"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:" (v.1)
Here in our text Matthew begins his account of the life of Jesus Christ. In this overview of explaining the lineage of Jesus, Matthew clearly and strongly connects him to some of the greatest men in the history of the Old Testament.
Matthew begins his account of the life of Jesus Christ with the record of the lineage of Jesus from the patriarch Abraham. Throughout his work, Matthew presents Jesus as the kingly Messiah promised from David’s royal line (2 Samuel 7:12-16). The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would be the Son of David; in the very first sentence, Matthew points to Jesus as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Matthew not only connected Jesus to David, but back yet further to Abraham. Jesus is the Seed of Abraham in whom all nations would be blessed (Genesis 12:3).
The genealogy recorded here establishes Jesus’ claim to the throne of David through his adoptive father Joseph. This is not blood lineage of Jesus through Mary, but the legal lineage of Jesus through Joseph. The Gospel of Luke provides Jesus’ blood lineage through Mary. Matthew wanted to make it clear that Joseph was not the father of Jesus; rather he was the husband of Mary (v.16).
This genealogy is also noted for the unusual presence of four women; Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba ("by her who had been the wife of Uriah" v.6). Women were rarely mentioned in ancient genealogies, and the four mentioned here are worthy of special note as examples of God’s grace. They show how God can take unlikely people and use them in great ways, and to demonstrate that Jesus identifies with sinners in His genealogy, even as He will in His birth, baptism, life, and His death on the cross.
Thanks be to God for this reminder to us all that He adopts (as His children) imperfect people tainted by sin like you and I and calls us His own.
The Truth: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6)
