Matthew began his Gospel with a record of Jesus' genealogy because the Christians claimed that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament. To qualify as such He had to be a Jew from the royal line of David (Isa. 9:6-7). Matthew's genealogy proves that Jesus descended not only from Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation, but also from David, the founder of Israel's royal dynasty.
1:1 This verse is obviously a title, but is it a title of the whole Gospel, a title for the prologue (chs. 1-2), or a title for the genealogy that follows (1:1-17)? Probably it refers to the genealogy. There is no other ancient Near Eastern book-length document extant that uses the expression biblos geneseos(book or record of the generation) as its title.31While the noun genesis(birth) occurs again in verse 18, there it introduces the birth narrative of Jesus. In the Septuagint the same phrase, biblos geneseos, occurs in Genesis 2:4 and 5:1 where in each case a narrative follows it, as here. Genealogies are quite common in the Old Testament, of course, and the presence of one here introduces a Jewish flavor to Matthew's Gospel immediately.
"Each use of the formula [in the Bible] introduces a new stage in the development of God's purpose in the propagation of the Seed through which He planned to effect redemption."32
The last Old Testament messianic use of this phrase is in Ruth 4:14 where the genealogy ends with David. Matthew reviewed David's genealogy and extended it to Jesus.
"The plan which God inaugurated in the creation of manis to be completed by the Man, Christ Jesus."33
This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, and it means "Yahweh is salvation"(yehoshua, the long form) or "Yahweh saves"(Yeshua, the short form). The two major Joshuas in the Old Testament both anticipated Jesus Christ by providing salvation (cf. Heb. 3-4; Zech. 6:11-13).34
The name Christ is the rough equivalent of the Hebrew "Messiah"or "Anointed One."In the Old Testament it refers generally to people anointed for a special purpose including priests, kings, the patriarchs (metaphorically) and even the pagan king Cyrus. It came to have particular reference to the King whom God would provide from David's line who would rule over Israel and the nations eventually (cf. 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 2:2: 105:15; et al.). The early Christians believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of the Old Testament. Because they used both names together, "Christ"became a virtual name for Jesus. Paul, for example, used it this way frequently in his writings.
Matthew introduced Jesus Christ as the descendant of David and Abraham. Why did he select these two ancestors for special mention, and why did he name David before Abraham?
Abraham and David are important because God gave each of them a covenant. God vowed that He would unconditionally provide seed, land, and blessing to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 12:1-3, 7; 15; et al.). Abraham would not only receive blessing from God, but he would also be a source of blessing to the whole world. God's covenant with David guaranteed that his descendants would rule over the kingdom of Israel forever. The house or dynasty of David would always have the right to rule symbolized by the throne (2 Sam. 7:12-16). Thus Matthew's reference to these two men should remind the reader of God's promises regarding a King who would rule over Israel and the universal blessing that He would bring (cf. Isa. 11:1).35
"What is emphasized is the fact that the Messiah has His historical roots in Abraham and that He has come as a Davidic king in response to the promises to the patriarchs."36
"He is the Son of Abraham both because it is in him that the entire history of Israel, which had its beginning in Abraham, attains its goal (1:17) and because he is the one through whom God will extend to the nations his blessing of salvation (8:11; 28:18-20). . . .
"Just as the title Son of Abraham' characterizes Jesus as the one in whom the Gentiles will find blessing, so the title Son of David' characterizes Jesus as the One in whom Israel will find blessing."37
The non-chronological order of David and then Abraham indicates that Matthew had more in mind than a simple chronological list of Jesus' ancestors. As the Gospel unfolds, it becomes clear that the Jews needed to accept Jesus as the promised Son of David before He would bring the blessings promised to Abraham (cf. 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42, 45). Jesus presented Himself to the Jews first. When they rejected Him, He turned to the Gentiles. Yet He explained that their rejection was only temporary. When He returns, the Jews will acknowledge Him as their Messiah, and then He will rule on the earth and bless all mankind.
