, and implies Saviour. Our Lord was so named (Mat_1:21) by express command of the angel: first, to indicate that he was the Saviour from sin; and second, to show that he was the antitype of Joshua, his type; for as Joshua was leader of Israel, bringing them into the earthly Canaan, Jesus is a Saviour, bringing his people into a heavenly Canaan. So, often in the Bible, names are significant and typical, being divinely and prophetically given for that very purpose. The word Christ is not primarily a proper name, but is a word of royal office. It is derived from the Greek χριω, chrio, to anoint; and is exactly parallel with the Hebrew word Messiah, both signifying anointed. For as the Hebrews anointed kings and priests to their dignity, so kings and priests were called anointed; and so the prophets foretold him who was to come under the royal and priestly title of Anointed, Messiah or CHRISTOS. Under this title he was earnestly waited for by the Jews, and even by the Samaritans, as the Samaritan woman testifies: I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ. Joh_4:25. Hence our Saviour’s name was Jesus; and his office was to be the Christ, or royal Messiah.
Son of David — The word son here, as often elsewhere in Scripture, signifies descendant at any distance of descent. This parentage from David proves even his human royalty. He was by blood a king; by the law of race entitled to be anointed and crowned. He was entitled to expel Herod from his throne, and reign in his stead king of the Jews. Son of Abraham — We have remarked in the notice of Matthew, that he wrote more particularly for the Jews. For this reason he traces the Lord’s genealogy to David, the Jewish king, and to Abraham, the founder of the Jewish dispensation. Luke, on the other hand, writing for Gentiles, traces the genealogy up to Adam, the human, and to God, the divine father of ALL. There are many difficulties found by learned men in the genealogies of Matthew and Luke. Some of these difficulties arise in reconciling the two; others arise from peculiarities of this genealogy itself. The consideration of the former belong to a commentary upon Luke. The latter we shall briefly notice in our notes upon this chapter.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25 Ch. Mat_1:1-17. The Lineage of the King. The Genealogy.…
Ch. Mat_1:1-17. The Lineage of the King. The Genealogy. Luk_3:23-38
1. The book of the generation] i. e. the pedigree extracted from the public archives which were carefully preserved and placed under the special care of the Sanhedrin. The expression recalls, perhaps designedly, Gen_5:1 : The book of the Generations of Adam.
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(1) The genealogy is an answer to the question which would be asked by every Jew of any one who claimed to be the Messiah, “Is he of the house of David?” for by no name was the Messiah more frequently spoken of by Jews and by foreigners (see ch. Mat_15:22), and designated in the Talmud, than by that of the Son of David.
(2) Both this genealogy and that in St Luke’s Gospel trace Joseph’s descent. But see below, Mat_1:16.
(3) St Matthew proves that Jesus is the Son of David and of Abraham; St Luke, true to the scope of his Gospel, traces the pedigree from the common Father of Jew and Gentile.
(4) St Matthew traces the royal succession, St Luke, the family lineage. This accounts for many variations in names.
(5) This genealogy descends from father to son, and is therefore probably the most exact transcript of the original document. St Luke’s ascends from son to father.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 (1) The book of the generation.—The opening words of…
(1) The book of the generation.—The opening words of the Gospel show that it is written by a Jew for Jewish readers. They are an essentially Hebrew formula (as in Gen_5:1), and were applied chiefly though not exclusively (Gen_37:2) to genealogies such as that which follows here.
Jesus Christ.—The collocation of names was not so much a thing of course when St. Matthew wrote as it now seems to us. There were many who bore the name of Jesus—e.g., Jesus the son or Sirach, Jesus surnamed Justus (Col_4:11), possibly even Jesus Bar-abbas (Mat_27:17). It was necessary to state that the genealogy that followed was that of Jesus the Messiah, the true “anointed” of the Lord.
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The son of David.—This, of course, was added as the most popular of all the names of the expected Christ, owned alike by scribes and Rabbis (Mat_22:42), by children (Mat_21:9), and by the poor (Mat_15:22; Mat_20:30).
The son of Abraham.—There is no reason to think that this was ever a specially Messianic title. If there is any special significance in its occurrence here, it is as emphasising that which the Messiah had in common with other Israelites. He was thus as a brother to them all, even to the despised publican (Luk_19:9), as being the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen_22:18). The former thought appears in another book specially written, like this Gospel, for Hebrews—“On the seed of Abraham he layeth hold” (Heb_2:16).
(1) Nothing can be inferred directly from St. Matthew’s phrase “till she had brought forth” as to what followed after the birth. The writer’s purpose is obviously to emphasise the absence of all that might interfere with the absolutely supernatural character of the birth itself. (2) Nothing can be inferred with certainty from the mention of our Lord’s “brethren” in Mat_12:46 (see Note there), and elsewhere. They may have been children of Joseph by a former marriage, or by what was known as a levirate marriage with the widow of a deceased brother, under the law of Deu_25:5, Mat_22:24, or children by adoption, or cousins included under the general name of brethren. (3) The fact that the mother of our Lord found a home with the beloved disciple (Joh_19:27) and not with any of the “brethren” points, as far as it goes, to their not being her own children, but it does not go far enough to warrant any positive assertion. Scripture therefore supplies no data for any decision on either side, nor does any tradition that can really be called primitive. The reverence for virginity as compared with marriage in the patristic and mediæval Church made the “ever-virgin” to be one of the received titles of the mother of the Lord. The reaction of natural feeling against that reverence led men in earlier and later times to assert the opposite. Every commentator is influenced consciously or unconsciously by his leanings in this or that direction. And so the matter must rest.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Vers. 1-17. JESUS THE CHRIST BY HUMAN ANCESTRY, (Parallel…
Vers. 1-17. JESUS THE CHRIST BY HUMAN ANCESTRY, (Parallel passage: Luk_3:23-38)
The book of the generation. As St. Matthew was writing only for Jews, and they, by reason of their Old Testament prophecies, looked for the Messiah to be born of a certain family, he begins his Gospel with a pedigree of Jesus. In this he mentions, by way of introduction, the two points to which his countrymen would have special regard the descent of Jesus from David, the founder of the royal line, him in whose descendants the Ruler of Israel must necessarily (2Sa_7:13-16) be looked for; and also from Abraham, who was the head of the covenant nation, and to whom the promise had been given that in his seed all the nations of the earth should bless themselves. (Gen_22:18 Gen_12:3) After this he proceeds to fill up the intervening steps in the genealogy. The spelling of the names in the Authorized Version accords with the Greek, and so varies from the Old Testament orthography; but for the sake of the English reader it is certainly advisable to do what has been done in the Revised Version, viz. to conform the spelling to that of the Old Testament, and, where the Greek varies much, to put that form in the margin. It is better to write Rahab than Raehab, and Shealtiel than Salathiel. Those who read the Greek Gospels when these were first written read also the Old Testament in Greek, and so were in no confusion. The first verse of the Gospel is doubtless intended as a preface to what is contained in vers. 2-17. It is, indeed, true that the phrase, "the book of the generation", (biblov genesewv , equivalent to sepher toledoth, Gen_5:1) might in itself point rather to events and works connected with the active life of him whose name it precedes, (cf. the use of toledoth in Gen_5:1 Gen_6:9 Gen_10:1; even 2:4, et al. ) and thus might refer to the whole of ch. 1. (Kubel), or even the whole of the First Gospel (Keil); yet the addition of the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, by summarizing the genealogy, limits the reference of ver. 1 to this alone. Observe
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(1) that the same word (genesiv) recurs in ver. 18; but being without biblov , has a slightly different meaning;
(2) that the word translated "generation" in ver. 17 is genea , and means a single stratum of human life. The evangelist uses the name Jesus Christ here as a proper name, customary in later Christian circles. (cf. Joh_1:17, and especially the traces of development from 1Co_12:3 and Rom_10:9 to Php_2:11) "Christ" is not used in its signification of "Messiah," or "Anointed," till ver. 17, where it would be better rendered "the Christ.
Vers. 1-17. The introduction.
I THE TITLE.
1. It is a book; but it is not, like other books, the product of human thought. It presents to us a life not like other lives. That life stands alone in its beauty, purity, tenderness, in the glory of its unearthly holiness, in the majesty of its Divine self-sacrifice. It stands alone in its claims; it claims to be the great example, the one pattern life, the Light of the world. It claims to be a revelation of a new life; it offers a gift of power and Divine energy a power which can lift men out of darkness into light, out of worldliness and selfishness into the life of holy love, into the clear light of the presence of God. The conception of that life is unlike any of the ideals of perfection to be found in ancient writers; there was never anything like it before. It has changed our estimate of various moral qualities; it has raised some that the world thought little of to a very high place of dignity; it has depressed others that once stood high in the thoughts of men to their proper level. That life has affected the modes of thought and feeling even of those who will not accept it as a revelation from God. It formed a mighty epoch in the history of thought; men cannot divest themselves of its influence; they cannot think now as they might have thought had that life never been lived on earth. It is impossible for us to put ourselves back into the mental attitude of those who had never heard of that life; it has exercised an influence so widespread, so deep-reaching, over the whole field of thought and feeling. But we can see that that life could never have been conceived by any human genius, least of all at the time when the Gospels were written. Compare it with any efforts of human imagination; there is not one that can even seem to endure the comparison. This history is unique. It has the stamp of genuineness, the ring of truth. Fictitious it cannot be; there never was man that could have invented it. Compare it with other religious writings of antiquity, whether Jewish or Christian; compare it with the apocryphal Gospels, or with the books of the sub-apostolic Fathers: this book stands absolutely alone; there is no other book like it; the gulf that parts it from all other books is wide, deep, immense. It is the book, the Bible the book that speaks to the heart of man as no other book can, because it is God"s book; it comes from him, and it speaks to the heart which is his handiwork, to the man whom he created in his own image, after his own likeness. It bears in itself the evidence of its Divine origin; we feel, as we read its sacred words, that it has a message for us, that it is God"s voice calling us, telling us all that we need to know of himself, of his will, of his redemption of the human race from sin and death.
2. The subject of the book. It is "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ," the book which tells us of his birth, of his history. It opens with a table of genealogy. He is "the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." In him was fulfilled the promise made to Abraham: "In thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." In him was fulfilled.the faithful oath which the Lord had sworn to David: "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne." The book gives us the history of a Person. Christianity presents to us not simply a code of morals, a system of theology, but a Person. The book describes his character, it relates the circumstances of his life upon earth. It is a history, but it is more than a history. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." It sheds a light upon the way that leadeth to Christ; it shows us where to find him. For this history is not like other histories, merely a record of past facts of more or less interest. It is the revelation of a present Saviour. It has not done its work for us unless it is leading us to Christ himself, to a personal knowledge of the Lord. We may know the Gospel through and through, its language, history, geography, archeology, that knowledge is of deep, absorbing interest; but if we advance no further, we miss the very end for which the Gospel was written. Indeed, it is no Gospel to us, no glad tidings, but only an ancient book, unless by its guidance we find Christ. The deepest biblical scholar, if he fails to find Christ, knows less of the real meaning of the Gospel than the humblest Christian who is living in the faith of the Son of God. It is not the knowledge of the facts of the Lord"s history, but the living, personal knowledge of himself, that is eternal life. We must learn to abide in him, to live in that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Without this spiritual knowledge the Gospel is written in vain for our salvation: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." The mere external knowledge of the Scripture can only increase the condemnation of those who have not sought by prayer and the gracious help of God the Holy Ghost to penetrate its inner meaning. That inner meaning, revealed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God, and brought to bear upon our inward and outward lives, giveth life, because it brings us to him who alone is the Life of men. The promise was that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in the Seed of Abraham; not in his history, not in the record of his life and teaching, but in that holy Seed himself, in his grace, in his abiding presence, in union with him.
II THE GENEALOGY.
1. It begins from Abraham. St. Matthew was writing for the Jews in the first instance. He proves that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah whom the Jews expected, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. He was descended from the father of the faithful, born in the covenant, himself admitted by the rite of circumcision into the conditions of the ancient covenant. He fulfilled all righteousness, all the requirements of the Law. He lived as a Jew, he preached to the Jews. "I am not sent," he said, "but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But even as he said those words he healed the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman; it was an earnest of the worldwide range of his redemption. He died, "not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." Therefore through him the blessing of Abraham hath come upon the Gentiles. As St. Paul teaches us in Galatians 3., "The Scripture preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." "There is neither Jew nor Greek; for if we be Christ"s, then are we Abraham"s seed, and heirs according to the promise." Thus the first verse of the First Gospel preaches faith. Christ is the Son of Abraham, who "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." They which are of faith are the children of Abraham; they share the blessing of Abraham. Christ is theirs, and they are Christ"s.
2. The genealogies in Genesis descend from Adam; this ascends to Christ. God made man in the likeness of God. Adam begat sons in his own likeness, after his image. The sting of the serpent infected the race: "Original sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam." The Spirit of the Lord indeed strove with man from the beginning; he was not left to die in his sin and misery; the first promise of a Redeemer follows close upon the first sin. God was never without a witness; in Cain and Abel we have the first sight of the field in which the wheat and the tares grow together unto the harvest. But corruption soon spread widely among the descendants of Adam; all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. As man receded further from the Divine origin of the race, the deeper became the taint of sin; the traces of the image of God grew ever fainter, the poison of the serpent deadlier and more loathsome. It repented God that he had made man upon earth; the Flood destroyed the ungodly. Then God established his covenant, first with Noah, afterwards with Abraham. The promise became clearer and more definite. The generations had descended from God; now they begin to ascend towards God again, towards the Christ, who is the Son of God, himself God incarnate. Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ; he saw it and was glad. Generation after generation looked for the promised Saviour; Simeon was "waiting for the consolation of Israel." The Jews inquired of John the Baptist whether he was the Christ that was to come the Christ was to restore all things. In Adam all died, in Christ shall all be made alive; for the last Adam is a quickening Spirit, even the Lord from heaven. He came to restore the almost lost image of God. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we must also bear the image of the heavenly." God hath predestinated his elect to be conformed to the image of his Son. As they draw nearer and nearer to Christ, imitating his blessed example, looking always unto Jesus, they are being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created them. The generations ascend towards the Christ; so must each Christian strive in his own spiritual life to rise ever nearer to the Lord.
3. The variations of rank in the genealogy. The generations begin with patriarchs; they rise to kings; they descend again to private men. From Abraham to David the king; from David the king to Joseph the carpenter. Human ancestry, however illustrious, could add nothing to the dignity of the Son of God. But both his blessed mother and Joseph, his father by adoption, were descended from David. Apparently the Lord Jesus was, according to the flesh, the representative of David, the lineal heir to David"s throne. But he lived in obscurity for the first thirty years of his earthly life. He was meek and humble in heart; he prided not himself on earthly rank. Indeed, what was rank to him? The difference between the greatest monarch and the humblest beggar is altogether inappreciable compared with the infinite descent from heaven to earth. When once he had emptied himself of his glory, and taken the form of a servant, it was as nothing that he chose the carpenter"s shop rather than the royal palace. His earthly ancestors varied in rank. There were kings, there were private men; the reputed father of the Lord, the husband of his mother, was a carpenter. Honours, like wealth, are vanity; the one highest honour, the one loftiest title, is theirs to whom he hath given power to be called the sons of God.
4. The variations in moral and spiritual character. In the genealogy there are holy men like Abraham, there are wicked men like Ahaz, Manasseh, Amen. There is a Moabitish woman, pure indeed, and lovely in character, but of heathen blood. Others there are whose lives had been defiled with sin Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba. The Lord indeed was born by a miraculous conception, without stain of human corruption; but sinners as well as saints are reckoned in his genealogy, lie was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, though he was without sin. His ancestry was not uniformly holy, any more than uniformly royal. The poorest have an interest in him as much as the noblest; the sinful have an interest in him as well as apostles and saints.
5. The genealogy, like all genealogies, shows the transitoriness of all things human. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah." Man comes, and man goes; a man is born into the world; man goeth to his long home. Each man represents a long line of ancestors, a line which each generation lengthens, a line stretching back into the remotest past. Most of us know very little of those who have gone before us, not so much as their names. They are gone, and we must follow; we shall soon be but names in the memory of posterity; soon our very names will be forgotten. But God hath said, "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. Then the dead of ages past are living still; we speak of them as the dead, but they live unto God. Their number is incalculable; the world of the dead is infinitely more numerous than the world of the living. But they are all known, every one of them, to the all-seeing God. We shall soon be gathered to that countless multitude. It matters little now to them what their rank, their wealth, was in life. The patriarch, the king, the carpenter, are distinguished now only by their faith, their holiness. Many that once were last are first now, and the last are first. So will it be with us who are living now. "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven;" "Seek first the kingdom of God.
6. The genealogy shows the true manhood of Christ. According to the flesh he is descended, like ourselves, from a long line of human ancestors. His birth was miraculous; but on his mother"s side he came out of Judah, Judah from Abraham, Abraham from Adam. He represents human nature; he is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; he was made in all things like unto us, yet without sin.
7. The genealogy shows his Divine birth; for "Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." He was born of Mary; he was not the Son of Joseph; he had no earthly father. Joseph was the husband of Mary, but not the father of Jesus; he was born of her. The first mention of his birth points at once to other than a human origin. He who is the Son of Abraham is also the Son of God.
8. The numbers. The three fourteens are probably intended to assist the memory, but they may possibly contain a mystical meaning. Seven is the signature of perfection; two, of human witness; three, of God. The history which we are approaching is the history of One who, though he appeared in the form of man, was in truth God. It is related by human witnesses; it is perfect, sufficient for all our needs. "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his Name." The book which we are opening is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ," the book which relates the redeeming work of "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Reverence, awe, and adoring love are the tempers of mind meet for such a study.
LESSONS.
1. Search the Scriptures; they testify of Christ, and Christ is our Life.
2. Receive the word as the word of God; it has a message for you.
3. Believe in him; do his will. The study of the Scriptures must not end in knowledge; it must lead to faith and to obedience; it must lead to Christ.
4. Life is short; eternity is long. Set your affections on things above.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Ver. 1. Genealogical lessons.
We are tempted to pass by the string of names with which the New Testament opens, as though it had no moral significance, as though it were only a relic of Jewish domestic annals. But even the genealogies in Genesis are eloquent in lessons on human life its brevity, its changes, its succession, its unity in the midst of diversity; and the genealogy of our Lord has its own peculiar importance, reminding us of many facts.
I CHRIST IS TRULY HUMAN. It will be a great mistake if we so conceive of his Divinity as in any way to diminish our idea of his humanity.
He was as true a man as if he had not been more than a man. The Divinity in him overflows the humanity, fills it and surrounds it, but does not destroy it. Christ is not a demi-god half-way between man and God. Perfectly one with his Father on the Divine side of his nature, he is equally one with us on the human.
II CHRIST HAS CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER MEN. He does not descend out of the sky like an angel, or suddenly appear at our tent-door as the "three men" appeared to Abraham. (Gen_18:2) He comes in the line of a known household, and takes his place in the family tree. This family tree suggests kinship. A family is more than a collection of men, women, and children, more or less closely associated together like the grains of sand on the seashore. There is blood-relationship in it The solidarity of the human race makes one man to be the brother of all men. But the family relationship is even closer. Our Lord extends his own closest kinship to all who do the will of God. (Mat_12:50)
III THE PAST LEADS UP TO CHRIST. He has his roots in the ages. Those dim, sorrowful years did not come and go in vain. They were all laying the foundation on which, in the fulness of time, God would build his glorious temple. Yet the men whose names are immortalized in this list knew not of their high destiny. We live for a future that is beyond our vision.
IV CHRIST IS NOT ACCOUNTED FOR BY HIS ANCESTRY. Some people are proud of a noble pedigree. Yet it is possible to be the worthless scion of a glorious house, for families often degenerate. On the other hand, many of the best men have emerged out of obscurity. We may believe in "blood" to a certain extent, but heredity will not explain the most striking phenomena of human life. Most assuredly it will not explain the marvellous nature and character of Christ. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?". (Job_14:4) Christ is not the product of such lives as those of his ancestors here given. His unique glory is not of this world, as a comparison of his life with his genealogy should show us.
V CHRIST SUMS UP THE GLORIES OF THE PAST. All that is great and good in his ancestors is contained in Christ and surpassed by him.
1. The Jewish faith. Christ"s pedigree goes back to Abraham, the friend of God; and in Christ Abraham"s faith and piety are perfected, and the promises to Abraham are fulfilled.
