Matthew 1:1-17. A Collection of Facts: Genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
The message of the Gospel is not based on vain speculations of men but on facts revealed by the Holy Spirit of God. Truth is the corresponding of a statement with a fact, and throughout the Gospel of Matthew, he writes of proof of Jesus Christ being the King of the Jews. This would be an assurance to the Jewish believers in the local assemblies throughout the Roman empire. Those who had put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and had turned from the forms and traditions of the Jews religion to Christianity; needed to be assured that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah the children of Israel had been longing for since the time of the promise to Abraham. People have in their minds how they expect things to happen, so when a different scenario takes place, they may wonder if it is really what they have been looking for.
Jewish believers in the New Testament churches, needed to have their faith in Christ confirmed and solidly established in such a way that they would be motivated to pass on what they had been taught. Our Lord Jesus Christ had ascended to heaven, and many of those who believed in Him would have never seen or heard Him. Some were inclined to return to Judaist practices like those addressed in the book of Hebrews and even some in the Galatian assemblies. Matthew was a collector. He had been that way as a tax collector, so was probably a man who kept records as to all that was pertinent to the events of his time of which he had been a part. At least the record would have been in his head and heart; so, the Holy Spirit could bring into his mind in a way suited to his personality, the things to which Jewish believers could relate.
The character of the Gospel of Matthew is Jewish and is in keeping with the person the Holy Spirit used to write down this account of the years of our Lord’s ministry here on earth and among Jewish people. There are differences in the four Gospels, but there are no contradictions. Those differences are appropriate to the objective the Holy Spirit had in giving us different views of the Lord Jesus Christ’s life and service during His years here. By doing it through four different writers, with four different views of the same events, or each identifying events other writers did not address; we are given a four-dimensional look at the height, depth, length, and breadth of the most significant time in human history. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit in moving holy men to write the scriptures is evident both in what it includes and what it excludes.
“To the Jew first,” would indicate that Matthew’s account of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be to establish in the minds and hearts of the Jews who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that He was indeed the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Well-to-do city- dwelling, Greek-speaking Jews throughout the empire had responded to the Gospel in Israel, Asia Minor, and then further to Egypt and the whole Mediterranean area. Likely, as time passed, Christian Jews would have been excluded from participating in the local synagogue and began meeting in the homes of fellow believers. Separations would have been taking place in families and friendships by the time Matthew wrote his Gospel account. Christian Jews and Gentiles would have been gathering together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with those of all nationalities and social standing, among whom would have been some who had been strict in their practice of Judaism.
With the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension; everything had changed in their lives. By putting their faith in Him, they were coming out from “among them” and being separated unto the Lord and His word, instead of Judaism, the Talmud teaching, the rabbinical leadership, and the law. Social pressures and likely economic pressures would have been put on believers to remain faithful to the teaching of the rabbis in local synagogues rather than the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth which would have been passed on orally by itinerate preachers. Their Jewishness might have been challenged, because a Jew is considered one, both ln nationality and religion. New believers might have wondered, “Who am I, now that I am a Christian? I am definitely not a Gentile. But my Jewishness is being challenged by my Jewish family. Where in the world do I fit?”
Matthew’s Gospel went right back to the foundation of the church. “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord!” The church is built on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His words are our charter of faith. He gave the true meaning of the law in His teaching. Love and righteousness toward God and those around us are the fundamentals of the law. That was made plain in the Old Testament but was not being practiced. The fact of our inability to keep the law brought the knowledge of sin. That was not how the legalists practiced the law. Extreme legalism on the one hand and an undisciplined life on the other were condemned by the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. His teaching was the “spirit of the law” that is intended to be practiced from the heart. That would have been evident in the lives of those who followed the Lord Jesus Christ.
In a most reasonable and sensible way to begin convincing believers who only had the Old Testament scriptures; Matthew begins with a genealogy as the way to define the authenticity of Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew starts with Jesus Christ as the Son of David, the Heir to the throne of David, and then as the Son of Abraham. He was the Fulfiller of the Promises of God to the Jews. Beginning with Abraham was purposeful, because not only was He the father of the faithful; he was considered by the Jews to be the father of all Jews. It was with him the first covenant was made that through him, “all the nations of the earth” would be blessed.
Then, telescoped into three groups of fourteen generations each; names are given of Jewish forbearers. However, in this list is a deliberate inference that Gentiles too are blessed, and the fact that divine interests are not limited to males; are the names of four women besides Mary the mother of Jesus. Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth were Gentiles, and Bathsheba was the wife of a Gentile soldier in the army of David. Right at the beginning of the book; Matthew shows how God’s grace can deal with the darkest of sins, and can reach beyond the boundaries of any nation and religion, to the whole world. God can lift people up from the darkest “path of sin,” and bring them into a place of blessing, royalty, and holiness.
Not only can God save all who will come to Christ by faith and receive Him as personal Savior; He can use them to fulfill His purposes of grace. He uses them to further His Gospel and bring others the blessing of personal salvation as the word of God is preached. This would have been new to the Jewish believers. Joseph was not the father of Jesus but “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Any uncertainty Jewish believers might have had, was cleared up right at the beginning of the New Testament. Jewish believers who may have questioned the right of Jesus to be the Messiah would have had that answered in the genealogy right at the beginning of this book. His genealogy is the first of seven witnesses to His right of kingship over the children of Israel. These first seventeen verses trace His lineage through the line of the kings.