The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's Messiah. He wanted to show that Mary could not have become pregnant by another man.
1:18-19 Jewish law regarded an engaged couple as virtually married. Normally a one-year period of waiting followed the betrothal before the consummation of the marriage. During that year the couple could only break their engagement with a divorce.
". . . a betrothed girl was a widow if her fiancedied (Kethub. i.2), and this whether the man had taken' her into his house or not. After betrothal, therefore, but before marriage, the man was legally husband' . . ."59
Joseph being a "righteous"(Gr. dikaios) man could hardly let his fiance's pregnancy pass without action since it implied that she had been unfaithful and had violated the Mosaic Law. Joseph had three choices concerning how to proceed. First, he could expose Mary publicly as unfaithful. In this case she might suffer stoning, though that was rare in the first century.60Probably she would have suffered the shame of a public divorce (Deut. 22:23-24). A second option was to grant her a private divorce in which case Joseph needed only to hand her a written certificate in the presence of two witnesses (cf. Num. 5:11-31).61His third option was to remain engaged and not divorce Mary, but this alternative appeared to Joseph to require him to break the Mosaic Law (Lev. 20:10). He decided to divorce her privately. This preserved his righteousness (i.e., his conformity to the Law) and allowed him to demonstrate compassion.
1:20-21 The appearance of an angel of the Lord in a dream would have impressed Matthew's original Jewish readers that this revelation was indeed from God (cf. Gen. 16:7-14; 22:11-18; Exod. 3:2-4:16). The writer stressed the divine nature of this intervention four times in the prologue (1:20, 24; 2:13, 19).
The angel's address, "Joseph son of David"(v. 20), gave Joseph a clue concerning the significance of the announcement he was about to receive. It connects with verse 1 and the genealogy in the narrative. The theme of the Davidic Messiah continues. Joseph was probably afraid of the consequences of his decision to divorce Mary.
The virgin birth is technically the virgin conception. Mary was not just a virgin when she bore Jesus, but she was one when she conceived Him. The idea that Mary remained a virgin for the rest of her life, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, has no support in the text. Nothing in Scripture suggests that Mary bore Jesus' half brothers and sisters supernaturally. This doctrine has gained credence because it contributes to the veneration of Mary.
The angel announced God's sovereign prerogative in naming the child (v. 21). God named His Son. Joseph simply carried out the will of God by giving Jesus His name at the appropriate time (v. 25). As mentioned above, the name "Jesus"means "Yahweh saves"or "Yahweh is salvation."The angel explained the appropriateness of this name (cf. Ps. 130:8). The Jews anticipated a Messiah who would be a political savior and a redeemer from sin.62
"There was much Jewish expectation of a Messiah who would redeem' Israel from Roman tyranny and even purify his people, whether by fiat or appeal to law (e.g., Pss Sol 17). But there was no expectation that the Davidic Messiah would give his own life as a ransom (20:28) to save his people from their sins. The verb save' can refer to deliverance from physical danger (8:25), disease (9:21-22), or even death (24:22); in the NT it commonly refers to the comprehensive salvation inaugurated by Jesus that will be consummated at his return. Here it focuses on what is central, viz., salvation from sins; for in the biblical perspective sin is the basic (if not always the immediate) cause of all other calamities. This verse therefore orients the reader to the fundamental purpose of Jesus' coming and the essential nature of the reign he inaugurates as King Messiah, heir of David's throne . . ."63
"The single most fundamental character trait ascribed to Jesus is the power to save . . ."64
1:22-25 The phrase plerothe to hrethen("what was spoken . . . fulfilled"[NASB] or "to fulfill what . . . had said"[NIV]) occurs often in Matthew's Gospel (2:15, 17, 23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 27:9; cf. 26:56). It indicates a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
The particular wording in this verse is very careful. Matthew distinguished the source of the prophecy, God, from the instrument through whom He gave it, the prophet. For Matthew, the prophecy of Isaiah was God's Word (cf. 2 Pet. 1:21). The New Testament writers consistently shared this high view of inspiration (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16).
The prophecy Matthew said Jesus fulfilled comes from Isaiah 7:14 (v. 23). It is a difficult one to understand.65
The first problem concerns the meaning of "virgin"(Gr. parthenos). This noun usually refers to a virgin in the Greek Bible.66It always has this meaning in the Greek New Testament. That Matthew intended it to mean virgin appears clear for two reasons. First, virgin is the standard meaning of the word and, second, the context supports this meaning (vv. 18, 20, 25).
A second problem is the meaning of the Hebrew word translated "virgin"(alma) in Isaiah 7:14. It means an unmarried young woman of marriageable age. Thus the word has overtones of virginity. Every use of this word in the Hebrew Old Testament either requires or permits the meaning "virgin"(Gen. 24:43; Exod. 2:8; Ps. 68:25 [26]; Prov. 30:19; Song of Sol. 1:3; 6:8; Isa. 7:14).67That is why the Septuagint translators rendered alma"virgin"in Isaiah 7:14. Matthew's interpretation of this word as virgin harmonizes with the Septuagint translators' understanding.
A third problem is, what did this prophecy mean in Isaiah's day? At the risk of oversimplification there are three basic solutions to this problem.
First, Isaiah predicted that an unmarried woman of marriageable age at the time of the prophecy would bare a child whom she would name Immanuel. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in the sense that a real virgin bore Him, and He was "God with us."This is a double fulfillment view. I prefer this view.68
A second interpretation sees Isaiah predicting the virgin birth of a boy named Immanuel in his day. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy since His mother was a virgin when she bore Him, and He was "God with us."This is another double fulfillment view. The problem with it is that it requires two virgin births, one in Isaiah's day and Jesus' birth.
A third view is that Isaiah predicted the birth of Jesus exclusively. He said nothing about any woman in his day giving birth. Jesus alone fulfilled this prophecy. There was no fulfillment in Isaiah's day. This is a single fulfillment view. The main problem with it is that according to this view Ahaz received no sign but only a prophecy. Signs in Scripture were fairly immediate visible assurances that what God had predicted would indeed happen.69
Some question exists about the sense in which "Immanuel"was Jesus' name since the New Testament writers never referred to Him as such. Even though it was not one of His proper names it accurately described who He was (cf. John 1:14, 18; Matt. 28:20).
"He is Emmanuel, and as such Jehovah the Saviour, so that in reality both names have the same meaning."70
"The key passages 1:23 and 28:20 . . . stand in a reciprocal relationship to each other . . . . Strategically located at the beginning and the end of Matthew's story, these two passages enclose' it. In combination, they reveal the message of Matthew's story: In the person of Jesus Messiah, his Son, God has drawn near to abide to the end of time with his people, the church, thus inaugurating the eschatological age of salvation."71
The angel's instructions resulted in Joseph changing his mind. He decided not to divorce Mary privately but to continue their engagement and eventually consummate it (v. 24). Matthew left no doubt about the virginal conception of Jesus by adding that Joseph did not have sexual relations with Mary until after Jesus' birth (v. 25). When Joseph called the child "Jesus,"as the angel had commanded him to do (vv. 20-21), he was taking Jesus as his son.
"In other words, Jesus, born of Mary but not fathered by Joseph, is legitimately Son of David because Joseph son of David adopts him into his line."72
In this first chapter the writer stressed the person of Jesus Christ as being both human (vv. 1-17) and divine (vv. 18-25).
"If Matthew i:1-17 were all that could be said of His birth, He might then have hada 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."73
Matthew presented three proofs that Jesus was the Christ in chapter 1: His genealogy, His virgin birth, and His fulfillment of prophecy.
