Chapter 1

Overview

The first chapter of the book of Matthew is foundational. It is not only foundational in that it sets the stage for the balance of Matthew’s work, but it also lays the foundation for the balance of the New Testament and the covenant of grace that unfolds within its pages. For Jesus to be accepted as the cornerstone (Isaiah 28: 16; Ephesians 2: 20) of the foundation for the new covenant, it was necessary for his legitimacy to be established. Confirmation of his authenticity is delineated in this first chapter.

In the Old Testament, as God established his covenant with Abraham, the promise was given that the blessing to all nations (understood by bible scholars as a reference to the coming of the Messiah), would come through Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12: 3; 22: 18). This promise was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus (Acts 3: 24-26). Matthew confirms, through the genealogy given here, that Jesus was, indeed, a descendent of Abraham. It is a significant part of the Hebrew emphasis in Matthew since the lineage of the Messiah would have been especially meaningful and appreciated by the Jews.

Confirmation of Jesus as the Messiah in this first chapter does not end with his lineage. Matthew completes his proofs by citing another most significant prophecy fulfillment – the virgin birth (v. 23). Other prophecies, and Jesus’ fulfillment of those prophecies, are discussed throughout the book of Matthew as well as the balance of Scripture. However, Matthew has offered these two first, knowing that failure to satisfy these prophecies would automatically disqualify Jesus at the king of the Jews. His fulfillment of these two prophecies provided the evidence necessary to confirm that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Verses 1-17

Most of those mentioned in the genealogy offered here by the Apostle Matthew are discussed in the Old Testament as the writers followed Abraham’s lineage. The exceptions are those who lived in the roughly four hundred years prior to Christ, since the Old Testament does not cover that span of time. This would include men like Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, and Jacob (v. 15) who lived during that stretch. Many are undoubtedly familiar with the patriarchal depiction of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that is so prominent in the Old Testament. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Genesis 35: 10) and his descendents were known as the children of Israel.

Occasionally, in this genealogy, the mothers of the children are mentioned, perhaps partly due to their prominence in the Old Testament narrative. However, another commonality among these specific women is that they were Gentiles. Tamar was a Canaanite, Rahab was from Jericho, Ruth was a Moabite, and, although her nationality is not defined in Scripture, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. The Hittites were of Indo-European descendance. This suggests that she was not a Jew. Consequently, while he was of the lineage of Abraham, as promised, Jesus’ heritage was not purely Jewish. This may be the primary reason for their inclusion, in that it is reflective of the fact that Jesus came to offer salvation to the entire world, not just Abraham’s physical descendents.

Some will notice that assorted translations offer variations of the names given here. The KJV, which was written in the 17th century, is known for offering alternatives for these names. For instance, most English translations describe Judah as a son to Jacob (v. 2) while the KJV calls him Judas. Similarly, Naasson (KJV) is known as Nahshon in many English translations. Additionally, in the KJV, Perez, Zerah, and Tamar (v. 3) are identified as Phares, Zara, and Thamar. Other variations appear in the RSV.

Matthew follows a pattern in this genealogy, which he defines a bit later (v. 17). The construction of the genealogy begins with the lineage from Abraham to David (vs. 2-6a). That is followed with the lineage from David to Jeconiah, who lived during the Babylonian exile (vs. 6b-11). Finally, Matthew offers the lineage from Jeconiah to Jesus (vs. 12-16). Some disparity can be found in Matthew’s account. For instance, the apostle states that each group mentioned here contains fourteen generations (v. 17). However, the final group lists only thirteen. This and other challenges will be addressed shortly with a deeper look into the ancestry of the Messiah.

While Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob need no introduction, others were not quite so well-known. Additionally, some of those Matthew mentions are not Jesus’ direct ancestors, but simply brothers of his ancestors. For instance, Jesus descended directly from Perez (Genesis 38: 29; 46: 12; Numbers 26: 20). He was a son to Judah who was a son of Israel and father to the tribe of Judah (v. 3). Zerah (v. 3), on the other hand, was simply Perez’s twin brother (Genesis 36: 13; 38: 30; Numbers 26: 20). Jesus did not descend from the line of Zerah. Tamar (v. 3) was the mother of Perez and Zerah. She had disguised herself, presented herself to Judah as a prostitute, and they had sexual relations. The twins were a result of that encounter. This story is told in full in the thirty-eighth chapter of Genesis.

