I was thinking back this morning as to the number of prayer requests that we have had answered in the past few months. I thought of Amy Buchanan having a job and (more importantly) walking, Robbie and Kim having two children, and Irene getting married in a few weeks (to a Christian man in the United States) – to name a few. But what struck me about these things was not how exciting they are, but how normal, ordinary, and possibly boring they would seem to someone who doesn’t know the situation. I mean, someone having a couple of children or getting married to a Christian man in the U.S. happens all the time. And walking and having a job are as boring as anything we could imagine. As those who know the story, however, we smile with excitement in thinking of these things.
What’s the difference? Why to one person do the same instances seem so exciting and spectacular and to the other the most boring and ordinary? We all know the answer to this; it is because we know the background of these individuals – how Robbie and Kim have prayed for children for years, how Irene came from the Bahamas (very much not a Christian), and how Amy thought there was no hope for having a job this summer and couldn’t walk as she had continuing problems with her hip. And to those who find these things boring, they just need to look into the background situation before writing off this exciting news off as boring. For once they find out some background information and have the same mindset we do, they will find that what they would have once thought boring is quite exciting.
With that said, how many of us find the introduction to the Gospel of Matthew filled with great excitement? He starts with genealogy and then fills the rest of the first chapter and the second chapter with Old Testament quotations and allusions that hardly make any sense and seem confusing. This isn’t exciting at all, is it? However, let me contend that if we do not find his writing in these chapters quite exciting, it is not because it is boring news, but because we lack the background information that a first century Jew, who understands the history of Israel, would have had. Therefore, we (like those who might think the news of Robbie and Kim, Irene, and Amy boring) need to find out some background information and have the mindset of the first audience, that we might find what would normally seem boring, quite exciting; for in fact it is.
This is exactly what I want to attempt to do tonight. I simply want to try to break it down and teach what Matthew is saying in these first couple of chapters as we begin a brief study through the book of Matthew.
As we have discussed before, Matthew’s first comment that Jesus Christ is the “son of David, the son of Abraham” automatically gets people excited, for they had waited years for the seed of Abraham and this son of David who would reign on the throne of the kingdom forever. They were looking for the Messiah, their Savior. Therefore, Matthew is looking to the genealogy of Jesus, tracing it back from Jesus to David and ultimately Abraham. He is saying, “Look, he fits in with all the prophecy of the one coming from Abraham and reigning on the Davidic throne.” In tracing the genealogy of Christ, he divides the record into three fourteen-generation segments from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Jesus. Why are these events so important?
We understand why Abraham is so important, for his call from God initiates redemptive history. And we understand why David is so important, for he reigns as the king of Israel, foreshadows the king who would come, and receives the covenant promise that his descendant would reign on the throne forever. Because Jesus is the one who fulfills all these longings in the Old Testament, we understand why he is so important. But that leaves the exile: what’s so important about the exile that it is mentioned in line with Abraham and David.
In short, the exile represents Israel’s need for a Savior and king greater than they had ever known. After David and Solomon, there are a series of bad kings in Israel’s history, but there was still some hope that one like David would emerge as his promised descendant and reign on the throne. However, in 587 BC, the kingdom is conquered and the Jews are exiled to Babylon.
In this state, there is no king on the throne. There is no kingdom. Every promise seems impossible to fulfill. Yes, eventually the Jews are allowed to return, but only a handful do (as years had passed). And the kingdom is never re-established as it was with David. From 587BC no Davidic descendant sits on the throne as the King of the Jews.
But there had been promises. We read Sunday of the prophecy to Judah in Genesis 49:10 of the scepter remaining with him “until the one comes to whom it belongs.” We also read of the promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 as he is told that one of his descendants will reign over an eternal kingdom. We could have also looked at Isaiah 9 as he prophesies of this one writing, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (9:6-7).
Therefore, before the exile they would have been full of hope, believing from Isaiah 9 that the Lord himself would come as this son of David. But the exile seems to extinguish excitement and mark the prophecy and covenant promise as impossible.
In reality, however, the Lord had prepared them for this. Isaiah also prophesied of the Christ in Isaiah 11:1, writing, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” What he is saying is that the Davidic kingdom will be cut down to a stump. However, one will come later in the midst of deadness and impossibility and be as a living branch growing from that seemingly dead stump. This is the prophecy of the exile and yet it says that God will fulfill his promise in spite of its seeming impossibility.
Therefore, as Matthew opens with a genealogy of one who is the son of David and the son of Abraham, he is saying, “Here is the one to take the reins once more; he is here.” Jesus is indeed the branch stemming from the Davidic stump: he is the king who arises after the hopelessness of the exile. Thus, the genealogy to the first century Jew would have gotten his heart racing and tears of joy rolling down his face – if he believed (which, unfortunately, many of them did not). Therefore, John writes, “He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).
There is another message in the genealogy and immediately thereafter concerning the work of Jesus. It is that he has come to save sinners and bless the nations. Again, we must know the background to see the irony in this royal genealogy set forth by Matthew, for he does something quite strange in it. He has women in the record of Christ (which is not normal) and the women that he includes are not Jews and have been understood in history as having sinned greatly.
The women he includes are Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), Ruth (1:5), and Bathsheba (“the wife of Uriah” – 1:6). What is Matthew doing here? If he were going to include women, why not include Sarah, Rebekah, or Leah? Instead he includes Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law, Judah, as a prostitute and had a child by him; Rahab, who was a prostitute; Ruth, who was a Moabite (a people who were in opposition to the Israelites); and Bathsheba, whom Matthew probably wanted to be seen as a Hittite (for he referred to her as “the wife of Uriah,” who was a Hittite) and is only in the Messianic line because of an affair with David. Why does he include all of these non-Jews who would recall great sins in the minds of his Old Testament audience?
