Matthew eBook

INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW

Not a single word that Matthew spoke is recorded in his gospel or in any other book of the Bible, but the words that he wrote comprise one of the greatest, most powerful, most widely read books ever written. We pray that this volume of The People’s Bible will increase your appreciation for the gospel according to Matthew as an extraordinary, precious gift from God.

Although all the books of the Bible were written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the order in which they are arranged was not inspired. Yet it is clear that Matthew is properly located as the first book of the New Testament.

Matthew bridges the four-century gap between the Old Testament and the New. He clearly demonstrates that Jesus came, not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Christianity is not a new religion to replace Judaism; it rather fulfills the promises of the Old Testament all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Matthew makes this clear by directly quoting or alluding to more than 60 Old Testament prophecies and indicating how they were fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The miracles of Jesus are not only demonstrations of his divine power, proving him to be the Son of God; they are also precisely the mighty works that the prophets foretold of the promised Messiah. They said the Messiah would make the deaf hear, the mute speak, the blind see, the lame walk, and even the dead come back to life, and the demons would be subject to him. He would perform all these mighty works by the power of his Word.

Although this gospel is meaningful for everyone who reads it, it was addressed primarily to people familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. This included Jewish believers in Christ as well as Jews who did not yet recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah. It is especially helpful also for Jewish people of today who are willing to investigate with an open mind the assertion that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the King of the Jews.

The four gospels are all accounts of the life; the teachings; and the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. They have much in common, although each has a somewhat different emphasis. All four contain the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus; Christ’s early ministry in Galilee; the enthusiasm of the crowds as well as growing opposition; the miraculous feeding of the multitude; Peter’s confession; Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem; his triumphal entry into the city on Palm Sunday; the Last Supper; the events in the Garden of Gethsemane; the betrayal by Judas; the denial by Peter; and Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

Matthew addressed his gospel primarily to the Jews, as we have already noted. Mark wrote especially for the gentile Romans and stressed Jesus’ mighty works, which proved him to be the Son of God. Luke wrote to his friend Theophilus and to the gentile Greeks in particular. His style is the most literary of the four. His gospel includes the most familiar account of Jesus’ birth, also Mary’s Magnificat and Zechariah’s Benedictus. John wrote for the whole world. His gospel was the last to be written, so he could assume that his readers were generally familiar with the first three gospels. He includes some longer discourses of Jesus that are not found in the first three gospels. In John we read how Jesus describes himself as our Good Shepherd. John also records Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.

The four evangelists (gospel writers) selected and organized their material with their particular goals in mind. None of them claim to present a strictly chronological account of Jesus’ life and ministry. They rather organize their material according to subject matter. They supplement one another and never contradict one another.

Many books have been written in efforts to harmonize the gospels. As we compare the four gospels, we find some variation in the words Jesus spoke as well as in the details of some of his works. This is only natural and not a problem at all. These variations are not contradictions. When four people write about the same incident, they may report different details, yet everything they write may still be truthful and correct. For example, when two evangelists (Matthew and Mark) mention just one angel at Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter morning and another (Luke) mentions two angels, we know there were two, even if two evangelists mention only the one who spoke.

Slightly different wording in the accounts of the Lord’s Prayer is no problem either (as in Matthew 6 and Luke 11). Jesus may have given the prayer on more than one occasion and himself varied the wording a bit to remind us that we need not use exactly the same words whenever we pray. He was teaching us how to pray, not just providing words for us to memorize and repeat. Perhaps Jesus was speaking Aramaic when he gave his disciples this prayer. They wrote it down in the Greek of the New Testament. Now we have the prayer in English. It is understandable that the prayer may now appear in two slightly different forms without either being wrong or inaccurate.

In similar ways it is possible to harmonize all the information in the four gospels. There are no insoluble problems, no contradictions. In every case one or more possible solutions may be suggested.

It is not possible to determine exactly when Matthew wrote his gospel, but it most likely was before A.D. 70, the year the Romans destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem. Matthew speaks of these events as being in the future. Matthew may have written his gospel as early as A.D. 50, but it is not possible to arrive at a precise date.

Some Bible scholars hold to the opinion that Mark wrote his gospel first and that his gospel served as the primary source for Matthew, but this is very unlikely. Matthew was one of the Twelve, an eyewitness of most of Jesus’ ministry. Mark, on the other hand, evidently received much of his information primarily from Peter. Why would an eyewitness want to use secondhand information from a writer who himself had received his information secondhand?

It seems more likely that Matthew wrote first. It is evident that Matthew was a keen observer of Jesus’ works and a careful listener to his words. As a tax collector in Capernaum, he was accustomed to keeping accurate records and was familiar with Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. He was well qualified to give us an accurate account of Jesus’ life, his teachings, his suffering and death, and his resurrection.

