The Genealogy of The Messiah
February 25, 2019
Commentary
By tracing Jesus’ ancestry back to King David, through the line of Davidic kings, Matthew connects Jesus with his royal heritage (vv. 1-17). Jesus is thus the fulfillment of God’s promise to raise up a king through David’s line. The genealogy in this passage is traced through Joseph, Jesus’ legal (not natural) father. This genealogy traces Jesus’ right to the throne of David, which came through Solomon and his descendants (v. 6). Despite six centuries of vacancy on the royal throne, the Messiah must be of royal descent. Matthew presents Jesus as both Israel’s rightful ruler and as one identified fully with His people.
The genealogy in (Luke 3:23-38) is that of Mary, his natural parent, showing his blood line back to David. Luke’s genealogy makes it clear that Jesus was a physical descendant of David through another son named Nathan (Luke 3:31). It shows that the messianic promises made to David’s line are fulfilled in Jesus, son of Abraham.
Fourteen generations is given by Matthew to emphasize the three major periods of Israel’s national history: theocracy, monarchy, hierarchy. Matthew’s genealogy answered the important question a Jew would probably ask about anyone who claimed to be King of the Jews. Is He a descendant of David through the rightful line of succession? As you can see Matthew’s answer was a dogmatic yes!
Application
How well do you know your genealogy? What kind of people were your ancestors? What has been passed on to you spiritually from your forebears? It has been my desire to pass on to my children the great Spiritual heritage given to me and my wife through our parents. Then it is our hope that we will be able to see this heritage passed on to our children and grandchildren.
Matthew 1:1– 17 (NET)
1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 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, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
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, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
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.
Illustration: The Hobby of Tracing Your Ancestory
Many people take up the hobby of tracing their ancestors because they are curious about where they came from. I once had a secretary who spent a lot of time going to graveyards checking grave stones and looking up the genealogy of her ancestors. It has been said that the average person will not be able to trace his family further back than the year 1700. A major barrier to the genealogist is in mathematics where with each generation the number of direct ancestors doubles. If a person were to trace back 20 generations, he would be dealing with more than a million direct forebears. Another difficulty is the spelling of names. Some people have found their family name spelled as many as 200 different ways. (Lou Nicholes – Missionary/Author).