2. The Jewish throne. Christ is David"s heir. He inherits David"s kingship anti he exceeds it, realizing in fact what David imperfectly foreshadowed in type. W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY MARCUS DODS Vers. 1-17. Genealogy of our Lord.
Homiletical uses
I Matthew"s purpose is to show that Jesus, after the flesh, was THE HEIR OF DAVID AND OF ABRAHAM, the true Inheritor of the promises and of the liabilities of Israel. At his birth instructed Israelites might exclaim, "Unto us a Son is born! one who entered into a family of broken fortune, but was able to redeem its fortunes; who came not to build up a competence for himself, but to accept the obligations of the family, and work out for it a full emancipation. It was also requisite that Jesus should be recognized as the Heir of David, as the promised ideal King of Israel
II THE THREE TIMES FOURTEEN GENERATIONS, though artificial, did yet appeal to the Jewish mind as a symbol of the fulness of times. Of signs that the time was ripe for the birth of Christ there was no lack. The world had done as much as it was ever likely to do without the new influences Christ brought into it. No government had ever more at command for the regeneration of the world than Rome had. It enlightened policy, bold statesmanship, extensive dominion, could have abolished the world"s woes, no more was required than Rome had given to the world. In Greece, culture had done its best; in the further East, Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, had done all that human wisdom and purity could do to regulate the life and elevate the thoughts of men. The Jewish Law, Mosaism in all its departments, was also played out. It had yielded the utmost of benefit, and was now running to seed. A general feeling was stealing through many lands that the world needed help from above. Note, too, the preparation for the gospel in the spread of the Jews throughout the commercial world, the general prevalence of the Greek language, and the facility for intercourse afforded by the Roman government.
III THE REASON OF THE LONG DELAY. At first sight one might suppose many good ends would have been served by Christ"s appearing much earlier in the world"s history. What prevented Christ from coming two thousand years before he did, and giving the world the advantage of two thousand years" more enjoyment of the best form of religion? Had Christ come as soon as the promise was given, the world would have been found unprepared for the gift, and unable to give it even that moderate welcome it afterwards found. The Law must first do its work, deepening the sense of duty, stirring conscience to an almost morbid activity, revealing the holiness of God, and showing men their lostness. The great gift of the Holy Spirit, the promise by preeminence, would not have been welcomed. God had to educate the world, as parents educate children, by alluring them onwards and by inconsiderable gifts teaching them gradually to long for the highest. He taught them to think of, to know, and to trust him by giving them what suited their condition and tastes; and so they learned by degrees to prize what he most highly esteemed inward, spiritual prosperity.
IV In our Lord"s genealogy there is THE ORDINARY PROPORTION OF GOOD AND BAD PARENTAGE. Individuals are mentioned who would do no honour to any pedigree. The pride of birth which many of us feel would be abated were the whole ancestry from which we are sprung set down with biographies attached. We have only to go back far enough to find stain. Worse still, who can say what his own children shall be, and to what extent their disgrace is due to their inherited tendencies? Our Lord did not shun the contamination to which he was necessarily exposed by his true entrance into the human family.
APPLICATION.
1. Grace not hereditary. Fuller says, "Lord, I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely chequered with four remarkable changes in four immediate generations.
(1) Roboam begat Abia: that is, a bad father begat a bad son.
(2) Abia begat Asa: that is, a bad father a good son.
(3) Ass begat Josaphat: that is, a good father a bad son.
(4) Josaphat begat Joram: that is, a good father a good son.
"I see, Lord, from hence that my father"s piety cannot be entailed: that is bad news for me. But I see also that actual impiety is not always hereditary: that is good news for my son.
2. Relationship to Christ. The honour of being connected with Christ after the flesh. Yet even after he was born and seen among men this honour was not felt as we might expect; and at all events no special saving influence was exerted on the individuals composing his line of descent. Closer than every earthly tie is the spiritual relationship he announces in Mat_12:50. D.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-17. The pedigree.
"The book of the genealogy," etc. This is not the general title of the First Gospel, but rather the particular title of these sixteen or seventeen verses. The scroll, or writing of divorcement, which the Talmudists say consisted exactly of "twelve lines," is called a biblion, or "book". (Mat_19:7) So the "book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ" may be understood to describe the single skin on which the words immediately before us were originally written. Vitringa remarks that the expression concerning the "names" in the "book of life," in Rev_3:5, alludes to the genealogical tables of the Jewish priests, (see Ezr_2:62 Neh_7:64) as the "white raiment" mentioned there does to the priestly dress.
I THIS IS THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS AS THE CHRIST.
1. This is implied in his description. "The Son of David, the Son of Abraham.
(1) David had many sons. So had he very many descendants. Abraham had a still mole numerous posterity. But amidst all the sons of David and of Abraham Jesus is "the Son" (see Bishop Middleton, "Gr. Art.," p. 163). So likewise is he "the Son of man. " Here is a mark of surpassing excellence. In the whole human family there is no one to compare with him, personally, officially, relatively.
(2) These titles indicate him to be the "Seed" promised in the covenant, and the Seed to whom also the blessings of the covenant are promised. God made his covenant "unto Abraham and his Seed." Mark, "not seeds, as of many; but as of one, which is Christ". (Gal_3:16) In him all the families of the earth are blessed.
2. To assert this is obviously the evangelist"s intention. So we understand his words, genealogy of Jesus the Christ.
(1) Jesus is the Antitype of all sacredly anointed persons prophets, priests, kings. He alone united in himself all these offices.
(2) His anointing and Christship were of the Holy Ghost. The oil of anointing typified the Spirit of God.
(a) In its lustre. Hence the "unction of the Holy One" is said to convey spiritual teaching and heavenly knowledge . (1Jn_2:20, 1Jn_2:27)
(b) In its softening, mollifying, lubricating influences. So the oil of anointing is put for the graces of the Holy Spirit.
(c) Jesus was "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows," viz. not only in the kited, but also in the degree. He received the Spirit "not by measure.
(3) How favoured are the sons of Jesus! They are through him the seed of the covenant. (see Gal_3:29) They are Christians, anointed ones, viz. in a spiritual and very noble sense. (2Co_1:21)
II THE PEDIGREE IS GIVEN FOR OUR BENEFIT.
1. Jesus had no personal glory from it.
(1) Some of the ancestors were princes of the aristocracy of Virtue Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, Zerubbabel. But Jesus himself was immeasurably superior to the best of them.
(2) Some were persons of sullied fame Rehoboam, Abijah, Uzziah, Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, Jechoniah. Note:
(a) Virtue does not run in the blood.
(b) Jesus appeared "in the likeness of sinful flesh.
(c) None are too vile to be saved by him.
2. To us it certifies his Messiahship.
(1) The patriarchs from David upwards were common ancestors of Joseph and Mary. The later patriarchs in this list were ancestors of "Joseph the husband of Mary," therefore here, of Jesus putatively, who was supposed to be the Son of Joseph." Yet as the reputed or adopted Son of Joseph his title to the throne of David was valid.
(2) But that Jesus was also the Son of David in blood as well as in law is evident from the genealogy in Luke, which carries his line up through Mary. Joseph, whose lather was Jacob according to Matthew, is in Luke called "the son of Heli" (viz. jure matrimonii), in compliance with the Jewish custom of tracing all genealogies through males. Every way, then, whether by law or by blood, Jesus is proved to be the Son of "David the king" (ver. 67), and entitled to the throne.
(3) In these genealogies there are difficulties which we are now in no position to solve. These, however, were no difficulties to the contemporaries of the evangelists, familiar with Hebrew customs and having access to the national records. It is too late, now the records are lost, for sceptics to make capital out of these difficulties.
(4) But, on the other hand, the records being lost, no pretender to Messiahship can now establish descent from David. Surely the Jews, who require this mark, should be convinced that Jesus, in whom alone it is found, is very Christ. (cf. Mat_12:23 Mat_21:9 Mat_22:4-7)
(5) He is the "Son of David" in the grandest sense, viz. that of being also David"s Lord. Attributes of Divinity are ascribed by King David to the "King"s Son", (see e.g. Ps 72) which by no pretence of "Oriental hyperbole" can be limited to Solomon. These superhuman claims, in which lie the source and secret of all the blessings of salvation, Jesus asserted for himself and fully vindicated.
3. It encourages the hope of the Gentiles.
(1) Significant of this gracious end, we notice that the seed of the covenant was conveyed through younger sons. Abraham himself was a younger son of Terah; so was Isaac of Abraham; so was Jacob of Isaac; so was Judah of Jacob. Phares and Zara are both mentioned in the genealogy, evidently to emphasize this principle; for here Pharos, the younger of the twins, was chosen. David likewise was a younger son of Jesse. And in the family of David, Solomon the ancestor of Joseph, and Nathan the ancestor of Mary, were both younger sons. (of Luk_15:11-32; also Rom_9:12, Rom_9:30)
(2) Note, further, that of the four women, beside the virgin, whose names are introduced, two were Gentiles, viz Rahab and Ruth
(3) "The children of the promise" whether Jew or Gentile, ever have been "counted for the seed." It was so in the family of Abraham. It is so in the family of Jesus. (Gal_3:29) Election is "through faith." The Old Testament begins with "the generation of the heartens and the earth;" the New, with the generation of him by whom they were created. The glory of the gospel exceeds not only that of the Law, but that also of the material world. Jesus, in his incarnation, became "the Beginning of the new creation of God." He is "the Firstborn of every creature," viz. the Head and Archetype of that new creation which is to consist of those who are "born again" of him. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 1. The mission of genealogies.
The Gospels contain two genealogies of Jesus the Messiah. Both relate to Joseph the reputed father of Jesus, and to Mary by virtue of her relation as wife, or her family relation, to him. Matthew"s is the transcript of the public record, and traces the family line in a descending scale from Abraham; Luke"s is the private family genealogy, and it traces the family line in an ascending scale up to Adam. Matthew takes the point of view of a Jew; Luke sees in Messiah a Saviour for humanity. It has been suggested that the Jew bore two names what may be called a religious name, which would be used in the sacred records; and what may be called a secular name, which would be used in the civil lists. This may account for diversity in the forms of the names in these two genealogies.
I THE COMMON MISSION OF GENEALOGIES. Everybody does not jealously guard the family records. But some do. They are felt to be important:
1. When there is family property. This is illustrated in the case of the Israelites. The land of Canaan was divinely allotted to the families, and it was inalienable (see the year of jubilee, and Naboth"s refusal to give up his garden). Any one claiming land in Canaan was bound to show the family register.
2. When there were class privileges. Illustrate by the inability of some, int he time of the restoration, to prove their priestly or Levitical connections. See the jealousy with which membership in Indian castes is preserved.
3. When any one becomes famous. At once we want to know who he is; what are his belongings; who are his forbears. " An idea that no man is a distinct and separate individual. We are all products. We all belong to the past. Those who have been live over again in their sons. So in a biography we always want to know a man"s ancestry. Show that there is this common interest in Jesus, and it is fully met, and met in such a way as to secure a supreme interest in him.
II THE SACRED MISSION OF GENEALOGIES. They become proofs of the Messiahship of Jesus. Prophecy fixed one condition. Messiah would belong to the royal house of David. Now, observe that during Christ"s life this was never once disputed. The Sanhedrin kept the public archives; and though Herod the Great sought out and burnt all the family registers he could, the enemies of Christ never attempted to disprove his claim to belong to the royal race. Evidently the public genealogies confronted them and served this sacred purpose. Ulla, a rabbi of the third century, says, "Jesus was treated in an exceptional way, because he was of the royal race. R.T.
Messiah"s Sonships.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in a most significant and emphatic way, points out the distinct feature of the last Divine revelation: "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son (en uiw)." Sonship declaring Fatherhood in God is the very essence of the revelation in Christ. That point is illustrated in the genealogies in a very striking way. Jesus is set forth as the Son of David; he is more, he is the Son of Abraham; he is more, he is the Son of Adam; he is more, he is even the Son of God. If this seems to be less prominent in Matthew"s descending genealogy, it is very prominent in Luke"s ascending one. Putting all these Sonships together, we get the following impressions concerning the claims of Jesus.
I HE WAS TRUE KING. "Son of David;" lineal descendant of King David. With actual, natural, legitimate right to the sovereignty of David"s land. In our Lord"s time there was no other claimant to David"s throne. Herod would have made short work in dealing with any such claimant. He tried to destroy the Child-King Jesus. Jesus was David"s legitimate and only Heir.
II HE WAS TRUE JEW. "Son of Abraham." This was indeed involved in his being "Son of David," since David was a son of Abraham; but for the satisfaction of the Jews the Abrahamic descent is assured. "Salvation is of the Jews." Messiah must come in the Abrahamic line. He must be the "Seed of Abraham," in whom all nations of the earth are to be blessed.
III HE WAS TRUE MAN. "Son of Adam." Luke, writing for Gentiles, goes beyond all Jewish limitations, and sets forth the true, proper, common humanity of Christ, and the interest of all humanity in him. For if "salvation is of the Jew," it is salvation for the whole world. "God so loved the world." Jesus belongs to the Jewish race, and that is important. He is the Crown and Flowering of that race. But Jesus belongs to humanity, and that is more important. He is the Hope of the human race; the "Life and Light of men.
IV HE WAS DIVINE MAN. "Son of God." There is a sense in which this may be said of every man; there is a special sense in which it is said of Christ. He brings a new force of Divine life to start a new spiritual race, even as Adam had a special Divine life to start a human race. "In him was life. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John A. Broadus 1886 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 Mat 1:1-17.
Mat 1:1-17.
The Genealogy Of Jesus Christ
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TRADITIONAL TITLE. Before the middle of the second century, we find the name Gospel already applied to the narratives of our Saviour’s life. Justin Martyr says: "The apostles, in the memoirs made by them, which are called Gospels." The Greek word so rendered, which signifies "a good message," "good news," "glad tidings," is found a few times in Matthew and Mark (e. g., Mat 4:23, Mat 26:13 Mar 8:35, Mar 16:15) as denoting, in general, the good news of Christ’s reign, and of salvation through him; and its subsequent application to our four narratives of Christ’s life and teachings was natural and appropriate. The best early authorities for the text give the title in the simple form, Gospel according to Matthew, some of them having only "According to Matthew," where the word "Gospel" is implied, though not expressed. To say "Saint Matthew," a practice which many persons retain from Romanist usage, is useless, if not improper. No one thinks it irreverent to speak of Moses or Isaiah without any such prefix. The peculiar expression of the traditional title, "according to Matthew," implies that the gospel has been reported by different persons under different aspects, and this is the way in which Matthew has presented it. The English word "gospel" has long been supposed (it is so interpreted even in the eleventh century) to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon godspell, signifying good story, good tidings, and to be thus a literal translation of the Greek. But recent etymologists go far to prove, by the comparison of kindred languages, that it is from God and spell, meaning a narrative of God, and so the history of Christ. (See Skeat, "Etym. Dict. and Supplement.")
Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of our Lord. Designing to prove, especially to the Jews, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, he shows at the outset that Jesus is a descendant of David, as it had been predicted that the Messiah would be. In order to establish this fact according to Jewish law, it must be shown that the legal father of Jesus was a descendant of David, as this genealogy does; and to give the argument greater impressiveness, he goes back to trace the descent from Abraham, the father of the Jewish race, to whose "seed" the promise was spoken. (Gen 17:7; Gal 3:16) Luke, who had no special reference to the Jews, but wrote for all, gives the genealogy some distance after the beginning of his book, (Luk 3:23) and carries it up to Adam, the father of all men. (As to apparent discrepancies between Matthew and Luke, see below on "Mat 1:17"). Mark, in his short narrative, gives no genealogy, but simply begins by describing Jesus Christ as "the Son of God" (Mar 1:1). John, wishing to correct errors already rife, when he wrote, as to both the human and the divine nature of our Lord, goes back to his eternal pre-existence as the Word, his divinity and creatorship, and then states his incarnation, showing him to be not merely in appearance but in reality a man. (Joh 1:1-5, Joh 1:14) This comparison makes it plain that Matthew’s first paragraph, indeed, his opening sentence, strikes the key-note to his treatise, which is throughout a Gospel for the Jews.
Some have supposed that the Evangelist adopted this genealogy as a whole from some public or private record existing among the Jews. There would be nothing derogatory in this idea, and the document thus adopted would have for us the sanction of inspiration as to its correctness; but it seems more natural to think that Matthew framed the list himself from the Old Testament and the Jewish records. Some of its peculiarities, e. g., the incidental mention of certain females (see below), are best explained as having been introduced by him, with a special design. That the Jews did, in the first century, still possess genealogical records, at least of important families, is shown by various facts. Thus Paul asserted without reserve that he was of the tribe of Benjamin. (Rom 11:1 Php 3:5) Josephus ("Life ") gives his own priestly and royal descent for several generations, and adds: "I present the descent of our family as I found it recorded in the public tablets, and to those who try to slander us I wish much joy."This unquestionable evidence made him feel perfectly secure. And in the book against Apion (i. 7) he describes the pains taken by priests residing in Egypt, Babylon, and other foreign countries, to send to Jerusalem properly certified statements as to marriages and births in their families; and declares that after any great war, such as that which had recently occurred, the surviving priests prepared new copies from the old records. The story told by Julius Africanus (Eusebius "Hist." I. 7,13) that Herod burnt the genealogies of the Jews, in order to prevent his own inferiority as an Idumaean from being manifest, conflicts with these and all the other statements on the subject, and certainly cannot be true in its full extent. We are told that Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus, proved from a genealogical table at Jerusalem that he was a descendant of David. ("Bereshith Rahba," f. 98, quoted by Godet, "Com. on Luke," Luk 3:23.) There is also a story that Domitian (A. D. 81-96) ordered all descendants of David to be slain, and certain heretics accused as such the descendants of Jude, a brother of the Saviour, who being summoned before the emperor acknowledged that they were descended from David, but stated that they lived by tilling their little farms, and showed their hands hard with toil, (from which we see, with Weiss, that the family of Jesus were still poor), so that the emperor dismissed them as persons not likely to excite revolution. (Hegesippus in Euseb." Hist." iii. 19, 20.) On the other hand, all this is changed at the present day. The Jewish records have long since completely perished, and no Jew could now prove himself a descendant of David. If one claiming to be the Messiah should now arise, as some Jews still expect, no such evidence could be furnished as that with which Matthew here begins.
Mat 1:1. The opening words signify either, Book of the generation, i. e., descent-book, pedigree, genealogy, thus referring only to Mat 1:2-17, (compare Gen 5:1, Gen 11:27) or, Book upon the birth, referring to the whole account of the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Matthew 2. (Compare the use of the same term in Mat 1:18, there rendered ’birth’). The choice between these two meanings of the phrase must remain a matter of doubt, and is of no real importance. The view of some that "book of the generation" here denotes a history in general (as perhaps in Gen 25:19; Gen 37:2), must pretty certainly be rejected. Jesus, the same as Joshua (see on "Mat 1:21"), is our Lord’s private or personal name; Christ is his official name, being a translation into Greek of the Hebrew word ’Messiah,’ which signifies ’anointed’ and with the article, ’the anointed one.’ (Compare 1Sa 24:6, 1Sa 24:10 Psa 2:2, Psa 105:15 Isa 45:1 Dan 9:25-26 Joh 1:20, Joh 1:25, Joh 1:41, Joh 4:25, Joh 4:29 Act 4:26) It appears in the Gospels as a proper name only here, together with Mat 1:16, Mat 1:18, and probably Mat 16:21 (compare also Mat 1:16, and Mat 27:17); Mar 1:1; Joh 1:17, Joh 17:3. Everywhere else in the Gospels it denotes the promised Messiah or anointed one, sometimes without reference to Jesus at all, but usually applied to him either by direct assertion or by implication. When not a proper name it commonly has the article, ’the Christ,’ which is often omitted in Common English Version (see on "Mat 2:4"). In Joh 1:41, Joh 4:25, we find Messias, a Greek form of Messiah. Whether Jesus was the Messiah, was during his ministry an open question, and the Evangelists do not, in their history of him, assume it as then settled. But after his ascension the apostles would naturally take this for granted in their expressions, and accordingly ’Christ’ or ’Jesus Christ,’ is very often used in the Acts and Epistles as a proper name. In like manner Matthew, Mark, and John, in writing their Gospels, use the same now familiar expression in the introduction, though in the body of their narrative they speak according to the state of the question when the events occurred. In Joh 16:21 we may see a special reason, as there pointed out. And so Jesus himself, in Joh 17:3, when praying in the presence of his disciples at the close of his ministry, speaks as taking his Messiahship for granted; as in Mar 9:41, ’because ye are Christ’s,’ he is anticipating the future conviction of his followers. Son of Abraham may be in apposition either with ’David’ or with ’Jesus Christ,’ the Greek being ambiguous, like the English. But either sense involves what the other would express, and so both amount to the same thing: in Jesus were fulfilled the prophecies that the Messiah should descend from David and from Abraham.