But he did not have to rely upon his excellent memory or any notes he may have preserved. Jesus had promised that the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, would help the apostles to recall accurately everything they were to record in Scripture for following generations. Matthew wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so his writing is always accurate, correct, and truthful—just as the writings of the other three evangelists are.

We know very little about Matthew personally except for his name and his previous occupation. He is also called Levi, and he was a publican (tax collector). He is mentioned only when Jesus called him to discipleship (see 9:9–13; Mark 2:14–17) and in several places where the names of all the apostles are listed.

Matthew tells us how Jesus found him at his tax collector’s booth and said to him, Follow me. And Matthew got up and followed him. We may assume that Matthew had seen and heard Jesus before this time. He trusted the Lord’s promises of the Messiah to come, and he realized that Jesus might be that long-awaited Messiah. So he left everything to his subordinates and went with Jesus. In Jesus’ honor he invited his friends and associates to dinner at his house. He wanted them to get acquainted with Jesus too.

This was the occasion when some Pharisees were critical of Jesus for associating with tax collectors and ‘sinners.’  Jesus reminded them that healthy people do not need a physician, but sick people do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, he explained.

After this occasion Matthew mentions himself by name again only in chapter 10, where he lists the Twelve. He calls himself Matthew the tax collector. Mark (3:18) does not use the negative term tax collector in his listing but simply mentions Matthew’s name, likewise Luke (6:15). Luke also mentions (5:28) that when Jesus called Levi (Matthew) to discipleship, Matthew left everything and followed him.

As a tax collector, Matthew would seem like an unlikely candidate to become an apostle of Christ. Most of the Jews hated and shunned the tax collectors, who worked for the oppressive Roman government and were generally known for their dishonesty, overcharging the taxpayers whenever they could and pocketing the difference.

We might arrive at similar judgments concerning the rest of the Twelve, for none appear to us to have been well qualified. Jesus could use them because they realized their own weaknesses and shortcomings. So they could go out in his name, proclaiming his Word, and relying upon his power to accomplish their mission: to glorify God by bringing sinners to repentance and leaving impenitent sinners without excuse.

Some Bible scholars are of the opinion that Matthew originally wrote his gospel in Hebrew or Aramaic and that someone else later translated it into the Greek of the New Testament. The only basis for this theory seems to be a statement of Papias, a pupil of the apostle John, to the effect that Matthew had written sayings of Jesus in Hebrew. Perhaps he did, but that does not prove that his gospel is a translation of such a document. There is no record of anyone who ever heard such a document read or saw a copy of a gospel written by Matthew in Hebrew. We may be confident, then, that Matthew wrote his gospel in Greek, and we have his inspired words, not the words of some anonymous translator or compiler, in the Greek New Testament.

There are a number of logical ways to divide or outline Matthew’s gospel. Our task is not to find a logical way of dividing the book but to decide whose suggestions to follow. It seems best to look to Matthew himself for suggestions. He does not fail to provide some guidance for us. He indicates five divisions by saying five times, when Jesus had finished these sayings, or something similar. Before these five discourses we have the accounts of Jesus’ birth and childhood and the beginning of his ministry. After these five discourses we have the record of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection.

So we will divide this gospel into eight major sections. The subdivisions, for the most part, agree with the captions in the NIV Bible. The thrust of the entire book is to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah who was promised throughout the Old Testament. Here, then, is the outline we will follow:

Theme: Jesus is the Messiah

        I.  Jesus’ birth and childhood (1:1–2:23)

       II.  Jesus’ ministry begins (3:1–4:25)

      III.  Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount (5:1–7:29)

      IV.  Jesus heals many and sends out the Twelve (8:1–10:42)

       V.  Jesus conceals his kingdom from some and reveals it to others (11:1–13:52)

     VI.  Jesus prepares his disciples to build his church (13:53–18:35)

    VII.  Jesus gives his disciples the sure hope of salvation (19:1–25:46)

   VIII.  Jesus suffers, dies, and rises again (26:1–28:20)

PART ONE

Jesus’ Birth and Childhood

(1:1–2:23)

The Genealogy of Jesus

Matthew 1:1

1 A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:

The first book of the Old Testament is God’s record of the genesis, the beginning, of the heavens and the earth and all God’s creatures.

Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, is God’s record of the genesis of Jesus Christ, the Son of David. The Son of God existed from eternity together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He always was and always will be. He is eternal. Matthew tells us how he who was the Son of God from eternity became the Son of David in time, how he carried out his mission in this world, and how he returned to his heavenly home.

God’s Old Testament people believed that in due time God would send his Son to redeem the whole world of sinners. When he fulfilled that promise, however, many refused to believe their own eyes and ears. Jesus clearly declared himself to be the promised Messiah. He spoke with obvious authority and performed the miraculous works that the prophets had foretold of the Messiah. Yet his own people, for the most part, rejected him. They demanded that he be executed as a blasphemer. They intimidated Pontius Pilate into condemning Jesus to death, and after Jesus’ resurrection on the third day, they refused to believe he was really alive.