Hezron (Genesis 46: 12; Numbers 26: 21) was born to Perez (v. 3). This Hezron, however, must not be confused with Hezron, the son of Reuben, who was another of Israel’s sons (Exodus 6: 14). To Hezron was born a son by the name of Ram, also known as Aram or Arni (1 Chronicles 2: 9) who, in turn, fathered Amminadab (Ruth 4: 19; 1 Chronicles 2: 10).

Amminadab was the father of Nahshon (Ruth 4: 20) who was an important figure among the Israelites. He was in command of the tribe of Judah when the Israelites left Sinai and settled in the Desert of Paran (Numbers 10: 11-14). Nahshon, in turn, fathered a man by the name of Salmon (Ruth 4: 20). Salmon had a son named Boaz whose mother is also named. His mother was Rahab. While there is no proof, this is undoubtedly Rahab from Jericho, the prostitute who hid the Israelite spies when they entered that city (Joshua 2: 1-21). This is the only Rahab mentioned in the Old Testament. The fact that she is mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament (Hebrews 11: 31; James 2: 25) suggests that she was held in high esteem by the Jewish people. Thus, Matthew mentions her as a key member of the lineage of Christ.

Boaz married the woman named Ruth, whose story is told in the Old Testament book of Ruth. She was an extremely humble, faithful, and hardworking woman who was highly regarded by the Israelite nation. The story of Boaz and Ruth is heartwarming and very moving. To them was born a son by the name of Obed. This man would eventually become King David’s grandfather as David was one of the sons of Obed’s son, Jesse. The story of David’s rise to kingship and his faithfulness to God, his military successes, and his moral failures, are chronicled in the pages of the Old Testament. David was/is one of the most heralded in the annals of Hebrew history. The fact that Jesus came through the seed of David is no small matter, since it was a matter of prophecy. David was promised, “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne” (Psalm 132: 11). Bible scholars rightly consider this a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah.

King David committed adultery with a woman by the name of Bathsheba who, as a result of their encounter, became pregnant. David later saw to it that her husband, Uriah, would be killed in battle and then took Bathsheba as his wife (2 Samuel 11). This angered the Lord and, when the child was born, he struck him with an illness and the child died as punishment for David’s sin (2 Samuel 12). It is interesting, then, that it was the second child of David and Bathsheba, a man by the name of Solomon, through whose line the Messiah would eventually come. Again, the mother’s name is given because of her notoriety among the Jews.

Solomon was given an incredible gift of wisdom by the Lord (1 Kings 3: 7-12). In his early years as king, Solomon honored the Lord, “walking according to the instructions given him by his father David” (1 Kings 3: 3). Unfortunately, he was a lover of women and often took pagan wives. They eventually led him to worship false gods and turned him away from the Lord for much of his life. It is said that, toward the end of his life, he returned to God and wrote the book of Ecclesiastes prior to his death.

Rehoboam was Solomon’s son. He took the throne upon his father’s death, but his reign was fraught with difficulty. His cruelty toward the people (high taxes and hard labor) caused the northern ten tribes to break away from Rehoboam’s kingdom. The territory inhabited by the northern tribes came to be known as Israel while Rehoboam reigned over the area known as Judah.

Abijah, Rehoboam’s son, succeeded him as king, but Abijah was an evil king. He went to war against the northern tribes and dishonored God during his reign. According to Scripture, “He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God” (1 Kings 15: 3). This explains why his reign lasted only three years.

In contrast to his father, Abijah, King Asa, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 15: 11). The Bible reveals that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life” (1 Kings 11: 14). Also, in contrast to his father’s three-year reign, Asa ruled over Judah for forty-one years. Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, followed in his father’s footsteps as king of Judah. Like his father, Jehoshaphat “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (1 Kings 33). His reign lasted twenty-five years.

Jehoshaphat’s son, whom Matthew calls Joram, was also known as Jehoram in the Old Testament in the NASB (1 Kings 22: 50). There was another King Joram, son of Ahab, who was king of Israel (2 Kings 3: 1), but not king of Judah. The two should not be confused. Sadly, Joram “did evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 21: 6). As the new king of Judah, he evidently feared that his siblings might attempt to dethrone him. When he took over as king, he had his brothers put to death by the sword along with certain rulers from the northern kingdom (2 Chronicles 21: 4). His reign, which lasted a total of eight years, was tumultuous. In the end, the Lord struck him with a disease of the bowels, causing much suffering and severe pain. The disease lasted two years after which he died (2 Chronicles 21: 18-19)

According to Matthew, Joram had a son by the name of Uzziah (a.k.a., Azariah) who began his reign as king of Judah at the tender age of sixteen. Despite his youth, Uzziah served the Lord well and reigned for fifty-two years. However, he was a leper in his final years. The leprosy came upon him as he defied God, fighting with the priests over their refusal to allow him to burn incense in the sanctuary (2 Chronicles 26: 18-19) – a role set aside for the priests, who were of the lineage of Aaron.

