The Genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-14)

Matthew wrote his Gospel initially for Jewish readers. There was a tradition in the early church that he originally wrote it in Hebrew and afterwards wrote the same account in Greek. Whether that tradition is true or not does not really matter. We can easily see from the way he writes his account that Matthew wants to remind his readers that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament predictions in different ways, and those prophecies would be common knowledge among Jews. The likelihood of a Jewish readership is also seen in that Matthew links Jesus to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, and to David, the first king of Israel. Both Abraham and David had received promises from God about their descendants.

As we can see, Matthew begins his account of the ministry of Jesus by referring to his genealogy. To us, this may seem a strange way of writing an account of his life. I have many biographies at home and none of them begin by mentioned the ancestors of the person whose life is being told. It was very different with the Jews. They valued their ancestry, and we know that several of them appear in the Old Testament.

This is not the only genealogy of Jesus in the Bible. Luke provides one as well (Luke 3:27-35). There are some differences between them, and this is explained by saying that one of them is the line of Joseph and the other is the line of Mary. Both Joseph and Mary were descended from David, but not from the same son of David. Here the son of David that is mentioned is Solomon and in Luke the Son of David that is mentioned is Nathan. Luke also traces the line of Jesus back to Adam whereas Matthew only goes as far back as Abraham. Generally, it is assumed that Matthew gives the line through Joseph and Luke gives the line through Mary, although it could be the other way round. We know that Matthew left some names out of his genealogy (for example, several kings of Judah are omitted, but he does not tell us why they were omitted).

Many Jewish family lists were lost in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in which many of the lists were kept. Both Matthew and Luke were written before AD 70 and it would have been possible for Matthew and Luke to find the genealogies there if they wanted to do so. One interesting aspect of the genealogies of Jesus is that none are given later. There is a message in this in itself because we can see that one purpose of the Old Testament genealogies was to preserve the family lines from which the Messiah would come – he would be a descendant of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David. Once he was born, there is no longer a need for biblical genealogies.

Matthew divides his list into three sections: from Abraham to David, from David to the exile in Babylon, and from Babylon to Jesus. What is the significance of his division? I would suggest that he is saying something about the state of kingship in Israel. The first division is preparation for the coming of the right King (which was David, not Saul), the second is the list of the kings that descended from David, and the third describes Israel in land without a King, even although they had a royal line. But Matthew has good news for his readers when he says in verse 13 that the permanent King, that is the Messiah, has arrived.

Some messages from the genealogy

We can also see in both genealogies a fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53 that the Messiah would be numbered with the transgressors. Of course, this prediction is fulfilled in a variety of ways, such as when Jesus was baptised by John in the Jordan and when he was numbered with the criminals at the cross. And it is also fulfilled here because every person, apart from Jesus, who is mentioned in the lists were transgressors of God’s law. It is even possible for us to look at Old Testament passages and see what some of those sins were.

It has often been pointed out that Matthew mentions four women in the list – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. We might be surprised at the women he does not mention – Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, for example. Regarding the women he mentions, it is often said that there are question marks about their characters. I don’t think Matthew stresses that aspect. It is likely that Tamar and Rahab were immoral, but we cannot say that there was anything immoral about Ruth. Bathsheba was compelled by royal demand to yield to the intentions of David. Rather than highlight their sinfulness, I would suggest that the inclusion of them highlights their outsideness and their weakness.

We know that Tamar, Rahab and Ruth were Gentiles, and it is possible that Bathsheba was as well given that she was married to Uriah the Hittite. Here we are given an insight into the plan of God, which was to include Gentiles in his kingdom. Moreover, each of those women was vulnerable: Tamar had been abandoned, Rahab was in danger of perishing in Jericho, Ruth was a widow with no prospects in a strange land, and Bathsheba was the victim of a royal whim. Yet they found a place in God’s programme, a reminder that he shows grace to the unworthy. They were taken from the place of being nobodies and were made recipients of honour by God.