So Matthew, writing to his fellow Jews, says, Let’s go back to the beginning. I will clearly demonstrate that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah. He keeps that purpose in mind in all 28 chapters of his gospel, and he carries it out in a manner that was possible only by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The son of David was a name commonly used for the promised Savior. The Messiah would be a physical descendant of King David. So Matthew begins his gospel by documenting the fact that Jesus of Nazareth, who was known to everybody in the land of the Jews, was descended from David. Joseph, Jesus’ legal father, was a direct descendant of David. Luke chapter 3 traces Jesus’ genealogy through Mary’s line all the way back to Adam and Eve. They were the first to receive the promise of the Savior, and the whole Old Testament traces that promise from generation to generation. The New Testament reports the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Jesus, as well as David, is rightfully called the son of Abraham. Abraham is called the father of believers. God called him to leave his homeland, Ur of the Chaldees, and to travel to a destination that God would show him in due time. And God gave him a promise: he would make a great nation of Abraham’s descendants, and one special descendant of his would be a blessing for people of all nations on earth. Even when Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were childless until their old age, Abraham believed God’s promise, and Abraham’s faith was credited as righteousness, the Bible says (see Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). Abraham was declared righteous, he was justified, through faith in God’s promises.

That is the only way any sinful human being ever could be or ever has been justified before or after the time of Abraham. That is the primary message of the whole Bible: we are all guilty before God because of our sins, but we are forgiven, we are justified—declared not guilty—through faith in the person Matthew calls Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham—the Son of God.

Now follows the genealogy of Jesus Christ from Abraham to Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. Matthew divides this genealogy into three lists of 14. The first 14 are in verses 2 to 6.

Matthew 1:2–6

²Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

The Jews were proud of their forefather Abraham, and they were familiar with God’s promises to him. They were looking for a Messiah to be born of Abraham’s descendants. Unfortunately, their concept of the Messiah became badly distorted over the centuries, so that they were looking for a political Messiah, one who would literally rule on David’s throne and reestablish a mighty nation in Israel. But that was not the kind of Messiah God had promised.

The purpose of Matthew’s gospel was to remind the Jewish people of God’s messianic promises, to demonstrate that their expectations frequently contradicted God’s promises, and to convince them that Jesus was exactly the kind of Messiah God’s prophets had foretold. Matthew’s gospel shows that Jesus succeeded in establishing his kingdom by sacrificing himself on the cross for the sins of the world, rising from the dead on the third day, and returning to his heavenly home 40 days later. There would be no other son of David coming to be the kind of political Messiah they were hoping for.

Some of the names in Matthew’s genealogy are familiar; others are only names to us.

Isaac was the son born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, when he was 100 years old and she was 90. This was a miraculous birth of God’s grace, a reminder that God always keeps his promises, even though he may make us wait a long time.

Jacob and Esau were the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Although Esau was born first, God chose Jacob to be the bearer of the promise. From his descendants the Messiah would be born.

Judah was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, who was also called Israel. The 12 tribes of Israel were named after these 12 sons of Jacob.

Perez and Zerah were the twin sons of Judah and Tamar. Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law, not his wife, and these twin sons were born to her when she played the part of a harlot. The whole sordid story is recorded in Genesis chapter 38.

Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse are listed in other genealogies such as we have in Ruth 4:18–22. Nahshon is called the leader of the people of Judah in Numbers 2:3, and Numbers 7:12–17 lists the offerings he brought for the dedication of the tabernacle. Salmon married Rahab of Jericho, the woman who hid the spies Joshua had sent into the city. Together with her family, she was spared when the walls came tumbling down and the city of Jericho was destroyed by the Israelites. Their son Boaz married Ruth the Moabitess, who came back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. Their son was Obed, and his son was Jesse, the father of King David.

Most Old Testament genealogies demonstrate that a line of descent has been kept free of gentile contamination. This genealogy does just the opposite. Matthew lists some ancestors of Jesus that no one could be proud of. He reminds us that Jesus, the sinless Messiah, descended from sinners and came for sinners (see Matthew 9:13). Martin Luther observed, Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners—in fact, he even puts them in his family tree.… If the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one … but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them.

The four women Matthew mentions are all notable. Tamar played the harlot, as we have already noted. Rahab of Jericho was a prostitute, but she learned to know the God of Israel, and her faith and the fruits it produced are cited as an example for us all (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). Ruth was a Moabitess, not an Israelite. She was a descendant of Abraham’s nephew Lot through an incestuous relationship with his older daughter (Genesis 19:36, 37). Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite when David desired her and took her for himself, even making arrangements for Uriah to be killed in battle.

