Swindoll's Living Insights Commentary Matthew 1a - Flipbook - Page 27
The Genesis of Jesus | Matthew 1:1-17
the giving of the covenant of the Law and the establishment of the tabernacle and sacrifices, and the conquest of the Promised Land.
But Matthew doesn’t focus on these events. He doesn’t even mention Moses or the Law. Nor does he simply transcribe from his sources
a straight genealogy of father to son. Rather, he intentionally mentions
that Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar (Matt. 1:3), that Salmon
fathered Boaz by Rahab (1:5), that Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth (1:5),
and—in the first entry of the second cluster of names—that David fathered Solomon by Bathsheba (1:6).
The four women Matthew mentions in Jesus’ genealogy in 1:3‑6
aren’t just random wives thrown into the mix to prove that Matthew
respected women. Matthew highlighted women who were probably all
of Gentile—that is, non-Jewish—stock.3 All of them entered the messianic lineage through less-than-ideal means. Tamar feigned being a
prostitute to sleep with her f ather-in-law. Rahab was a prostitute prior
to being incorporated into the community of Israel. Ruth came from
Moab, a country often at odds with Israel. And Bathsheba became
the wife of David only after David committed adultery with her and
arranged for her husband to be killed. Think about it. Each of these
women would have been viewed by pious Jewish readers as “tainted”
or “stained” in some way. Why is this observation important? What was
Matthew trying to demonstrate? One commentator puts it well: “The
presence of these four persons in the lineage of the King emphasizes
a genealogy of grace.”4 Because of their ignoble—rather than noble—
pedigrees, none of the women fit comfortably in the family of the Messiah. But then again, none of us do either.
— 1:6b-11 —
The second cluster of fourteen generations selected by Matthew includes
such major figures as Solomon, who built the temple in Jerusalem; Rehoboam, under whom the kingdom split between north (Israel) and
south (Judah); Uzziah; and Hezekiah. In the first cluster (1:2‑6a), Matthew added the names of four women who had been “grafted into” the
family tree of Jesus despite their Gentile backgrounds. In this second set
of fourteen, Matthew intentionally omitted the names of four men who
appear in the more precise and detailed Old Testament g
enealogies—
Kings Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Jehoiakim. Matthew’s rationale
for dropping these four names may have related either to their insignificance or to their infamous character.5 In any case, a genealogy didn’t
need to include every single ancestor in order to demonstrate one’s
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