P'nei Adonai resources for walking in the presence of God
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P'nei Adonai resources for walking in the presence of God
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Matthew
• Introduction (We are doing a weekly study of Mattiyahu. Please check back weekly for additional essays, until we finish going through the text.) (Apologies! June and July were unexpectedly busy. The missing study notes will be added to the website as soon as possible.)
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Verses 1:1 to 2:12OverviewMattiyahu begins by interweaving themes of contrasts and dramatic foreshadowing: Yeshua has arrived and he is Israel's Messiah, who will be the King of the Kingdom of God for all people; hew is worthy of worship, yet will face rejection and scandal.
Yeshua's GeneologyMattiyahu opens with a geneology for Yeshua. His initial phrase purposefully echoes Genesis 5:1, which begins
However, in Genesis 5:1 the word toldot (generations) is used in its usual sense to mean "descendants" or "legacy". This contrast makes a significant, if subtle, point: Yeshua is so important that even his ancestors derive their identity from him. He is the singular seed mentioned in prophecy to Chavah (Genesis 3:15) and to Avraham (Genesis 22:18) by which temptation is conquered and all the nations of the earth can be blessed.5 The phrase "Son of David" was a Messianic title. The Messianic link between Yeshua and David is emphasized later, in verse 1:17. The geneology skips a few generations to list fourteen generations before, during, and after David's era. Fourteen is the numeric value of David's name: the point is that Yeshua was "who David was" before, during, and after David lived. (This parallelism also emphasizes that Israel was due for the arrival of a new era.) The inclusion of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathseba remind us that the Kingdom of God has never been exclusive: there has always been good news to Gentiles. (Also note that the geneology begins with Avraham, not Ya'akov.) We are also reminded that Yesuha's purity and status did not come from his lineage; no one has a perfectly respectable lineage! The inclusion of the four women also foreshadow how Yeshua will not be respected (their stories are in Genesis 38, Joshua 2:1-21 and 6:17-25, Ruth, and Second Samuel 11). There is no Greek work gennao ("begot") in verse 1:16 since Yosef is the (legal) adoptive father of Yeshua, not his biological father.6 Why are brothers mentioned in verses 1:2 and 1:11? (We have no idea!)
Yeshua's BirthIn that culture betrothal was as serious as marriage. (This was true socially, and also legally: ending a betrothal required a divorce, and the punishment for unfaithfulness during the betrothal period was even more severe than for unfaithfulness after the wedding!) Moreover, a betrothed couple was always chaperoned when together, so Yosef's reputation was only at stake if he did not divorce Miryam.What does it mean in verse 1:18 that before an angel explained the situation to Yosef Miraym was already "found to have in her womb from the Holy Spirit"? She must have tried to defend herself by explaining her own story of hearing from an angel that she would conceive by God's Spirit (Luke 1:28-38). The name Yeshua comes from the Hebrew word that means "provide victory". Yeshua's name is best equated to the modern name "Victor". Verse 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14. The debate about whether almah means "virgin" or merely "young woman" in Isaiah 7:14 is pointless. Mattiyahu is quoting the Septuagint's unambiguous term; in context almah does always mean "virgin" every time it is used in the Tenah; the prophecy is equally relevant not matter which way almah is translated.
Magi VisitBecause of the phrase "two years" in verse 2:16 most people believe the magi arrive about a year and a half after Yeshua's birth. They find Yeshua and his parents in a house in Bethlehem. Thus, in contrast to Luke 1:26, Mattiyahu has Yosef and Miryam living in Bethlehem until they flee to Egypt, and only living in Nazareth after returning from Egypt.The name Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) means "house of bread", a fitting birthplace for a Messiah who would later be called (among other names) the Bread of Life. Who these Magi are is not known.7 That there were three of them is tradition based on the types of gifts they bring.8 Perhaps the main point of their visit is that Yeshua will be worshipped, and if not by Israel than by Gentiles (the magi) or even by stones (verse 3:9, and Luke 19:40)! How does our devotion compare?9
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