Do you find it shocking and offensive that persons guilty of such grievous moral lapses are included among the ancestors of the Savior? Would you prefer not even knowing these things? Do you think it would have been better if the Holy Spirit had not inspired Matthew to record these names in this genealogy?

If this kind of information makes us uncomfortable, it should, because it reminds us of our personal sins and unworthiness. At the same time, this list of sinners can be a comfort to us. It can reassure us that Jesus, who was not ashamed to reveal the sins of his human ancestors, who came to seek and to save the lost, who shed his blood for the sins of the whole world, includes you and me among those for whom he died.  ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’  (Isaiah 1:18).

Matthew 1:7–11

⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

¹¹and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

This second list of 14 includes some familiar names, for these men were all kings of Israel and/or Judah.

Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, was known for his wisdom and his wealth. He built the magnificent temple at Jerusalem, for which David had made preparations (2 Samuel 7:13; 1 Kings 5). But Solomon married many foreign wives. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.… [They] turned his heart after other gods (1 Kings 11:3, 4). This angered the Lord, who informed Solomon that, because of his idolatry, his sons would not rule over all twelve tribes of Israel (1 Kings 11:11–13).

When Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king, 10 of the 12 tribes seceded from Israel under Jeroboam as their king, and Rehoboam ruled only Judah and Benjamin. During his reign Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD (1 Kings 14:22). In the fifth year of his reign, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple and the royal palace (1 Kings 14:25, 26).

Abijah succeeded Rehoboam as king of Judah. He committed all the sins his father had done before him (1 Kings 15:3).

Asa succeeded Abijah and reigned 41 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (1 Kings 15:11).

Jehoshaphat walked in the ways of his father Asa … ; he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chronicles 20:32). Later in his reign, however, he constructed a fleet of trading ships together with wicked king Ahaziah of Israel. The Lord showed his displeasure over this joint venture by destroying the ships before they ever set sail (2 Chronicles 20:35–37).

Jehoram married a daughter of Ahab and followed the evil example of the kings of Israel. After reigning only eight years, he died of an incurable disease of the bowels (2 Chronicles 21:18, 19).

Matthew’s genealogy then omits the names of Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. Jehoram was actually the great-great-grandfather of Uzziah, who is mentioned next. There is no doubt that Matthew omitted these three names purposely. He was well acquainted with the Old Testament Scriptures, and so were the Jews to whom he was writing. But he does not tell us why he does not list those three men. You may learn more about these three kings by reading 2 Chronicles 22–25. Uzziah was unusual in that he reigned 52 years and did what was right in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chronicles 26:3, 4).

Jotham followed the good example of his father, Uzziah, but his son, Ahaz, did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD (2 Chronicles 28:1).

Hezekiah was a good king whom the Lord richly blessed. When he was stricken with a serious illness and the Lord told him through the prophet Isaiah that he would not recover, he prayed fervently to the Lord, and the Lord extended his life another 15 years (2 Kings 20:1–11).

Manasseh was only 12 years old when he became king, and he ruled 55 years. He followed the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites (2 Kings 21:2). The rest of 2 Kings chapter 21 gives us more details concerning the wickedness of Manasseh. Near the end of his life, however, an amazing thing happened. The Assyrians took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon (2 Chronicles 33:11). Finally, then, Manasseh experienced a change of heart. He sought the Lord’s forgiveness, and the Lord actually brought him back to his throne in Jerusalem. Manasseh then made a serious effort to cleanse his nation of idolatry.

Amon reigned only two years (2 Kings 21:19). He followed the evil example of Manasseh’s earlier days, forsaking the Lord and worshiping idols. An official assassinated him in the palace.

Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim are not included in Matthew’s genealogy (2 Kings 23:31–24:7). Josiah and Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) are listed next. During Jehoiachin’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem. He carried all the treasures of the temple and of the royal palace back to Babylon, leaving only the poorest of the Jews behind (2 Kings 25:12). He made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, king of Judah, and changed his name to Zedekiah. In the ninth year of his reign, Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against Babylon. As a result, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and took everything of value to Babylon. They killed Zedekiah’s sons while he watched, then put out his eyes and took him in bronze shackles to Babylon (2 Kings 25:7). The year was 586 B.C.

Matthew 1:12–16

¹²After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,

Abiud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Eliud,

¹⁵Eliud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) is now listed again, this time as the first man in the third list of 14. The Babylonian exile was the next significant period of Judah’s history. The people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel had been carried into exile in Assyria. That was the end of their history. They ceased to exist as a separate people. But God saw to it that the Jews survived in Babylon, for he had promised that they would survive and return to their homeland after 70 years and that in due time the Messiah would be born of the line of David. God’s providence is evident when, in the 37th year of the exile, Jehoiachin is released from prison and treated royally for the rest of his life (2 Kings 25:27–30).

We have little information about most of the men included in Matthew’s third list of 14. Shealtiel is mentioned about a half dozen times in the Bible, but all we are told about him is that he is the father of Zerubbabel—actually Zerubbabel’s grandfather (1 Chronicles 3:17–19).