Mat 1:2. Among the sons of Jacob, Judas, or Judah, is singled out, because he is the one from whom David and Jesus were descended; but his brethren are also mentioned by the Evangelist, perhaps simply because it was common to speak of the twelve patriarchs and the twelve tribes all together (Act 7:8-9); or, it may be, with the design of reminding his readers that all the other tribes were of the same descent as Judah, and thus all were interested in the Messiah.
Many of the names in this list are, in the Common English Version, more or less different in form from the corresponding names in our version of the Old Testament, and throughout the New Testament the same thing frequently occurs. The New Testament writers have usually employed that form of a name which was already familiar to their readers, who were generally accustomed, Jews as well as Gentiles, to read, not the original Hebrew of the Old Testament—for the Hebrew proper was then little used in conversation (the Aramaic having largely supplanted it)—but the Greek translation known as the Septuagint. The authors of that translation often failed to express the Hebrew names in Greek as exactly as they might have done. Besides, the Greek language is in some respects less able to express Hebrew words than the English is, particularly in respect to the letter h, which abounds in Hebrew names, and which the Greek cannot represent at all except at the beginning of a word, or in the combinations ch, th, ph. Accordingly, Noah was written Noe (Mat 24:37), Korah written Core, (Jdg 1:11) and Elisha became Eliseus. (Luk 4:27) It thus appears that not only have the names in our version of the New Testament undergone a two-fold change,—presenting us the English form of the common Greek form of the Hebrew words—but the difference is increased by the fact that in our version of the Old Testament, rendered directly from the Hebrew, we have the name often more exactly expressed than could be done in Greek. The writers of the New Testament gave their readers the form of the names that they were all familiar with in reading the Septuagint; so that they had the same form in both Testaments. And this result will be secured for English readers, if in the New Testament we should put into English letters not the Greek form of the name as there given, but the Hebrew form as it occurs in the Old Testament. Then the reader of our version, like the reader in the apostle’s days, will find the name in the same form throughout his Bible, and will thus feel that it is the same name. There must be a few exceptions; as, for example, it would hardly be proper to write our Saviour’s name Joshua, though we should thus be much more vividly reminded of the origin and associations of the name; and it is probably best to retain the Greek form, Judas, for the traitor disciple, and employ Judah for the patriarch and others, and Jude for the writer of the Epistle. But in general, the Hebrew forms can be used in the New Testament without difficulty or impropriety.
Mat 1:3-5, Commentators have always noticed that while this genealogy, according to custom, gives only the names of the men, it turns aside to make incidental mention of four women—Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah—of whom three were polluted by shameful wickedness, and the fourth was by birth a heathen. This appears to have been done simply because each of the four became a mother of the Messianic line in an irregular and extraordinary way, as in recounting a long list of names one is very apt to mention anything unusual that attaches to this or that individual. The mystical meanings which some find in the introduction of these names, cannot be accepted by a sober judgment; and the notion (Lange) that Tamar, for example, really acted under the impulse of a fanatical faith, "being resolved at all hazards to become one of the mothers of God’s chosen race, "is a particularly wild fancy.—The introduction of both Phares and Zara, while throughout the list only one person is usually given, is probably due to the fact that Tamar their mother has been mentioned, (compare 1Ch 2:4) and that she bore them both at one birth.—There is no sufficient reason to question that the Rahab here mentioned is the famous woman of Jericho; nor that she had pursued the disgraceful calling commonly supposed.—The length of time between Sahnon and David makes it likely that some names have been here omitted (as also in Rth 4:21 f., and 1Ch 2:11), most probably between Obed and Jesse; but this is not certain, as the general chronology of that period is doubtful, and the parents in some cases may have been advanced in years when the children were born.
Mat 1:6. David the king is thus signalized, probably as being the first of this line who attained that dignity, and he to whom the promise was made of a seed that should reign forever. In the second sentence of this verse, ’the king’ in the common text is a mere addition from the first sentence, wanting in several of the best early documents.
Mat 1:8. Between Joram and Uzziah, three names are omitted, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (2Ki 8:24; 1Ch 3:11; 2Ch 22:1, 2Ch 22:11, 2Ch 24:27). This was probably done to secure symmetry, by bringing the number of names in each discourse to fourteen (see on "Mat 1:17"); and these particular persons might naturally be selected for omission, because they were immediate descendants of Ahab and Jezebel.
Mat 1:11-12. Here also a name has been omitted, that of Jehoiakim, who was the son of Josiah, and father of Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah. (2Ki 23:34, 2Ki 24:6) As in Mat 1:8, we may suppose one name to have been purposely omitted by the Evangelist, and this particular person to have been chosen because in his reign occurred the events which led to the captivity. As to the further difficulty on which some have insisted, that while we read here of Jechonias and his brethren, in 1Ch 3:16, but one brother of his is mentioned,—it is enough to recall the familiar fact that genealogical lists such as that very often omit some of a man’s children, mentioning only those which belonged to the line of succession, or which there was some special reason for including; and so there might very well have been other brothers known from genealogies existing in Matthew’s time, but whom the compiler of Chronicles had no occasion to include in his list.—The expression, the time they were carried away to Babylon—or, the removal, mar. of Rev. Ver.,—is of course not to be pressed as involving an exact coincidence of the two events, but to be understood in the more general way, which is natural in such cases Josiah died some years before the removal to Babylon. (2 Chronicles 36) This great event was really a forcible transportation, but the Evangelist uses the milder term ’removal’ or ’migration,’ which was frequently employed in the familiar Greek translation of the Old Testament, and would be less painful to the Jewish readers he had especially in view.[1]—In making Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, the Evangelist agrees with Ezr 3:2, Ezr 5:2 Neh 12:1; Hag 1:1, Hag 2:2, while 1Ch 3:19, makes him the son of Pedaiah, a brother of Shealtiel. The explanations of this discrepancy which have been proposed are hardly satisfactory. It is not surprising that there should be some slight differences in these lists of names which, with our imperfect information, we are now unable to explain. A nervous solicitude to explain at all hazards, is uncalled for and unbecoming.
[1] The genitive Babulonos specifies this as the Babylon-removal, thus distinguishing it from other removals. This is the proper force of the genitive, as the generic specifying case. The Babylon-removal, so far as the mere form of the expression goes, might mean the removal of Babylon, the removal to Babylon, or the removal from Babylon; but the well-known historical facts left no doubt as to the real meaning. See similar uses of the genitive in Mat 4:15; Mat 10:5 Joh 7:35; Joh 10:7.
Mat 1:13. The nine names from Abiud to Jacob (Mat 1:15) are not elsewhere mentioned, as they belong to the period subsequent to the close of the Old Testament records, the "interbiblical" period. They were doubtless taken from some public or private genealogy, such as would cause the Evangelist’s Jewish readers to receive them without gainsaying. The number of names being scarcely proportioned to the time over which they extend, some have thought that here also a few names may have been omitted, as in Mat 1:8, Mat 1:11.
Mat 1:16. The Evangelist does not connect Joseph and Jesus as father and son; but altogether departs from the usual phraseology of the genealogy, so as to indicate the peculiarity of the Saviour’s birth. The name Jesus (i.e., Joshua, see on "Mat 1:21"), being common among the Jews, (compare Col 4:11 Act 13:6) the person here meant is distinguished as Jesus who is—or, the one—called Christ, (so in Mat 27:17, Mat 27:22, and compare"Simon, the one called Peter," in Mat 4:18; Mat 10:2.)
Mat 1:17. THREE SETS OF FOURTEEN. The gathering of this long list of names into three groups of fourteen each appears to have been partly for the sake of aiding the memory, and partly in order to indicate the three great periods of the history, viz: from Abraham, the father of the nation, to "David the king" (see on "Mat 1:6"), from David to the destruction of the monarchy at the removal to Babylon, and from that event to the coming of Messiah. These three periods are distinguished in many ways; among others by the form of government, which was in the successive periods a Theocracy, a Monarchy, and a Hierarchy, or government by the priests, this being for the most part the form after the return from the captivity. Finding that the names from Abraham to David amount to fourteen, the Evangelist omits some in the second period (see on "Mat 1:8; Mat 1:11"), and perhaps in the third also (see on "Mat 1:13"), so as to leave each of these periods the same number as the first. This happened to be twice the sacred number seven, so that the whole list of names is divided into three sets of two sevens each. Similarly a Rabbinical writer says: "From Abraham to Solomon are fifteen generations, and then the moon was at the full; from Solomon to Zedekiah are again fifteen generations, and then the moon was eclipsed, and Zedekiah’s eyes were put out." The omission of some names presents no difficulty, being occasionally found in Old Testament lists likewise." It was a common practice with the Jews to distribute genealogies into divisions, each containing some favourite or mystical number, and in order to this, generations were either repeated or left out. Thus in Philo the generations from Adam to Moses are divided into two decades (sets of ten), one hebdomad (set of seven), by the repetition of Abraham. But in a Samaritan poem the very same series is divided into two decades only, by the omission of six of the least important names.(Smith’s Dictionary Art. Genealogy of Jesus.;) We are told that the Arabians now abbreviate their genealogies in the same manner, and give the descent by a few prominent names. So, in fact, often do the English, or any other people; the object being, in such cases, not to furnish a complete list of one’s ancestors, but simply to establish the descent from a certain line. Where such omissions are made in the Scripture genealogies, the usual term "begot" (or, as in Luke "son of") is retained, and must of course be then understood not literally, but as denoting progenitorship or descent in general, a sense very common in the language of Scripture, and common throughout the East, both in ancient and modern times. (Compare Mat 1:1) Matthew’s three fourteens have been variously made out by expositors. It seems best either to count from Abraham to David, from David again to Josiah, and from Jechoniah to Jesus, or, from Abraham to David, from Solomon to Jechoniah, as representing the time of the removal, and from Jechoniah again to Jesus. The fact that either of these modes of reckoning (and, indeed, one or two others) may be plausibly supported, concurs with the omission of some names to show that the Evangelist did not design this division to be pressed with literal exactness, but only to be taken In a certain general way, for purposes such as those above suggested.
The Genealogies Of Matthew And Luke
There is an obvious discrepancy between the two genealogies, (compare Luk 3:28 ff.) which has always attracted attention, and to explain which, we find various theories suggested. Most scholars at the present day are divided between two of these, and either of them is sufficiently probable to set aside objection to the credibility of the Evangelists on the ground of the discrepancy. The two genealogies diverge after David, Matthew’s passing down through Solomon, and Luke’s (which is stated in the opposite order), through Nathan, and they do not afterwards agree, unless it may possibly be in the case of Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, as these two names and I occur together in both lists.
Mat 1:1. One explanation supposes that, while Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph, the reputed and legal father of Jesus, Luke really gives that of Mary, but simply puts her husband’s name instead of hers, because it was not customary for a woman’s name to appear in a genealogy, but that of her husband instead. This is a mere supposition, of course, but it is a perfectly possible and reasonable one, and it has the great advantage of showing that Jesus was not only a descendant of David legally, through his reputed father, but also actually, through his mother. There is good reason besides to believe, (Luk 1:32; Act 2:30; Rom 1:3; 2Ti 2:8) that Mary was herself a descendant of David, as held by Justin Martyr,[1] Irenaeus, Tertullian, and other Fathers. The fact that Elisabeth, the wife of a priest, was Mary’s "kinswoman," (Luk 1:36, the term denotes relationship, but without indicating its degree) is no proof that Mary was not of the tribe of Judah, since persons of the different tribes sometimes intermarried; indeed the earliest known Elisabeth, Aaron’s wife, appears to have been of the tribe of Judah. (Exo 6:23 Num 2:3) This theory would accord with the special characteristics and manifest design of the two Gospels. Matthew, who wrote especially for Jews, gives the legal descent of Jesus from David, through Joseph, it being a rule of the Rabbins that "the descent on the father’s side only shall be called a descent; the descent by the mother is not called any descent." Luke, who wrote without any special reference to the Jews, for general circulation, gives the real descent from David. In like manner Matthew mentions the angelic appearance to Joseph; Luke thus to Mary. This explanation is adopted substantially, by Luther, Lightfoot, Bengel, Olahausen, Ebrard, Wieseler, Bleek (in part), Lange, Robinson, Alexander, Godet, Weiss. Andrews hesitates. (See a valuable discussion by Warfield in the "Presb. Review," Vol. II, p. 388-397).
[1] If we simply suppose that Justin adopted this theory of the genealogies, viz: that Luke gives that of Mary there will be none of that conflict, between his statements on this subject and our Gospels, upon which the author of "Supernatural Religion" so much insists.
Mat 1:2. Most of the Fathers, and many recent writers (as Winer, Meyer), hold that both Gospels give the genealogy of Joseph, and then attempt in various ways to remove the discrepancy, or pass it by as irreconcilable. The best explanation upon this view is that recently offered by Lord Hervey, viz.: the hypothesis that Matthew gives the line of succession to the throne, and that upon a failure of the direct line, Joseph became the next heir; while Luke gives Joseph’s private genealogy, as a descendant of David by a younger line, which at this point supplied the failure in the older branch, and furnished the heir to the throne. This theory is ably advocated in Lord Hervey’s volume on the Genealogies, and his article in Smith’s "Dict.," "Genealogy of Jesus Christ," and is now quite popular with English writers, as Mill, Alford, Wordsworth, Ellicott, Westcott, Fairbairn, Farrar. It is altogether possible, and when presented in detail has several striking points; yet the former explanation is believed to be in some respects preferable. We are little concerned to show which of them is best, and under no obligation to prove that either of them is certainly correct; for we are not attempting to establish from the Genealogies the credibility of Matthew’s Gospel. When the object is simply to refute an objection to that credibility, founded on an apparent discrepancy between two statements, it is sufficient to present any hypothetical explanation of the difficulty which is possible. If the explanation be altogether reasonable and probable, so much the better. And if there be two, or several, possible explanations, these reinforce each other in removing the ground for objection, and it is not necessary to choose between them.
The names Shealtiel and Zerubbabel in the genealogies need not be supposed to represent the same persons. There are various instances in the Old Testament lists, of a striking similarity between several names in lines that are unquestionably distinct.
Homiletical And Practical
Besides the value of this genealogy, to the Jews and to us, in showing that Jesus was a descendant of David, as it had been predicted that the Messiah would be,—the apparently barren list of names might suggest much thought to a mind familiar with the Old Testament. During all this long period, the providential arrangements were going on, which prepared for the coming of the "seed" promised to Abraham. Every person in this genealogy—the wicked as well as the devout, even the woman of stained character—formed a link in the chain of providences. Through all the troubled centuries, through all the national changes, whether reigning in splendour, or dethroned and in captivity, or afterwards subsiding into insignificance under the rule of the high priests or of Herod, the appointed line was preserved; until among the rude population of an obscure village, are found the hard-working carpenter and the poor maiden, who are chosen to rear the seed of Abraham, the son of David.
Mat 1:1. Christ, as (1) the son of Abraham, (Gal 3:16) (2) the son of David. The Jews are the only race of mankind that can trace their origin in authentic history to a single ancestor. Mat 1:2 ff. The Old Testament history, (1) a history of Providence, (2) a history of Redemption; each finding its climax and consummation in Christ. Mat 1:3-5. The divine sovereignty and condescension, in causing the Saviour to spring from a line containing some persons so unworthy of the honour, and who reflected so little credit on their descendants. And a rebuke to that excessive pride of ancestry, to which the Jews were so prone, and which is so common among mankind in general. Chrys.: "He teaches us also hereby, never to hide our face at our forefathers’ wickedness, but to seek after one thing alone, even virtue." Mat 1:7 ff. Bad men linked to good men, (1) as descendants of the good, (2) as ancestors of the good. Mat 1:11. The removal to Babylon, as a step in the preparation for Messiah. Mat 1:17. The three great periods of Jewish history before Christ, as all preparing in various ways for his coming and his work.
John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 16, 18, 21, 23 The book of the generation.
Mat_1:1-15
The book of the generation.
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The lessons of Christs genealogy
1. It is a proof of the reality of Christs humanity.
2. It suggests the relation of Christs work to the whole human race.
3. It marks the importance of the birth of Christ as a historical epoch. Let it remind us also
(1) Of the shortness of human life;
(2) Of the subserviency of persons of every class and character to the purposes of Gods moral government. (G. Brooks.)
The double use of genealogies
1. A profane use for ostentation.
2. A holy use
(1) For the observing of judicial laws;
(2) For the distinguishing the church from those without;
(3) For the setting forth the pedigree of the Messiah, lest it should be thought that he were some obscure or secret person. (R. Ward.)
The old and new in Jesus
The first record is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. What does this signify?
1. A mans beginnings, a mans ancestors, have something to do with both his character and his life.
2. Christ was the sacred heir of all the ancient world.
3. The genealogy reminds us how all the past was preparing for Jesus.
4. But more than all, the generations of Jesus Christ show us the birth of the new world, and the new time, and the new institutions, which are to end in the perfect glory of the Father and the perfect blessedness of the race. (W. H. Davison.)
The genealogy of Christ
1. There is much in good lineage.
2. Sin has tainted the blood of the best races of men, and frequently makes itself manifest.
3. Gods grace can flow through very crooked human channels.
4. No man stands alone.
Lessons of Christs genealogy
1. This table of our Lords genealogy, inserted in the beginning of the gospel, invests the book with an air of naturalness and reality, which probably nothing else could have done so well. No man writing fiction would have ventured to preface it with a dry list of obscure names.
2. It connects Jesus and His teachings with all Gods revelations and promises which had been given before. It binds up, as in one sheaf, all generations of the church in one uniform moral system.
3. The Lords ancestral roll serves to identify Him in closer connection and sympathy with the race whom, as their God, lie came to redeem.
4. The account of those who were Christs ancestry before His first advent suggest the anxious inquiry, whether our names are written in the Book of Life as members of His spiritual family. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
Very man
1. He is a man.
2. He is a Jew.
3. He is a king.
(1) Gods purpose is to bless by a man;
(2) To teach by a man;
(3) To judge by a man;
(4) To rule by a man;
(5) To link earth and heaven together by a man. (Dr. Bonar.)
The text appears at first sight like a valley of dry bones without any life or fertility, or a rugged pass that leads to green pastures. Nevertheless, there are important lessons in it respecting the human race and its relation to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. It shows the common origin of the race. St. Luke traces the ancestry of Jesus to Adam-the head of the race.
II. The physical connection of the race. Having sprung from a common head, there must be a physical connection between the various members.
(1) War seems doubly barbarous and unnatural.
(2) Men ought to sympathize with and promote one anothers welfare apart from Christianity, etc.
III. The common saviour of the race.
IV. The moral distinction of the race. What a mixture of good and bad there is in the genealogy! (W. Edwards.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The Coming of the Christ - Mat_1:1-25
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THE New Testament opens appropriately with the four Gospels; for, though in their present form they are all later in date than some of the Epistles, their substance was the basis of all apostolic preaching and writing. As the Pentateuch to the Old Testament, so is the fourfold Evangel to the New.
That there should be a manifold presentation of the great facts which lie at the foundation of our faith and hope, was both to be expected and desired. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by the first preachers of it, while in substance always the same, would be varied in form, and in number and in variety of details, according to the individuality of the speaker, the kind of audience before him, and the special object he might have in view at the time. Before any form of presentation had been crystallised, there would therefore be an indefinite number of Gospels, each "according to" the individual preacher of "Christ and Him crucified." It is, therefore a marvellous proof of the guidance and control of the Divine Spirit that out of these numerous oral Gospels there should emerge four, each perfect in itself, and together affording, as with the all-round completeness of sculpture, a life-like representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is manifestly of great advantage to have these several portraits of our Lord, permitting us to see Him from different points of view, and with varying arrangements of light and shade; all the more that, while three of them set forth in abundant variety of detail that which is more external, -the face, the features, the form, all the expression of that wondrous Life, -the fourth, appropriately called on that account "the Gospel of the heart of Jesus," unveils more especially the hidden riches of His inner Life. But, besides this, a manifold Gospel was needed, in order to meet the wants of man in the many-sidedness of his development. As the heavenly "city lieth four square," with gates on the east, and the west, and the north, and the south, to admit strangers coming from all points of the compass; so must there be in the presentation of the Gospel an open door for all mankind. How this great purpose is attained by the fourfold Gospel with which the New Testament opens can be readily shown; and even a brief statement of it may serve a useful purpose as introductory to our study of that which is known as the First Gospel.
