I diverted to Matthew 1 and 2 for Christmas in my weekly podcast and video, Through the Bible in Ten Years. Here is the write-up of my notes on Matthew 1 from yesterday.
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1:1 [The] scroll of the genesis of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.
Is this a heading relating to the entire Gospel of Matthew? It seems like the natural way to take it, given that the word for book/scroll is not used anywhere else in the New Testament for just part of a book or for a family tree. The Gospel of Matthew would thus be about the "beginning of Jesus Christ."
It is perhaps worth mentioning here that Matthew does not have much to say about Jesus in his pre-existence. The Gospel of John is distinctive in this regard because it emphasizes that Jesus existed in heaven before he came to earth. We also believe that Jesus became flesh as the human Jesus only when he was born (John 1:14). The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the Logos all relate to Jesus before he came to earth, but as Jesus the human being, a man with 23 specific pairs of chromosomes, the beginning was with the virgin birth, as Matthew relates.
God the Son was not yet human prior to the incarnation. So it is not inappropriate to say that the Gospel of Matthew is about the beginning of Jesus Christ even though it was not the beginning of God the Son. These are of course very difficult concepts to get our heads around. The bottom line is that Matthew begins its narration about Jesus with the virgin conception, not with Jesus' pre-existence.
Jesus is the Son of David, a characteristic of Jesus' human genealogy that qualifies him to be king. If Matthew used Mark as a source, as most scholars think, then Matthew has deliberately decided to focus on Jesus as Son of David rather than Son of God, which is what Mark has in its first verse. Son of God was also a royal title, but Son of David might be more immediately meaningful to a Jewish Christian audience.
Matthew is the Gospel most focused on Jesus in his Jewishness. Here we should keep in mind that the earliest Christians were all Jews and none of them saw Christianity as a distinct or new religion. For them, following Jesus was following true Judaism. When a Gentile became a Jesus-follower, they saw themselves as converting to a form of Judaism. They became a sort of Gentile-Jew. It is thus more appropriate to call the audience of Matthew as Christian Jews even more than to call them Jewish Christians.
The audience that Matthew had in mind was almost certainly Jewish in origin. Not so much for the other Gospels. Mark, Luke, and even John seem much more directed toward Gentile than Jewish audiences. Those of us who are Gentile Christians may not notice the difference because we are Gentiles, but the Gospel of Matthew reads much more in line with the concerns of a Jewish audience.
If Son of David qualifies Jesus to be a king of Israel, his descendance from Abraham indicates that he is a child of Israel. He is not a Gentile. He was born into the people of God.
1:2 Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah and his brothers [and sisters].
In keeping with its universal focus, Luke's genealogy in Luke 3 will start from Jesus and go backward to Adam. Matthew, in keeping with its Jew-centered approach begins with Abraham and moves forward to Jesus. The two genealogies do not fit exactly, leading some to suggest that Luke follows Mary's lineage and Matthew that of Joseph.
The genealogy is divided up into three groups of fourteen because it is the number of David's name, which we will explain further when we get to 1:17. Some names are left out to get to this number, which is symbolic. We should not be bothered by this fact, although Matthew might require us to shift our thinking to the way ancient Jewish interpreters thought rather than the way we might think.
The genealogy begins with the three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as well as the twelve sons of Israel. Jesus is part of the Jewish family. His story is the culmination of the promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Genesis.
1:3 And Judah begat Perez and Zerah from Tamar. And Pharez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Aram.
One of the interesting features of the family tree in Matthew 1 is the highlighting of five women. Women were very much marginalized in the ancient world, so the fact that Matthew goes out of his way to feature them is very striking. It suggests a theme that the Gospel of Luke will push even more, namely, that the good news of Jesus includes the empowerment and valuing of women.
What is even more interesting about the women in Jesus' genealogy is that they all have something about them that might have been viewed as somewhat suspect in Matthew's day. In the case of Tamar, she dressed up like a prostitute in order to trick Judah into fulfilling his duty has her father-in-law (Genesis 38). He was supposed to give her his son as a husband but he didn't. So she tricked him into sleeping with her, and that's how the twins Perez and Zerah were born.
A subtle message of the genealogy thus might be that God can take that which is not ideal and use it in the holiest of ways. God can take that which seems suspicious and use it for great good. God can redeem that which seems unholy and make it of the highest honor. God values even women who might seem tainted from a certain perspective and make them greater than the purest of all.
It also should not be lost on us that this selection of women culminates in Mary, who seemed morally suspicious to Joseph when he found out she was pregnant before they came together. But like the other women in the genealogy, she is now thought of as among the most honored of women. She is "highly favored," as Luke 1:28 says.
1:4 And Aram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab began Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon. 5. And Salmon begat Boaz from Rahab. And Boaz begat Obed from Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse. 6a. And Jesse begat David the king.
We find this part of the genealogy in Ruth 4:18-22. Two more women are mentioned, Rahab and Ruth. Both were foreigners, which put them initially outside the people of God. Rahab of course was a prostitute in Jericho, so she was not only involved in an impure, "dirty" trade but she was part of a people that God would destroy for their godlessness. Interestingly, the Bible nowhere else indicates that Rahab was in David's genealogy.
