Jesus is King: Royal Lineage
Matthew 1:1-17
I. A record of Jesus the King; 1:1.
1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
This book is about Jesus, which means “Yahweh saves.” “Christ” is a title, from the word "anointed." A promise now seen as having been fulfilled in Jesus as the Messiah. "Son of David" expresses a person who would continue David’s throne, thereby pointing to the Messiah's lineage and royal expectation. Jesus is also "the son of Abraham." In tracing the ancestry not only to David but also to Abraham, Matthew holds a light of hope to the entire world.
The names for Jesus present Him as the fulfillment of the hopes and prophecies of Israel but also as one who will extend God's blessings to Gentiles. Jesus was a real person, born of a line of real people. He is who all humanity and creation itself have been waiting and longing for. He is who every person today needs and will fulfill God’s promises of hope.
II. Jesus from Abraham to David; 1:2-6a.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.
Matthew gives us a select and abbreviated genealogy of Jesus. The genealogy begins with, “Abraham was the father of Isaac”. The Messiah would come from the royal line of Judah. Through Tamar, Judah fathered two brothers, Zerah and Perez, who were twins. Salmon and Rahab have a son named Boaz. Boaz marries Ruth the Moabitess and fathers Obed. Obed fathers Jesse, who in turn fathers David. David is not simply the son of Jesse but is "King David", an emphasis on royalty in the genealogy of Jesus.
Judah had not fulfilled his vow of giving Tamar to his youngest son, so she took the situation into her own hands. Rahab was a Gentile and a prostitute of Jericho, who protected the two spies sent by Joshua to spy out the land promised to the people of Israel. Ruth is a Moabitess. Matthew makes it clear that Gentile women were in the royal line of Jesus. The promises made to Abraham and King David are both fulfilled in Jesus. All of God’s promises to you will be fulfilled in Jesus. Who is Jesus to you?
III. Jesus from King David to the Babylonian exile; 1:6b-11.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
Next Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus during the monarchy that lasted in the southern kingdom of Judah from King David to the Babylonian exile. "Uriah’s wife," Bathsheba, is the fourth woman mentioned. Matthew traces Jesus' genealogy through David's son, Solomon.
Wicked Rehoboam and his wicked son, Abijah, had offspring who were good kings--Asa and Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat’s offspring was the wicked king Jehoram. Wicked Ahaz fathers godly Hezekiah. Godly Hezekiah would father the most ungodly of the kings, Manasseh. The alternating sequence of good and evil kings then continues through Josiah, who fathered the wicked king Jeconiah. The nation then goes into exile.
We see that wicked kings fathered good kings, and good kings fathered wicked kings. Jesus’ ancestors were humans with all the shortcomings of people. God worked through them to bring about His salvation.
IV. Jesus from the Babylonian exile to His birth as Messiah; 1:12-17.
12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, who in turn fathered Zerubbabel, the leader of the first group allowed to return to Israel from the Exile. Matthew now arrives at the culmination of the genealogy. Jesus is the true son of David, a rightful legal heir to the covenant promises linked to the throne. This genealogy informs us that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament.
While the genealogy establishes Joseph as the legal father of Jesus, Matthew emphasizes that Mary is the biological parent of whom Jesus was born, preparing the reader for the virgin birth by shifting attention from Joseph to Mary.
The list of names is full of evil kings and sinful men and women. We find adulterers, prostitutes, heroes, idolaters, and Gentiles. Matthew points beyond the personal qualifications of individuals who belong to the line of the Messiah. He focuses instead on the faithfulness of God to bring about His plan of salvation. The all-embracing love of God is emphasized.
The women mentioned had unusual marriages, sexual scandals, or suspicions of having had illegitimate children. Matthew may be disarming prejudice against Mary's circumstances by those Jews who might forget their own history, even as he refutes charges of illegitimacy against Mary.
Some represent a crucial period in Israel's history when a Gentile displayed extraordinary faith in contrast to Jews who lacked courage and faith: Tamar versus Judah's disloyalty, Rahab versus the desert generations unfaithfulness, Ruth versus the unfaithful Israelites at the time of the judges, and Uriah versus David's sinfulness with Bathsheba. It's amazing to think that the great, great, great, great, great grandparents of Jesus hated God and were leading other people to hate Him too.
God is faithful to His covenant promises to Israel and to all the nations. With the birth of Jesus Christ, the dawning of salvation has arrived for all people regardless of ethnicity, gender, morality, or status. Once a person becomes a Christian, she or he is immediately adopted into a family of faith with a long and well-documented genealogy.
If this Jesus is the King of all history, then it follows that He should be the King of your life. When you realize His rule and submit to His reign, it changes everything about how you live. The blessings of God on His people have nothing to do with their good works but can only be explained in terms of the mercy and grace of God.