What does the genealogy remind us of? We can see connected to it the patience of God regarding the right time for Jesus to come into the world. As Paul writes in Galatians 4:4-6: ‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.’ No doubt, the Lord had many reasons for choosing the moment of the birth of the Messiah.

We also see connected to it the fact that the Lord is interested in people. It is likely that we would be unable to say very much about the names mentioned here. Yet the Lord knows who they were. Not all of them would be regarded as true believers in Jesus – for example, Jeconiah was cursed by God, but many of them were. Their names may be forgotten even by those who read their stories in the Bible, but their God never forgets them.

Moreover, we are reminded here that the Lord can protect his plans no matter how dangerous a situation becomes. If there ever was a threat to the royal line disappearing into oblivion, it was during the time the people of God were in exile in Babylon. Yet even then the Lord preserved the record of the line from whom the Messiah would eventually come.

The genealogy also reminds us that the sins of believers cannot prevent the fulfilment of God’s intentions, even although the sin had sad consequences for the guilty person. David sinned regarding Bathsheba, and we might imagine that any child coming from that relationship would be ignored by God. Yet we see that Solomon, instead of being allotted a place elsewhere, becomes the next person in the genealogy. All we can say as we look at this is, ‘The Lord is wise and gracious.’

The genealogy also reminds us that the Lord is a covenant God. We see this in the first verse where reference is made to two covenants. This is a reminder that he never forgets his promises and that we should not judge situations by what we can see. When did it ever look as if the Lord would fulfil his promises? Even the best of the people mentioned in the list failed in one way or another. But it was not dependant on human faithfulness, but on the promise and power of God. No doubt, many devout persons prayed earnestly for the Lord of the covenant to keep his covenants with Abraham and David.

The uniqueness of Jesus

The first verse stresses that Jesus is unique. It is likely that a Jew who knew the Old Testament would be very excited when he first read this opening sentence of Matthew. We should imagine one such person receiving this gospel or hearing it read. The first verse would grab his attention and he would say to himself, ‘I am going to be told how Jesus becomes the fulfilment of what was promised to Abraham and David.

Four names are used of Jesus in verse 1. First, there is his name Jesus, which was chosen for him by God. It means that salvation is of the Lord. A reader might say, ‘How will he bring that about?’ Matthew will tell us that Jesus will do so by going to the cross and suffering there instead of sinners. Such a competence makes Jesus unique because he is the only Saviour for sinners.

Second, there is the name Christ, which means ‘anointed one’. The Jewish reader would know that in the Old Testament it was predicted that the Messiah would be anointed with the Holy Spirit (e.g. Isa. 11:2).  We can assume that the reader would be curious when this would happen, and Matthew will inform him of that Jesus, when he was baptised by John, received the Spirit in a special way and began to perform miracles and engage in other activities connected to the coming of the Spirit.

Third, Jesus is referred to as the son of David, which is a reminder that he would be a King. The reader would wonder when Jesus became King and from where does he rule. Imagine his surprise to read later on that Jesus would King after he rose from the dead and have all power given to him.

Fourth, Jesus is the son of Abraham, not only because he is a descendant of Abraham, but also because he fulfils the promise that was made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 and elsewhere that all people would be blessed by God through what would be achieved by the Seed of Abraham.

At the end of Matthew, we have what is often called the Great Commission. Its details are connected to Jesus being the son of David and the son of Abraham. We can see a reference to him as the King when he says that all power is given to him in heaven and on earth, and we see a reference to him as the son of Abraham when he tells his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations.  

This name of Jesus is a permanent name. He is always going to be the Saviour anointed with the Spirit, reigning for ever on the throne of David, and bring blessings on a universal scale. I suspect we are so familiar with this set of names that we don’t experience the impact that our unknown reader would have had when he first read them.

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In addition, this name or set of names of Jesus is a precious name because each of them describes what he does for his people. They look at him with gratitude and confess that his name is as ointment poured forth, very fragrant. And because that is the case, his name is peerless, and they magnify and exalt him, glad to know that he is supreme throughout the heavens and the earth.

Preached 4/12/2016