The inscription over the cross was in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. These languages represented the three great civilizations which were the final outcome of ancient history-the Jewish, the Roman, the Greek. These three were not like so many nations selected at random, but stood for three leading types of humanity. The Jew was the man of the past. He could claim Moses and the prophets; he had Abraham for his father; his records went back to the Genesis of all things. He represented ancient prerogative and privilege, the conservatism of the East. The Roman was the man of the present. He was master of the world. He represented power, prowess, and. victory; and while serving himself heir to the culture which came from the shores of the Aegean Sea, he had combined with it the rude strength and restless activity of the barbarian and Scythian of the North. The Greek was the man of the future. He had lost his political empire, but still retained an empire in the world of thought. He represented humanity, and the ideal, and all the promise which was afterwards to be realised in the culture of the nations of the West. The Jew was the man of tradition, the Roman the man of energy, the Greek the man of thought. Turning now to the Gospels, we find the wants of each of these three types provided for in a wondrous way. St. Matthew addresses himself especially to the Jew with his Gospel of fulfillment, St. Mark to the Roman with "his brief and terse narrative of a three years campaign," St. Luke to the Greek with that all-pervading spirit of humanity and catholicity which is so characteristic of his Evangel; while for those who have been gathered from among the Jews and Romans and Greeks-a people who are now no longer Jews or Greeks, but are "all one in Christ Jesus," prepared to receive and appreciate the deeper things of Christ-there is a fourth Gospel, issued at a later date, with characteristics specially adapted to them the mature work of the then venerable John, the apostle of the Christian.
It is manifest that for every reason the Gospel of St. Matthew should occupy the foremost place. "To the Jew first" is the natural order, whether we consider the claims of "the fathers," or the necessity of making it clear that the new covenant was closely linked to the old. "Salvation is of the Jews"; the Christ of God, though the Saviour of the world, had been in a very special sense "the Hope of Israel," and therefore it is appropriate that He should be represented first from the standpoint of that nation. We have, accordingly, in this Gospel, a faithful setting forth of Christ as He presented Himself to the mind and heart of a devout Jew, "an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile," rejoicing to find in Him One who fulfilled ancient prophecy and promise, realised the true ideal of the kingdom of God, and substantiated His claim to be Himself the divine Saviour-King for whom the nation and the world had waited long.
The opening words of this Gospel suggest that we are at the genesis of the New Testament, the genesis not of the heavens and the earth, but of Him who was to make for us "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The Old Testament opens with the thought, "Behold I make all things"; the New Testament with that which amounts to the promise, "Behold I make all things new." It begins with the advent of "the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven." That He was indeed a "Second Man," and not merely one of the many that have sprung from the first man, will presently appear; but first it must be made clear that He is man indeed, "bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh"; and therefore the inspired historian begins with His historic genealogy. True to his object, however, he does not trace back our Lords descent, as does St. Luke, to the first man, but contents himself with that which is especially interesting to the Jew, setting Him forth as "the son of David, the son of Abraham." There is another difference between the genealogies, of a more serious kind, which has been the occasion of much difficulty; but which also seems to find readiest explanation in the different object each Evangelist had in view. St. Luke, writing for the Gentile, is careful to give the natural descent, while St. Matthew, writing for the Jew, sets forth that line of descent-diverging from the other after the time of David-which made it clear to the Jew that He was the rightful heir to the kingdom. The object of the one is to set Him forth as the Son of Man; of the other to proclaim Him King of Israel.
St. Matthew gives the genealogy in three great epochs or stages, which, veiled in the Authorised Version by the verse division, are clearly exhibited to the eye in the paragraphs of the Revised Version, and which are summed up and made emphatic at the close of the genealogical tree. {Mat_1:17} The first is from Abraham to David; the second from David to the captivity in Babylon; the third from the captivity to Christ. If we glance at these, we shall find that they represent three great stages in the development of the Old Testament promises which find their fulfillment in the Messiah.
"To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made." As given to Abraham himself, the promise ran thus: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." As made to David, it indicated that the blessing to the nations should come through a king of his line. These were the two great promises to Israel. There were many others; but these stand out from the rest as constituting the mission and the hope of Israel. Now, after long waiting, both are to be fulfilled in Christ. He is the chosen Seed in Whom all nations shall be blessed. He is the Son of David, who is to sit upon His throne for ever, and reign, not over Israel alone, but over men, as "Prince of Peace" and "King of Glory." But what has the captivity in Babylon to do with it? Very much; as a little reflection will show.
The captivity in Babylon, as is well known, was followed by two great results:
(1) it cured the people of idolatry for ever, so that, while politically the kingdom had passed away, in reality, and according to the spirit, it was then for the first time constituted as a kingdom of God. Till then, though politically separate from the Gentile nations, spiritually Israel had become as one of them; for what else than a heathen nation was the northern kingdom in the days of Ahab or the southern kingdom in the time of Ahaz? But after the captivity, though as a nation shattered into fragments, spiritually Israel became and continued to be one.
(2) The other great result of the captivity was the Dispersion. Only a small remnant of the people came back to Palestine. Ten of the tribes passed out of sight, and but a fraction of the other two returned. The rest remained in Babylon, or were scattered abroad among the nations of the earth. Thus the Jews in their dispersion formed, as it were, a Church throughout the ancient world, -their eyes ever turned in love and longing to the Temple at Jerusalem, while their homes and their business were among the Gentiles-in the world, but not of it; the prototype of the future Church of Christ, and the soil out of which it should afterwards spring. Thus out of the captivity in Babylon sprang, first, the spiritual as distinguished from the political kingdom, and, next, the world-wide as distinguished from the merely national Church. Clearly, then, the Babylonish captivity was not only a most important historical event, but also a stage in the grand preparation for the Advent of the Messiah. The original promise made to Abraham, that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed, was shown in the time of David to be a promise which should find its fulfillment in the coming of a king; and as the king after Gods heart was foreshadowed in David, so the kingdom after the Divine purpose was foreshadowed in the condition of the people of God after the captivity in Babylon, purified from idolatry, scattered abroad among the nations, with their innumerable synagogues (prototypes of our churches) and their peculiarities of faith and life and worship. Abraham was called out of Babylon to be a witness for God and the coming Christ; and, after the long training of centuries, his descendants were taken back to Babylon, to scatter from that world-centre the seed of the coming kingdom of God. Thus it comes to pass that in Christ and His kingdom we see the culmination of that wonderful history which has for its great stages of progress Abraham, David, the Captivity, Christ.
So much for the earthly origin of the Man Christ Jesus; but His heavenly descent must also be told; and with what exquisite simplicity and delicacy is this done. There is no attempt to make the words correspond with the greatness of the facts. As simple and transparent as clear glass, they allow the facts to speak for themselves. So it is all the way through this Evangel. What a contrast here to the spurious Gospels afterwards produced, when men had nothing to tell, and so must put in their own poor fictions, piously intending sometimes to add lustre to the too simple story of the Infancy, but only with the effect of degrading it in the eyes of all men of taste and judgment. But here there is no need of fiction, no need even of rhetoric or sentiment. The fact itself is so great that the more simply it is told the better. The Holy One of Israel came into the world with no tinsel of earthly pomp; and in strict harmony with His mode of entrance, the story of His birth is told with like simplicity. The Sun of Righteousness rises like the natural sun, in silence; and in this Gospel, as in all the others, passes on to its setting through the heaven of the Evangelists thought, which stands, like that other heaven, "majestic in its own simplicity."
The story of the Incarnation is often represented as incredible; but if those who so regard it would only reflect on that doctrine of heredity which the science of recent years has brought into such prominence, if they would only consider what is involved in the obvious truth that, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," they would see that it was not only natural but necessary that the birth of Jesus Christ should be "on this wise." Inasmuch as "the first man is of the earth, earthy," "the Second Man" must be "of heaven," or He will be no Second Man at all; He will be sinful and earthy like all the others. But all that is needful is met in the manner so chastely and beautifully set forth by our Evangelist, in words which, angelic in their tone and like the blue of heaven in their purity, so well become the angel of the Lord.
Some wonder that nothing is said here of Nazareth and what took place there, and of the journey to Bethlehem; and there are those who are fain even to find some inconsistency, with the third Gospel in this omission, as if there were any need to wonder at omissions in a story which tells of the first year on one page and the thirtieth on the next! These Gospels are not biographies. They are memorials, put together for a special purpose, to set forth this Jesus as the Son of God and Saviour of the world. And the special object, as we have seen, of St. Matthew is to set Him forth as the Messiah of Israel. In accordance with this object we have His birth told in such a way as to bring into prominence those facts only in which the Evangelist specially recognised a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Here again the names give us the main thoughts. Just as Abraham, David, Babylon, suggest the main object of the genealogy, so the names Emmanuel, Jesus, suggest the main object of the record of His birth. "All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet."
The first name mentioned is "Jesus." To understand it as St. Matthew did, we must bear in mind that it is the old historic name Joshua, and that the first thought of the Hebrew mind would be, Here is One who shall fulfil all that was typified in the life and work of the two Old Testament heroes who bore that name, so full of hopeful significance. The first Joshua was Israels captain on the occasion of their first settlement in the Land of Promise after the bondage in Egypt; the second Joshua was Israels high priest at their second settlement in the land after the bondage in Babylon. Both were thus associated with great deliverances; but neither the one nor the other had given the rest of full salvation to the people of God; {see Heb_4:8} what they had done had only been to procure for them political freedom and a land they could call their own, - a picture in the earthly sphere of what the Coming One was to accomplish in the spiritual sphere. The salvation from Egypt and from Babylon were both but types of the great salvation from sin which was to come through the Christ of God. These or such as these must have been the thoughts in the mind of Joseph when he heard the angels words: "Thou shalt call His name Joshua; for it is He that shall save His people from their sins."
Joseph, though a poor carpenter of Nazareth, was a true son of David, one of those who waited for the salvation of Israel, who had welcomed the truth set forth by Daniel, that the coming kingdom was to be a kingdom of the saints of the Most High, -not of political adventurers, as was the idea of the corrupt Judaism of the time; so he was prepared to welcome the truth that the coming Saviour was One who should deliver, not from the rule of Rome, but from the guilt and power and death of Sin.
As the name Joshua, or Jesus, came from the earliest times of Israels national history, the name Emmanuel came from its latest, even out of the dark days of King Ahaz, when the hope of the people was directed to the birth of a Child who should bear this name. Some have thought it enough to show that there was a fulfillment of this hope in the time of Ahaz, to make it evident that St. Matthew was mistaken in finding its fulfillment in Christ; but this idea, like so many others of the same kind, is founded on ignorance of the relation of the Old Testament history to the New Testament times. We have seen that though Joshua of the early times and his successor of the same name did each a work of his own, yet both of them were in relation to the future but prototypes of the Great Joshua who was to come. In the same way exactly, if there was, as we believe, a deliverance in the time of Ahaz, to which the prophet primarily referred, it was, as in so many other cases, but a picture of the greater one in which the gracious purpose of God, manifested in all these partial deliverances, was to be "fulfilled," i.e., filled to the full. The idea in the name "Emmanuel" was not a new one even in the time of King Ahaz. "I will be with you"; "Certainly I will be with you"; "Fear not, for I am with you,"-such words of gracious promise had been echoed and re-echoed all down the course of the history of the people of God, before they were enshrined in the name prophetically used by Isaiah in the days of King Ahaz; and they were finally embodied, incarnated, in the Child born at Bethlehem in the fulness of the time, to Whom especially belongs that name of highest hope, "Emmanuel," "God with us."
If, now, we look at these two names, we shall see that they not only point to a fulfillment, in the largest sense, of Old Testament prophecy, but to the fulfillment of that which we all need most-the satisfaction of our deepest wants and longings. "God is light"; sin is darkness. With God is the fountain of life; "sin when it is finished bringeth forth death." Here shines the star of hope; there lies the abyss of despair. Now, without Christ we are tied to sin, separated from God. Sin is near; God is far. That is our curse. Therefore what we need is God brought near and sin taken away-the very blessings guaranteed in these two precious names of our Lord. As Emmanuel, He brings God near to us, near in His own incarnate person, near in His loving life, near in His perfect sympathy, near in His perpetual presence, according to the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." As Jesus, He saves us from our sins. How he does it is set forth in the sequel of the Gospel, culminating in the sacrifice of the cross, "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." For He has not only to bring God down to us, but also to lift us up to God; and while the incarnation effects the one, the atonement, followed by the work of the Holy Spirit, is necessary to secure the other. He touches man, the creature, at his cradle; He reaches down to man, the sinner, at His cross-the end of His descent to us, the beginning of our ascent with Him to God. There we meet Him and, saved from sin, we know Him as our Jesus; and reconciled to God, we have Him with us as Emmanuel, God with us, always with us, with us throughout all lifes changes, with us in deaths agony, with us in the life to come, to guide us into all its wisdom and honour and riches and glory and blessing.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 1. The book of the generation. Literally, “the book…
1. The book of the generation. Literally, “the book of birth,” or genealogy. This title applies, not to the whole Gospel, but to the tables of descent in the first seventeen verses. The title was possibly copied from some Hebrew document compiled from the genealogical tables. Jesus Christ. Jesus, the personal name, which means “Savior;” Christ, the official title, which means “Anointed.” He is our Anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. The son of David. The descendant. The prophets had declared that the Messiah should be of David's seed. The son of Abraham. The Lord had promised Abraham (Gen. 12:3; 22:18) that in his seed all the world should be blessed. David and Abraham were the two greatest ancestors of Jesus, and are named because it had been predicted that he would be their descendant.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 Mat_1:1.—A title, and might be appropriately rendered, genealogy of…
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat_1:1.—A title, and might be appropriately rendered, genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham (Morison). Refers, strictly speaking, not to the whole Gospel of St. Matthew, but to the genealogical table in Mat_1:2-17. The book of the generation.—An essentially Hebrew formula. See Gen_5:1; Gen_10:1; Gen_11:10. The LXX. translate Gen_5:1 by the phrase used here, βίβλος γενέσεως. The pedigree extracted from the public archives, which were carefully preserved and placed under the special care of the Sanhedrin. The genealogy, an answer to the question which would be asked by every Jew of any one who claimed to be the Messiah, “Is he of the house of David?” for by no name was the Messiah more frequently spoken of by Jews and by foreigners, and designated in the Talmud, than by that of the son of David (Carr). See Mat_15:22; Mat_20:30; Mat_21:9; Mat_22:42. Son of David.—See above. Son of Abraham.—Not a specially Messianic title. A brother to all. See Gen_22:18; Luk_19:9; Heb_2:16. Cf. also Gal_3:16.
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THE GENEALOGIES IN ST. MATTHEW’S AND ST. LUKE’S GOSPELS
1. Both trace Joseph’s descent. But see on Mat_1:16.
2. St. Matthew proves that Jesus is the Son of David and of Abraham; St. Luke, true to the scope of his Gospel, traces the pedigree from the common father of Jew and Gentile.
3. St. Matthew traces the royal succession, St. Luke the family lineage. This accounts for many variations in names.
4. This genealogy descends from father to son, and is, therefore, probably the most exact transcript of the original document. St. Luke ascends from son to father.
5. St. Matthew also differs from St. Luke in naming women in the genealogy (Carr). THE OMISSIONS.—The true explanation appears to be, that all the individuals omitted by the Evangelist had, in one respect or another, no claim to be regarded as separate and distinct links in the theocratic chain (Lange).
Mat_1:3. Thamar.—It was enough that the women were historically notable. It would appear, from the language of the Talmud, as if the Jews looked on Thamar’s strange and, to us, revolting history with quite other feelings. To them she was as one who, at the risk of shame and it might be death, bad preserved the line of Judah from destruction, and “therefore was counted worthy to be the mother of kings and prophets” (Plumptre).
Mat_1:5. Salmon … Rachab (Rahab).—The Old Testament records are silent as to the marriage of Salmon with the “harlot” of Jericho. Hence Matthew must have had access to other genealogical records or sources of information.
Mat_1:8. Joram begat Ozias (Uzziah).—Three omissions, viz. Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah. Motive apparently simply the desire to bring the names in each period into which the genealogy is divided to the arbitrary standard of fourteen. “A begat B” not to be taken literally, but simply as an expression of the fact of succession, with or without intermediate links (ibid.).
Mat_1:11. Carried away.—Literally, “of their migration,” for the Jews avoided the word “captivity” as too bitter a recollection, and our Evangelist studiously respects the national feeling (Brown).
Mat_1:12. Jechonias—Jechonias the Second, son of Jechonias the First. Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim (Morison) begat Salathiel (Shealtiel). Cf. Jer_22:30 (Coniah = Jehoiachin), Luk_3:27; 1Ch_3:17-19. A cluster of genealogical difficulties. Various solutions suggested. Dr. Plumptre says: “The most probable solution is that Assir was the only son of Jeconiah, and died without issue before his father; that the line of Solomon thus came to an end, and that the son of Neri, a descendant of Nathan, another son of David (2Sa_5:14; 1Ch_3:5; Luk_3:27; Luk_3:31) took their place in the succession, and was reckoned, as by adoption, as the son of the last survivor of the other line. The practice is, it may be noted, analogous to that which prevails among Indian princes and in other Eastern nations.”
Mat_1:13. Zorobabel begat Abiud.—None of the names that come after that of Zerubbabel are recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures. They were doubtless taken from the public or family registers, which the Jews carefully kept, and their accuracy was never challenged. The royal family had got sadly reduced and crushed, indeed, into the deepest poverty. The Messiah, when He appeared, was like a rod, or shoot, or sucker from a lowly “stump”—Isa_11:1 (Brown and Morison).
Mat_1:16. Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary.—Joseph, the legal father, of our Lord. In Luke, Joseph is said to be the son of Heli, and from Heli the line of ancestry is traced upward to Nathan, son of David, instead of to Solomon. Thus an apparent discrepancy. Several methods of conciliation. Dr. Morison favours a view which commanded the suffrages of the great body of the Fathers. Set forth in a monograph by Julius Africanus (third century). He supposes that Jacob and Heli were half-brothers. Their respective fathers, Matthan and Melchi, married successively the same woman, named Estha. Matthan, having first married her, begat Jacob. Having died, his widow was married by Melchi, and Heli was born. Heli married, but died without issue; and his brother, Jacob, married the widow, and had by her a son, Joseph, who was truly his own son by nature, but also the son of Heli by law. Africanus says that this theory was in accordance with a tradition which was handed down in the line of the Saviour’s relatives, and that it was in all respects a satisfactory solution of the apparent difficulty. Dr. Morison adds, “We have no doubt, at the same time, that Mary was a near relative of Joseph, and a royal heiress, so that Joseph’s lineage was in reality, in its essential elements, her lineage.” Christ.—Here, as in Mat_1:1, a proper name, not an appellative—the Christ (Morison).