Near the end of his days, Uzziah’s leprosy forced him to live away from his family and Jotham, his son, ran the kingdom in his stead. Upon Uzziah’s death, Jotham succeeded him as king. Jotham, like his father, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Kings 15: 34) and reigned over Judah for sixteen years.

Ahaz was Jotham’s son and succeeded him as king of Judah at the age of twenty (2 Kings 16: 1). However, unlike his father, Ahaz “did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God” (2 Kings 16: 2). He “even made his son pass through the fire” (2 Kings 16: 3), meaning that children were being sacrificed to idols. A toph (drum) was used to drown out the screams of children who were sacrificed in this manner (2 Kings 23: 10).

Fighting raged during Ahaz’s reign as the kings of Israel (Pekah) and Aram (Rezin) waged war against Jerusalem in their effort to topple Judah. However, Ahaz enlisted the aid of the king of Assyria, who helped him overcome their advances and preserve the kingdom of Judah.

Although Ahaz failed to honor God, he fathered a son who is considered to have been one of the godliest leaders in the history of Judah. His name was Hezekiah and he began his reign at age twenty-five. Scripture states concerning the man:5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. (2 Kings 18: 5-6)

What separated Hezekiah from all others? He was the first to “remove the high places” (2 Kings 18: 4) – those places where the people of Judah offered sacrifices to idols, which were, in God’s eyes, an abomination. Hezekiah’s ancestors, even those like Uzziah and Jotham, had never interfered with the people’s worship of other gods.

Hezekiah had faith beyond what most of us can imagine. This gave him standing before God. One day the prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah, who was deathly ill at the time, and told him, “Thus says the Lord, “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live” (2 Kings 20: 1). This occurred at a time when Judah was being besieged by the Assyrians. Hezekiah then beseeched the Lord with the following powerful prayer:Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight. (2 Kings 20: 3)

This was essentially a prayer asking God to reconsider this decision. God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer by not only promising to overcome the Assyrians, but he also preserved the king’s life, allowing Hezekiah to live an additional fifteen years (2 Kings 20: 4-6).

Upon Hezekiah’s death, his son Manasseh followed him as king of Judah. He began his reign at age twelve. In other words, he was born three years after God agreed to allow Hezekiah to live an additional fifteen years. What this tells us is that, had God not answered Hezekiah’s prayer, adding those years to his life, Manasseh would never have been born.

Unlike his father, Manasseh was not faithful to God. He ‘”rebuilt the high places” (2 Kings 21: 3) and constructed altars for Baal. Manasseh sacrificed his own children to idols and became heavily involved in witchcraft and other devilish practices, using numerous spiritists and mediums. He even had the audacity to build altars in the temple that were used for idol worship. In his unfaithful reign, he “shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 Kings 21: 16). According to tradition, Isaiah was among his victims. Manasseh purportedly had him sawed in half with a wooden saw. Sadly, the people of Judah followed Manasseh’s lead and did much evil during his rule.

Surprisingly, Manasseh repented in his later years. God allowed him to be captured by the Assyrians. Scripture teaches that, “They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon” (2 Chronicles 33: 11). As a result, Manasseh realized the error of his ways and humbled himself before God. He was then allowed to return to Jerusalem where he served the Lord faithfully until the end of his days.

Amon, son of Manasseh, served as king after his father’s death. Unfortunately, he did not take his father’s repentance to heart. He was unfaithful to the Lord and worshipped carved images, many of whom had been made by his father. However, his servants and staff conspired against Amon and killed him after a mere two-year reign. The conspirators were executed and eight-year-old Josiah, Amon’s son, took his place as king of Judah.

Josiah served the Lord well, doing his best to return Judah’s worship toward the God of David. He began to purge Judah of “the high places” and the idol images his grandfather had built. He also tore down the altars used to worship Baal. Josiah then set out to restore the temple to its previous glory. It was during the restoration that the lost book of the law of the Lord was found. As a result, for the rest of his days, Josiah returned the people of Judah to the worship of the Lord.