Ezra 2:2 mentions Zerubbabel as one of the leaders of the people who returned from exile to Jerusalem and helped direct the rebuilding of the temple.

About all we know concerning the next nine men is their names. They may have been undistinguished men in the eyes of the world, but they were highly honored by God as forefathers of Christ: Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Akim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob.

That brings us to "Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So here we have the genealogy of Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, although the original Greek of whom" clearly refers only to Mary. The virgin birth of Christ is indicated already here and specifically reported in the verses that will follow. Jesus was a common name among the Jews, but this Jesus is the only one called Christ, the Messiah.

Matthew 1:17

¹⁷Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Thus, Matthew says, there were three groups of 14 generations each. He knew, and his readers knew, that he had deliberately omitted some generations, and we know that father can mean grandfather or any male ancestor—just as we speak of the faith of our fathers. So when Matthew says thus we have 14 generations three times, it’s like saying, as I have chosen to list these generations.

As we have already noted, Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) is listed as the last person in the second group of 14 and as the first person in the third group of 14. He lived at the end of the second era of the genealogy and at the beginning of the third and final era, the exile. Matthew has also listed David twice. This is reasonable enough when we consider King David’s prominence. Jesus is called the son of David in Scripture. Son of David was a clear reference to the Messiah. The Scriptures never called the Messiah the son of Solomon or Jehoshaphat or Zerubbabel or of anyone else who was his ancestor.

Why did Matthew arrange the genealogy of Jesus in three groups of 14 beginning with Abraham? We can only speculate about this. Some have suggested: 3 x 14 = 42; 42 is ⁶/7 of 49. With Jesus’ birth the final ¹/7 begins. For Old Testament Israel, after every 49 years came a Year of Jubilee. That year slaves were freed and properties that had been sold were returned to their original owners, so that no family would permanently lose its inheritance. The birth of Christ ushered in the real jubilee for the whole world, for Jesus came to free all the slaves of sin (the whole human race) and permit them to return to their heavenly Father’s house.

This is an interesting and appropriate thought, but Matthew does not directly state any such thing. He leaves us to wonder and ponder and marvel at the orderly way in which God directed the affairs of his people and preserved the descendants of David until the Savior was born.

It is interesting to compare Matthew’s genealogy of Christ with that recorded in chapter 3 of Luke’s gospel. We’ll make only a few brief observations. Evidently, Matthew reports Joseph’s ancestry, and Luke reports Mary’s. Both were direct descendants of David. After David, Joseph’s line included the kings of Judah, but Mary’s line consisted of lesser known commoners, who were descended from David but were not in the line of royal succession.

It is absolutely clear, however, that Jesus’ mother, Mary, and his legal father, Joseph, were both descended from King David. In the fullest sense of the term, Jesus was indeed the son of David, the promised Messiah.

The Birth of Jesus Christ

Matthew 1:18–24

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means, God with us.

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

These verses are Matthew’s brief account of the familiar story of Jesus’ birth. Matthew devotes 17 verses to Jesus’ human genealogy from Abraham to Joseph. Now he reports Jesus’ divine genealogy in a single verse. Mary was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. This states a fact without even attempting to explain how it took place. It reports a birth that was unique in all of human history. This tells us that the eternal Son of God, who was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were made (John 1:2, 3), assumed human flesh and blood in the womb of the virgin Mary. He is true God from eternity, and he is also true man since he was conceived and born of a human mother almost two thousand years ago.

Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph at the time. That pledge was more than what we commonly call engagement. It is likely that they had spoken vows of marriage in the presence of witnesses, and they were regarded as husband and wife. According to the custom of the time, the marriage celebration would follow some months later, and only then would the bride and groom begin their life together as one flesh.

When Joseph became aware of Mary’s pregnancy, he could only conclude that she had been unfaithful to him. If that was true, he would not take her home as his wife after all. We can only imagine the pain and disappointment Joseph felt. Matthew tells us only what Joseph did. He was a righteous man. He was righteous in God’s sight through his humble faith in God’s promise of the Savior to come, and so he was concerned about living a righteous life. Hence he did not seek revenge or desire to expose her to public disgrace. He rather decided to divorce her quietly.

But the Lord intervened. He sent an angel (unnamed, but probably Gabriel) to Joseph in a dream. Joseph did not just dream about an angel bringing him a message; a real angel came to him and spoke to him. He told Joseph, What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Mary would give birth to a son, and Joseph as legal father was to nae the child Jesus.

Jesus was a common name among the Jews. It was the same as the Old Testament (Hebrew) name Joshua. The name Jesus means God (Jehovah) saves. When this name was given to an ordinary child, it could be a reminder of God’s promise of a Savior. In Christ’s case, it identified the one and only Savior of the world. Jesus’ name tells who he is (God) and what he does (saves).