Mat_1:17. Fourteen generations.—In the arrangement and division of the genealogical tree Matthew was undoubtedly influenced by the Old Testament symbolism of numbers (Lange). Partitioned for facility of remembrance. There is a natural basis for the trichotomy. The first fourteen comprises the age of the patriarchs and judges, the spring-time of the Jewish people. The second comprises the age of the kings, the summer season and the autumn of the nation. The third comprises the period of Jewish decadence, the winter-time of their political existence (Morison). Dr. Morison gives the three fourteens as follows:
1. From Abraham to David.
2. From Solomon to Jechonias I.
3. From Jechonias II. to Jesus. Christ = the Christ.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_1:1-17
A distinguished lineage.—A leading characteristic of St. Matthew’s Gospel is that it presents Christ to us as a “sign.” The word “behold,” in fact, in one form or another, is constantly to be found in its pages; more often, in proportion, than in any of the others. These opening verses of the Gospel are found to conform to this rule. They set before us what we are first to “look” at in the story it tells us. From what lineage, from what family, did the Man it speaks about spring? From a lineage distinguished—
1. As being remarkably extended.
2. Singularly select.
3. Highly significant.
I. Remarkably extended.—Its mere length, to begin with, is obviously unusual. Not many men can go back through a list of progenitors containing some fifty names, and covering some fifteen hundred years. This length strikes us the more also in this case because it is given “at length,” as it were, name after name being reported to us nearly all the way through. Also, because it is broken up into three different groups. It is like having to clamber up three flights of stairs to the top of a tower. Alike, the mind and the limbs are impressed by the task. Also, the many vicissitudes thus pointed to are of a very unusual description. How many and great were those connected with the first of these groups—even all those of which we read between the call of Abraham and the going down into Egypt, and between the going down into Egypt and the settlement in Canaan, and between the settlement in Canaan and the final establishment of the kingdom! Also, how many those found in the long but much chequered splendours of the subsequent group! And how many, again, in the long and trying obscurity of the third! So long a genealogy of a clearly traceable kind is in any case a remarkable thing. It is still more remarkable in a line passing through such hazards as these.
II. Singularly select.—The names inserted in this genealogy are such as to teach us this, on the one hand. Many of them at once point to others set aside for their sakes. Thus it is, e.g., that the name of Isaac (Mat_1:2) points us to Ishmael, and the name of Jacob (ibid.) to Esau, and the name of Judah (ibid.) to those of his brethren (Gen_29:35), and the name of David (Mat_1:6) to those of his brethren (1 Samuel 16), and the name of Solomon in like manner (1Ch_28:5). This kind of principle, in fact, is almost pointed to all the way through. First one nation, then one tribe, then one family, then one branch of it only. With equal emphasis, on the other hand, even if with some obscurity also, the names omitted teach much the same thing. We cannot exactly say, e.g. why the names of three different kings of Judah, viz. those of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, are left out of this list. But the fact that, though they were notoriously in the line which is here being traced, they were thus deliberately not reckoned as of it, points our thoughts the same way. It shows, evidently, that things were not taken here just as they came, but that there was a choice, rather, and that a very decided choice, though we may not know why. And it shows, therefore, that here also this genealogy of Jesus was a thing much by itself.
III. Highly significant.—Highly significant, in the first instance, because of its most prominent names. A comparison of Mat_1:1; Mat_1:6; Mat_1:17, shows these names to be those of Abraham and David. The Old Testament story also shows us in what special way it was that both these men had surpassed all other men in the past, viz. in the degree of their promised intimacy with the coming Hope of the world. (See Gen_22:18; Psalms 72; Psalms 89) We see, therefore, what this genealogy comes to on the question of names. It connects this “Jesus” with those two men who were to be the principal ancestors of the Christ. Hardly less significant is it, next, in the question of epochs. Two of these are seen prominent in the catalogue before us. The epoch of the setting up of the kingdom of Israel under “David the king” (Mat_1:6) is one. The epoch of its overthrow but not total obliteration at the “carrying away to Babylon” (Mat_1:11-12; Mat_1:17) is the other. We see, therefore, on this point also to what this genealogy comes. It is a description, first, of the setting up of a particular kingdom or dynasty; of the way in which that kingdom was prepared for by one set of “fourteen generations”; and of the way in which it was preserved afterwards during another fourteen. It is a description, next, of the overthrow of that kingdom and yet of the preservation of the line of its kings for other “fourteen generations.” In other words, it shows of this “Jesus” that He belonged to the family which was still in possession of a claim to that throne. Lastly, this genealogy is hardly less significant as to the question of time. When time is measured, as the Evangelist measures it here, how critical and hopeful is the look of the time which closes this list. Fourteen generations from the first promise to Abraham to a repetition of it—to a closer repetition of it—to David. Fourteen generations from this to its restoration to life, as it were. Fourteen more, therefore, to a season of further hope and remembrance—perhaps of actual fulfilment! Just then it is that this “Jesus” appears.
Altogether, therefore, see how fit a “beginning” is the beginning in hand. How many significances it shows us, meeting together in the appearing of this Jesus! The line by which He has come, its changeful character, the description given of it, the chief names it speaks of, the principal epochs it points to, the season it ends with, all bid us fix our eyes upon Him as the probable Hope of the world. “Is not this the Christ?” So it is that what we read here, as it were, constrains us to ask! Could any beginning, if we think of it, have well attempted any more? Could any beginning, on the other hand, have accomplished it better?
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_1:1-17. The genealogy of our Lord.—I. Amongst those whom St. Matthew records as the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, there are only four female names introduced, and they are precisely those four which a merely human historian, anxious to throw in everything which might seem to be to the honour of Christ and to omit everything which might seem to detract from that honour, would have been desirous to have passed over in silence. One thing is clear, that there was no thought in St. Matthew’s mind of throwing any false lights upon his Lord’s history and character; and another thought might have been in his mind, which led him to set down these names,—the wonderful manner in which God brings His own purposes about by means which seem at first sight to be as little conducive to them as possible.
II. Jesus is declared by St. Matthew to be the Son of David, and therefore a member of the royal tribe of Judah, not of the priestly tribe of Levi. Christ came as a priest, but more particularly He came as a king.
III. The genealogies both of St. Matthew and St. Luke trace the descent of our Lord, not through Mary His mother, but through Joseph His reputed father. It cannot but appear remarkable that the lineage of our Lord should be in fact no lineage at all, that, like His type Melchisedec, He should be without descent. The great fact in the lineage of Christ is not that He was the Son of David, but that He was the Son of man.—Bishop Harvey Goodwin.
The genealogy of Christ.—These chronicles have a mission. As no star is useless in the heavens, and as every atom has been created for a purpose, so God would not devote seventeen verses of His book to a pedigree, without a purpose. We learn from this genealogy:—
I. God’s fidelity to His promise.—God had promised Abraham that in him should all the families of the earth be blessed, and here we read of its fulfilment.
II. The eternal God never works hurriedly.—Scientists say that the earth existed ten millions of years before any life came into existence upon it. And God took two thousand years before He gave His Son to the world.
III. The human race is very closely inter-related.—Mankind is one family, and every war that occurs is a family strife.
IV. The universality of death.—Forty-two generations pass before us, and sink into the grave.
V. The all-inclusiveness of Christ’s mission.—Christ touched all sorts of people in this pedigree, in order that He might save all sorts of people.
VI. The marvellous way in which God overrules evil in order to give due prominence to Christ.—Who but God could have produced a perfect man out of such a pedigree?—J. Ossian Davies.
The genealogical table—its moral suggestions.—
I. The solemn succession of the race.—The representatives of forty generations appear before us and pass away. Men depart, man remains. The world can do without us. This fact serves—
1. To reprove worldliness.
2. To inculcate humility.
II. The physical connexion of the race.—Each of these generations springs from the preceding one as grain from grain. This unity—
1. Demands the spirit of brotherhood.
2. Helps to explain the transmission of moral character.
3. Enables each generation to help its successors.
III. The moral difference of the race.—In this list we recognise some men of distinguished goodness and some pre-eminent for wickedness. There is a power lodged in each man’s bosom to prevent the combined influence of all past generations from moulding his character.
IV. The partial history of the race.—Of these forty generations we have for the most but little more than the mention of the name of an individual of each. Who knows the history of one of a generation?
V. The common Redeemer of the race.—God redeems man by man.—D. Thomas, D.D.
Mat_1:17. The Divine regulation of time.—
1. Though not one of us can be in the family line of Christ, yet all may be spiritually related to Him.
2. The tumultuous generations bring the peaceful Christ.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 Matthew 1 and Luke 3. There is but one…
GENEALOGIES
Matthew 1 and Luke 3. There is but one fact of vital importance in all of these genealogies, and that is the transmission to all generations, an infallible history of our Lord’s progenitorship, setting forth, beyond controversy, the fact of His human descension from Adam. In order to reach man in the plan of salvation, He must be a Man; in order to save men, He must be God. While His miracles and fulfillment of the prophecies prove His Divinity, the inspired genealogies prove His humanity. That the testimony shall be indubitable, it is given by two of our Lord’s inspired biographers, which can not be a copy either of the other, because of their dissimilitude, running in opposite directions.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Note some points in the genealogy of our Lord.
Mat 1:1
Note some points in the genealogy of our Lord.
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I. Amongst those whom St. Matthew records as the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, there are only four female names introduced, and they are precisely those four which a merely human historian, anxious to throw in everything which might seem to be to the honour of Christ, and to omit everything which might seem to detract from that honour, would have been desirous to have passed over in silence. The persons whose names are given are Thamar, Rahab, Ruth (a Moabitess), and Bathsheba. One thing is clear, that there was no thought in St. Matthew’s mind of throwing any false lights upon his Lord’s history and character; and another thought might have been in his mind, which led him to set down these names,—the wonderful manner in which God brings His own purposes about by means which seem at first sight to be as little conducive to them as possible, how through the apparent confusion of history, blotted by human sin, the thread of His providence remained unbroken, and connected him to whom the promises were made with Him who was the promised seed.
II. Jesus is declared by St. Matthew to be the Son of David, and therefore a member of the royal tribe of Judah, not of the priestly tribe of Levi. Christ came as a priest, but more particularly He came as a king; that which He preached from the first was a kingdom.
III. The genealogies both of St. Matthew and St. Luke trace the descent of our Lord, not through Mary His mother, but through Joseph, His reputed father. The lineage of Joseph would be legally the lineage of Jesus, his reputed Son, and on that account the Evangelists could not well have done otherwise than give his pedigree and not that of Mary; and yet it cannot but appear remarkable, that the lineage of our Lord should be in fact no lineage at all, that, like His type Melchisedec, He should be without descent. The great fact in the lineage of Christ is not that He was the Son of David, but that He was the Son of man.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 183.
References: Mat 1:1.—C. Girdlestone, Twenty Parochial Sermons, 2nd series, p. 1; Bishop Alexander, Leading Ideas of the Gospel, p. 1; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329; A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 60; O. Davies, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 182; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 368. Mat 1:1-17.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. i., p. 1.
Mat 1:16
I. We are reminded here that our Blessed Lord has a human ancestry.
II. Our Lord’s ancestry was both Jewish and Gentile.
III. Our Lord’s ancestry was lowly.
IV. Our Lord had a royal ancestry.
V. The Saviour has an immortal ancestry.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 46.
References: Mat 1:18.—A. Whyte, Expositor, 3rd series, vol. i., p. 120; C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons, vol. i., p. 89. Mat 1:18-25.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 355; Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. i., p. 10.
Mat 1:21
I. Salvation from sin is the great necessity for man. This is a fact of universal observation. It is also a fact of universal consciousness. Men are so constituted that they cannot doubt that ultimate happiness is impossible unless they can be delivered from that which they know to be a great curse in this world, and which they also know will be their ultimate ruin, if persisted in.
II. Jesus has undertaken this work. "He shall save His people from their sins," therefore His name is Jesus, the name Jesus signifying a Saviour. The term salvation, as here used, means merely deliverance, or safety from some tremendous evil; it is often found in the Bible, and includes in it very generally, in addition to mere deliverance, the result of it—eternal happiness and enjoyment in heaven with the people of God.
III. Why is it that so many persons fail of this salvation? (1) Many persons fail of it because they have not abandoned reliance on themselves. It is the most obvious thing in the world, that many persons are living, not to God, but to themselves. Now, wherever this principle is manifested it is certain that persons are not saved from sin; for what is sin but living to self and not to God? Self-seeking is the very essence of sin. (2) Multitudes are not saved because they seek forgiveness while they do not forsake their sins. Another reason why men are not saved from sin is that they have really come to regard justification in sin as a means to save them from it. Justification in sin is a thing impossible. A man must be in a state of obedience to the law of God before he can be justified. (3) Many make the mistake of cherishing hope rather than holiness; instead of working out their own salvation, they seek to cherish a hope that they shall be saved.
C. G. Finney, Penny Pulpit, No. 1566.
References: Mat 1:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1434; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 39; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 39; Ibid., Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 259; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 9; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 345; W. M. Taylor, Three Hundred Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 1; C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times, p. 48; G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons, vol. ii., p. 45. Mat 1:22, Mat 1:23.—H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 1; Ibid., Expository Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 1; Ibid., Three Hundred Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 2; J. C. Jones, Studies in St. Matthew, p. 1; J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 160.
Mat 1:23
The great essential doctrine of Christianity lies in these few words, God with us. To hear of Christ having come on this earth for a little time, and then having gone away again, would not be to us glad tidings of great joy. The first apostles would not have won men to the Gospel if they had preached an absent Jesus, One who had left His Church and gone to heaven. The great secret of our Christian joy lies in this fact, that we believe in a present, not in an absent Jesus; one who is Emmanuel—God with us. Try to get hold of that great fact of our Lord’s presence, and then you will see what results flow from it.
I. First, that fact should make us humble. If the Son of God, King of kings, and Lord of lords, chose to come to this earth in the lowliest manner; if He chose a manger to be born in, a workman’s home to live in, the commonest of clothing and of food, surely we, who profess to be His followers, have no right to be proud.
II. The fact of our Lord’s abiding presence ought to make us brave. If God be for us, and with us, who can be against us? No temptation need be too strong to be conquered; no difficulty need be too hard to be surmounted by those who know that God is with them—Emmanuel.
III. The fact of our Lord’s abiding presence ought to make us good to each other. Look on your fellowmen, and learn from the Incarnation to respect man, every man, as wearing the flesh which Jesus wears. Learn to look upon all men as brethren, who have a claim upon us in their need. There is a noble family in Italy whose name of Frangipanni means breakers of bread, that is, for the poor. We who are bound together in one family with Him who gives us our daily bread, not only bread for the body, but bread for the soul, should all be breakers of bread with our brethren, helping those who have need to a share of our blessings; for thus alone can we give something to Him who freely giveth all things—our Emmanuel, God with us.
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. i., p. 39.
Mat 1:23
These words contain in themselves the whole history and course and means of man’s redemption. In their highest sense they express that unfathomable mystery that God hath been with us, in our nature, that the Creator has taken His creature into Himself; but, by virtue of that gracious mystery, they declare God’s presence in His Church, and with and within the souls of her members.
I. Such, then, is the twofold force of the title "Emmanuel, God with us," God in Himself, but with us, and such as we; not with us merely by mercy, or care, or providence, or protection, but with us as one of us; not restoring us by His word, as He created us, but by becoming as one of us; not by raising us by the hand when fallen, but by humbling Himself to us; Himself sinking to us, that He might rise with us, placing at God’s right hand, united with Himself, and as part of Himself, the nature which He had redeemed.
II. And if He be such to us in deed and in the fulness of His purpose, if He have been thus God with us, and purposeth that we should be thus with God, how should He not be with us now in all things if we be His? What but sin can hide His face from us, in that it blinds our eyes that we see Him not? Why should He not be with us on our way, who is Himself the Way? To us, as to the disciples, He shows Himself in different forms, but He is the selfsame Saviour and Lord in all. He is our home and sure abiding-place; and all things in this earth may speak of Him, for we dwell in a redeemed world, which His sacred footsteps have trod and sanctified. Only, if we would truly see Him, we must seek to have the mirror of our hearts cleansed, that it may receive His glorious image. "The pure in heart," He hath promised, shall see Him. Love is the eye whereby the Spirit sees God. Disputing about holy things but blinds us. If we love, and as we love, we shall see and shall receive. While the world jangles our Lord comes secretly to us, if we, with pure hearts, draw nigh to Him.
E. B. Pusey, Sermons for the Church’s Seasons, p. 54.
References: Mat 1:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1270; H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 1074; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 9; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 324; vol. x., p. 341; New Outlines of Sermons on the New Testament, p. 1; A. K. H. B., Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, 3rd series, p. 169; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 15; G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons, vol. i., p. 15.
Mat 1:24
I. No man that we read of in Scripture was so highly favoured as St. Joseph, in respect of being constantly near the person of our Saviour. From Christ’s birth to His own death, which was at least more than twelve years, and very likely a good deal longer, Joseph was the entrusted guardian of our Lord, the minister of God, especially called and raised up to watch over that holiest childhood and youth, and to protect His blessed mother. Judging from God’s ordinary dealings, we cannot but suppose that he must have been, more than almost any one, prepared and made meet for God’s Kingdom, who was permitted for so long a time to exercise a ministry so near to God Himself.
II. The life and death of the nursing father of Jesus Christ teaches us this lesson—never to put by God’s warnings, but to act on them, in dutiful faith, immediately; even as Joseph, being raised from sleep, lost no time, but at once did as the Angel of the Lord had bidden him. Had he doubted and delayed, he would have forfeited the blessing, the great blessing, of abiding continually with Christ. Let us, then, lose no time, but at once begin to practise the holy purposes which the Spirit of God may have put into our hearts, and which our good angel is waiting to encourage. There is no time like the time present.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. viii., p. 285; see also J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 149.
References: Mat 1:25.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 198; G. Gilfillan, Alpha and Omega, vol. ii., p. 270; J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 189. Matt 1, Matt 2—E. Gibson, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 116. Matt 2—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 22.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Subdivision 1.
Subdivision 1.
(Mat 1:1-25.)
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Identified as such.
In the first subdivision we have the King identified: in the first place by His legal descent; in the second by His supernatural birth. As the King of Israel He needed the one; as the King of the Kingdom of heaven He needed the other. But the King is also in Scripture the representative-head of his people before God, and here is One whose representation of them will be surely of divine significance: it means much for Himself - it means everything for them; thus His name is called Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins.
Section 1.
The Lord is introduced in a double character, - as Son of David, and as Son of Abraham. As Son of David He is King of Israel; as Son of Abraham He is not necessarily King at all; but He has a promise of widest blessing, which is on the principle of faith to all the families of the earth. It is not hindered, therefore, by Israel’s rejection of Him and the consequent delay of the Davidic Kingdom: this only affects the expression of it, not the fact; which may even find a higher expression, as it has actually found one in Christianity.
Abraham is the depositary of blessing, and therefore with Abraham the genealogy begins. Since title is conveyed by the descent, the stream runs down through the centuries. We find in Luke a very different meaning conveyed by a reverse order: the stream runs back. The style and manner of Scripture have importance as well as its statements, and we may miss the matter by not attending to the manner.
The genealogy is divided for us into three parts, which are specially emphasized as consisting of fourteen generations each. The fact that some links in the genealogic chain have to be omitted, in order that there may be just this number, still further shows that there must be importance in it. The number must be itself significant, and probably that of the parts as well as of the generations contained in each.
In fact, the first part of the genealogy embraces both the heads of promise - both Abraham and David. The second begins at once with one in whom departure from God manifested itself, one whose heart went after other gods than the One Only God, whose special favor had been shown him. After which there is a general history of decline, three descendants of the apostate murderess, Athaliah, being blotted out of the list altogether; while the Babylonish captivity, which was the giving up of the nation as the openly acknowledged people of God, ends the story in this part.
The third part has in it but one significant name, that of Zorobabel; after which the line lapses into utter obscurity. All is ruined and hopeless, save for God, till suddenly by a manifest divine intervention Jesus is born - a true resurrection, which justifies this third part as real numerical symbolism.
The genealogy shows the ruin hopeless but to God, in that Joseph, the last of the line here before Christ, is shown by it to be Jeconiah’s son; and against Jeconiah prophecy had denounced (Jer 22:30) that he should be (as to the throne) "childless, . . for no man of his seed should prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah." The consequence was pressed, as far back as Irenaeus, that here the direct line of descent is smitten with a curse, while yet it was not deprived of the legal title: it could hand on to another, therefore, that which could be of no advantage to itself. The marriage of Joseph and Mary was, in the wisdom of God, the means of accomplishing this. The Lord’s birth from Mary made Him the real Son of David (Luk 1:32) while the marriage of His mother made Him David’s legal heir.*
{*There are different ways of understanding this, and it is a difficulty that Zorobabel and Salathiel (or Shealtiel) appear also in Mary’s genealogy in Luke, which we may indeed assume, with Lange, to be simply a coincidence of similar names, as with Jacob and Joseph in the list in Matthew, though these are of common occurrence. Zorobabel, "born in Babel," may be conjectured to have been also a name common at that period, though we have no proof of this. The names before and after have no similarity; and it is not easily seen how, if the lines come together here, they should have been separate before this meeting.
