The Gospel of Matthew was originally written with a Jewish audience in mind. The other three Gospels each had other audiences in mind (Mark – Roman, Luke – Hellenist, John – Greek). All four Gospels tell the story of Jesus. But each book paints a different portrait of Jesus depending on the audience. The four gospels each tell the accounts of about the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus from different angles, but they also have some similar stories as well. Understanding who the original audience is for the writer helps us understand more about why each author chose to include some events and not others. We also understand that each writer was inspired by God as he wrote it. (2 Tim 3:16).
It’s easy to gloss over genealogies when we read the bible because they are just a list of names and we think they don’t tell us much. After all, we tend to think genealogies are more for scholars and skeptics to pour over. But in Matthew chapter one, the author is immediately making his case that this is the Messiah for whom they had been watching because of Old Testament prophecy! Matthew clearly makes that claim in verse one.
Three Qualifications
The Jews would have been specifically looking for the Messiah to have 3 major qualifications based on scriptural prophecy.
1) He must be of the house of David. In 2 Samuel 7, God promises to raise up a forever kingdom out of king David’s lineage.
2) He must be a child of Abraham, specifically through Judah according to Genesis 49:10.
3) He must be born of a virgin according to Isaiah 7:14.
There were other prophecies associated with the coming of the Messiah, but these were the main three that the author addresses in the first chapter of the Matthew.
The Genealogy of Matthew 1
Unlike the genealogy in Luke’s Gospel, which goes all the way back to Adam, for the purpose of showing Jesus as the Son of Man, Matthew’s account only goes back to Abraham through King David. He did that to back up his claim from verse one that this is the promised Messiah, son of David, son of Abraham. Ancient Hebrew family lines were followed by the name of the father, not the mother. However, marriage did bring the mother directly into the family lineage. When records were kept it was through the father that these family, or royal lines were recorded. In this case the line goes to Joseph, who was the legal father of Jesus.
Matthew 1:16 — “Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.”
The Jeconiah Problem
In Matthew 1:11, we see the mention of King Jeconiah who was king of Israel when Babylon conquered and deported the nation of Israel to Babylon (1 Chr 3). The apparent problem of his presence in the genealogy is found in Jeremiah 22:30 where God says “Thus says the Lord, write this man [Jeconiah] down childless. A man who will not prosper in his days. For no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.” Jeconiah was an evil and inept king who was judged by God. He lost his throne, and his descendants were eliminated from sitting on the throne of David.
The blood of Jeconiah ran through Joseph’s veins just 13 generations later. This means that Joseph or any of his sons couldn’t assume the throne of David in any way. Was Jesus the biological son of Joseph? No. Jesus was born of a virgin.
When Joseph married Mary, he brought her into the line of David legally, but since Joseph was not the biological father, the curse God pronounced on Jeconiah would have no consequence for Jesus. Matthew is showing that Jesus has the right line. He’s making it clear that Jesus’ rightful place is David’s throne, and it’s through the miracle of a virgin birth.
The Women of Matthew 1
Matthew also includes another interesting difference in his genealogy. It includes the names of 4 women. Since the family records went through the name of the father, it was rare for women to be included in a Hebrew lineage. But remember that this is the introduction to Jesus the Messiah, King of the Jews, Savior of the world. Matthew, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit had a reason for including these women. Let’s see what we can learn about them.
Tamar
Matthew 1:3 “Judah was father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar”. The story of is found in Genesis 38 and it isn’t pleasant. Tamar married Judah’s oldest son who was evil and the Lord took his life. According to the Old Testament Law a younger son would marry her to carry on his brother’s family, unfortunately he was evil too, and died as well. Judah promised Tamar she could marry his youngest son when he was of age and in the meanwhile brought her into his house. He never followed through and Tamar became impatient, tricked Judah into thinking she was a prostitute, and she became pregnant with his twins. The firstborn of the twins was named Perez who would carry on the messianic lineage.
Rahab
Matthew 1:5a “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab”. Rahab is known as Rahab the harlot in Joshua 6 as well as Hebrews and James in the New Testament. We find the story in Joshua 2 where Rahab obeys God and houses and protects the Israelites. Rahab is a Canaanite, who were mortal enemies of God’s people. But in her obedience, God spares her life and then gives her a son, Boaz. She becomes the great-great grandmother of King David.
Ruth
Matthew 1:5b: “Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth.” Ruth was a Moabite. The Moabites were viewed as a lesser people (Genesis 19) because of their beginnings with Lot and his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Ruth however was an honorable woman as we see in the book of Ruth, and she cared for her mother-in-law Naomi even when she didn’t have to. Her faithfulness was rewarded by God as she married Boaz and became the grandmother of King David.
Bathsheba
Matthew 1:6: “David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.” Bathsheba is probably the best known of these women as she was involved with King David’s great sin of adultery. In 2 Samuel 11 we see the story of David taking Bathsheba from his warrior Uriah then having Uriah killed in battle so he could cover his sin and to take her as his wife. Bathsheba lost the child conceived in adultery but then the second child was named Solomon, who would become David’s successor on the throne and continue the messianic line.
Conclusion
Sadly, Matthew’s original audience would have known these ladies well and known that they were part of the royal and messianic line. And they quite honestly would have preferred to ignore their existence. These four women were all non-Jews, and all four were sinners and would have been outcasts in their society. As we consider the various men listed we see plenty of sinfulness there too. King David and his adultery and murder, Solomon and his 1000 wives and concubines, and Jeconiah and his evil, earning he and his offspring the loss of their kingdom. We could go through the Scriptures and discover the sinfulness of the people listed in the genealogy.
God in his providence included all four of these women in the messianic line and He included the accounts of sinfulness of the various people down through the generations on purpose. Matthew in the first chapter, is in the beginning stages of challenging the pride, arrogance and man-made religion of the Pharisees (the religious elite in the first century). This genealogy is communicating that Jesus IS the Messiah, and that He came to save not just the Jews but also the non-Jews (gentiles). And as Jesus says in Matthew 9:13 “I did not come to call the righteous but the sinner”. He came to save you and me.