Jeconiah follows Josiah in Matthew’s record of the genealogy of Christ. He was king as the Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar. However, Jeconiah did evil in God’s eyes. As a result, he received a curse from God. His descendants would not sit on the throne of Judah (Jeremiah 22: 24-30).

Although Jeconiah’s descendants did not sit on the throne, some of them were famously faithful to the Lord. While little is known of Shealtiel, who was Jeconiah’s son, what is known that Shealtiel’s son, Zerrubabel, served with Nehemiah and was largely responsible for rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian exile. Haggai explains that Zerrubabel was a chosen man of God (Haggai 2: 23).

At this point, the line of David seems to fall into obscurity. Zerubabel fathered Abihud, whose name is absent from the Old Testament. John Gill has suggested that he may have been Zerubabel’s son, Meshullam (1 Chronicles 3: 19), noting that, during the Babylonian exile, it was not unusual for one to bear two names. Still, there is no substantive evidence that the two were the same man. Abihud had a son by the name of Eliakim. While this name appears in the Old Testament (2 Kings 18: 37; Isaiah 22: 20), it is not Abihud’s son, but the son of Hilkiah, who is in view in those verses.

Eliakim’s son, Azor, is also absent from the Old Testament. The same may be said of Azor’s son, Zadok, Zadok’s son, Achim, and Achim’s son, Eliud. A name that does appear in the Old Testament a few times is Eleazar. However, it is not Eleazar, whom Matthew describes as the son of Eliud, but certain others by that same name. Most often in the Old Testament, when the name Eleazar appears, it is in reference to the best-known Eleazar who served as priest when Joshua was commissioned to succeed Moses and lead the children of Israel (Numbers 27: 15-23). This man was Aaron’s son and Moses’s nephew. Thus, he was from the house of Levi rather than the house of Judah.

Eleazar, son of Eliud, had a son named Matthan who fathered a man by the name of Jacob. Neither Matthan nor Jacob is mentioned in the Old Testament. This Jacob was the father of Joseph who married Jesus’ mother, Mary. This concludes Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Christ from Abraham to his earthly father, Joseph.

Some have noted seeming discrepancies in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ genealogical record in that he intentionally skipped over some generations mentioned in the Old Testament. For instance, three consecutive generations – Ahaziah, Jehoash, and Amaziah – are absent from the text. It was Ahaziah, and not Uzziah, who was the son of Joram (Jehoram). Ahaziah, was Uzziah’s son. Jehoiakim, son of Josiah and father of Jeconiah, has also been omitted.

Differences can also be seen between Matthew’s record of Jesus’ genealogy and that offered in the gospel of Luke, where the record is given in reverse order, from Joseph to Adam, following Jesus’ genealogy back to the first man and taking in seventy-seven generations (Luke 3: 23-38). Joseph is also recognized as the final descendent in Luke’s account (Luke 3: 23). Even though Joseph was not Jesus’ father by blood, he would have been recognized as his father in the eyes of the Jewish nation, since he was Mary’s husband. Lineage was not generally credited to the mother’s line. Interestingly, according to Luke, the line from Abraham to Jesus involved fifty-six generations, which tells us that Matthew must have omitted more than the few mentioned here.

Matthew caps his presentation of the genealogy with the statement, ‘So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations (v. 17).’ This suggests that Matthew’s omissions were intentional so that he could arrive at forty-two generations. Oddly, however, Matthew seems to have named only thirteen generations from the deportation from Babylon to the Messiah (vs. 12-16).

Historically, the span of time between Abraham and David was more than seven centuries. From David to the exile was another four centuries. From the exile to the birth of Jesus was another six centuries. It is safe to say, then, that many more generations were involved since, over the course of time, the average life span became shorter. Men no longer lived hundreds of years, as they did prior to the flood. Abraham lived one-hundred seventy-five years (Genesis 25: 7), Isaac lived one-hundred eighty years (Genesis 35: 28-29), and Jacob lived one-hundred forty-seven years (Genesis 47: 28). By the time Jesus was born, life expectancy was much shorter – perhaps fifty to sixty years. This is not surprising given the prevalence of war between nations and the ruthlessness of the Roman Empire. Egyptian census data from this period suggests that the average life span may have been even shorter. While some, like the apostle John, lived longer, they were the exception. Consequently, the genealogies offered in Scripture are not intended to be comprehensive, but simply informative.