There is another difficulty in these names coming together in a line of natural descent, such as that in Luke is allowed to be, that the Zerubbabel of the returned captives was not the natural son of Shealtiel, but of Pedaiah (1Ch 3:18-19); and of Shealtiel, it is supposed, only according to the levirate law (Deu 25:5-6).}
The genealogy thus shows the ruin of man in the fullest way, while the grace and power of God are declared abundantly. The number 14, thus stamped upon it three times over, is certainly the number of witness (2) combined with that of completeness (7), if we interpret it by its natural factors; if on the other hand we take the dekatessares (ten-four) of the Greek, then the testing of responsible man is what is indicated; and assuredly that would be the substance of the testimony given by the genealogy all through. It is in fact the testimony of the ages up to Christ, which were the ages of human probation as characterized by that "Old Covenant," as books of which the records have come down to us. If the common chronology be admitted, its 4,000 years of human history to its centre in the birth of Jesus is only the "ten-four" in a more emphatic way. (10^3x4), while if we apply it to the birth of him of whom our Isaac was the undoubted Antitype, it is the 100 years of Abraham’s age at which, after the utter failure of nature, the promised seed was born, multiplied by 40, the symbol of perfect probation. Thus by different pathways the same result is reached: God has stamped His meaning on all this too deep for erasure. Paul sums it up substantially for us in his declaration that, "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom 5:6). This is the moral on man’s side of preparation for Christ: we have to be brought down, not up, to receive Him; and all God’s previous dealings with man enforce this conclusion.
So much then as to the Son of David; but we have still to see Him in this genealogy also as Son of Abraham - the Isaac, therefore, whose name means "laughter;" His advent "glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." In this way we shall find a feature of the register here appeal to us of which as yet we have taken no notice, but which would strike a Jew at once.
The presence of women’s names in a genealogy was thoroughly exceptional. As links in the chain of descent they might be needed, as where there were different wives and it was needful to indicate from which of these a title was derived. Now in the first part here there are three women mentioned, of whom two at least cannot be on this account - Rahab and Ruth; which naturally would imply that in the case of the other - Tamar - this was not the reason either. In her case also the twin-birth of Zerah is referred to, as if to remind us of the history connected with her; as, again, in the case of Bathsheba afterwards, who is not called by her name, but as "her of Urias:" which flashes upon us a history worse than Tamar’s, both for the actors and the relationships involved.
Indeed these names are not what we should expect in such a list - in a register of descent of the King of Israel - the great King foretold. They are all probably, three certainly, Gentiles; two are Canaanites - of a race under the curse.
Here, then, the Abrahamic blessing begins to unfold to us: just in the most indisputable part of the genealogy, where no Jew could contest their right to a place in the ancestry of his Messiah, these women’s names are found. What a light they shed, with all their misery and wretchedness, upon His title as the Son of Abraham! But there is more than this: apart from their birth-heritage, three out of the four are marked out by the sins of their own lives. Tamar, the first of all, actually finds her place here through her sin - her place in connection with the Saviour of sinners! Is it not what we all do? is it not our first claim upon Him that we are sinners and He the Saviour of sinners? Thus we find our title, through His grace, in that which would otherwise drive us to despair, - in that which involves no labor on our part to reach, a title as to which it is not possible to deceive ourselves, which it cannot be presumption on our part to plead. Would we take our place even with Tamar? Then Tamar’s name given here may be our encouragement - Tamar’s name as one of whom He is not ashamed!
The second name is that of Rahab, drawn out of the obscurity in which in the Old Testament her later history is involved, and brought forward in strange connection with a princely family of the house of Judah. As wife of Salmon and mother of Boaz she takes her place here in the genealogy of the Lord; and we may surely say, in view of the epistle to the Hebrews, and the epistle of James, that salvation by faith is the lesson of her history. Thus we have the second great principle of the gospel proclaimed in her.
Ruth is morally a very different person from Tamar and Rahab. She is a beautiful example of faith that lives and roots itself against every wind of adversity. We know her history well, for the Spirit of God has dwelt upon it at large for our edification and encouragement: against her, whatever personally she might be, stood the sentence of the law that "an Ammonite or a Moabite shall not come into the congregation of the Lord: even to their tenth generation they shall not come into the congregation of the Lord forever" (Deu 23:3).
Thus she is legally excluded from the very people with whom her faith unites her. But grace is sovereign in her case as in every other. She and her children come into the congregation of the Lord. It is interesting to see that in the rigid observance of this law, David himself, only third in succession, would have been excluded, the reign of law would have excluded the saviour-king himself; so also would it have been as to his great Antitype.
The only woman that remains at this end of the line is not mentioned by her name but as "her of Uriah," her history being thus fully, if concisely indicated. In this case grace reigns, even with regard to a saint’s transgression; and this completes the gospel as we find it in the genealogy. The salvation which it brings is for sinners, by faith, apart from law, and eternal. Thus Christ as the Seed of Abraham is fully declared.
Mary’s name at the end of the genealogy has another meaning: it shows us Christ as the Seed of the Woman, out of weakness manifesting strength, out of passiveness, the energy of the Overcomer, the Conqueror who with His bruised heel stamps down the serpent.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ tells us, therefore, much of Him. It is more than possible that, had we only eyes to see it, every name in this list would prove itself significant, and have its own story to tell in connection with Him. But it is not mine to attempt this: yet of these so carefully numbered generations, I cannot believe there is one that is not worthy of being so cared for. If we had worked believingly in this direction, how would the work have been repaid!
2. But we are now to look at the Lord in another character, in which no genealogy can tell Him out. Here He is Son of God, the suited King of a Kingdom. greater far than that of David, though that of David is included in it. Necessarily then the fact of His divine Sonship has a large place in Matthew, by which this Gospel connects more with John than the other Synoptic Gospels do. The claim of it becomes the great and critical point in His presentation to Israel, and is that which, more than anything else, brings about His rejection.
As in the case of the genealogy, however, it is still Joseph who is prominent here. We have his conflict with himself, the visit of the angel to him which dispels his doubts, his marriage and naming of the child by which he accepts it as his own. Joseph is here in all this manifestly what the genealogy makes him, the legal heir of David’s line, and the representative of its hopes and responsibilities. In Luke, the Gospel of the Manhood, it is on the other hand, and as naturally, Mary who is in the forefront, and Joseph is only outlined among the figures in the background.
Mary is seen at the beginning in question, if not under reproach. The singular honor which God’s grace has conferred on her, is too great to be received unhesitatingly, even by the people of God themselves. We cannot believe for joy: the thing is too good to be true; the will to believe is not sufficient to accomplish faith. For so far is this from being credulity, that it requires all the more decisive proof, the more that for which we seek it awakens all the desire of our hearts. This is all the truth, (whatever the amount may be) contained in the strong assertion of the poet. -
"There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds:"
although the last line can scarcely express his thought accurately. Joseph here, as a righteous man, but in perplexity, thinks of a half measure: he will give her a writing of divorce without statement of the cause, and put her away. But the appearance of an angel to him in a dream resolves his doubt and changes his purpose.
It is quite in character with the distance maintained in Matthew’s Gospel, that the angel appears only in a dream. It is so again with the Magi afterwards, and with Joseph himself once more, in Egypt., In Luke, on the contrary, the angel appears openly, to Zacharias as well as to: Mary. The difference does not seem founded upon a personal one, as Zacharias exhibits more unbelief than Joseph. It may be connected with the failure of David’s house, and especially of Jeconiah’s line which Joseph represents; and the blessing comes to him in a veiled form answering to this. Mary is not and could not be of Jeconiah’s line, and his connection with Jesus is only by his marriage with her. Yet grace gives him in this way a place of unspeakable blessing.
The angel addresses him as son of David with the confirmatory announcement of the divine origin of the Child that is to be born, and whose work requires no less than a divine Person to perform. His name, Jesus, or Joshua ("Jehovah the Saviour") is declared to be no mere name, or indicative of some abstract truth, or of some principle to be developed in relation to His history. Nay, Jehovah’s people are His people, and He therefore is Jehovah and Saviour, He is the full reality of His name: "He shall save His people from their sins."
Prophecy had already declared the wondrous truth as to His Person; the primal one as to the woman’s Seed had been supplemented by one more distinct which plainly referred to it and filled it out. "The virgin" of Isaiah, who was to be with child, and whose Son was to be called Emmanuel, points back to and defines what had long been a hope in the hearts of men. The woman’s Seed would indeed be that, without the co-partnership with man ordained by the Creator for the continuance of the race; and this by no mere miracle which would still leave the child to be a man merely, though of superhuman birth. No: his name Emmanuel would be the explanation of the unique fact; "God" would in Him be "with us;" which the angel’s words declare to mean "Jehovah," come to deliver us from that which was the necessary barrier to intimacy, and in Himself to bring God and man together!
And Emmanuel is distinctly in the prophecy the King of David’s line, upon whose shoulder the government should be (Isa 9:5-6). We see that the prophecy belongs rather to Matthew’s picture of the Lord than John’s, as we might have thought it; although evidently these come near together here. As King He is at once the Representative of His people, and "Mighty God" who as "Father of eternity"* shall settle all things upon everlasting foundations - Power alone cannot accomplish this: God must become man, the King must be crowned with thorns and be the Saviour. The whole circle of truth is needed here: the Highest must become the lowest; it is His glory: only the Highest could come down so low.
{*Not, as in our common version, "Everlasting Father."}
Joseph, awaked out of His sleep, does as the angel of the Lord has bidden him, and takes his wife. The divine intervention does not set aside the Creator’s ordinance, nor God put His seal upon human asceticism. Judaism, in fact, knew nothing of this dishonor done to the God of nature. The Child is born and named; and "David in spirit" once more calls his Son his Lord.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Genealogy and Birth of Jesus
Genealogy and Birth of Jesus
1-17. Genealogy of Jesus: cp. Luk_3:23. The two genealogies of Jesus, which are constructed on quite different principles, require careful comparison and study, if their purpose and significance are to be understood. In both, the descent of Jesus is traced through Joseph, not Mary, partly because the claim of Jesus to the throne of David could only be established through His foster-father Joseph; partly because, in genealogies, the Jews took no account of female descent. The genealogies are not inspired documents. They are the work of Jewish pedigree-makers who did their best to fill the gaps of records which were frequently fragmentary. They are inserted by the evangelists as honest attempts to ascertain the truth. Their accuracy or inaccuracy does not affect the main point at issue, our Lord's descent, through His legal father Joseph, from David. Joseph's family certainly claimed descent from David, and even the enemies of Jesus admitted the claim (see Mat_9:27; Mat_12:23; Mat_15:22; Mat_20:30; Mat_2:19; Mat_22:42 and parallels). As Jewish families were particularly tenacious of family traditions, and were accustomed to preserve genealogical records, our Lord's Davidic descent through Joseph may be regarded as established. His Davidic descent through Mary is more doubtful, but, on the whole, probable. Luk_1:36, taken alone, might suggest that she belonged to the tribe of Levi, but Luk_1:32 and Luk_1:69 lose much of their point, unless it be supposed that Mary herself was descended from David. The OT. prophecies and the Apostolic Church regarded Christ as descended from David according to the flesh (Rom_1:3; Psa_132:11; Isa_11:1; Jer_23:5), and if Jesus were born of a virgin, His actual descent could only be upon the mother's side.
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Both genealogies reflect current rabbinical ideas about the Messiah's descent. It was disputed, for instance, whether He would be descended from David through Solomon, or whether, owing to the curse on this line (Jer_22:28; Jer_36:30), through another son, Nathan (1Ch_3:5). Accordingly St. Matthew's genealogy traces our Lord's descent through Solomon, St. Luke's through Nathan. Other rabbinical features are the omission of links in the genealogies, especially in St. Matthew, and the artificial arrangement of the names in numerical groups, probably as an aid to the memory. St. Luke's source probably grouped the names in multiples of ten (20 generations from David to the captivity, 20 from the captivity to Christ). This was the commonest method. St. Matthew employs multiples of seven (14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the captivity, 14 from the captivity to Christ). St. Matthew's list is a genealogy only in appearance. It is really an early Jewish-Christian attempt to construct a list of successive heirs to the throne of David, and so to exhibit Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, as the rightful king of Israel. Thus Shealtiel (Salathiel), Mat_1:12, was not the actual son of Jechoniah, who was childless (Jer_22:28), but the next heir to the crown, and probably for that reason adopted by Jechoniah: see 1Ch_3:17. According to St. Luke, Shealtiel's real father was Neri.
St. Luke's list, on the other hand, aims at being a true genealogy, and that not of Mary, as a few authorities still maintain, but of Joseph: see on Luk_3:23. We are thus faced with the serious difficulty that Joseph's father is called by St. Matthew 'Jacob,' and by St. Luke 'Heli.' Have we here an error made by one or both evangelists? It is, of course, possible, but hardly likely, this being only the second step of the genealogy. Assuming both genealogies to be in this point correct, and taking into account the special character of St. Matthew's list, the statements are best harmonised by supposing that Jacob, the true heir to the throne, being, like Jechoniah, childless, adopted the next male heir Heli, who belonged to the other branch of the family, that, namely, which descended from Nathan. A less probable supposition is that Heli and Jacob were brothers, and that, one of them dying childless, the other took his wife and raised up seed to him by what is called a Levirate marriage: see Deu_25:6; Mat_22:23. The point in favour of this view is that the fathers of Heli and Jacob, Matthat and Matthan, have nearly the same name. The point against it is that Matthat and Matthan have different fathers, and so were different persons, unless we again make use of the expedient of a Levirate marriage, or something similar.
1. The book of the generation] RM 'of the genealogy.' The phrase is from Gen_5:1, and is meant as a title not of the whole Gospel, nor even of the Nativity, but only of the genealogy (Mat_1:1-17), which the evangelist probably did not compose himself (though this is possible), but derived from an earlier source. Of Jesus Christ] 'Jesus' is the Gk. form of the Heb. 'Joshua,' or 'Jeshua,' meaning 'Jehovah is salvation.' 'Christ' (Chriatos) is properly the Gk. equivalent of the Aramaic 'Messiah,' lit. 'anointed one,' but here used as a proper name. The use of 'Christ' as a proper name began soon after the Ascension, and is common in the Epistles. In the Gospels it occurs only in Mat_1:1, Mat_1:16-17, Mat_1:18; Mar_1:1; Joh_1:17 and possibly Joh_17:3. In all other places in the Gospels it should be rendered 'the Christ,' or 'the Messiah.' The use of the word in the sense of 'the Messiah' is unquestionably the earlier one, and the fidelity of the Gospels in preserving it is no small evidence of their trustworthiness. The son of David] a standing title of the Messiah among the rabbis. E.g. it was said, 'The son of David cometh not until that wicked empire (Rome) hath extended itself over the whole earth.' 'If the Israelites shall keep the sabbath even for a single day as they ought, the son of David will come': see Psalms 132 Isa_11:1; Jer_23:5. The poverty of Joseph and Mary is no evidence against their Davidic descent. The great rabbi Hillel, another descendant of David, was even poorer. The Davidic descent of our Lord's family was never questioned in His lifetime even by His enemies, and was so notorious that the descendants of Jude, the Lord's brother, incurred the jealousy of the tyrant Domitian. The son of Abraham] St. Matthew, writing primarily for Jews, carries the genealogy to Abraham and no further. He wishes to show that Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews, born in accordance with the promise made by God to the ancestor of the race (Gen_12:3, etc.). St. Luke, writing for Gentiles, and emphasising St. Paul's principle that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, carries the genealogy back to Adam.
3 Of Thamar] RV 'Tamar.' Contrary to Jewish custom St. Matthew introduces into his genealogy four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. Of these, two (Rahab and Ruth) were Gentiles, and three were guilty of gross sins. Their insertion is intended to teach certain spiritual lessons: (1) That Gentiles as well as Jews have their rights in the Messiah, seeing that two of His ancestors were of Gentile blood. (2) That Jewish Christians instead of regarding Gentile converts with contempt, should be proud of them, as their ancestors were of Rahab and Ruth, who, on becoming proselytes, were accounted mothers in Israel. Of Rahab the rabbis said, 'Ten priests, who were also prophets, sprang from her'; and of Ruth, 'It is spoken in prophecy that the six most righteous men of the whole world will spring from her, David, Daniel and his companions, and King Messiah.' (3) That remission of sins, complete restoration to God's favour, and a high and privileged position in the kingdom of grace, are possible for the worst offenders. (4) That Christ did not shrink from the closest contact with sinful humanity. He touched and raised the very nature which had fallen. He assumed our sin-stained flesh, and in assuming cleansed it, and made it the instrument of human redemption.
8. After Joram St. Matthew omits three names, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah(see 1Ch_3:11-12), some think on account of their descent from the idolatrous Jezebel, but more probably simply to reduce the number of generations to fourteen.
11. After Josias St. Matthew omits Eliakim (2Ki_23:34). The brethren of Jechoniah (Jehoiachin) are really his uncles, Jehoahaz and Zedekiah, Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, though really the uncle of Jehoiachin (2Ki_24:17. Jer_37:1), is called his 'brother'even in OT. (2Ch_36:10). 12. Jechoniah (Jehoiachin) was probably childless (yet see on Jer_22:30), and adopted Salathiel (Shealtiel) as his heir (see 1Ch_3:17). Shealtiel seems also to have been childless, for although both here and in Ezr_3:2; Neh_12:1; Hag_1:1, etc., he is said to have had a son Zorobabel (Zerubbabel), this Zerubbabel seems to have been really the son of Shealtiel's brother Pedaiah (1Ch_3:19), who may have married his childless brother's widow according to the Law.
16. Little importance attaches to the reading of the SinaiSyriac version, 'Joseph begat Jesus,' which is certainly not original, lacking, as it does, all MS authority, and contradicting the plain statements of the evangelist (Mat_1:18-25). Probably the reading comes from an Ebionite version of this Gospel. The Ebionites were an early sect, who, while admitting our Lord's Messiahship, denied His divinity and supernatural birth. Or the error may be due to the mechanical repetition by some scribe of the word 'begat,' which he had already written thirty-eight times.
17. As there are only thirteen generations from the captivity to Christ, probably a name has dropped out.
18-25. Circumstances of the Conception and Birth of Jesus: cp. Luk_1:26-58; Luk_2:1-20. The order of events is (a) Conception of John by Elisabeth, Luk_1:24, (b) Annunciation to Mary at Nazareth six months afterwards, Luk_1:26, (c) Visit of Mary to Elisabeth lasting three months, Luk_1:39, (d) Return of Mary to Nazareth, Luk_1:56; (e) Birth of John, Luk_1:57, (f) Mary is found to be with child, Mat_1:18, (g) An angel appears to Joseph, Mat_1:20, (h) Journey to Bethlehem, Luk_2:4, (i) Birth of Jesus, Mat_1:25; Luk_2:7.
Significance of Christ's Infancy. At first sight it seems unworthy of the Son of God to be conceived and born, and to pass through the stages of human growth. But in truth the interval between God and man is so infinitely great, that the minute difference between infancy and manhood is of no consequence. The marvel is that the Son of God should consent to become man at all; it is no additional marvel that He should become an infant. If it was expedient for the human race which He came to redeem, that He should pass through all the stages of a truly human experience, then the same infinite loving condescension which caused Him to become man would cause Him to be conceived and born. It is a fact admitted by the most sceptical that the human birth of Jesus Christ has appealed to the imagination of mankind, more perhaps than any other event of His life, and has produced permanent effects of the utmost importance (Luk_1:51). (a) It has abolished the once common crime of infanticide by teaching that infant life is sacred. (b) It has raised the dignity of women, and produced in men the feeling of chivalry towards them, which is essentially Christian and was unknown to the ancient world. (c) It has sanctified motherhood and family life. (d) It has placed chastity both in men and women in the forefront of Christian virtues. (e) It has given a new importance to childhood, so that kindness to children and a willingness to conform to the ideal character of childhood, are marks of a true Christian. The human birth of Jesus is thus justified both by its results and by its adaptation to human needs. 'Jesus Christ,' says Irenæus, 'came to save all by means of Himself. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, a child for children, a youth for youths, an elderly man for elderly men, that He might be a perfect Master for all.'
The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth. A difficulty has been felt in our days in accepting the miracle associated with the conception of our Lord. This arises chiefly from the facts that the two Gospels which record it differ to some extent in their accounts, and that the nature of the miracle itself precludes absolute demonstration.
