Matthew 01

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

¹ This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

When the first church was formed in Jerusalem, it was primarily a Jewish church. All of the twelve apostles were members of this Jewish church. Any person in the church could listen to the teachings of the apostles or ask them direct questions and receive direct information from direct eyewitnesses. However, after the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 7, this all changed. Paul went on a terror, persecuting believers all the way to Damascus. As the church scattered, it spread out all over the Roman Empire. The new churches were at first mostly Jewish, but they were losing direct access to the apostles. Therefore, the Apostle Matthew wrote this gospel to the Jews spread out through the diaspora. The purpose of this gospel was to prove that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. 

The questions asked by the Jews about Jesus were, "if He is the Messiah, then where is the Messianic Kingdom? Where is world peace?" These are still questions that are asked today by the Jews. Matthew will answer these questions by explaining the messianic kingdom program.

The judgment of 70 A.D. was coming soon. Matthew wrote also to warn the Jews of this coming destruction. Their only way of escape was to believe in the messiahship of Jesus.

Mark wrote to the Romans to show that Jesus was the perfect servant. Jesus was not only the perfect servant, but he was the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 as well.

Luke wrote to the Greeks. The Greeks were interested in a correct chronology of the historical events of the life of Jesus. Luke also proved that Jesus was the perfect man. The Greeks were interested in this concept as seen in their Olympic games and in their theatre debates. The Greeks were looking for the perfect physical man and the perfect mind of man.

John wanted to prove the deity of Christ. He wrote around 90 A.D., about thirty years after the other three gospels had been circulating around the Roman Empire. He was going to choose many other topics and teachings that were not found in the other gospels. He was also going to prove to the heretical gnostics of the first century that Jesus was not a created angel, but he was God himself in human flesh.  

Matthew began his gospel with the genealogy of the Messiah. If Jesus really was the Messiah, then he would have to come through the line of King David. Matthew's first sentence introduced Jesus as the Christ, meaning the Jewish Messiah. He then adds that his genealogy does come from King David, who was given the Davidic Covenant. This Covenant promised that one from the line of David would sit on the throne forever. Jesus was the One who would inherit this throne.

Jesus also came from the line of Abraham. Abraham was given the original Abrahamic Covenant. It was promised that through the line of Abraham, the Messiah would come to be a blessing to all of the nations. Jesus blessed all nations by providing Himself as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world for both Jews and Gentiles.

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

The Abrahamic and land covenants were confirmed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were not confirmed to Ishmael, who became the descendant of the Arab races. Therefore, the definition of a Jew is one who comes from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Judah was the fourth son of Jacob. In Genesis 49, it was promised that Shiloh would come from Judah's line. Shiloh is another name for the Messiah.

³ Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,

Women were never mentioned in Jewish genealogies. Tamar was a Canaanite woman who dressed as a prostitute in order to seduce Judah. Her seduction brought about the line of Judah. This is the first of four women in the line of the Messiah. All four of these women were Gentiles.

⁴ Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, ⁵ Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse,

Ruth was the second Gentile woman mentioned in this genealogy. She was a Moabitess who became a Jewish proselyte. The Moabites were a race that was sprung from the incest of Lot and his daughter Moab. Ruth the Gentile Moabitess married Boaz the Jewish landowner from the tribe of Judah. 

⁶ and Jesse the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah),

Ruth and Boaz were the grandparents of King David. King David was given the Davidic Covenant. This was an unconditional covenant which promised that a descendant from the line of David would sit upon the throne of Israel forever. Jesus will fulfill this covenant.

Bathsheba was the third Gentile woman mentioned in the genealogy of the Messiah. Her husband was a Hittite soldier who was extremely loyal to King David. However, David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered Uriah to cover up the adultery. The son who came out of this adulterous relationship was Solomon. 

King David turned Israel into a superpower nation. He did this by conquest. He had the blood of Jehovah's enemies on his hands, so he was not allowed to build the temple.

King Solomon asked for wisdom. He asked for political wisdom. He should have asked for spiritual wisdom. He cornered the gold market and made Israel even more powerful than that of his father King David. Kings and queens from all over the world would visit Solomon to observe his wisdom, his kingdom, his wealth, and hopefully hear a testimony of the One True God who prospered Solomon. However, Solomon was commanded not to multiply wives or horses, but he rebelliously multiplied both wives and horses. His foreign wives gave him many political allies, but they led him into idolatry. Solomon began placing his faith in his army rather than God. Also, Solomon taxed the nation of Israel heavily for all of his many building projects. His tribe of Judah was tax exempt, which angered the other 11 tribes of Israel. This will cause problems for his son, Rehoboam.

