Read previous material: Introduction: The Gospel of Matthew.
The first part of Matthew may seem uninteresting to be read. This Gospel begins with the genealogy which may not be familiar for most Christians today. Nowadays, only few Christians read the Bible from beginning to end; this genealogy is often skipped by some readers.
But this genealogy has an important meaning for the Jews. This part is very important to introduce who Jesus of Nazareth is and tells us about his family background. This genealogy shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy about the Messiah and the King which the prophets prophesied in the Old Testament (OT).
Since the first Chapter, Matthew introduced this unique pattern for the Gospel that is often called,”the formula-quotations”.
Matthew 1:22 = ”All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:”, or the other similar sentence (formula).
Matthew. 1:23 = quotations from the Old Testament (quotations).
We can find the pattern in 2:15; 2:17-18; 2:23; 4:14-16; 8:17; 12:17-21; 21:4-5; 27:9-10. It seems that he wanted to affirm that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy about the Messiah and the King whom the prophets prophesied in the Old Testament.
He wanted to affirm that all the things in Old Testament are related to Jesus of Nazareth. Every promise and prophecy in the Old Testament refer to Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. Therefore, Matthew began the Gospel by proclaiming, ”The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1).
Christ the Messiah should come from the descendants of Abraham and David. He cannot come from others because it is not possible. The first prophecy about the Messiah has already appeared in Gen. 3:15.
Abraham was 75 years old when God gave His promise, ”in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). From the book of Genesis, God has already stated the Nations on Earth will be blessed by Abraham. This promise is fulfilled to Abraham when he was 99 years old (Gen.17:4-8).
This promise is further fulfilled through the Messiah. Matthew proclaimed that Jesus is the blessing for the nation which was promised to Abraham. This blessing is the spiritual blessing of salvation. He pointed out that Jesus descended from Abraham as God’s promise to Abraham.
With the prophecy by Jacob, the Messiah is confirmed to come from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10). Moses also affirms that the Prophet will come. ”The LORD your God will raise up for you like me from among you, from your brothers –it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15).
The LORD’s promise to David is also the Messiah (2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Chron. 17:11-14) although it is not explicitly stated. When Matthew hailed Jesus as the Son of David, he was declaring that Jesus is the King. Isaiah also gave a prophecy about the coming of Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6-7; 11:1-4, 10).
Matthew took the verse 1:1-4:16 to convince the reader believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that prophecies. Matthew chapter 1-2 describes Jesus’ background and deity. Jesus’ preparations before he went to the public are described in 3:1-4:16.
Peter Stoner, in his book titled Science Speaks, shows us that all the prophecies in the Bible are not just a coincidence. He uses the law of probability in discussing eight prophecies about the Messiah. Stoner wrote that the chances of a person meeting all the eight prophecies is 1:1017. It’s just speaking about probability related to the eight prophecies. In fact, there are many scholars of the Bible who confirms that the first coming of Jesus as a man fulfilled about 300 prophecies in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament talked about more than 300 prophecies about Jesus Christ, most of them being detailed. As we know, there are hundreds of fulfilled prophesies. The fulfillment itself refers to Jesus of Nazareth. It is impossible for men to predict the future so detail and accurate. This spiritual prophecy comes from God who knows everything that will happen (Isa. 46:9-10).
Therefore, the genealogy that is given in the first Chapter of Matthew is very important for Christian belief. It affirms that all the stories of the Old Testament are strongly related to Jesus. Matthew wanted to proclaim that the prophecy highly anticipated by the Jews, is fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
Matthew also claimed that Jesus is the King and the Messiah for the nations with this genealogy. In his genealogy, there are four Gentile women, Tamar (Gen. 38), Rahab (Josh. 2:1), Ruth (the book of Ruth), and Bathsheba –Uriah’s wife (2 Sam. 11:3-5).
Although the Gospel of Matthew itself portrays more Jewish people, these four Gentile women tell us that there are also Gentiles that make up Jesus’ genealogy. In Jewish culture, only males are listed in the genealogy. The genealogy of Jesus showed that he was not a pure Jew. At that time, Jewish Christians cannot accept that Gentiles can also be the people of God and that Christianity can be introduced to various nations. Over the years the Jews have always felt that only Jewish people can be God’s people. Do they still have to face the fact that the Messiah is not a pure Jew? It is not an easy thing for them to accept this fact.
Thus, from the 1st Chapter until the 28th, Matthew concluded that the salvation is not only for Jewish people. He repeatedly described in his writing, both expressly and implicitly, that Jesus is LORD of all nations.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. Is there any characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew that is memorable for you?2. Is there a unique event that is only recorded in the Gospel of Matthew that is memorable for you?
3. What do you think about this Gospel’s structure?
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