There is nothing suspect about Ruth except again that she is a Moabitess, a member of a people that was often an enemy of Israel. The book of Ruth depicts her of course in a completely positive light. Yet as we see in history repeatedly, it is a human tendency to think of immigrants as dirty and second or third class citizens. Ruth's origins would thus normally have been considered a dishonorable thing.
The number of years involved may suggest that some names are missing. Abraham might be dated to the 1700s BC. Fourteen generations would give us about 50 years before each childbirth--not the typical span today and certainly not then. It is thus generally agreed that the genealogies of the Bible may skip some generations and "hit the highlights," so to speak.
The first fourteen generations culminate in king David. We will see in a moment that the significance of the number fourteen is that it is the number of David's name. The genealogy is thus configured to say, "David, David, David." Jesus is the Son of David. Jesus is the king of Israel, the Messiah.
1:6b. And David begat Solomon from the [wife] of Uriah.
The second group of fourteen thus begins with Solomon, David's son. Now we are in the period of the monarchy. The next stretch will run through the kings of Judah, the southern kingdom.
Bathsheba is the fourth woman mentioned in Jesus' genealogy, although she is not mentioned by name. Instead, Uriah the Hittite is mentioned. This mention again seems to hint that God cares about the Gentiles as well as that God can redeem sin. Although Solomon was not born of David's affair with Bathsheba, David took her as wife after having her husband killed, in effect.
1:7 And Solomon begat Rehoboam, and Rehoboam began Abijah. And Abijah begat Asaph. 8. And Asaph begat Jehoshaphat, and begat Joram. And Joram begat Uzziah. 9. And Uzziah begat Jotham, and Jotham begat Ahaz. And Ahaz begat Hezekiah, 10. And Hezekiah begat Manasseh, and Manasseh begat Amos, and Amos begat Josiah. 11. And Josiah begat Jeconiah and his brothers [and sisters] at the carrying away of Babylon.
These names, so familiar from the Old Testament books of the Kings, make it clear that Jesus' lineage qualifies him to be king. He is indeed a son of David. From the list in 1 Chronicles 3:11-12, it looks like three names were left out to arrive at fourteen generations. There, Joram begats Ahaziah, who begats Joash, who begats Amaziah, who begats Uzziah.
But by this reckoning, the symbolism of fourteen generations is maintained to cover the span from David to the exile. It is a natural place to divide up the story of Israel.
1:12 And after the carrying away of Babylon, Jechoniah begat Shealtiel, and Shealtiel began Zerubbabel. 1:13 And Zerubbabel begat Abiud, and Abiud begat Eliakim. And Eliakim begat Azor. 14. And Azor begat Zadok, and Zadok begat Achim. And Achim begat Eliud. 15. And Eliud begat Eleazar, and Eleazar begat Matthan. And Matthan begat Jacob.
The last stretch of names are not ones that we know from the Old Testament. But they stretch us from the exile to the time of Jesus. Zerubbabel was of course a Persian appointed governor who facilitated the reconstruction of the temple in 516BC just after the return from Babylon.
1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, the one called Christ.
Thus we arrive at Jesus. Mary is the fifth of the woman in the genealogy. Like the others, she is honored to be in the family tree of the Christ. Like the others, there is some scandal associated with her story and with Jesus' birth. We should not be bothered that Jesus is not the biological son of Joseph, for "adopted" sons were counted just as much the children of their parents as genetic sons. In fact, because adopted sons were chosen, they were often considered even more significant than the biological ones.
1:17 Therefore, all the generations from Abraham to David [are] fourteen generations and from David to the carrying away of Babylon [are] fourteen generations, and from the carrying away of Babylon until the Christ, fourteen generations.
As we mentioned above, the number fourteen is the number of David's name. Hebrew and Greek did not have independent symbols for their numbers. Their letters doubled as numbers. The numbers of David's name in Hebrew are thus daleth (4), waw (6), and daleth (4), which add up to fourteen. The genealogy thus embodies David's name three times--"David, David, David." It is a figurative way to reinforce that Jesus is the Son of David, the king.
Jesus' Birth
1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was thus. When Mary, his mother, had been pledged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant of the Holy Spirit.
The marriage between Joseph and Mary was apparently arranged. She may have been somewhat younger, with Joseph older. We do not know if he had a previous wife or even if she were an additional wife. She is found to be pregnant "from the Holy Spirit." In other words, she becomes pregnant without having sex with anyone.
1:19 And Joseph, her husband, being righteous and not wanting to disgrace her, wanted to release her secretly.
Joseph is called "her husband," indicating how far along the marriage process has gone. The word for divorce might also be translated as "release," but since Joseph is called "her husband," the word divorce seems appropriate. Joseph does not want to disgrace Mary unnecessarily, even though she has potentially disgraced him greatly. He does not want to stigmatize her. He apparently contemplates leaving her in her father's house without drawing attention to her apparent infidelity. The way he approaches the situation shows that he is a righteous man and man of honor.
