The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

The Line of Kings and the Ultimate King:  Mt.1:1 – 17

^1:1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: ² Abraham was the father of Isaac,…

After dating long distance for a year, my wife Ming and I were married in Boston, MA in May of 1999.  Since I grew up in California, and most of my friends at the time were from Northern California, Ming and I came back for a few months so I could wrap up some loose ends and pack all my stuff to move to Boston, not to mention honeymooning in Yosemite.  In June, we threw an outdoor picnic as a second wedding reception.  We invited all of my friends – especially those who weren’t able to come to our wedding – to come and meet Ming and celebrate with us.  Before a host of friends from different parts of my life, I really enjoyed introducing her, and retelling our story.

Similarly, Matthew enjoys introducing Jesus.  Since he writes for a Jewish audience, Matthew introduces him as the Jewish Messiah, which was the title of the King which the Israelites expected to come and rule over both Israel and the Gentile world.  This King would rule with peace and justice; he would bring restoration to the world as the good Creator God always intended – a messianic era.

God had promised the late, great Jewish King David that one of his descendants would one day be that Messiah.  The throne of David over Israel would become the throne of the Messiah over the world.  Jesus claimed to be that descendant.  Matthew introduces Jesus as the ‘son of David’ right away.  What an assertive statement! 

Matthew then backs up and structures a selective list of Jesus’ ancestors, based on the number fourteen.  He summarizes this in v.17, ‘So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.’

Because this list does not include all the generations (see Luke and 1 Chronicles), we know that Matthew is making a special introduction by selecting these names.  Fourteen was the number that represented David.  Hebrew had no vowel marks at the time, and each letter had a numerical value.  D-V-D was dalet (4) – vav (6) – dalet (4) and had the numerical sum of fourteen.  So Jesus is again associated with David through the number fourteen.  And because of the symmetry from the Exile to Jesus, we know Matthew’s point:  Jesus is the Son of David who will deliver the true Israel out of Exile.

          But we also see four Gentile women in the lineage: Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Canaanite, Ruth the Moabitess, and Bathsheba the Hittite (presumably, since her previous husband Uriah was a Hittite). Why would Matthew mention these women in particular? They are all Gentile women. These ‘mothers’ of Jesus represent how Jesus would more fully welcome the Gentiles into his kingdom. We saw it in an early stage before Jesus’ birth. We will see the fullness of it as Jesus engages the Jewish and Gentile worlds, dies and rises for the whole world, trains his disciples for his mission to the world, and sends them. He sends us as well.

          What an introduction to Jesus! To whom can you introduce him? You may not introduce him in the same way, of course. But remember how people hope for a happy ending…