The Story of Israel in Matthew's Genealogy

As we begin our journey into the Gospel According to Matthew I want us to keep Israel's history from Genesis all throughout the Hebrew scriptures in the back of our minds. As we read even just this first chapter's genealogy of Christ, we will run across many reminders that are meant to spark the readers memory of certain events in Israel's story. Events such as the Babylonian Exile, David's story (both good and bad), and the heroic female and gentile figures included. If you're anything like me you have often been tempted to skim through or even skip over the genealogies like the one in the first chapter of Matthew. However, I want to challenge you to take your time as you read through Matthew's genealogy and ponder the purpose behind each name included in the list. Why did Matthew include the likes of Rehab or mention Tamar? Why does he include "Uriah's wife" instead of naming Bathsheba? These are just a few things a first century reader would be thinking while reading Matthew's genealogy.

Another thing we need to be thinking about is the overall structure of this genealogy. Many have noticed how Matthew introduces Jesus to his readers using a literary tool known as a chiasm. A chiasm is a type of parallelism where an author presents a sequence of ideas and then repeats them in reverse order. Ancient writers often use chiasm to show balance or indicate emphasis. The result would create a sort of mirror effect where the ideas first presented are then reflected back. The structure of a chiasm goes like this: ABCC'B'A'. For example the common saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is a simple chiasm. We can find chiastic structures all over the Bible. The main chiasm of Matthew 1:1-16 goes like this.

Matt. 1:1 Jesus Messiah

Matt. 1:1 Son of David

Matt. 1:1 Son of Abraham

Matt. 1:2 Abraham

Matt. 1:6 David

Matt. 1:11-12 (Exile)

Matt. 1:16 Jesus Messiah

You can see by looking at the above visual representation of Matthews chiasm that Abraham is at the center. Therefore, it can be reasonably deduced that Abraham, or rather the covenant/promise to Abraham, is meant to be the emphasis. If this is the case then it is likely that Matthew wants his audience to be pondering how the Messiah, Son of David, fulfills God's promise to Abraham to make his family a blessing to all the nations of the world (Gen. 12:1-3). This also sets center stage the story of Israel as God's chosen people. This is especially made clear with the inclusion of the exile event in the genealogical record. You may have noticed how in the chiasm there is a bit of a speed bump or a "break" where the exile occurs. This seems to be a visual representation of a very real speed bump/break in Israel's story. But before we get into all of that let's take it one verse at a time and one idea or theme at a time.

And Yahweh said to Abram, "Go forth from your land, And from your kin And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." ~ Gen. 12: 1-3 (LSB)

In the opening verse of Matthew the audience is introduced to Jesus as the Christ (Messiah), the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham. These are incredibly bold claims about Jesus which Matthew will continue to affirm and build upon through his Gospel narrative. Now as to the first title Matthew attributes to Jesus it is important to point out that Christ is not a name but rather a title. It is the Greek translation of the original Hebrew word, mashiyach or "Messiah," which means anointed one. In the Old Testament a mashiyach, or anointed one, was someone who was chosen by God to be His representative in some way, like Moses, David, or Elijah. However, for Matthew this title as pertains to Jesus takes on an even greater significance as THE chosen one who has come to restore His people to right relationship with Him, and ultimately rid the world of all sin, disease, and death.

The second title we get for Jesus is that of Son of David, which is closely related to the previous title of Christ/Messiah. It is meant to remind the audience of God's ancient covenant with David (2 Sam 7:12-16). King David has sworn to build Yahweh a proper temple in Jerusalem, however God had other plans. God tells David through His prophet Nathan that the temple will indeed be built, but not by David. God promises David that his son will build His house and that there would be a son of David on the throne forever. So by making the claim of Jesus as Son of David, Matthew may be alluding to His everlasting throne and kingdom.

The third title we read is the claim of Jesus as Son of Abraham. What significance could this title have? The other two have clear prophetic and messianic Old Testament connections, so where does Abraham fit in? This title would take Matthews audience all the way back to the very beginnings of Israel as a nation and as God's chosen people. And it should immediately remind the reader of God's covenant promises to Abraham. When God first called Abraham He promised to give him land (the promised land). He promised to bless him, provide for him, and make his name great. And He promised to make Abraham and his descendants a blessing to the nations. This last covenant promise didn't come to fruition until Jesus came on the scene, culminating in his commissioning of His followers to go into the world and share the Gospel (Mt. 28:19-20). While the people of Israel could claim to be children of Abraham they were far from a blessing to the nations. Jesus on the other hand is the Son of Abraham whose mission included being a light to the nations (Isa 49:6).