"Christ came with all the reality of the kingdom promised to David's Son. But if He were refused as the Son of David, still, as the Son of Abraham, there was blessing not merely for the Jew, but for the Gentile. He is indeed the Messiah; but if Israel will not have Him, God will during their unbelief bring the nations to taste of His mercy."38
"By this brief superscription Matthew discloses the theme of his book. Jesus is the One who shall consummate God's program."39
"First He is Sovereign, then Savior [in Matthew]."40
"This introduction clearly demonstrates that Matthew's purpose in writing the gospel is to provide adequate proof for the investigator that the claims of Christ to be King and Saviour are justified. For this reason, the gospel of Matthew was considered by the early church one of the most important books of the New Testament and was given more prominence than the other three gospels."41
1:2-6a In tracing Jesus' genealogy, why did Matthew begin with Abraham rather than with Adam, as Luke did? Matthew wanted to show Jesus' Jewish heritage, and to do this he only needed to go back as far as Abraham, the father of the Jewish race. Significantly Matthew called him Abraham rather than Abram. The longer name connotes the covenant privileges that God made to Abraham when He changed his name.
The writer separated Judah and his brothers (v. 2) because the messianic promise of rulership went to Judah alone (Gen. 49:10). This allusion to the 12 tribes of Israel provides another clue that Matthew's interests were strongly royal (cf. 8:11; 19:28).
Matthew also mentioned Perez's brother (v. 3) perhaps because he was his twin. He probably did so because Perez was a key figure in both the Old Testament genealogies (Ruth 4; 1 Chron. 4) and in Jewish tradition.
"Jewish tradition traced the royal line to Perez (Ruth iv. 12, 18ff.), and son of Perez' is a Rabb[inic]. expression for the Messiah."42
The inclusion of Tamar (v. 3), Rahab (v.5), and Ruth (v. 5) as well as Bathsheba (v. 6b) is unusual because the Jews traced their heritage through their male ancestors. Matthew's mention of each of these women reveals his emphases.
"Of the four mentioned two--Rahab and Ruth--are foreigners, and three--Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba--were stained with sin."43
"Of these four, two (Tamar and Rahab) were Canaanites, one (Ruth) a Moabite, and one (Bathsheba) presumably a Hittite. Surely they exemplify the principle of the sovereign grace of God, who not only is able to use the foreign (and perhaps even the disreputable) to accomplish his eternal purposes, but even seems to delight in doing so."44
The writer had a multiple purpose for including these women. He showed that Jesus came to include sinners in the family of God by seeking and saving the lost (cf. v. 21).45Second, their inclusion shows the universal character of Jesus' ministry and kingdom.46After the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God opened the doors of the church to Gentiles equally with Jews. Matthew's Gospel records the beginning of this change. Third, reference to these women prepares the reader for the significant role Mary will play in the messianic line though, of course, she was neither a great sinner nor a foreigner.47All five women became partakers in the messianic line through strange and unexpected divine providence. A fourth reason Matthew may have mentioned these women may have been to disarm criticism by showing that God countenanced irregular marital unions in Messiah's legal ancestry.48
"The word King' with David' [v. 6a] would evoke profound nostalgia and arouse eschatological hope in first-century Jews. Matthew thus makes the royal theme explicit: King Messiah has appeared. David's royal authority, lost at the Exile, has now been regained and surpassed by great David's greater son' . . ."49
"The addition of the title, the king, marks the end of this period of waiting, and points forward to Jesus, the Son of David, the Christ, the King of the Jews."50
A fifth reason was apparently to highlight four Old Testament stories that illustrate a common point. That point is that in each case a Gentile showed extraordinary faith in contrast to Jews, who were greatly lacking in their faith.51
"The allusions to these stories accomplish four theological purposes.
"First, they demonstrate God's providential hand in preserving Messiah's line, even in apostate times. This naturally led to Matthew's account of the virgin conception, through which God brought the Messiah into the world.
"Second, they demonstrate God's heart for godly Gentiles and the significant role of their faith at crucial times in Israel's history.
"Third, they demonstrate the importance of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants in understanding Messiah's mission, with a focus on faith and obedience, not a racial line.
