Matthew 1:1-17

[Reformation Monk]

I am currently committing myself to go through Matthew's Gospel. So I thought I would do it here on the Puritan Board as well. I would like to see other comments on the text along with my own study.

So I will start with the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-17.

If anyone has any thoughts and or comments on this part of Matthew's Gospel, please feel free to share them.

 

[BobVigneault]

The first thing that strikes me is that God makes lists of people. They don't even have to be famous or infamous, God is mindful of individuals and they are ordered in his plans. Even as we see the names roll by quickly, God was intimately involved in the lives of the people behind the names and He has a deep knowledge of each of us.

Not a single one of those people were able to thwart God's plan of redemption but instead, were used to bring it about. A reminder that God is always acting for our good and His glory.

 

[a mere housewife]

I'm sorry to suddenly burst in, but I am having a day where browsing the board is the most accessible activity, and I particularly love this geneology.

I love it especially because of the women it mentions. I think they are all, aside from Mary, notable for being sinners or Gentiles -- and yet God incorporated them not only into His redeemed people but into the very lineage of that redemption. 'For He shall save His people from their sins' stated after this lineage is an especially precious statement: and Christ's continued interactions with women (adulteresses, Gentiles, demon possessed, etc) throughout His life are also richer when you see them spun out of this thread of His heritage. I read the other day that the name of Jesus in Matthew 1 stands as a beautiful fulfillment to the promise at the end of Psalm 130 -- 'O Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities'. The geneology itself leads up so beautifully to that redemption of His people -- and is such a statement of hope.

 

[BobVigneault]

Your "bursts" are always a welcome pleasantry Heidi, please do it more often. Blessings.

 

[Jack K]

Regarding verse 1...

Christ is the Son of Daivd and the Son of Abraham. So he is the Eternal King who perfectly rules and protects his people. And he is the Seed of the Promise through whom all nations are blessed and brought into salvation. The rest of the book simply expands on and proves these points. We are to read Matthew with an eye for what a matchless person Jesus is!

Regarding the rest... what Heidi said.

 

[rookie]

Another thing to consider, is that the Jewish culture, for someone to claim rights to an ancestors property, or heritage, they had to be able to prove who their ancestors were.

So for Jesus to claim to be the son of David, the lineage had to be documented.

 

[fralo4truth]

And don't forget that ever important change of expression when we come to Jesus' birth in verse 17! From verse 2 to 15 it is the repetitious so-and-so begat so-and-so.

But not so with our Lord.

"And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, OF WHOM was born Jesus, who is called Christ" (v.16)

 

[Reformation Monk]

Wow... thank you everyone for all the feedback.

This lead me to think about the possibility of another Messiah today? I found an interesting article about this.... "Jesus Christ: The Only Possible Legitimate Messiah."

I've been reading a little about what modern Judaism believes in the future coming of the Messiah but it's pretty hard to figure out.

It seems strange that everything seems so perfect for Christ Jesus to be THE Messiah, but yet Judaism seems to suggest that Christians have it all wrong.

 

[steadfast7]

I heard some interesting bit of trivia, that the number 14 (Adam to Abraham; Abraham to David; David to Christ) is significant. David's name in hebrew (DWD) happens to equal 14 because original Hebrew numerals were expressed as alphabets. Many believe that Matthew is employing a kind of gematria here.

btw, the film noir movie "pi" goes into this a little too. cool eh?