I think the reason he does it is to show that Jesus’ work will be in forgiving sins and blessing the nations (as promised in Genesis 22). That is to say, he will forgive sins, even those of the Gentiles. Therefore, we read of the angel saying to Joseph (when he is in the awkward position of marrying Mary and degrading his image and it looks like they would have had premarital sex together), “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins” (1:20-21). The name “Jesus” means, “Yahweh saves.” And his people are those who believe in him, for John follows up his comments on “his own not receiving him” by writing, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (1:12). And when Jesus gives the great commission, it is to go to the whole world.
This blessing is probably also foreshadowed as Matthew writes of the Gentile “wise men” having great excitement over Jesus’ birth while the Jewish authorities were apathetic or hostile. Therefore, the announcement is that the Davidic king has come, and he will bring forgiveness of sins and bless the nations.
There are a number of different ways that prophecy can function in Scripture. Often we think of predictive prophecy being the only kind. That is when the Old Testament specifically says this or that will happen and it happens in the New Testament. However, there are other ways in which prophecy functions, and unless we learn them we are going to be shaken in our confidence in the Scripture as we run into uses of this kind of prophecy. For example, there is typological prophecy where David will serve as a type of Christ, reigning as king and suffering the ridicule of those around him. This is seen in Psalm 22. There is the fulfillment of promises and ideas in the Old Testament that prophetically point us forward without specifically telling us to look forward. This is what the sacrificial system and the Old Covenant should have done according to Hebrews 7-8. And there are other ways in which prophecy functions in Scripture. We may have been scared off to open ourselves to seeing these by those who might push things a bit too far, trying to show a connection between the ark being wood and the cross being wood, for example, when that ultimately has no significance, but we must not stray from understanding this kind of prophecy or we will have no avenue for understanding much of the New Testament – especially the book of Matthew.
I mention all that because Matthew uses these kinds of prophecies in the Old to show who Christ is in the New. Thus, we see multiple facets of who he is.
1. Jesus is the one prophesied in the Old Testament.
That is to say, Jesus fulfills that which is specifically promised concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament. He first points out that Isaiah prophesied of a virgin having a child, writing, “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). He then points out, after mentioning that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that this fulfills Micah’s prophecy in Micah 5:2, writing, “For so it has been written by the prophet, ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by n means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a ruler, who will shepherd My people Israel’” (2:5-6). This is clearly convincing evidence as to the fact that Jesus is indeed the one who was prophesied in the Old Testament. But he makes more connections.
2. Jesus is the obedient son.
In chapter 2, Matthew speaks of how Joseph brought Jesus out of Egypt at the death of Herod and writes that this happen so that “what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Out of Egypt did I call My Son” (2:15). Now what’s so confusing about this is that Matthew is quoting Hosea 11:1. And when we read Hosea 11:1, we read that God is speaking of Israel as he brought them out of Egypt. He is calling them his Son.
So did Matthew make a mistake? No. Rather, he is saying that Israel was a type to which Jesus is the antitype (or true fulfillment). Matthew sees that where Israel was to be an obedient son before the Lord, Israel failed, but Christ is now the true Israel and indeed the truly obedient Son. This is the connection that he wants us to see there.
Jesus himself declares this same thing as Isaiah 5 had spoken of Israel being the vine of the Lord that was cared for and nourished and produced wild grapes (i.e. disobedience). Therefore, understanding that, Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine.” He is saying there that Israel served as a type of what He is. Through Israel, the nations were to be blessed; the nations finally are blessed through Him. Israelites were to be those obtaining the blessing of salvation; all those in Christ will obtain the blessing of salvation. Jesus is the Son of God that was typified by Israel. This is indeed the declaration that Matthew makes in using Hosea 11:1.
3. Jesus is the one who will bring deliverance and usher in the New Covenant.
Finally, as Matthew speaks of Herod killing all the male babies two years and under during the first two years of Jesus’ life, he sends us back to Jeremiah 31:15 as he writes in 2:17-18, “Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted for they were no more.”
This time when Matthew reflects on the hopelessness of Israel as all the babies are being killed, he calls our attention to Jeremiah 31:15, which speaks of conditions in the exile. Thus, as we turn there, we see that the text pictures Rachel (i.e. the symbolic mother of all of Israel) weeping because the Israelites are being transported into exile. However, as we look at the context of that chapter, we also see that in the midst of the exile, hardship, and seeming hopelessness, God is promising a New Covenant and deliverance from exile. Therefore, Matthew is certainly keying his readers back to this and to the genealogy in chapter 1, reminding them that the hopelessness of the exile and the lack of a Davidic king has come to an end. It was promised and it is here. Just as Jeremiah 31 had Israel weeping while God was paving the way for her redemption, so in Matthew 2 Israel weeps for the death of the male babies while God is bringing forth the baby who is the Divine Child.
Therefore, Matthew assures us again that the key to understanding the Old Testament is understand the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is indeed the promised one, the Messiah. His audience would have been crying tears of joy and shaking as they heard these words read (if they believed). Matthew proclaims, “The hopelessness of the exile is now over. The Davidic King has come.” This is indeed the proclamation of the first two chapters of Matthew. And I pray that we see these two chapters with as much excitement as they should hold.
Amen.