Thayer Thursday – Geneology as Theology
The first 17 verses of the New Testament, Matthew 1:1-17, normally cause our eyes to glaze over. To us, they appear to be a string of foreign names that don’t carry any significance.
Other than the occasional commercial about ancestry.com or time spent reminiscing during family reunions or holidays – we don’t typically think about our lineage; especially not 42 generations worth! Imagine having 2,000 years of family history memorized!
However, thinking from our perspective about these first 17 verses has immediately got us off on the wrong foot. Instead, we should ask ourselves, “What would a first century Jew have heard in this passage?”
1 An account of the genealogyof Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
and Isaac the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
and Perez the father of Hezron,
and Hezron the father of Aram,
4 and Aram the father of Aminadab,
and Aminadab the father of Nahshon,
and Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,
and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
and Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
and Abijah the father of Asaph,
8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat,
and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
and Joram the father of Uzziah,
9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham,
and Jotham the father of Ahaz,
and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
and Manasseh the father of Amos,
and Amos the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.12 And after the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel,
and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
and Abiud the father of Eliakim,
and Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 and Azor the father of Zadok,
and Zadok the father of Achim,
and Achim the father of Eliud,
15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar,
and Eleazar the father of Matthan,
and Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations;
and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations;
and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah,fourteen generations.
For a first century Jew, these words would have been packed full of meaning and emotion.
First, the significance of this lineage would have been evident as Matthew starts it with Abraham – the one to and through whom God promised He would bless all people of earth (Genesis 12:2-3).
Second, Matthew includes King David in Jesus’ lineage. In the Old Testament, God’s description of the coming Messiah & King for Israel was consistently “King David.” Even though he was dead (!), David would in some mysterious way be the one through whom God would deliver His people (Ezekiel 34:22-24; 37:24-28). Being in his lineage makes Jesus the rightful heir to the throne.
Third, Matthew includes several women in the lineage – women who are unlikely heroes. They include: a daughter in-law who birthed her father in-law’s child (Tamar), a prostitute (Rahab), a Moabite foreigner (Ruth), and a woman who was taken advantage of by a king (Bathsheba). This “unlikely hero” imagery paves the road for the reader to experience the fifth unlikely heroine – Mary.
Finally, Matthew breaks the lineage into three ‘14’s’ which was probably intended to represent six ‘7’s’. Several numbers carried great significance to the Hebrew mind. ‘Seven,’ gets its inherent symbolism of completion from, among many other places in Scripture, the creation narrative in Genesis 1-2. Thus, Matthew’s division of Jesus’ lineage immediately draws the reader back to God’s great work of creation – drawing on that very imagery to parallel God’s orchestration of Jesus’ birth and how He brings God’s act of restoration to completion.
Matthew uses the lineage of Jesus to set his agenda for the rest of the Gospel. Each of these themes comes to their fulfillment (a primary theme in Matthew’s Gospel!) in Matthew 27-28.
Death is defeated through the seemingly insignificant birth of a baby to the Virgin Mary (Matthew 27:52-53; 28:6-7).
Jesus becomes King (Matthew 28:18).
And God’s promise, that He would bless all nations through Abraham, comes to its unexpected and grand fulfillment as the disciples go to all nations to proclaim His message (Matthew 28:19).
All of this proclaims what Matthew hints at in his geneology: God’s act of creating all things parallels his act of restoring all things through His Son Jesus.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, New Testament, Thayer Thursday