For Matthew, Jesus is the embodiment of Israel's ideals. Through these three titles and the stories told through the genealogy which follows, we see how Jesus Christ is the true Jew, the true Israel. He was everything Israel was supposed to be in relation to God and the nations. Jesus did what Israel and its leaders couldn't, bringing the world/nations into right relationship with Yahweh. And each name in the following genealogy of Jesus represents a story that is told in the Hebrew Scriptures. Knowing our Old Testament will help us recognize these stories and reveal to us why they are included in the genealogy of Jesus. Spoiler: they are there to emphasize humanities failure and Jesus' perfection.

Now we won't be going through every name on the list, but I encourage you to get your Bibles out read through Matthews genealogy and track the names to their corresponding Old Testament stories. I think you will find the exercise fruitful. Let us start with perhaps a familiar name on the list, but an unfamiliar story. In Matt 1:3 we get this: "Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar." Of course if you are familiar at all with the Biblical story you'll understand why Judah is included, Jesus is called the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" after all. But why does Matthew seem to go out of his way to include Tamar? He could've easily just said that Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah and ended it there, but he didn't. So what's Matthew trying to get across to his audience here? What's the story?

We get this scandalous story between Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. If you can I would suggest going and reading this story, but here's a quick summary. Judah had settled his family and married his son Er, to Tamar. However his son later died and following the Hebrew custom, which required a surviving brother to marry the deceased brothers widow, Judah instructed his son Onan to marry Tamar. Onan selfishly refused his duty to procreate with Tamar effectively guaranteeing the end of his brother Er's line. This resulted in judgment from God and Onan died as well. Now since two sons had already died, Judah was afraid for his other son, Shelah, and refused to marry him to Tamar and sent her away to another village. Some time later Tamar learned that Judah would be in her village and so she changed out of her widows clothing, put on a veil to cover her face, and courted Judah. When he saw her, he presumed her to be a prostitute and he propositioned her. She then tricked him into giving her some of his personal items as payment and collateral. This interaction resulted in Tamar's pregnancy and when it was found out that she was pregnant Judah was greatly upset because of her infidelity and ordered her to be executed. When Tamar came forward she brought with her the items Judah gave to her on that night and announce that the owner of those items was the man responsible for her pregnancy. Judah of course was forced to acknowledge the sinful act that he engaged in, "So Judah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I, because I did not give her to Shelah my son.” (Gen. 38:26)

Many of us have likely read over this story not giving a moments thought to how these characters were a part of Jesus' family tree. Matthew wants his audience to be reminded of the reality of what really happened as part of Jesus' ancestry. Without Tamar's actions, sinful as they were, Judah's family line would have ended there, and the line of the Messiah would have been broken. This is the first of many sinful events we will be reminded of throughout Matthews genealogy. Matthew seems to be pushing his audience to recognize something about Jesus through his family lineage. Jesus came from sinners, for sinners. He came as a friend to sinners and to save His people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21)

The next name we are going to be looking into has a checkered past as well. Matt 1:5, "Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab." Again we have an instance where Matthew seems to deliberately include someone's mother where he could've easily left that detail out. What's so fascinating about Rahab's story is that she was not a member of the family of Abraham. Rahab was in fact a Canaanite pagan and prostitute. We find her in the city of Jericho when Joshua sends his men into the city as spies. The spies make their way to Rahab's home inside Jericho's outer wall, where she hides and protects them from their assailants. Rahab then provides them a way of escape out her window, but not before she makes a bold confession of faith, proclaiming Yahweh as the one true God and acknowledging the Israelites as the rightful heirs to the land (Josh. 2:8-13). Because she pledges her loyalty to Yahweh she is essentially adopted into the family of God. In the New Testament the author of Hebrew even includes her in the famous "heroes of faith" chapter (Heb. 11:31).