⁷ Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,

Rehoboam was the next King of Israel. At this time, the nation of Israel was angry about the heavy taxes in which his father, Solomon, had imposed upon them. They asked Rehoboam to lessen the taxes, but Rehoboam refused. Civil war broke out, which caused a split in the nation. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin became the southern nation of Judah. They continued to worship Jehovah at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The other ten northern tribes became the nation of Israel. They worshipped the calf-god in various other places in Israel.

Only those from the line of David could sit upon the throne of Judah. Only those kings who were prophetically sanctioned by a Jewish prophet could sit upon the throne of Israel. If a northern king did not have prophetic sanction, then he was assassinated. 

⁸ Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah,

Asa was an evil king who led Judah into idolatry. Jehoshaphat brought reform back to the one true God. Joram led Judah back into idolatry. Uzziah was a good king, but he took on some of the functions of the Levitical priesthood, which he was forbidden to do by the Mosaic Law. Therefore, God struck him with leprosy.

⁹ Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

Jothan and Ahaz were evil kings who continued idolatry. Hezekiah was a good king who led many reforms. It was Hezekiah's prayers which saved Jerusalem from being destroyed by the Assyrians. The Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, which removed the Assyrian threat to Judah.

¹⁰ Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

Manasseh was one of the most evil kings of Judah history. Amon continued in his father's ways. Josiah was a good king who brought reform.

¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

Jeconiah was so evil, that God cursed him. The curse was that Jeconiah would lose his kingdom, he would be taken captive into Babylon, he would never return to Israel, he would die in captivity, and none of his descendants would ever sit upon the throne. This means that the Messiah cannot come from the line of Jeconiah.  

¹² After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³ Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, ¹⁴ Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, ¹⁵ Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob,

All of these men were living in a cursed line. The Messianic king cannot come from this line.

¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Joseph was from the line of Jeconiah, meaning that his son could never become king. Joseph was the husband of Mary. Mary was also from the line of David, but not from the cursed line of Jeconiah. She was from the line of Nathan, who was another son of David.

The Greek word for "whom" is ἧς (hais), a genitive feminine singular pronoun, meaning that Jesus was born from Mary, but not Joseph. Many liberals claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin. However, this one little Greek verb proves them wrong. This one little Greek verb also solves the Jeconiah curse problem. Jesus was born from the line of Nathan, but not Jeconiah. This means that Jesus fits the first qualification of the Jewish Messiah. The second qualification will be discussed later in these gospels.

Jesus is called the Christ, meaning the Jewish Messiah. The Messiah was the one who was promised to be the Messianic King from the line of David. According to the Old Testament prophets, the Messiah was to be virgin born, in Bethlehem, both God and man, a performer of miracles, and He was to be an atonement for the sins of the world. He was also to die, be resurrected, ascend to the right hand of the Father, and return as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Mary's genealogy from Nathan will be given in Luke 3. Luke 3 gives the true Messianic line of Jesus without the Jeconiah curse.

¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.

In Hebrew, David's name adds up to fourteen.  Matthew did not include the entire genealogy of David. 

The Birth of Jesus Christ

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit did not just place Jesus in the womb of Mary, as some commentators teach. Since the Messiah had to come from the seed of a woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of Isaac, the seed of Jacob, the seed of Judah, and the seed of David, then the Holy Spirit had to supernaturally energize Mary's eggs so that she could give birth to the Messiah.

¹⁹ Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately.

The Jewish community looked upon betrothal as a legal marriage. According to the Mosaic Law, Mary was to be stoned for adultery. However, Joseph did not want to stone the woman he loved. Therefore, he decided to divorce her privately so that she would not have to go through the public humiliation of adultery.

²⁰ When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

An angel came to Joseph in a dream to confirm the virgin birth.

²¹ She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

The name was not given to Mary, but to Joseph. The father was responsible for naming the child. The name of Jesus is Yeshua. In Hebrew, it means Jehovah saves. Jesus will save both Jews and Gentiles from their sins.

²² This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

Many of the Old Testament prophets had predicted this event.

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.”

This was a written prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, which was written 700 years before Jesus was born. In 5 B.C., the Jewish believers viewed this as a  messianic prophecy of the virgin birth. The liberals came around 2000 years without any historical documentation and chaine the Hebrew meaning to a "young woman". This is poor scholarship and liberal bias.

²⁴ When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife,

Joseph obeyed the angel and took Mary as his wife.

²⁵ but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

Jesus was born of a virgin. There are some liberals who come around 2000 years later and claim that it did not quite happen this way, but how do they know? They were not there. They are simply elevating their own human opinions above the inspired, inerrant, and infallible written Word of God. Joseph never had sexual relations with Mary until after Jesus was born. According to Scripture, Mary had at least six other children. Therefore, she was not a perpetual virgin, as the Catholics falsely proclaim.