1:20 And while he was considering these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary, your wife, for that which has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit.
In Luke, the women are visited by angels. In Matthew, they come in dreams to Joseph. The fact that Joseph is the son of David reminds the reader of the genealogy at the beginning of the chapter. Because Jesus is a descendant of David, he is qualified to be king of Israel and to fulfill the prophecies about David's kingdom lasting forever.
The presumption is that the child has no human male parent but that the Holy Spirit is the sole origin of the child's conception. In general, the ancients did not think of the woman as contributing any substance to the child in the womb. She was rather an incubator for the seed of the male. The Holy Spirit would thus be understood to be entirely responsible for Jesus' substance.
Some translations render the verse, "take Mary [as] your wife," giving the impression that she was not yet his wife at this time. But since Joseph is called her husband in 1:19, we might simply call Mary his wife. The marriage has not been consummated, but the arrangement is apparently complete. If she were younger and the marriage was arranged, it is possible that Joseph was waiting for her to come of age.
1:21 "And she will bear a son and you will call his name 'Jesus,' for he himself will save his people from their sins."
Jesus is of course the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua. Jesus' name was thus pronounced Yeshua while he was on earth. To say that Jesus would save Israel from its sins is shorthand for saving them from the consequences of their sins.
In general, many Jews were probably expecting any Messiah to free Israel from its enslavement to foreign powers like the Romans. However, since Matthew was written after the destruction of Jerusalem (e.g., Matt. 22:7), perhaps political salvation is not really what he has in mind. For Matthew, the consequences of sin seem rather to focus on eternal torment following the final judgment (e.g., Matt. 25:31, 46).
1:22 And all this has come to be so that might be fulfilled what has been spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, 23. "Behold the virgin will get pregnant and will bear a son and they will call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is 'God with us.'"
This is the first of Matthew's fulfillment texts, a distinctive eemphasis of his gospel. At first, we might think that these are simply prediction-fulfillments. However, a deeper look suggests that Matthew largely interprets these passages in a non-contexual, "spiritual" sense. Some call such interpretations the taking of the Old Testament in a "fuller sense" (sensus plenior).
Of all the New Testament writers, Matthew's interpretive method comes the closest to the "pesher" interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Matthew takes the words of Old Testament verses without much attention to the surrounding words of their context and reads them in the light of events in Jesus' life. In this case, for example, we need know nothing about the context of Isaiah 7:14 to understand Matthew's meaning.
In context, Isaiah 7:14 refers to a child that was a sign to king Ahaz that he did not need to worry about the two kings to his immediate north. If the sign was only Jesus, it was a very ineffective sign for Ahaz, since he was dead some 700 years before Jesus. A young woman can conceive the first time she has sex. Isaiah 7:15 goes on to say that before that child came of age, the political situation of Ahaz would be resolved. The verse thus originally referred to a child born in the 700's BC.
This original meaning is not relevant to the "fuller," prophetic meaning in relation to Jesus. Matthew understood these words in the Greek translation of Isaiah to be potent with meaning in relation to Jesus' birth. We should not see this as a problem. It was a perfectly acceptable Jewish way of interpreting Scripture at the time and no argument against inspiration. We cannot accuse a text of error according to our ideology when it is perfectly in keeping with its own.
And God knew Matthew would take the verse this way when he spoke to Isaiah. God knew Matthew would take the verse this way when Isaiah was translated into Greek well over a century before Christ. The words were pregnant with meaning that could be applied to the conception of Jesus.
The fact that the author draws from the Greek Isaiah is a significant argument that the author of Matthew in its current form was a Greek speaking Jew rather than the Aramaic-speaking Galilean disciple. In general, the "first language" Greek of the gospel argues for the same conclusion. The Greek of Matthew is actually smoother than Mark, one of its likely sources, which involves more Semitisms in its style.
Jesus is "God with us." This characteristic of Jesus occurs here and then again at the end of Matthew where Jesus tells his disciples, "I am with you all the days until the end of the age." The idea of Jesus as God with us thus forms an inclusio that brackets the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew does not explicitly share the inner logic of how Jesus is God with us. But throughout the Gospel, Jesus is sometimes presented in terms normally reserved for God alone. Following the Parables of Enoch, Matthew 25 has Jesus on God's throne in judgment, an extremely rare image in surviving Jewish literature. And while Jesus tells Satan that only the Lord is to be worshipped, Matthew consistently has various individuals bowing before Jesus.
1:24 And Joseph, having been raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took his wife, 25. and he was not knowing her until she born a son and called his name, "Jesus."
If there were any doubt, this statement makes it clear that Joseph is not the father of the child. He does not have sex with Mary until after Jesus is born. He goes through with the marriage, despite her pregnancy. Matthew knows nothing of later Christian traditions in which Mary remains a "perpetual virgin." The assumption of the text is that Joseph does go on to have relations with her after Jesus' birth.