Why does the last group contain only thirteen generations? The most reasonable explanation seems to be found in the wording of verse seventeen, where the claim of fourteen generations is made. If both Abraham and David are included in the first group, which Matthew does in verse seventeen, that makes fourteen generations. If, in the second group, David serves as the lead generation and the group ends with the Babylonian exile, at which point no name is given, then this grouping ends with Josiah, who would represent the fourteen generations. The third group begins with the exile, where no name is given in verse seventeen. Thus, this final group begins with Jeconiah and end with Jesus, which is fourteen generations.

As is evident from Luke’s account of the genealogy, there were more than forty-two generations from Abraham to Jesus. Where people make a mistake with Matthew’s account is that they try to read it as a poorly written record of Jesus’ genealogy that is simply fraught with errors. However, it was not Matthew’s goal to define Jesus’ heritage down to the last man. This is seen in his opening statement where he began, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (v. 1). Jesus was not the immediate son of David, nor was David the immediate son of Abraham. However, Jesus was David’s descendant just as David was Abraham’s descendant. It is plain to see, then, that the word son is not necessarily intended to reflect immediate sonship in the same sense that Isaac was Abraham’s son. Matthew uses the term in a broader sense, telescoping the genealogy of Christ through generations.

Verses 18-25

Since the book of Matthew is written from a Jewish perspective, it seems reasonable to believe that the original audience was primarily Jewish. Therefore, the apostle began this work with evidence of Jesus’ Messianic nature – evidence that would be meaningful to his Jewish readers. By following Jesus’ genealogy through the centuries (vs. 1-17), Matthew has provided his readers with substantive evidence of his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies so that the people might believe. Having provided this background, Matthew was able to move forward, teaching the story of Jesus’ life. Naturally, he would begin with the unique character of Jesus’ birth, which was a matter of additional prophetic fulfillment.

In keeping with OT prophecy, Jesus would make a miraculous entrance into the world, not withstanding the fact that he was born of woman. According to Old Testament prophecy, a virgin would give birth to the Messiah. Some see and allusion to the virgin birth in some of the wording from Genesis it is written:

                  And I will put enmity

                 Between you and the woman,

                 And between your seed and her seed (Genesis 3: 15)

Technically speaking, a woman does not have seed. The seed comes from man. However, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, no man was involved. The seed was provided by the Holy Spirit (v. 18). Therefore, this verse from Genesis is seen as an early prophecy of what was expected to be unusual circumstances surrounding the birth of the Messiah. This idea of the virgin birth was later confirmed in more definitive terms by Isaiah, the prophet (Isaiah 7: 14).

Matthew introduces Mary as the woman who would give birth to the Messiah (v. 18). She was betrothed to a man by the name of Joseph when she was approached by the angel Gabriel who told her she had been selected to give birth to the savior of the world (Luke 1: 26-38). Unlike the modern-day engagement, under Jewish law a betrothal was a legal and binding contract and breaking a betrothal required legal action. According to the New Bible Commentary, “The Old Testament punishment for unchastity before marriage was death but divorce had by this time become accepted instead, and a private divorce before witnesses was a humane option.”[1]

Many scholars believe Mary was very young (early to mid teens) when she was betrothed to Joseph. During this time in history, it was not uncommon for a girl to become betrothed very early – perhaps between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, or even as early as twelve – though the marriage would not be consummated until they were legally wed, which may have been a few years down the road. Therefore, some claim that Mary, being betrothed to Joseph, may have been as young as fourteen or fifteen when Jesus was born.

Others are equally convinced that Mary was not quite so young, since she is depicted in Scripture as having reached a high level of spiritual maturity, having “found favor with God” (Luke 1: 30). In the Old Testament, God suggested to the Israelites that twenty years was the age where he would hold them accountable for their faithlessness (Numbers 14: 28-30). Given this statement concerning accountability, it seems less likely that he might choose a girl in her early teens for such a formidable role.

While he was a descendant of Abraham and David, little else is known about the man named Joseph. Matthew indicates that he was a righteous man (v. 19) and that he was a carpenter (Matthew 13: 55). It stands to reason that Joseph would have been a godly man. First, it is unlikely that a woman like Mary would promise to wed a man who was ungodly. Additionally, the angel of God encouraged him to serve as the head of the home in which the Messiah would live.

