Word 3:45 One: Matthew 1

Matthew 1


Matthew begins his gospel with the ancestry of Jesus, all the way back to Abraham.  For a Jew, it was very important that they could demonstrate they were one of Abraham's descendants, and were therefore thoroughbred Jews.  We'll see this frequently in Matthew's gospel.


Most people reading Matthew 1 today don't see the relevance - even taking into consideration that Matthew was demonstrating Jesus' validity as a Jew.  However, Matthew was also demonstrating a key point: God always keeps His promises.  God had made promises to a number of people in the Old Testament, that one day, their descendant would be the Messiah.


Let's look at a few examples:


Abraham

Genesis 12 v 2-3

'I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed'.


Judah
Genesis 49:8-10
"Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; 
   your father’s sons will bow down to you. 
You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. 
Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 
The sceptre [a symbol of royalty] will not depart from Judah, 
   nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come"


David
2 Samuel 7:16 
"Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever."


And another more obscure member of Jesus' ancestors:

Zerubbabel (Matthew 1:12.  Zerubbabel  led the work on the reconstruction of Jerusalem from the rubble that was left when the Israelites returned from their exile)
Haggai 2:20-23
 ²⁰ The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: ²¹“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. ²² I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.

 ²³ “‘On that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”

The signet ring in Old Testament times was a royal symbol.  A signet, engraved with the king's seal, was used to endorse official documents.  To guard against misuse, the king wore it as a ring or on a necklace.  God declares here that He's chosen Zerubbabel and would keep him safe to fulfil his appointed purpose; since this didn't happen during his lifetime, we can see that this would extend to one of his descendants... and sure enough...

There are quite a few other interesting characters in Matthew 1... and I like to think of it as a roll of honour.