So what might Rahab's story mean as it relates to Jesus? Well I think much like our previous character, Tamar, it shows us that Jesus has a messy family history and that he came to right all the wrongs and do that which his ancestors couldn't. In addition to this, by mentioning Rahab, Matthew might also be trying to emphasize how Jesus will bring the nations into the new covenant family. Just as the outsider Rahab placed her trust and loyalty in Yahweh above all and was invited into the covenant family of God, so can any sinner today who is outside the faith make the decision to place their trust and loyalty in Yahweh God and enter into the Kingdom as a member of His covenant family!

One more story we will touch on is one we've all likely heard before but maybe never realized was alluded to in Mathew's genealogy of Jesus. That would take us to Matt 1:6, "and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife." While King David is among the most prominent figures in the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew makes sure to remind his audience of David's sinful past. So what I find really interesting about this one is how Matthew seems to go out of his way not to mention the mother of Solomon's name the way he did for the previous two names we looked into. Instead, here Matthew calls her by the title of "Uriah's wife." Why does he do that? It seems that Matthews is trying to emphasize to his audience how David fathered Solomon by the wife of another man. Most people will likely know this as the story of David and Bathsheba and it is one of the darkest and most embarrassing episodes in David's life.

The full story is found in 2 Samuel 11-12, but in short it goes like this. One evening King David was peering down on his kingdom from his royal palace above the city when he saw a beautiful young woman below. He then had her brought to him where he discovered her name was Bathsheba and she was married to one of the kings soldiers, Uriah. Uriah was waging war on the battlefield with David's army. While Uriah was gone, David requested Bathsheba be brought to the palace, where he slept with her. Eventually David discovered that Bathsheba had become pregnant, so he conspired to cover up his affair. He sent for Uriah to be brought to Jerusalem where he arranged for him to spend time with his wife in the hopes that they would spend the night together and Uriah would think the child was his. However, Uriah repeatedly refused to go to his wife for he felt guilty being in such comfort while his fellow soldiers were on the battle field. David then decided to conspire with his general to have Uriah killed in battle. David sent the letter ordering what was essentially Uriah's murder with Uriah himself. Uriah's loyalty to his fellow soldiers and to his king are what ultimately led to his demise.

Like with the other names and stories we have looked into here, this story shows us how deeply flawed Israel's history is and that the messianic line is full of sinful people. Rahab was a pagan so we would expect her to be flawed, but David? Matthew needed to remind his audience that yes, even the great King David was a broken sinful man in need of a perfect savior.

Finally, I want to take a brief look at the break in the chiasm we talked about earlier, the Babylonian exile that is. Aside from the exodus from Egypt, no event in Israel's history is as significant as the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile into Babylon. At the time Babylon was a terrifying force and when their forces besieged the walls of Jerusalem there was little that could be done to stop the inevitable. When they eventually broke through the walls they ransacked the city and pillaged the temple and the kings palace, carting off all of the valuables within back to Babylon, destroying and burning to the ground the great city include the house of the Yahweh. They took the people of Judah and all the valuables therein into exile to Babylon and left a path of death and destruction in their wake. While the exiles would eventual be allowed to return to Jerusalem and even rebuild the temple they would still be under the thumb of a worldly ruling empire for centuries to come, including Rome of course, during the time Jesus enters the scene and this gospel account is penned. It appears that by including this break, Matthew is trying emphasize for his audience just how unsatisfying the so called return from exile had been and to show them how Jesus the Messiah came to truly bring the people out of exile and truly rebuild the temple. Again where man fails Jesus succeeds!

All of these names and stories from Israel's past continues to show us that where humankind repeatedly fails, Jesus perfectly succeeds. Where humankind is faithless, Jesus is perfectly faithful. When Israel was called to be a blessing and a light to the nations they instead chased after the god's of the nations and entered into the darkness of the world. Whereas Jesus came as the Light of the world, to save the world (John 8:12). We miss all of this which is lying just beneath the surface of the text if we don't know our Old Testament well. But if we are familiar with our Old Testament, we will be able to catch these subtle clues pointing us to various stories in Israel's history that Matthew is nudging us towards. Viewing scripture through this lens and being consciously aware of my Old Testament while reading my New Testament has truly opened up the scriptures in a whole new way for me and I hope it will do the same for you! Continue with us on this journey of exploration as next time we dive into Matthew's telling of the events surrounding Jesus' birth.

God Bless and remember to be Bold and Unashamed this week!

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