Mary became pregnant during her betrothal to Joseph, even though they had not yet had conjugal relations. It is reasonable to believe that Mary informed him of her pregnancy early on, and that she did not attempt to hide it from him. She had no reason to hide it since she had done nothing wrong. On the contrary, she had found favor with God and, as a result, would bear in her womb the savior of the world. Given the circumstances, it is possible that Joseph may have even felt a bit unworthy to wed Mary.

While Mary had not been unfaithful to Joseph, he still found himself in a difficult situation as society demanded public action on his part. Normally a public divorce would shame the woman and garner sympathy for the man in such a situation. However, Joseph would have none of this. First of all, Mary had not been unfaithful. Second, Joseph loved her and, being a godly man, was not inclined to shame her in public. Thus, he decided that the only reasonable solution was to legally dispatch the betrothal in private (v. 19), keeping it out of the social limelight.

Assorted translations approach verse nineteen differently. For instance, the NASB states that Joseph “planned to send her away secretly,” which makes it sound like he was considering sending her out of town to hide her pregnancy from those who knew them or from the society by which they were surrounded. The NIV says that “he had in mind to divorce her quietly” and the KJV says that “he was minded to put her away privily.” The Greek apolousai literally means to dismiss. The most reasonable explanation, then, is that he intended to dismiss their betrothal in private rather than allowing it to become a public spectacle.

When Matthew writes that Joseph “considered this” (v. 20), there is suggestion in the apostle’s words that he was struggling with, and even brooding over, the situation. The Greek enthumethentos literally means brooding. However, the brooding, or disappointment Joseph experienced was probably not so much over Mary’s pregnancy, but over his perception that, as a result, they might not be married. In other words, he feared marrying her. Knowing his thoughts, God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream to tell him not to fear (Greek: phobethes) such a union (v. 20). During that encounter, Joseph was offered encouragement and a greater depth of understanding about the birth of Mary’s son and what this would mean to the world (v. 21).

As an aside, Matthew sums up the first twenty-one verses of this chapter with words that are intended to carry meaning for what was likely a heavily Jewish audience. He notes that “all of this took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet” (v. 23). In other words, everything discussed to this point…the genealogy and the virgin birth…fulfilled prophecy. It provided evidence that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Matthew offers here the specific prophecy he has in view. Citing the seventh chapter of Isaiah, which was mentioned earlier, he writes:“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us. (Matthew 1: 23)

Joseph was asleep when he was visited by the angel, who came to him in a dream (v. 20). That visit probably brought relief to Joseph. He could, with God’s blessing, marry the woman he loved. According to Matthew, Joseph “awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife” (v. 24). However, they did not have intimate relations until after she gave birth to Jesus (v. 25).

It has been said by some that Mary remained a virgin even after Jesus’ birth, but that view is out of harmony with Scripture. A couple of remarks in this passage refute the claim. For instance, Joseph “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son” (v. 25). The word until (Greek: heos) indicates that the two participated in normal marital relations after Jesus’ birth. Additionally, the word used to define Jesus’ birth is prototokon. This word does not merely describe Jesus as Mary’s son, but as her firstborn. Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus’ earthly siblings, presumably fathered by Joseph, are recognized (Matthew 12: 46; Mark 6: 3; Luke 8: 19-21; John 2: 12; Acts 1: 14). In fact, among Bible scholars, many believe that his brother James served as a leader in the church in Jerusalem in the first century (Acts 15: 13), and many are convinced that it was this brother who wrote the New Testament book of James.

Some scholars insist that there could be another explanation for those brothers and sisters of Jesus that are mentioned in Scripture. Some have suggested that they may be cousins, noting that the Greek adelphos could refer to siblings or cousins. Others claim that Joseph may have been considerably older than Mary, and a widower. Under such circumstances, these siblings may have been from Joseph’s earlier marriage. However, these theories lack biblical support. The Bible offers significant evidence that, after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary lived as a married couple, including having normal marital relations that resulted in additional children.

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[1] Carson, D. A., France, R. T., Moyter, J. A., & Wenham, G. J., New Bible Commentary, Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, England, p. 908

[1] Carson, D. A., France, R. T., Moyter, J. A., & Wenham, G. J., New Bible Commentary, Inter-Varsity Press, Nottingham, England, p. 908

5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. (2 Kings 18: 5-6)

Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in Your sight. (2 Kings 20: 3)

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us. (Matthew 1: 23)