The Royal Genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17)
Matthew, more than the other Gospels, is the direct continuation of the Old Testament. The entire message of Hebrew Scripture was pointing to the coming King, descendant of and fulfillment to the promises of God for David. Matthew structures his account to argue that Jesus is that long-awaited King. He fills his Gospel with quote after quote from the Old Testament, and points out time and time again that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecies about the King. And Matthew uses the terms Kingdom and Kingdom of Heaven more than any other Gospel.
He kicks things off with a lengthy genealogy. This seems like the wrong way to “hook” the reader in to your book, but Matthew is all about his message. If you want to establish Jesus as rightful King, you need to show His credentials. It suffices today’s reader to know that this is genealogy is there; who reads such things?
Those who do may note that Matthew goes out of his way to mention (only) five women in Jesus’ ancestry. Save for His mother, all of them are non-Jews and associated with questionable, sort-of-stories-biographers-would-rather-hide, accounts. Tamar was the Canaanite who had to trick Judah, her father in law, into thinking she was a prostitute to have a kid. Rahab was another Canaanite, and a real prostitute to boot, from Jericho. Ruth was a Moabite during the days when Moab was persecuting the Israelites in the time of the Judges. And finally, there is Bathsheba. (Who may have been Jewish, but was married to a Hittite before the famous adultery/ murder plot she was involved in with David.) It seems we see once again that God sovereignly uses flawed and failed humanity to accomplish His plans. AND that He is not as concerned with racial purity as some might conclude from a superficial reading of the OT.
He kicks things off with a lengthy genealogy. This seems like the wrong way to “hook” the reader in to your book, but Matthew is all about his message. If you want to establish Jesus as rightful King, you need to show His credentials. It suffices today’s reader to know that this is genealogy is there; who reads such things?
Those who do may note that Matthew goes out of his way to mention (only) five women in Jesus’ ancestry. Save for His mother, all of them are non-Jews and associated with questionable, sort-of-stories-biographers-would-rather-hide, accounts. Tamar was the Canaanite who had to trick Judah, her father in law, into thinking she was a prostitute to have a kid. Rahab was another Canaanite, and a real prostitute to boot, from Jericho. Ruth was a Moabite during the days when Moab was persecuting the Israelites in the time of the Judges. And finally, there is Bathsheba. (Who may have been Jewish, but was married to a Hittite before the famous adultery/ murder plot she was involved in with David.) It seems we see once again that God sovereignly uses flawed and failed humanity to accomplish His plans. AND that He is not as concerned with racial purity as some might conclude from a superficial reading of the OT.
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