As I wrote, in the part one, genealogies may appear boring to some, a deeper look reveals a supernatural message from God. First, let's read the text in it's natural form.
"Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judah and his brethren;
And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
And Jesse begat David the king; "
Now let's take the names and look at their meaning. As we do this, let the Spirit lead you and allow him to speak.
Name: Meaning
Abraham: father of a multitude
Isaac: he laughs
Jacob: heel catcher
Judah: the praised one
Pharez: a breach, division or rupture, broken through
Esrom: enclosed, Dart of joy, division of a song
Eram: high, paradise, landmark marking the correct direction
Aminadab: one of the princes people, the kinsman
Naasson: enchanter, one who seeks or reveals knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.
Salmon: raiment or garment, that holds wholeness or peacefulness.
Boaz: in him is strength
Obed: serving or servant, bondage
Jesse: wealthy man, husband
David: beloved
Put together, could this message mean.
"The Father, of many, laughs at the heel catcher. The Praised One has broken through.
Is God, our Father, laughing at Satan, as referenced in Genesis 3:15, because the Promised Messiah has arrived?
"Enclosed, but bursting out in joy, to mark the correct direction to Paradise."
Is this a reference to the Messianic earthly arrival through the womb of a woman, pointing the way to salvation?
"A Royal Kinsmen, the one who reveals knowledge of the future and the unknown, by supernatural means."
Is this referencing to the Messiah as a Son of Man, with supernatural abilities?
"A clothing that holds wholeness or peace."
Is this a reference to the Messiah being a covering of our sins, resulting in our eternal peace and completeness with God?
"In Him is Strength, an obedient servant, a Man/Husband of the Beloved."
Finally, does this mean that the Messiah is strong enough to be completely obedient until death, resulting in him being the beloved Bridegroom of all believers?
I think you know my answer to all these questions, what do you say?
Every time I see one of these messages, I am awestruck at how amazing God is. Why am I surprised? Shouldn't we expect this from a supernatural God?
Shalom!
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
I remember when I was younger, that I would quickly scan over any genealogy, that I found in the Bible. I read through it quickly and did not pay attention to the specifics. I just wanted to get through them and get to the good stuff.
However, I have found, that delving deeply into a simple introductory verse, such as this one here, reveals so much that is important to the average believer in the Messiah. With that said, let's look at what this first verse is saying to us.
The first verse is telling us that the following verses are a record of the laying out of Y'shua's claim to be human, which is very important for you and me. Without Y'shua humanity intact, it makes his claim to be our Passover lamb invalid.
Ever since Adam and Eve fell from grace, God has made it quite clear that innocent blood was required for the remission or forgiveness of our sins. When Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, their eyes were opened and saw their sinfulness or disobedience, symbolized in their nakedness. They knew immediately that they had to cover themselves and did so with a Figleaf.
However, God came and removed their figleafs and replaced them with animal skins, which signified, to them, that a sacrifice of innocent blood was required for their covering. The sticking point here is that this temporary covering had to be renewed periodically, because what was really required was the innocent blood of the one who sinned in the first place. That would be Adam or one of his descendants. The problem was none of Adam descendants were or have ever been innocent. All were stained with the blemish of disobedience or sins.
The whole Law and sacrificial system was put in place to show us that no matter what we do, we cannot pay for our sins with a sacrifice that would be wholly acceptable to God. But, God had a plan to supply a sacrificial lamb that would be innocent and free from the blemish of disobedience and be part of the lineage of Adam.
God supplied his only son, who was human, with the Spirit of God, to be that perfect sacrifice. He tethered his son to a real human family line to qualify as the Passover lamb, which would be wholly acceptable to God as a sin offering. That is what chapter one lays out.
Since Matthew was laid down as a message to the Jews, the genealogy starts at Abraham, the father of the Jews, continuing through David, ending with Y'shua's adoptive father, Joseph. As a sidenote, Y'shua's real human name is Y'shua Ben Joseph. Please compare this genealogy with the one in the Book of Luke. He shows the lineage from Adam to Y'shua. Combined, they revealed that Y'shua is and always will be not only the Son of God, but the Son of Man.
As far as the Spirit side of Y'shua, we'll get to that, later in the book.
Shalom and have a Great Day!
As we enter the Book of Matthew, I think it important to go over a few things to give us a flavor of the mind set and setting of this book.
Matthew
The Book of Matthew was written by one of the Apostles of Yeshua, Matthew. Matthew is his anglicized name, his Hebrew name was Mattityahu, which means, "gift of Jehovah". Matthew was a tax collector, one of the most hated professions in the Roman Empire, when Y'shua called him into the ministry in Matthew 9:9.
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
This is one of five times, Matthew is mentioned in the Bible.
He is also called Levi, son of Alpheus. Mark 2:14
The Gospels Are Synoptic and Specifically Addressed.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are synoptic which means they describe events from a similar point of view, as contrasted with that of John. Matthew, presents Yeshua/Jesus, to the Jew, as the Lion of Judah, the Promised Messiah. Mark presents him to the Roman as the Servant. Luke presents him to the Greek, as the Son of Man. All three of these gospels include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar wording. The Book of John, whose content is comparatively distinct, presents Yeshua/Jesus as the Son of God to the Faithful Believers, the Remnant of God in every generation.
Timeline/Archeology
At the beginning of Matthew, we have the Genealogy of Y'shua, Jesus. It starts with Abraham, who lived in the 20th century BC and gives us the names of the Messianic line of Judah from Abraham to David, 1040–970 BC, to Y'shua who was born some time between 7 and 4 BC. The Book of Matthew then jumps from Y'shua's birth to the begining of his ministry, around 27 AD to his Sacificial Death and Resurection, three years later.
It centers on the area from the Galilee to Egypt during the time of Y'shua, as seen in the following map.
The Style of Matthew
-Presented legalistically as fulfilled prophecy
-Centers of what was said by Yeshua.
-Ends at the Resurrection of Yeshua
-Since it presents Yeshua as the Lion of Judah, it is symbolized as the Lion.
Interesting Note
Mark is symbolized as the Ox because it presents Yeshua as the servant.
Luke is symbolized as the Man because it presents Yeshua as the Son of Man.
John is symbolized as the Eagle because it presents Yeshua as the Son of God.
Surrounding the Tabernacle in the desert, the Israelites rallied behind four main tribes, Judah, Ephraim, Reuben and Dan. Their tribal banners were the Lion, Ox, Man and Eagle respectively. The Lion, Ox, Man and Eagle are also the faces of Cherubim at the Throne of God. It appears that the tabernacle is a model of the Throne Room of God.