"Fourth, they call Matthew's readers to repentance and humility, and to accepting Gentiles into the body of Christ, thereby affirming an important theme of Matthew's Gospel."52
1:6b-11 Matthew did not refer to Solomon or the other kings of Israel as kings. Probably he wanted to focus attention on David and on Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises God gave to David. Solomon did not fulfill these promises.
The writer's reference to Bathsheba is unusual (v. 6b). It draws attention to the heinousness of David's sin. Perhaps he wanted to stress that Uriah was not an Israelite but a Hittite (2 Sam. 11:3; 23:39). Evidently Bathsheba was the daughter of an Israelite (cf. 1 Chron. 3:5), but the Jews would have regarded her as a Hittite since she married Uriah.
Three kings do not appear where we would expect to find them, namely between Joram and Uzziah: Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (v. 8). As we will note below (v. 17), Matthew deliberately constructed his genealogy in three groups of 14 names. Why did he omit reference to these three kings? It may be that he did so because they were specially wicked. They all had connections with Ahab, Jezebel, and Athaliah. Moreover all of them experienced violent deaths. Matthew did not sanitize his genealogy completely, however, as his references to Tamar, Rahab, and David's sin indicate. Jehoiakim received no mention though his wicked son Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) did (v. 11). Jehoiakim's reign was very short, only three months.
Jehoiachin's brothers (v. 11), Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, also ruled over Judah. Zedekiah's reign lasted 11 years, but he was a puppet of the Babylonians. The royal line passed through Jehoiachin.
"There is pathos in this second allusion to brotherhood [cf. v. 2]. Judah and his brethren,' partakers in the promise (also in the sojourn in Egypt); Jeconiah and his brethren,' the generation of the promise eclipsed."53
1:12-16 Most of the names in this section occur nowhere else in the Bible. Matthew probably knew them from oral tradition and or written sources.
"While no twentieth-century Jew could prove he was from the tribe of Judah, let alone from the house of David, that does not appear to have been a problem in the first century, when lineage was important in gaining access to temple worship."54
Verse 16 contains careful and unusual wording. Matthew was hinting at what he later explained, the virgin birth of Jesus (v. 23). The phrase "who is called"(ho legomenos) does not imply doubt about Jesus' messiahship. It just identifies the Jesus whose genealogy has preceded. This is one of Matthew's favorite expressions in this Gospel. It announces the names of persons or places 12 times (cf. 1:16; 2:23; 4:18; 10:2; 13:55; 26:3, 14, 36; 27:16, 17, 22, 33). As this verse shows, Jesus was legally Joseph's son even though He was virgin born by Mary.
1:17 Clearly the three groups of 14 generations Matthew recorded do not represent a complete genealogy from Abraham to Jesus (cf. v. 8). "All the generations"(NASB) then must mean all the generations that Matthew listed. The Greek text literally says "all the generations from Abraham to David . . . to Christ."Matthew's summary statement does not constitute an error in the Bible. Jewish writers frequently arranged genealogies so their readers could remember them easily. Perhaps Matthew chose his arrangement because the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew consonants in David's name total 14.55Matthew did not need to present an unbroken genealogy to establish Jesus' right to the Davidic throne.
Before leaving this genealogy, note that each of the three sections ends with a significant person or event.
"In David the family [of Abraham] rose to royal power . . . At the captivity it lost it again. In Christ it regained it."56
Moreover in each period covered by each section, God gave Israel an important covenant: the Abrahamic (Gen. 15), the Davidic (2 Sam. 7), and the New (Jer. 31).57All came to fruition in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Generally Matthew's genealogy shows that Jesus had the right to rule over Israel since He was a descendant of David through Joseph. Legally he was Joseph's son. Specifically this section of the Gospel strongly implies that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
The differences with Jesus' genealogy in Luke 3:23-38 are a problem that no one has been able to solve adequately. The problem is that Joseph's ancestors in Matthew's genealogy are different from his ancestors in Luke's genealogy, especially from Joseph to King David. The theory that most scholars subscribe to now is that Matthew gave the legal line of descent from David, stating who was the heir to the throne in each case, and Luke gave the actual descendants of David in the branch of David's family to which Joseph belonged.58
