The King's Line

Matthew 1:1-17

So, I've been diving down into the book of Matthew lately, and I'd like to share some of the cool stuff I've been able to draw out of the book. So, from time to time, I hope to post the notes that I've come up with so far.
I'm not quite sure how I'll do these posts (i.e. whether I'll do a whole bunch of short posts, or fewer lengthier posts), but I did want to get myself started, hopefully as a motivator to continue on in my study of Matthew so that I don't become lazy and jettison the whole thing.
Matthew 1 (obviously) begins the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew originally wrote this Gospel to a primarily Jewish audience (as evidenced by the OT quotes scattered abroad).
I'm not going to go into much more detail about the writing of the Gospel (I might do that throughout the Gospel, just to enhance the richness of Matthew's Gospel account), so for now, I'll leave it as it is (besides--who knows how quickly I'll get sidetracked...).

Matthew 1:1 says, "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham."

Immediately, we are struck by the historical nature of this account of Christ's life. Notice the historical, documentary beginning of this Gospel: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ". The Jews were a very historically natured people. Everything was to be rooted in history, rooted in tradition; and if someone was to be born as royalty, then they needed to have a royal pedigree. Another way to say this phrase "The book of the genealogy" could be "a book of the birth record (or descent)." This beginning section of Matthew gives us the record of Jesus' Jewish heritage. The Communicator's Commentary notes that, "Matthew roots his Gospel in history, beginning with the lineage of the King."

It's almost as if Matthew wants to set up the unbelievable birth record in verses 18-25 by making sure we understand that this is not like other supernatural "incarnation" myths. This narrative is rooted in real history, and it is based on a descent from real, historical people.

(I would stop right here and point out the silliness of those who question the existence of a "historical Jesus," but I don't really have the time... maybe another day...)

Next we notice the name "Jesus Christ."

This is actually a combination of both name and title. "Jesus" is His name, "Christ" is His title. The word Christ means "Anointed One." John MacArthur notes, "Israel's prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, and Jesus was anointed as all three. He was the Anointed One, the Messiah, whom the Jews had long expected to come as their great deliverer and monarch."

The phrases "the son of David" and "the son of Abraham" both have to do with promises which God had made to these men concerning the Messiah (and thus tying both of these promises by implication to Jesus as the fulfillment).

For the promise to David, we would look at 2 Samuel 7 (along with Isaiah 11 and Psalm 132) where God promises that He will establish the throne of one of David's descendant forever.

For the promise to Abraham, we go all the way back to Genesis 12:1-3, where God promises Abraham that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

That's all I've got for today, (I know I've only done 1 verse of the 17, but that'll be it for today).