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III. The Genesis of Jesus

A.. Son of Abraham, Son of David

Matthew’s prologue does two things - it tells us Who Jesus is and how He came into the world. And for Matthew, the Old Testament background is critical to understanding both.

The first words of his Gospel are the title of the first book of the Old Testament - the Book of Genesis (the Greek word genesis is translated "genealogy" in the New American Bible and elsewhere).

One modern commentator has suggested that the first line could most accurately be translated: "The book of the new genesis wrought by Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham."

This is how St. Jerome and others in the early Church read these first sentences of the Gospel.

What’s happening with Jesus is a new creation, a new beginning for creation, for the world and the human race (see too John 1:1-18; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Romans 5:17-21; 1 Corinthians 15:47-50).

Unlike the first creation, however, God isn’t creating ex nihlo ("out of nothing") this time around. Jesus comes as the fulfillment of all God’s earlier promises to His chosen people Israel. In fact, He’s presented as the culmination off Israel’s history.

Matthew wants us to know in this prologue, that while Jesus is specially born "through the Holy Spirit," He is a true Israelite, descended from the founding father of the people, Abraham (see Matthew 1:20).

And he wants us to see Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham. God had promised Abraham: "in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing" (see Genesis 22:18).

Jesus, "the Son of Abraham," will bring that to pass. And we’ll see throughout Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus has a mission, not only to Israel, but to "make disciples of all nations" (see Matthew 8:10-12; 28:18-20).

Heir to Abraham, Jesus is also heir to "David the King" (see Matthew 1:6). David is the real center of attention in this prologue - and throughout the Gospel. His name is mentioned six times in the first four chapters of the Gospel, and his birthplace, Bethlehem becomes the subject of the drama in Matthew 2.

And much of the plot and the tension in the rest of the Gospel will turn on the question: "Could this perhaps be the son of David?" (see Matthew 12:23; 20:30-31; 21:9,15; 22:44-45).

God had sworn to David that his sons would sit on his throne forever (see 2 Samuel 7:12-13; Psalm 89; Psalm 132:11-12). But David’s kingdom crumbled and appeared to be lost forever when the Jews were exiled and deported to Babylon by the King Nebuchadnezzar around 586 B.C. (see Matthew 1:11; 2 Kings 24:14).

From that time forward, Israel’s prophets had taught them to hope for a Messiah, a savior sent by God who would gather the scattered tribes of Israel and reunite them in a new kingdom of David (see Isaiah 9:5-6; 55:3; Ezekiel 34:23-25,30; 37:25).

This seeming failure of God’s plan - "the Babylonian exile" - is the pivot in Matthew’s genealogy, the phrase repeated four times (see Matthew 1:11,12,17). In Matthew division of Israel’s history, there are 14 generations from the David’s reign to the Babylonian captivity, and 14 more after it, until Jesus comes as "the Messiah."

Note also that in the genealogy only Jesus and David are identified by their titles - David as King (1:6), Jesus as Messiah (1:16). Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is the promised Royal Messiah and Davidic King. He receives His royal birthright through Joseph, "the husband of Mary," and the "son of David" (see Matthew 1:16, 18).

B. Formula for a Divine Birth

With Joseph, Matthew’s prologue moves from "who" Jesus is to "how" He came among us.

The "how" is a miracle. And Matthew tells us this in the first of four "formula citations" we find in his prologue (see Matthew 1:23; 2:6,15,18, 23).

As we’ll see, these citations, which appear to be strait forward quotes from the Old Testament, play a key role in Matthew’s narrative (4:15-16; 8:17; 12:18-21; 13:35; 21:4-5).

Matthew uses these formulas in his effort to "prove" that Jesus is the "fulfillment" of what Israel’s Scriptures and prophets had hoped for (see Matthew 26:54,56).

The idea of "fulfillment," so prominent in this Gospel, reflects an overarching biblical worldview shared by all the New Testament writers. They believe a "plan" has been in place from the foundation of the world, that God revealed Himself and His plan slowly in the history of Israel and in His words given to the prophets; they believer, finally, that in Jesus, God brings His plan to completion or fulfillment (see Ephesians 1:3-10; Acts 3:18; Mark 14:49).

Here, Matthew describes the virgin birth of Jesus to Mary "through the Holy Spirit" as fulfilling a prophecy of Isaiah (see Matthew 1:18,22-23; Isaiah 7:14).

What’s interesting is that Matthew cites a text that rabbis of his time didn’t consider to be "messianic."

The rabbis read this passage as a fairly cut-and-dried prediction of the birth of King Hezekiah to King Ahaz and his mother Abi. Hezekiah was a kind of savior-figure among the Israelite kings (see 2 Kings 18:1-6). They apparently believed Isaiah’s prophecy had been fulfilled long ago and had nothing to do with the Messiah who was to come.

In the original Hebrew, Isaiah prophesied of a "young girl" or "maiden" to be found with child (‘alma in Hebrew). But Matthew picks up on the Greek translation of parthenos, which more specifically refers to a "virgin."

For Matthew, apparently, the prophesying of a virgin, ties in with Jesus’ "fatherless" conception.

A question remains: How is the prophecy of a child prophesied to be named Emmanuel, fulfilled in a child who Joseph has been ordered to name Jesus? (see Matthew 1:21).

Emmanuel, which Matthew translates for his reader as "God is with us" is who Jesus is (see Isaiah 43:5; Ezekiel 37:27; Zechariah 8:23)

And we will see in Matthew numerous places where Jesus describes how He will be "with us" for all time (see Matthew 18:20, 25:40,45), most especially in instituting the Eucharist (see Matthew 26:26-28).

And in the very last lines of Matthew’s Gospel, we’ll hear an echo of Isaiah’s Emmanuel prophecy, as Jesus promises: "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (see Matthew 28:20).

Continue to Section 4