It may be candidly admitted that the miraculous conception of Jesus has not the same evidence for it as the other miracles, and that if it were affirmed of any ordinary man it could not be believed. But Jesus was not an ordinary man. He was one who, according to credible testimony, worked many miracles, including the raising of the dead, and concluded an absolutely unexampled career by rising from the dead and ascending into heaven. The miraculous manner in which Jesus left this earth thus removes all theoretical difficulty from the miracle by which He is said to have entered it. The main question to be considered is: Do the existing narratives show signs of having proceeded from the only two persons who can have known anything about the matter, viz. Joseph and Mary? Certainly they do. St. Matthew's Gospel regards the matter entirely from Joseph's point of view. It is Joseph who discovers the condition of Mary (Mat_1:18), and is doubtful what course to pursue (Mat_1:19). It is to Joseph that the angel appears to announce the miraculous conception of Jesus (Mat_1:20), and again to bid him flee into Egypt (Mat_2:13), and to return (Mat_2:19). St. Luke's narrative, on the other hand, reflects entirely the point of view of Mary. It is to Mary that Gabriel appears (Luk_1:26). A full account is given of her visit to Elisabeth (Luk_1:39). The mother's memory appears in the mention of the swaddling clothes and of the manger (Luk_2:7), and in the words, 'But Mary kept all these sayings and pondered them in her heart' (Luk_2:19), and again, 'Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also' (Luk_2:35). St. Luke's account is much fuller than St. Matthew's, and this is easily accounted for. When St. Luke was collecting his materials in Palestine, Mary was probably still alive, whereas Joseph (St. Matthew's authority) had long been dead, and his account had probably passed through several hands before it reached the evangelist. The historical character of both narratives is shown by their freedom from the extravagant features which mark the apocryphal Gospels, and by their essential agreement, in spite of the fact that they are absolutely independent. It is true that St. Matthew seems to represent Bethlehem rather than Nazareth as the original home of Joseph and Mary, though he does not actually say so. On the other hand, St. Luke seems ignorant of the flight into Egypt, and passes straight from the presentation in the Temple to the return to Nazareth. But these are only instances of one imperfect account supplementing another, not of radical inconsistencies. Both accounts agree as to the two main points, Christ's birth of a virgin and His birth at Bethlehem.
Granting the fact of a real Incarnation, the Virgin Birth would seem to be the most reverent and fitting way of bringing it about. Since natural generation invariably gives rise to a new person, it was plainly unsuitable to the case of Jesus, at whose conception no new person came into existence, but the already existing Son of God entered upon a new human experience. Moreover, natural generation having been generally associated, especially by the Jews, with sin, it was not desirable that the moral miracle of a sinless human nature should be marked by the physical miracle of a miraculous conception. The last appeal, and perhaps to many minds the only possible appeal, is that of the argument derived from' cause and effect.' Look at the stupendous fact—Jesus. The miracle of the NT., the miracle of the ages is not the Resurrection, but Jesus Himself. The phenomena of His life and character, the incomprehensibility of His person, seem to demand uniqueness and mystery in His birth. To abandon the Virgin Birth because of the difficulties of a few would be to throw greater difficulties in the way of the many. The doctrine has always been regarded as an integral part of the faith. It appears in the earliest form of the Apostles' Creed (100 a.d.).
18. Was espoused] BV 'had been betrothed.' Betrothal was almost equivalent to marriage, and could not be broken off without a formal divorce: cp. on Joh_8:3 and Deu_22:23, Deu_22:24. she was found] viz. by her husband. Of the Holy Ghost] Both here and in Luk_1:35 the miracle of the conception is ascribed emphatically to the 'Holy' Spirit, to mark the fact that Jesus was conceived sinless, and in a manner the most sacred imaginable. 'The Holy Spirit sanctifled the flesh which it united with the Word. Not only was the “new departure in human life” which began with the birth of the Second Adam fitly preceded by a directly creative act, but the new humanity was consecrated at the moment of its conception by the overshadowing of the Divine Spirit' (Swete). The expression 'Holy Ghost' is especially characteristic of the NT., where it occurs over 80 times. In the Gk. OT. (LXX) it occurs only twice. The Jews did not regard the Spirit as personal, hence Mary must have understood the words of the angel, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,' as identical in meaning with, 'The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.' Not so the evangelists, to whom 'the Holy Ghost' had become practically a proper name, and as such was used without the article.
19. A just man] i.e. a good or righteous man: here, in particular, a kind or humane man, because although he felt bound to divorce her, he wished to do so as privately as possible, and without assigning any reason. A Jewish husband could divorce his wife if she did not please him, simply by giving her a bill of divorce in the presence of witnesses, without specifying the true cause. The legal penalty for Mary's supposed fault was stoning (Joh_8:5).
20. The angel] RV 'an angel.' In St. Luke the angel who appears to Zachariah and Mary is named (Luk_1:19, Luk_1:26), and the same angel (Gabriel) is to be understood here. In other passages of the NT. angels appear and speak: at the Resurrection, Mat_28:5 at the Ascension, A Mat_1:11 to Peter in prison, Mat_5:19, Mat_12:7 to Philip, Mat_8:26 to Cornelius, Mat_10:3. There is no real reason to question the actual existence of angels. Why should man be the highest being in the universe?
21. JESUS] see on Mat_1:1. For he shall save] more exactly, 'for it is He that shall save.' 'Saving from sin' includes two processes: (1) atonement for sin, and (2) sanctification. Both are works of Christ. The natural atonement for sin is penitence; but inasmuch as human penitence is imperfect, and our very repentance requires to be repented of, the aid of a Divine Helper is required. Christ bears the weight of our sins, sorrows for them with a sorrow that is adequate, and gives us grace to repent of them in a manner acceptable to God. As we live the life of faith in Christ our penitence continually becomes deeper, and one day it will be perfect, and God will accept it as adequate. In the meantime God pardons us by anticipation. Sanctification, i.e. the putting away of sin and growth in virtue and holiness, is another most important work of redemption, and no one can safely assure himself of the divine pardon unless he is advancing in the Christian virtues. The faith which does not manifest itself in works is no true faith in Christ. His people] primarily, of course, the Jews; but the Gentiles are also Israel, 'the Israel of God' (Gal_6:16).
22. That it might be fulfilled, etc.] It is characteristic of St. Matthew, though not, of course, peculiar to him, to regard the events of Christ's life as taking place in order to fulfil God's gracious promises in the OT. made through the prophets. This particular phrase occurs 10 times in St. Matthew, and nowhere else in the NT.: see Intro.
23. Behold, a virgin] RV 'the virgin': see on Isa_7:14. It does not appear that the Jews regarded the passage as Messianic; but St. Matthew, writing for Christians, applies it to the Messiah, in accordance with the rabbinical maxim, 'All the prophets prophesied only of the days of the Messiah.' St. Matthew quotes the passage as a prophecy not of the Virgin Birth, but of the giving to our Lord of a name expressing His divinity. He was called 'Jesus' (i.e. 'God is Salvation') to fulfil the prophecy which assigned to Him the name 'Emmanuel' ('God with us'). There is no indication that the evangelist, who was acquainted with Hebrew, attached importance to the word 'virgin' in this passage. In the Heb. it is 'almah, i.e. 'a young woman,' not necessarily a virgin. The LXX, however, renders it parthenos, i.e. 'virgin,' and hence many have incorrectly supposed that Isaiah prophesied the Virgin Birth.
Emmanuel] i.e. 'God with us.' This is a descriptive title rather than a name. It was never borne by our Lord, but He received instead a name ('Jesus') which expressed its meaning, and thus the prophecy was fulfilled. In the mind of Isaiah the title Emmanuel indicated that the bearer of it would deliver Israel from all their enemies. In the mind of the evangelist, who believed in the Incarnation (see especially Mat_27:19), it meant that in Jesus God assumed human nature to save the children of men, and to dwell with and in them for ever (Mat_27:20).
25. And knew her not till] Some have thought that the evangelist means to imply that after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary lived together as man and wife, and that children were born to them. This may have been the case, but the words of the evangelist here are not meant to imply it. They simply affirm in the strongest manner that Joseph had nothing whatever to do with the conception and birth of Jesus, and are not intended to give information as to what happened afterwards. For the probable relationship to our Lord of His 'brethren,' see on Mat_12:50.
Her firstborn son] RV 'a son.' 'Firstborn' is interpolated from Luk_2:7, q.v.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [III. Genealogy--Matthew].
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [III. Genealogy--Matthew].
III. GENEALOGY OF JESUS ACCORDING TO MATTHEW. aMATT. I. 1-17.
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a1 The book of the generation [or genealogy] of Jesus Christ, the son of David [the Messiah was promised to David-- 2Sa_7:16, Joh_7:42], the son of Abraham. [Messiah was also promised to Abraham-- Gen_22:18, Gal_3:16.] 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren [mentioned here because they were the heads of the tribes for whom especially Matthew wrote his Gospel]; 3 and Judah begat Perez and Zerah [these two were twins] of Tamar [she was the incestuous daughter-in-law of Judah]; and Perez begat Hezron; and Hezron begat Ram; 4 and Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon; and Nahshon begat Salmon; 5 and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab [she had been a heathen and a harlot of Jericho]; and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth [she was a heathen Moabitess]; and Obed begat Jesse; 6 and Jesse begat David the king. [These fourteen were patriarchs. The second fourteen were all kings.] And David [we may count David twice, first as a patriarch, second as one of the kings; and thus make up the full number of the second fourteen] begat Solomon of her i that had been the wife [the adulteress Bathsheba] of Uriah; 7 and Solomon [a wise but sinful king] begat Rehoboam [a foolish king, from whose kingdom of twelve tribes God cut off ten tribes]; and Rehoboam begat Abijah [a sinful king, like his father Rehoboam]; and Abijah begat Asa [a godly king who reformed his kingdom of Judah]; 8 and Asa begat Jehoshaphat [a good king, much like his father Asa; but he displeased God somewhat by being too friendly with Ahab, the wicked king of Israel]; and Jehoshaphat begat Joram [5] [Joram married Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Ahab, and followed Ahab in all his ungodly practices]; and Joram [Joram begat Ahaziah, and Ahaziah begat Joash, and Joash begat Amaziah; and Amaziah begat Uzziah. The names of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah were probably omitted for the sake of symmetry, but may have been dropped because they were wicked descendants of Ahab unto the fourth generation-- Exo_20:4, Exo_20:5] begat Uzziah [he was a good king, but smitten with leprosy for presumptuously entering the temple]; 9 and Uzziah begat Jotham [a good king like Uzziah, his father]; and Jotham begat Ahaz [one of Judah's worst kings]; and Ahaz begat Hezekiah [a royal, godly king, like David]; 10 and Hezekiah begat Manasseh [an evil king, like Ahaz, but, being punished of God, he repented]; and Manasseh begat Amon [an evil king like his father Manasseh; who waxed worse and worse till his people conspired against him and slew him]; and Amon begat Josiah [a good king, much like Hezekiah]; 11 and Josiah begat [Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim begat] Jechoniah and his brethren [So far as is known, Jechoniah had no literal brothers. We may, therefore, take the word "brethren" as meaning his royal kindred; viz.: his father Jehoiakim, and his uncles, Jehoahaz and Zedekiah, the three sons of Josiah], at the time [probably about B. C. 599] of the carrying away [into captivity] to Babylon. 12 And after the carrying away to Babylon Jechoniah [If we do not count David twice, as above indicated (as a patriarch and a king), we must count Jechoniah twice (as a king who became a citizen). But if we count Jehoiakim as properly included in the phrase "his brethren" at Mat_1:11, we need count no one twice] begat Shealtiel [Luke calls Shealtiel the son of Neri Jechoniah may have been the natural, and Neri the legal, father of Shealtiel-- Deu_25:5-10, Mat_22:24. Or Luke's Shealtiel and Zerubbabel may have been different persons from the Shealtiel and Zerubbabel of Matthew]; and Shealtiel begat Zerubbabel [the governor of Jerusalem, who rebuilt the temple, as told by Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah]; 13 and [6] Zerubbabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; 14 and Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; 15 and Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; 16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus [the name Jesus means Saviour], who is called Christ. [The word "Christ" is a title. It means the anointed One. Prophets, priests, and kings were anointed; Jesus was all three.] 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David unto the carrying away to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon unto the Christ fourteen generations. [The Jews, to whom Matthew wrote his Gospel, were extremely fond of such groupings and divisions as this.]
[FFG 5-7]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv10, 16, 21, 22, 24, 25 Josiah, 1Ki 13:2
Josias
Josiah, 1Ki 13:2
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Analysis and Annotations
Analysis and Annotations
I. The King and the Offer of the Kingdom. Chapters 1-12.
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1. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. (Mat 1:1.)
2. From Abraham to David. (Mat 1:2-6.)
3. From David to the Captivity. (Mat 1:6-11.)
4. From the Captivity to the Birth of Christ. (Mat 1:12-17)
5. The Birth of Jesus Christ. (Mat 1:18-25.)
CHAPTER 1
The first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew is divided into two parts. In the first to the seventeenth verse we find the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and in the last part of the chapter the account of the birth of the promised One. In the second half we see Him as Son of God and Saviour, while in the first, in the genealogy, His royal descent is proven. He is the rightful heir to David’s throne, and thus His Kingship is legally established.
The two Greek words with which this Gospel begins are “Biblos geneseos,” the book of the generation, which corresponds to a similar Old Testament expression frequently found in the Scriptures (Gen 6:9., etc.) The very beginning of this Gospel shows clearly that this is the Jewish Gospel. The question of genealogy is an all important one for the Jew. The genealogy which appears in the Gospel of Luke does not stand there in the beginning, but it comes in with the third chapter, after the account of the Saviour’s birth, and the ministry of the forerunner, and when He begins His public ministry. In the Gospel of Luke He is the Son of man, and not as in Matthew, the King. In Luke it is a going backward clear to Adam, while in the genealogy in Matthew it is the opposite; not like in Luke, beginning with His earthly name, Jesus, but beginning with Abraham, it goes forward till the end is reached in Joseph, the husband of Mary. The first verse in Matthew may be termed a superscription for the genealogy which follows, Book of generation of Jesus Christ, “Son of David, Son of Abraham.” How truly He is all that, is now to be established, Son of David, because a King is promised to rule in righteousness upon the throne of His father David; but in a larger sense, Seed of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth are to be blessed, and the nations to receive spiritual blessings. How incorrect it would have been if it had said, Book of generation of Jesus Christ, Son of Abraham, Son of David. That would have been the rendering by man, but the Holy Spirit puts David here before Abraham, though in the genealogy itself Abraham is the head, the first one. Jesus Christ is first the Son of David, and as such He is to be presented to the nation Israel , as King, and to be rejected by them. He is after that in the wider sense the One through whom the promises of blessing in Abraham to the nations are to be fulfilled. How clearly this proves the verbal inspiration! Indeed, if there is no verbal inspiration there is no inspiration at all.
It is not rarely the case that readers of the New Testament have asked themselves why all these names appear in the first chapter. We have answered many questions and have written numerous letters during the last eight years in answer to inquiries from the Jews on account of the genealogy, as it appears here, and the apparent contradictions and discrepancies between Matthew and Luke. Many a Jew has come and asked, Why must a man have two genealogies, and which is the right one? When the Jew takes the New Testament and opens it with Matthew, he finds himself upon familiar ground. It is the first question with him, if Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, Son of David, it must be proven by a genealogy. Does the New Testament, in the genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, prove this? is the important question the Jew asks. We have often asked the Jewish inquirer, Supposing Jesus of Nazareth was not the Messiah, not the Son of David, then you would expect the coming of a Messiah who is a Son of David, born in Bethlehem; how could that coming Messiah prove that he is really the Son of David, when your genealogical registers have been lost centuries ago? Others, too, have had difficulty on account of these two genealogies. We will state the case and what they teach in a few words.
In the genealogy of Matthew Jesus Christ is shown to be the King legally; in the Gospel of Luke we have His genealogy as the Son of Man, and as such linked with the whole race. The genealogy in Matthew proves that Joseph is a descendant of David through the house of Solomon. The one in the Gospel of Luke proves that Mary, the virgin, is likewise a descendant of David, but not through the house of Solomon; she is connected with David through the house of Nathan. The Messiah was to be born of a virgin, one who must be a descendant of David. But a woman has no right to the throne. As the son of the virgin alone He could not have a legal right to the throne. For this reason to make the One begotten in her of the Holy Ghost, the rightful heir to the throne of David in the eyes of the nation, the virgin had to be the wife of a man who had a perfect, unchallenged right to the throne. Now the genealogy in Matthew shows that Joseph is a son of David, and thus entitled to the throne, therefore Jesus is legally in this way heir to the throne. He is the legal descendant and heir of David through Joseph, but never Joseph’s Son. He was supposed by the people to be the Son of Joseph. “And Jesus Himself, when He began to teach, was about thirty years of age; being, as was supposed, the Son of Joseph” (Luk 3:23). “And they said, Is not this the Son of Joseph?” (Luk 4:22). His claim as being truly the Son of David was therefore never disputed. Now if He had been the Son of Joseph according to the flesh, He would never be and could never be our Saviour. The 51st Psalm would then have found an application. “I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” On the other hand, if He had been the Son of Mary, without she being legally the wife of a Son of David, the Jews would have rejected His claim from the very outset. We see then that legally He was the Son of Joseph; in His humanity, He is the Son of Mary, and then one step higher, as we read in the closing verses, He is the Son of God. The two genealogies show Him as King -- Son of man and Son of God -- as the One born of Mary, but begotten in her of the Holy Ghost.
The genealogy in Matthew speaks of decadence. Corruption, ruin and hopelessness is clearly brought out in it. It begins with Abraham. And as generation after generation is mentioned, it puts before us the shameful history of Israel , with their unbelief, apostasy and judgments. At last it becomes all dark and all hopeless as far as Israel is concerned. Like Sarah’s womb, as she indeed stands in type for the nation, the whole nation was dead, no hope, all ruin and corruption. But God can bring life from the dead. “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, come of woman, come under the law, that He might redeem those under the law, that we might receive sonship” (Gal 4:4). It is so with this present dispensation, for after awhile when the Lord has taken to Himself His Church, darkness, ruin and evil will prevail, and in the darkest hour of Israel’s believing remnant and in the history of the world, the Firstborn will come again into the habitable world surrounded by worshipping angels (Heb 1:6).
The division of the genealogy is threefold. From Abraham to David, from David to the carrying away into the Babylonian captivity, and from the carrying away into Babylon to Christ (Mat 1:17). In each division are fourteen generations, twice seven in each division. This brings in perfect harmony and order, as He who has given it all is the Spirit of order and not disorder (1Co 14:33). Seven is a highly symbolical number, peculiar to Israel . Much of the history of Israel is divided into seven; the seventy years of Captivity, the seventy prophetic weeks in Daniel, the last week still future composed of seven years, etc., are well-known facts to every reader of the Word. Here it is three .times twice seven, which means fulfillment and completeness. A closer investigation shows at once that a number of generations have been left out. Attempts have been made to explain this in different ways. Many poor, shortsighted men have put it down as an error, and higher critics and unbelievers have pointed it out as an argument against the inspiration of the Word, and as an example of the contradictions, which, according to them, exist in the Scriptures. Others have charged Matthew with ignorance, and that by not knowing any better, he left these generations out. As a Jew, he was, without question, well acquainted with the Old Testament writings. He had full access to all the collections of books which we term Old Testament. Out of the historical books it would have been a very easy matter to get together a complete register of names, such as would have been in full accord with the object in view to satisfy the Jew. Man indeed would have done that if he had to write the genealogy, but Matthew did not write according to his own taste or wish; the Holy Spirit wrote every word, and He has found it good to make a number of omissions. For this reason, that which is so often claimed to prove that there are contradictions in the Bible, and that the Bible is not infallible, is really a witness for the divinity of the Scriptures. In all this arrangement, leaving out and changing, the Holy Spirit has a wise purpose, and it does not follow, if we in our shortsightedness do not understand it all, that there must be an error involved somewhere. He has the right to do it, and it has been His pleasure to leave out generations. This is also so in the case of another Old Testament genealogy (see Ezr 7:1-28).
The most prominent omission is in verse eight. Three kings are left out. These are Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah. Who were they? They are the descendants of the daughter of wicked Ahab, Athaliah. Athaliah desired to annihilate the kingly seed of the house of Judah. This was a satanic attempt to frustrate the purposes of God. It was, like Haman’s attempt, inspired by him who is a murderer from the beginning. It may be called Anti-Messianity. This is undoubtedly the reason why the Holy Spirit left out these three kings.
