Matthew 1
The Gospel According to Matthew
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; 7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; 8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; 11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; 13 And Zorobabel 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, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylonare fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a 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.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
The gyneology of Jesus Christ (1-17)
In the geneology of Jesus Christ through his earthly father Josef, (the genealogy through His mothers will be discussed in Luke)can be traced back all the way down through David to Abraham. Even though Jozef was not the real father of Jesus, for this was God of course, in the Hebrew tradition when a spouse adopted the child of his wife it was seen as his own, and as such. Jesus was seen as Josef’s son. What’s truly remarkable from this genealogy is the fact that there are four Gentile women. These were Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba the wife of Uriah. Tamar was guilty of whoredom, Rahab was a prostitute and a Gentile, Ruth was a Moabite and a Gentile, and Bathsheba committed adultery with David whilst still married to Uriah. His mother Mary (her name in the Hebrew being Mirjam) is also mentioned.
We see thus that the gyneology of Jesus had Gentile people!. This surely must mean something! What is true is that God in His mercy and grace found them good enough to be included in Jesus’ gyneology. In my view this tells us two important things. First of all, it tells us that Jesus would eventually become the God and King to us the Gentiles, and secondly it tells us that God gives grace even where sin rules and faith abound (do not think that you can just keep on sinning!). All these four women were sinners in their own way, yet God did show them abundant grace. In my view Ef 2:8,9: comes to mind: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God , 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast”
What all these women had in common was that they were sinners but that they did have faith in God. This means that we as are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, Jew or Gentile. I guess what I am trying to say, is that this gynecology does attest that even though Jesus came to save the Jewish people first, the Gentiles would be the ones who would have faith in Him and accept Him as the true Messiah.
Another interesting we find here is that there are fourteen generations down to Jesus Christ. Numbers in the Bible do have a special meaning! The number fourteen is the number for “Deliverance or Salvation". We can see this from examples in the book of Leviticus 23:4,5 and in Exodus 12:6-7.
"These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S Passover” (Lev. 23:4,5)
"And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." (Ex 12:6,7)
This is clear a reference to the death at the cross of Jesus Christ who died for our sins and His resurrection! Thus an indication of our salvation. You must understand that all the feast of the Jewish people outlined in Leviticus point to an aspect of Jesus Christ. Every detail in the Bible is given to us by God and it has a special meaning, there is no coincidence here. It is to us to find these!
An example of Deliverance with reference to the number fourteen is given us in Ex. 12:6-7. The Jewish people were delivered from the Egyptian bondage on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish Year.
The birth of Jesus Christ (18-25)
The Jewish betrothal was seen as binding. This meant that both parties were as good as married to each other. The woman had to be a virgin, that was a requirement of the Torah. We can see thus the dilemma of Jozef when he heard from Mirjam that she was with child from the Holy Ghost. Could he belief this? Was this true? You must understand that this was a hard thing to take in. The Bible leads us to believe that he did not really believe Mirjam for he was seriously considering divorcing her in silence. This meant without making it public, in order not to discredit her.
But God would not be God if He did not know the mind and the thoughts of man. Josef is fast asleep He sends an angel unto him to tell him that Mirjam was in fact telling the truth. He further receives instructions from the angel as to how to call this precious child, His name was to be ‘Jesus’ . Jesus Christ, means "God the Savior" in Hebrew. In this way the prophecy of Jesaja 7:14 was being fulfilled which states: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”(Immanuel by the way, means “God with us”.)