Matthew 1:1-17 The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram, 4 Aram fathered Aminadab, Aminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, 6 and Jesse fathered King David. Then David fathered Solomon by Uriah's wife,
7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa, 8 Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, 9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah, 11 and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 Then after the exile to Babylon Jechoniah fathered Salathiel, Salathiel fathered Zerubbabel,13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor, 14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud, 15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob, 16 and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were 14 generations; and from David until the exile to Babylon, 14 generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Messiah, 14 generations.
Comment: Sometimes we look at genealogical lists in the Bible and think, oh, dull, boring! However, I was amazed and actually overwhelmed again by this list of names in the book of Matthew. There is so much Biblical history oozing out of this passage with reminders that God is always, faithfully working out His sovereign plan!
Take for instance verse 3. If you go back to into Genesis you can read about Judah who did not take care of Tamar his daughter in law the way that was custom, so she prostituted herself unknowingly to get what she wanted. What a mess! Then born to their offspring was Boaz whose mother was, get this ... the prostitute that changed her life to follow God after saving the lives of two spies in Jericho before God destroyed the city. God saved her and her family! We see hope in this story!
Then to add to this story was the fact that Boaz married Ruth, who was not a Hebrew but a Moabite, who... get this... turned from her pagan life to follow God and to them was born Obed who was the granddad of King David! We must remember that King David was promised (The Davidic Covenant) that his house would be established forever! How can this happen??? We will see in a minute...
Then, there was the BIG mess! David, after sinfully lusting after Bathsheba, kills her husband. This was a big mess, and David was punished, the first child born to them died. What a tragedy! But, we are not without hope... eventually, as Matthew records in this genealogical list, eventually, the promise to David (The David Covenant) is fulfilled through a Mary who conceived not through human means but by the Holy Spirit, her son Jesus Christ who as Matthew states is “called the Messiah,” the Anointed One, the GREAT HIGH PRIEST Jesus Christ!!!!
Application: What this text indicates is that throughout the mistakes and messes we see and experience in life. The messes and sin of the past, God works through all of this His sovereign plan of redemption to use these people who had checkered pasts to show His mercy, grace and love!
This gives me and all of us hope that though at times we intentionally or not mess up, sin and run amuck that God can work through us to accomplish His sovereign will. This is not an excuse to mess up, to sin or make intentional mistakes, but is an encouragement that even through all this God is at work and will use us to redeem this world by serving and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this world. One day he will redeem us all from this mess! What a beautiful picture of God’s grace and mercy we see in this passage by show us that our Saviour came into this world through such a checkered history by his ancestors.
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