The Jewish people, in general, at that time were looking for a different kind of Savior. They wanted a Messiah who would save them from the oppression of the Romans and reestablish a kingdom like that of David and Solomon. But the angel promised the same kind of Savior as the Old Testament prophets had foretold, one who would save his people from their sins. His people was not synonymous with the earthly nation of Israel but included people from every race and nation on earth.

Many of the Jews wanted only an earthly Messiah who would provide them with security and material gifts for this life, and some of the Jews even attempted to force Jesus to be that kind of king (John 6:15). Similarly, there are theologians today who look to Christ only for liberation from poverty and oppression and not from the frightful, eternal consequences of sin. There are churches that regard their mission as making this world a better place and pay little attention to the perfect, abundant life that can be ours eternally for Jesus’ sake. As Christians, we want to make Christ’s kingdom and his righteousness our highest priority, being confident that he will provide us with the material things we need (see Matthew 6:33).

Matthew was writing primarily to Jews, who were familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures and were looking forward to the fulfillment of the promises of the Lord’s prophets. So he pointed out that the birth of Jesus was taking place exactly as the Lord had promised through his prophet (Isaiah 7:14).

The unusual circumstances of this prophecy are most interesting. King Ahaz of Judah was threatened by King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Syria. These kings wanted to destroy the dynasty of Ahaz, which was the line from which the Savior was to be born. Ahaz personally deserved nothing better, but Ahaz’s unworthiness could not prevent God from keeping his gracious promises. So Isaiah went to Ahaz and assured him that the Lord would preserve him from his powerful enemies. He even offered Ahaz the opportunity to ask for a special sign from the Lord to prove that this was a promise from God that would surely be fulfilled. In mock humility, Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, but the Lord said he would provide a sign anyway. Even if Ahaz would never see this sign himself and would not appreciate this promise of a special sign from God, it would be a source of comfort and reassurance for many other people all through the ages.

The sign was that the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son. This would happen only once in all of human history, so the special son of the virgin mother could be positively identified and recognized. This special child would be called Immanuel, which means, God with us. This child would be God incarnate, the eternal God visibly among us in human flesh and blood.

What an astounding revelation the angel’s message was for Joseph! His doubts about Mary’s faithfulness were completely removed. In their place Joseph received the amazing good news that he would have the privilege of caring for God’s Son, the promised Messiah, the Redeemer of the world!

There are some who maintain that the Hebrew word in Isaiah’s prophecy (almah) means only young woman and that Isaiah was not predicting a virgin birth at all; but the ordinary birth of just another child could hardly be regarded as a special sign. Martin Luther once issued the challenge: "If a Jew or Christian can prove to me that in any passage of Scripture almah means a married woman, I will give him one hundred florins, although God alone knows where I might find them." No one ever collected this reward, and we are confident that no one will ever qualify for it.

The virgin birth of Christ is clearly taught in the Bible, and it is an article of faith that is confessed by the whole Christian church on earth in the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in Jesus Christ … conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. Martin Luther’s explanation of the Second Article declares that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord.

Joseph believed the angel and obeyed his commands. He took Mary home as his wife without delay, but he had no sexual relations with her before Jesus was born. Jesus was Mary’s firstborn (Luke 2:7), but this does not indicate whether or not additional children were born to Mary and Joseph. The pious opinion that Mary remained a virgin all her life cannot be proven from Scripture—nor can the opposite. Without reviewing all the arguments pro and con, we’ll simply state that we prefer to believe that Mary and Joseph had subsequent children. This does not diminish the honor that Mary deserves from us. It rather reminds us that marriage is a special blessing from God, and Mary and Joseph honored marriage by enjoying all its blessings.

The Visit of the Magi

Matthew 2:1–12

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶" ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’ "

⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Artists often picture the Magi (wise men) as worshiping the infant Jesus alongside the shepherds in the stable at Bethlehem. This makes a lovely picture, but it contradicts the facts Matthew has recorded for us. We don’t know the names of these men (tradition calls them Casper, Balthazar, and Melchior), how many there were, exactly where they came from, or precisely when they came.

We do know that they arrived a number of months after Jesus’ birth, for Jesus had already been circumcised and presented in the temple, and Mary and Joseph were now in a house in Bethlehem, not in the stable. Secular records tell us that Herod the king died in 4 B.C. This would indicate that Jesus may have been born in 5 or 6 B.C. according to our calendar.

The Magi were a class of priests, astronomers, and astrologers. They were influential advisors of the king, very likely in Babylon. Some of them were involved in various occult practices. During the 70 years of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon (586–516 B.C.), Daniel was made the presiding officer over the caste of the Magi. From him they surely learned about the Messiah for whom the Jews were waiting. They also had opportunities to learn what Israel’s prophets had foretold about the Messiah. They took these promises very seriously and believed in Israel’s God; otherwise they would hardly have undertaken the long and dangerous journey to find and worship Jesus.