Another apparent difficulty is the one concerning Jechoniah (verse 11), Zorobabel and Salathiel. The last two are in the genealogy in Luke, and Zorobabel being called a son of Salathiel when 1Ch 3:10. speaks of him as a son of Pedaiah.
We give a few hints, which will be helpful in the correct understanding. Jehoiakim is often called by the name of his son Jechoniah. Both have the same meaning translated from the Hebrew, Jehovah will establish. Jehoiakim was carried away into Babylon (2Ki 24:15). He has had brethren, which Jechoniah had not (1Ch 3:15). Thus it becomes clear that Jechoniah is Jehoiakim. In the twelfth verse we have Jechoniah, the son of Jehoiakim, because Salathiel is the son of Jechoniah (1Ch 3:17). Read also Jer 22:30.
Upon the line of Solomon there was then a curse, and Joseph is in connection with that line. Upon the line of Nathan there was no curse, and thus in His birth from Mary He is in truth the Son of David, still in the eyes of the nation He was it legally in Joseph.
If Zorobabel and Salathiel appear in Luke we may take them as different persons. The difficulty of Zorobabel being the son of Salathiel here and the son of Pedaiah in Chronicles may be solved by the levirate law.
Other striking facts come to our knowledge when we go through the list of the generations, each one is highly significant. We mention a few only. Judah is mentioned, because the prophecy of Jacob makes it clear that from him the Shiloh would come (Gen 49:10). We are reminded of something else in the phrase, Judah and his brethren, namely, of Judah’s sin and his brethren’s in selling their own brother, and all that is connected with it.
David alone has the title, the king (verse 6). Solomon’s name is there, but there is no kingship attached to it. The unbelieving Jew, as he tries to reject prophecies concerning the Messiah, has always made a strong point of this, that the promises given to David concerning a son were all fulfilled in Solomon. Solomon according to them is the king, and higher than David in his rule and dominion. How striking then that the Holy Spirit gives the name simply Solomon without adding, the king, to it. David is the king and no other can have the title, till his son come: even He who came and whom David called Lord (Psa 110:1). Thus the angel announced Him, the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.
In the last fourteen generations beginning with Zorobabel, we find no more prominent names. Only two of them are recorded in the Old Testament. Zorobabel means, Born in Babel, and his son Abiud, which means, Perishing. However, the most interesting fact is the four women who are mentioned in the genealogy. Three of them are found in the first division and the fourth in the second one. Women in a genealogy is something which is very rarely the case. There were many noble, devoted and believing women in the Old Testament. Sarah, Rebekah, Deborah, and women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured not accepting deliverance (Heb 11:35). One would naturally expect that in the genealogy of Him who is the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent’s head, some of these women who believed the promise would be mentioned. However, we look in vain for them. Instead of them we discover four, who are only known, at least three, by their shame, and the other belonged to a race which was according to the law cursed. Let us look into the names and history of these four women.
Tamar is the first. Her shameful history of fornication is recorded in Gen 38:1-30. What a dark story it is, full of the evil deeds of the flesh. Sin in its blackness is seen there. But how did she get into the genealogy? The answer is, by her sin. It was her shameful sin that puts her here in the genealogy of Him who has come to save that which is lost, the Saviour of men. The Holy Spirit has put her name in and shows by it that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour of sinners. He has come to save the vilest and the lowest. And the second one is Rahab. Who was she? A Canaanitess. Unclean and outcast, a harlot full of abomination. Yet here is her name too linked with Salmon (meaning clothed) and Boaz, her son, which means, “In strength.” She had believed the messengers as they had come, and the scarlet thread, the sign of her deliverance from the doomed city, was in her window. “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace” (Heb 11:31). It was faith by which she came into line. Every Jew knew her history and knew too that she had come in to share Israel’s blessings. Still the proud Pharisees murmured when Jesus sat down and ate and drank with the publicans and the sinners and the outcasts gathered around Him, murmuring because He sought the lowest.
Ruth, the third woman mentioned, is an exception, for there is no stain upon her character. She was a Moabitess. The law was against her and cursed her. It is written, “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever” (Deu 23:3). But in faith too she enters into the congregation with her children, and the third after her, her grandson, is King David himself. The law which had pronounced the curse is completely set aside in her case.
The fourth woman is not mentioned by name -- Her of Uriah, that is all it says. We know it is Bath-Sheba, the one with whom King David committed adultery. Here it is sin in connection with a believer. Did that sin committed by King David then undo him as a believer? No, he had believed and grace had full sway over him.
What a wonderful demonstration of the whole and full Gospel of Grace as it is in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ! We see sin -- Faith as it lays hold and salvation by faith -- deliverance from the law -- and then the case of the believer, the assurance of salvation. Grace -- nothing but grace shines out as nowhere else in the genealogy, in the four women, all four Gentiles. Hannah broke out in her prophetic song and said, “He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory” (1Sa 2:8). How truly this is seen with Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bath-Sheba. What comfort in this fact for us all!
He is Son of Abraham. Through Him the blessing is to go out to the greatest sinner, to the deepest in misery and in want, blessing to the Gentiles in the new dispensation of grace.
We come now to the account of His birth. Here He is presented as human and divine, born of a virgin and at the same time Jehovah-Saviour, Emmanuel, God with us. If Mat 1:1-17 were all that could be said of His birth, He might then have had a legal right to the throne, but He could never have been He who was to redeem and save from sin. But the second half before us shows Him to be truly the long promised One, the One of whom Moses and the prophets spake, to whom all the past manifestations of God in the earth and the types, pointed. To accomplish the work of salvation, to suffer the penalty of sin and to put away sin He had to be divine and human.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus: His mother, Mary, that is having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Ghost. But Joseph, her husband, being righteous, and unwilling to expose her publicly, purposed to have her put away secretly; but while he pondered on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, fear not to take to thee thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
“Now all this came to pass that that might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us. But Joseph having awoke from his sleep did as the angel of the Lord enjoined him, and took to him his wife, and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn Son; and he called His name Jesus.” (Mat 1:18-25)
How simple all this sounds; yet here are depths which no human mind can or ever will fathom. All attempts to explain will utterly fail. Faith worships here and looks with profound adoration upon the mystery made known, God manifested in the flesh. The Lord stood before Abraham, clothed in the form of a human being, eating and drinking (Gen 18:1-33). What humiliation that was for Him even then, but how much deeper and far-reaching it is here? It is now His mother, Mary, which is prominent in the record. Born of a woman Paul says in Gal 4:1-31. This directs our attention to the very first promise made in Gen 3:1-24: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise His heel.” This is the first promise of a Deliverer.
We often read in the prophetic Word, I am He. The Hebrews have the word “Hu” (He) as a divine name. In the ancient book of Zohar the word “He” is applied to the eternal God bruising the serpent’s head. He is to be the seed of the woman, not of Adam, the man. Interesting is the following quotation from an ancient exposition of the Jews. “The voice which our first parents heard walking in the garden was the Word of the Lord, or the Messiah. Before they sinned they saw the glory of the blessed God speaking with them, but after their sin they heard only the voice walking. The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent, and they shall obtain healing in the days of the Messiah.”
Mary was that elect woman, a virgin, from whom the One seed came. She was betrothed to Joseph, the Son of David, and so that there should not even be the shadow of a doubt, it is added, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Ghost. Righteous Joseph pondering on these things and as a righteous man undoubtedly praying to God about it, is visited by an angel of the Lord. Even the little word “an” is here of importance. We hear much in the Old Testament of the angel of the Lord. He appears often as the mediator between God and man. He has divine names and attributes. He appeared in the form of man to Hagar, Abraham, Jacob, the children of Israel, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah, and to Manoah’s wife. Jacob calls him the angel, the Redeemer. In Isa 63:9 he is called the angel of His face. Indeed all through the Old Testament Jehovah and His glory is in him revealed, so that in these manifestations we see the incarnation foretold. The very name of God was in him (Exo 23:20). The old Jewish synagogue believed correctly that this angel of the Lord is the word of God, the Messiah. The One who appeared as the angel, is now to be born of the virgin. He emptied Himself, taking a servant’s form, taking His place in the likeness of men (Php 2:7). If the writing of the Gospel of Matthew had been the work of an impostor, he would surely have written, that the angel of the Lord came to Joseph, instead of an angel. So even the little word, an, brings out the verbal inspiration.
In the Gospel of Luke we read that the angel Gabriel (the same who announced to Daniel the coming of the Messiah and the time of the end), was sent of God to Mary, and came in to her and said, “Hail, favored one! the Lord is with thee. But she, seeing the angel, was troubled at his word, and reasoned in her mind what this salutation might be. And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb to bear a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of His kingdom there shall not be an end. But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man? And the angel answering said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” (Luk 1:28-35). In reading this one almost hears the voice which spoke to Moses, Take off thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Both Gospels bring it out clearly that it is the Son of God, the eternal Word, who becomes a man, truly the child of His virgin mother, flesh and blood, a real human body like ours, but a holy thing, that is absolutely without sin. His human nature proceeded directly from the Spirit of God. No other being could have saved us.
The Old Testament speaks often of this great event, the birth of the Saviour, and that He is to be divine and human in His person. He is called the Branch (Zemach). In Isaiah He is called, The branch of Jehovah, and in other prophets, The branch of David. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:7). There is a very important and remarkable passage in Jeremiah, “The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall encompass a man” (Jer 31:22). This belongs to a Messianic prophecy as shown by the context. It is a new thing which is to take place, and a creation. This could never be said of the birth of a child in the natural way. Even one of the ancient rabbis acknowledges that Jer 31:22 speaks of Messiah, and that by the woman a virgin is meant. In the Jewish writings, some of them of great antiquity, much is said on the origin and birth of the Christ. We quote but a few of the most important words of the rabbis. “Several state that Messiah is to have no earthly father.” “The birth of the Messiah alone shall be without any defects.” “His birth shall not be like that of other men.” “The birth of the Messiah shall be like the dew of the Lord, as drops upon the grass without the action of man.”
That this exposition of the Scriptures concerning the miraculous birth of the Messiah was generally believed at the time of our Lord is seen from the Gospel of John. “Is not this He whom they seek to kill? and behold He speaks openly and they say nothing to Him. Have the rulers then indeed recognized that this is the Christ? But as to this man we know whence He is. Now, as to the Christ, when He comes no one knows whence He is (Joh 7:27). With this they acknowledged that they believed that with the birth of the Christ a mystery is connected. They thought then they knew who Jesus of Nazareth is; “And they said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known? How then does he say I am come down from heaven?” (Joh 6:24). Many centuries later wicked Jews wrote a vulgar and blasphemous account of the birth of our Lord, but the early Jews, it seems never attempted to contradict the first chapter in Matthew.
The angel bade Joseph not to fear, and make known to him not only that that which is begotten in Mary is of the Holy Ghost, but he said also, “She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”
The word Jesus is taken from the Hebrew Jehoshua, which means, Jehovah is the Saviour. It is the precious name in which the whole story of salvation is contained. The people of Jehovah are His people, because He is Jehovah, and left His eternal glory, His riches, and became poor, to save them from their sins. When Moses stood in the presence of this descended Lord, who proclaimed before him the name of the Lord, Moses said, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord,” saying this looking to heaven, “let my Lord,” the One who had come down and stood before him, “I pray thee go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquities and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.” (Exo 34:9.). And He has come, Jesus, who is able to save His people from their sins, because He is God, and gracious, as revealed to Moses in the mountain. They rejected Him and His salvation. They are scattered among the nations, blinded and hardened, but He is nevertheless Jesus who shall save His people. He has bought the field and the treasure in it. He will come again and turn away ungodliness from Jacob and remember their sins no more. Yes, He will come again and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever. Saul of Tarsus heard the voice from heaven, which said, “I am Jesus!” It is very significant that He spoke thus to the one who became the apostle to the Gentiles, and who in many respects is a type of the whole nation in unbelief and in their coming conversion. He saved Saul of Tarsus. He will save all Israel yet. For believers, His name is not simply Jesus, but for us, the church, He is both Saviour and Lord, and the right way to address Him is by His full name, as it is by the resurrection from among the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ.
With the declaration that He shall save His people from their sins the message of the angel was completed. It is now Matthew, and through Matthew of course the Holy Spirit, who continues. The most vital passage of the Old Testament is brought to the front. This is the familiar prophecy in Isa 7:14, which reads, “Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel.” Like most all the other Messianic prophecies, this one has also been the target of “Higher Criticism.” These learned (?) critics have made some very ridiculous utterances on this sublime prophecy, and said that it is anything but Messianic. They stand not alone, but are in company with rationalistic Jews and other infidels, who serve the power of darkness -- the one who is the falsifier of God’s Word from the beginning. Some of this infidel trash of Wellshausen, etc., is continually being rehashed by some of the so-called professors in theological “evangelical” seminaries in this country. Alas! how true still, professing themselves wise, they became fools. Higher criticism is nothing else but infidelity and foolishness.
It is with these critics, who are the educators of the coming preachers in the different denominations, a question what Isaiah wrote and what he did not write, what is genuine and what is added to by another hand. So it is being taught that Isaiah spoke of his own wife when he uttered the words which are before us. Now beware how you treat this prophecy! Mat 1:22 says that not the prophet said these words, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child,” but the Lord Himself spoke these words through the prophet. A denial of Isa 7:14 that it is not a Messianic prophecy is a denial of the integrity of the New Testament, a denial of the Lord. How does any one dare to say the prophet did not utter a prophecy at all, that it is not to be understood as meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, when the Holy Spirit in the very first chapter in the New Testament declares that it is a Messianic prophecy, and that it has found its fulfillment in the person of our Lord? If there were no other evidence whatever in the Old Testament, nay, if there were many difficulties connected with it Mat 1:22 would settle it all and would be sufficient proof in itself for what the Lord meant when He spoke these words through Isaiah the prophet.
But there is nothing whatever in Isa 7:1-25 which would in any way show that the prophecy is not Messianic. The Lord spoke the promise at a time when the house of David was discouraged and disheartened, and King Ahaz, instead of trusting the Lord, continued in unbelief. The prophet asks him to demand a sign from the Lord, but he rejects the offer under the plea that he would not tempt God. Upon this the prophet said that the Lord Himself shall give you a sign, and the prophecy then spoken is the sign for the discouraged king and the house of David. In other words, Messiah is to be born, He is to come from Judah, and from the house of David. How could he, the king, fear destruction and extermination? This was the comfort of the sign. The birth of Him is a sign -- something extraordinary, a miracle, and therefore the promise of comfort begins with the prophetic word, “Behold.” We will not enter into fuller discussion of the seventh chapter of Isaiah, nor answer the arguments which are brought against the Hebrew word used here for virgin; all this would be of little value and profit to most of our readers. [“That the word _almoh, in Isaiah denotes an untouched virgin, sufficiently appears from the sense of the passage Isa 7:14. King Ahaz was afraid lest the enemies that were now upon him might destroy Jerusalem and utterly consume the house of David. The Lord meets this fear by a sign and most remarkable promise, namely, ‘that sooner should a pure virgin bring forth a child than the family of David perish.’ And the promise yields a double comfort: namely, of Christ hereafter to be born of a virgin; and of their security from the imminent danger of the city and house of David. So that, although that prophecy, of a virgin’s bringing forth a son, should not be fulfilled till many hundreds of years after, yet, at that present time, when the prophecy was made, Ahaz had a certain and notable sign, that the house of David should be safe and secure from the danger that hung over it. As much as if the prophet had said: ‘Be not so troubled O Ahaz, does it not seem an impossible thing to thee, that never will happen, that a pure virgin become a mother? But I tell thee such a virgin shall bring forth a son, before the house of David perish.’“ -- Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae by Lightfoot.]
Some have seen a difficulty that the child was to be named Emmanuel, and instead of this name, He is named Jesus. The Jew often comes with this question. We point out to him that this apparent contradiction is really a proof of the inspiration. How easy it would have been for Matthew to have all fit in so that every word would be in harmony with the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit guided his hand in writing. The prophecy in the Old Testament says, “And call His name Immanuel.” Here it says, “They shall call his name.” In the first chapter of Matthew we read that Joseph called the child’s name Jesus, but in Luke we read that Mary calls His name Jesus. The name Emmanuel, God with us, is only given in Matthew. He is Emmanuel, and as such Jehovah the Saviour, so that in reality both names have the same meaning. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only begotten with his Father) full of grace and truth” (Joh 1:14). He is the exalted One over all.
Joseph was obedient to the word of the Lord as it had come to him through the angel. That Mary had other children is clearly seen from the sixty-ninth Psalm, verses 7 and 8, where it speaks of His suffering: “Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I am become a stranger to my brethren, even an alien to the children of my mother.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24 v. 1. The book of the generation of Jesus…
v. 1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
This is the title, or caption, which Matthew places at the head of his book. The entire Gospel is a book of the generation of Jesus Christ in the sense which the Jews usually attached to the expression in similar connections, meaning an account of the chief events in a person’s life, more or less briefly related, Gen 5:1; Gen 6:9; Gen 37:2; Gen 2:4; Num 3:1. The evangelist offers a history of the birth, acts, suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first verses are a genealogy in the most restricted sense of the term, as presenting a table of Christ’s legal forefathers through His foster-father Joseph, rightful heir of the kingdom, the thought most interesting to Jewish Christians. Matthew calls Jesus the Son of David, the king of the Golden Age of the Jewish people, to whose family the promise of the Savior was at last restricted, 2Sa 7:12-13; Psa 89:3-4; Psa 132:11; Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5. Christ was prophesied under the very name of "David," Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25. "Son of David" was the official title which the Jews applied to the expected Messiah, Mat 9:27; Mat 12:23; Mat 21:9; under this designation they had been led, by prophetic authority, to expect Him. But it would also arouse the attention and hold the interest of Christians of Jewish descent to know that the Christ whom Matthew proclaimed was the son of Abraham, for they knew that the father of their race had received the promise of the Lord: "In thee and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," Gen 12:3; Gen 18:18; Gen 22:18. "For this reason he refers only to those two fathers, Abraham and David, since to these two alone the promise of Christ was made in these people. Therefore Matthew emphasizes the promises to Abraham and David, because he has a definite intention with regard to this nation, in order that he might influence them, as heirs of the promise, in a charming manner, to accept the Christ prophesied to them and to believe that this man was Jesus whom they had crucified."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18, 20, 22, 24 General Information:
General Information:
The author begins with Jesus' genealogy in order to show that he is a descendant of King David and of Abraham. The genealogy continues through Matthew 1:17.
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The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ
You could translate this as a complete sentence. AT: "This is the list of the ancestors of Jesus Christ"
Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham
There were many generations between Jesus, David, and Abraham. Here "son" means "descendant." AT: "Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, who was a descendant of Abraham"
son of David
Sometimes the phrase "son of David" is used as a title, but here it seems to be used only to identify Jesus' ancestry.
Abraham was the father of Isaac
"Abraham became the father of Isaac" or "Abraham had a son Isaac" or "Abraham had a son named Isaac." There are different ways you could translate this. Whichever way you translate it here, it would be best to translate it the same way throughout the list of Jesus' ancestors.
Isaac the father ... Jacob the father
Here the word "was" is understood. AT: "Isaac was the father ... Jacob was the father" (See: Ellipsis)
Perez ... Zerah ... Hezron ... Ram
These are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)
Perez the father ... Hezron the father
Here the word "was" is understood. AT: "Perez was the father ... Hezron was the father" (See: Ellipsis)
translationWords
Jesus
son
David
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Judah
Tamar
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25 1:1–2:23 This account demonstrates that Jesus’ lineage and birth…
1:1–2:23 This account demonstrates that Jesus’ lineage and birth (ch 1), as well as the geography of his early years (ch 2), fulfilled Old Testament expectations, and that attempts to thwart God’s will do not succeed (2:1-15; see also 27:62-66).
1:1 The phrase a record of the ancestors introduces 1:1-17. A similar phrase is used in Genesis to introduce each section of that book. • Jesus . . . David . . . Abraham: These names are repeated in reverse order in the genealogy, an example of a literary form known as chiasm (arrangement of elements in mirror-image). Being identified as a descendant of David introduces Jesus as Messiah (see Matt 12:23; 22:42-45), while the connection to Abraham emphasizes God’s covenant with Israel and the extension of that covenant to include all nations (see Matt 28:16-20; Gen 12:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.