The star that guided them was a special creation of God. It did not look like other stars, and it did not act like other stars. Efforts to explain it as a conjunction of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars or as a meteor or a comet are not satisfactory.

The Magi saw this special star in the east. They saw it again when they traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, and it guided them to the very house where Mary and Joseph were staying with the Christ Child.

How did the Magi know that this special star signified that the Messiah had been born? All we can say is that God revealed this to them. In Balaam’s prophecy that a star will come out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17), the star is the Messiah himself, not a heavenly body announcing his birth.

It was natural for the Magi to come to the capital city of Jerusalem. They expected everyone there to know about the Messiah’s birth, and they were surprised when they asked around and received no information. After a while King Herod heard about the Magi and their search. In order to understand Herod’s treacherous and then violent reaction, we need to know something about the man, and secular records tell us even more than we might care to know.

Herod the Great was an Edomite or Idumean, a descendant of Esau. So he was not really an Israelite. He was the first of several Herods. He was a clever and capable warrior, orator, and diplomat. During the great famine of 25 B.C., he melted down some of the golden items from the palace in order to raise money to help the poor. He built theaters and racetracks for the entertainment of the people, and in 19 B.C. he began rebuilding the temple, which was subsequently known as Herod’s Temple. He also built the port city of Caesarea and the fortress Masada, where in A.D. 73 nearly a thousand Jews committed suicide to avoid being captured by the Romans. Herod truly was one of the great builders in the history of the Jews, perhaps the greatest since King Solomon.

He was also cruel, merciless, and jealous. He had his wife’s brother, Aristobulus the high priest, drowned and then pretended to mourn at the magnificent funeral he provided. He had his own wife Mariamne killed, as well as her mother and three of his sons. Shortly before his death, he had the most distinguished citizens of Jerusalem imprisoned and then gave orders that they should be executed at the moment of his own death. In that way he wanted to ensure that there would be mourning in the city at the time of his death, for he knew that otherwise there might be only rejoicing among the citizenry.

So it is easy to see why Herod was upset upon hearing the news of the birth of Jesus, who was called King of the Jews. Even though he was obviously near the end of his life (he died in 4 B.C.), he felt threatened by the report of a newborn king. Since all of Jerusalem knew how violent Herod could be, the people were disturbed when he was upset.

When Herod summoned the men who were authorities on the Old Testament Scriptures, they immediately told him that Bethlehem in Judah was the place where the Messiah was to be born. The prophet Micah had clearly foretold this (Micah 5:2). Although Bethlehem was a small, undistinguished village, God had chosen it as the place where his Son, the Messiah, would be born. The little town of Bethlehem would gain a distinction that the grandest city on earth could never match.

Herod’s hypocrisy deceived the Magi. They took him at his word when he asked them to report back to him after finding the special child in Bethlehem. He pretended that he wanted to worship the newborn king too. Actually, he wanted to use the Magi to help him locate and identify the Christ Child so that he could easily destroy this threat to his personal authority.

Guided by the special star, the Magi located the Christ Child, together with Mary and Joseph, in a house in Bethlehem. They worshiped him and presented him with costly gifts. We can see rich symbolism in all three gifts. Precious gold suggests royalty, for Jesus was the King of the Jews. The incense reminds us of Christ’s deity. Incense was regularly used in connection with worship at the temple. Its aromatic smoke rising to the heavens symbolized the God-pleasing prayers of the people ascending to the throne of God. Myrrh symbolizes Jesus’ humanity and pointed to his suffering and death. It was an aromatic resin used in perfume and in the embalming process. It also served as a kind of anesthetic when mixed with wine. That was why the Roman soldiers offered Jesus wine mixed with myrrh as he hung on the cross (Mark 15:23), but he refused to drink it.

That is the symbolism we see in the gifts of the Magi. We cannot say to what extent they, at that time, understood the symbolism that is so clear to us now, as we look back at their gifts to the Christ Child. Perhaps they just wanted to give the infant Jesus the most special gifts they could bring from their homeland.

Having been warned by God in a dream, the Magi did not return to Herod in Jerusalem. They took a different route home, and the Christ Child was protected from the murderous wrath of Herod.

The Escape to Egypt

Matthew 2:13–18

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.

¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: Out of Egypt I called my son.

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸"A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more."

Bethlehem was about a two-hour journey from Jerusalem. So we may assume that the Magi arrived there on the same day they had spoken to Herod. It is possible that they left Bethlehem that same night, just as Joseph and Mary and the Christ Child departed before morning. So in the morning the Magi and Joseph’s little family were simply gone. No one in Bethlehem could tell where they were because no one knew.

After all the trouble and suffering the Israelites had endured in Egypt before the Exodus, it might seem like a strange place for Joseph and Mary to go with the Christ Child. But it was not strange at all. First of all, we need to realize that Egypt had been a traditional place of refuge. Abraham had gone to Egypt during a time of famine (Genesis 12:10). Jacob and his family of 70 souls took refuge in Egypt for the same reason (Genesis 46), and they became a mighty nation there. They remained in Egypt until God led them out under Moses some four hundred years later. Jeroboam fled to Egypt when Solomon tried to kill him (1 Kings 11:40), and Uriah also fled to Egypt (Jeremiah 26:21–23).

There were many Jews in Egypt at this time, so Mary and Joseph could feel quite at home and secure there. They probably used the costly gifts from the Magi to finance their journey and their stay in Egypt.

Furthermore, Matthew informs us that the flight to Egypt (and the return to the land of Israel) fulfilled a prophecy of Hosea (11:1). God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and their exodus foreshadowed the calling of God’s Son from Egypt. Matthew directly states that Hosea was not only recording an event in Israel’s history; he was also foretelling an event in the life of God’s Son, the Messiah.

When King Herod realized that the Magi were not coming back, he reacted in a way typical of his murderous reign. According to the report of the Magi concerning the time they first saw the special star, Herod calculated how old the Christ Child might be. Six months or so seems reasonable, although it is impossible to be certain about his age. At any rate, Herod gave himself plenty of leeway when he commanded his soldiers to kill all the baby boys in and around Bethlehem up to two years old. Since Bethlehem was a small town, we may estimate that the total number slain was about 15 or 20. These victims of Herod are often called the innocents (not that they were sinless, but they surely had not committed any crime worthy of death).

Herod’s heinous crime reminds us of the ongoing deliberate and systematic destruction of thousands upon thousands of unborn children by abortion in our own day. Is this not an even greater crime? Herod perceived a real threat to his own authority when he committed his crime, and he may have reasoned that it would be better to sacrifice 15 or 20 children than to permit a bloody revolution to take place when this newborn king would attempt to seize the throne some years later. Many of our fellow citizens murder their unborn children as a matter of convenience, and the laws of our country permit it. They insist that they are being kinder and more considerate to their children than they would be if they allowed the birth of unwanted children or children for whose needs they might not be able to provide. Selfishness can make murder seem like a good deed.

The slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem was also the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15. Ramah was five miles north of Jerusalem, on the border of Israel. It was the place where Jewish captives had been assembled for deportation to Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1). Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife, childless for years, finally the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She died in childbirth. Rachel weeping for her children represented all the Jewish mothers who wept over Israel’s tragedy in the days of Jeremiah. She also typifies the grieving mothers at Bethlehem, as Matthew points out.

The wise men journey to Bethlehem

The Return to Nazareth

Matthew 2:19–23

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.

²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: He will be called a Nazarene.

It may have been only a matter of a few months that Joseph and Mary and the Christ Child remained in Egypt. Herod died about Easter time 4 B.C. The Jewish historian Josephus in his Antiquities reports that Herod died of … ulcerated entrails, putrefied and maggot-filled organs, constant convulsions, foul breath, and neither physician nor warm baths led to recovery. So Joseph could safely take his family home. When he heard that Archelaus ruled in place of his father Herod, he went back to Nazareth in Galilee.

We cannot point to any specific passage in the Old Testament prophets calling the Messiah a Nazarene. Yet Matthew clearly states that certain of the prophets had foretold this. The most natural explanation would seem to be that more than one prophet had made such a statement, and this was common knowledge among the Jews, even if this was not directly recorded anywhere in the Old Testament Scriptures.

To be called a Nazarene was not a compliment among the Jews. Nazareth was an undistinguished place. When Philip found Nathanael and told him that they had found the Messiah in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, Nathanael’s response was, Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? (John 1:46). Nathanael was familiar with Nazareth. He was from Cana, a few miles south of there. The fact that Jesus was called a Nazarene is an indication of his lowliness and humiliation. Pontius Pilate also intended it as sarcasm when he composed the superscription for Jesus’ cross: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS (John 19:19).

PART TWO

Jesus’ Ministry Begins

(3:1–4:25)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Matthew 3:1–12

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

"A voice of one calling in the desert,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ "

⁴John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Matthew’s designation of time is very general when he tells us that John the Baptist began preaching in the desert in those days. Luke tells us exactly when this was: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas (Luke 3:1, 2).

John began preaching in the desert country near the Dead Sea along the Jordan River. This country was barren, uninhabited, wild, and mountainous.

This terrain was an appropriate symbol of the spiritual state of the people of Israel. It also calls to mind the wilderness in which the Israelites wandered for 40 years when their unbelief delayed their entry into the Promised Land. In the wilderness John the Baptist called the people to repent of their sins, and he pointed to the Messiah, who alone could bring people into the kingdom of God.

John’s message of repentance