MattheW 1:25 | 1527 the ex ile to Bab ylon, and four teen from the ex ile to the Mes si ah. seph son of Da vid, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, be cause what is con ceived in her is from the Holy Spir it. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, c be cause he will save his peo ple from their sins.”
22
All this took place to ful fill what the Lord had said through the proph et: 23“ The vir gin will con ceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Im man u el” d( which means“ God with us”).
24
When Jo seph woke up, he did what the an gel of the Lord had com mand ed him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not con sum mate
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18
This is how the birth of Jesus the Mes si ah came about a: His moth er Mary was pledged to be mar ried to Jo seph, but be fore they came togeth er, she was found to be preg nant through the Holy Spir it. 19 Be cause Jo seph her hus band was faith ful to the law, and yet b did not want to ex pose her to pub lic dis grace, he had in mind to di vorce her qui et ly.
20
But af ter he had con sid ered this, an an gel of the Lord ap peared to him in a dream and said,“ Joa
18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this b
19 Or was a righteous man and c
21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves. d
23 Isaiah 7:14
WOMEN IN JESUS’ GENEALOGY
Tamar |
Rahab |
Ruth |
Uriah’ s Wife |
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( Bathsheba) |
Ge 38 Jos 2; 6:22 – 25
Mary
Ru 1 – 4 |
2Sa 11 |
Mt 1 – 2; |
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Lk 1 – 2 |
1:18 – 25 The birth narrative in Matthew gives a different perspective from Luke’ s( see Lk 1 – 2). Matthew cites several passages from the OT that show Jesus to be Israel’ s long-awaited Messiah.
1:18 pledged to be married Refers to a permanent relationship nearly equivalent to marriage. 1:19 did not want to expose her to public disgrace The law demanded that an adulteress receive the death penalty( Dt 22:21). However, the Jewish community of this time often did not carry out the death penalty; instead, they punished adulteresses through public disgrace. 1:20 in a dream Angelic visitation and dreams are a common means of supernatural revelation in the sacred literature of this time. 1:21 you are to give him the name A father was responsible for naming his son at the time of his circumcision( eight days after birth). The angel’ s words implicitly command that Joseph accept his role as father of the child. In antiquity, names were often thought to be emblematic of the character or calling of the individual. Jesus From the Hebrew name yeshua’, which means“ Yahweh saves.” he will save his people from their sins Announces more than a royal or political Messiah. Jesus saves, even from sin( compare Is 53:12). This declaration— which reflects the meaning of Jesus’ name— is programmatic for Matthew’ s Gospel. The remainder of the narrative justifies this statement, culminating in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. The salvation of which the angel spoke differed vastly from Jewish expectations of the Messiah; Jesus brought forgiveness of sins, not expulsion of the occupying Roman army or political-religious restoration. 1:22 fulfill Matthew often interprets events in Jesus’ life in terms of prophecies from the OT; this is the first instance of this type of interpretation. See the table“ Jesus’ Fulfillment of OT Prophecy” on p. 1573. 1:23 virgin The Greek word used here, parthenos, reflects the Septuagint( ancient Greek translation of the OT) version of Isa 7:14, which Matthew drew from when quoting the Hebrew Bible( or OT). Matthew appropriates this prophecy and applies it to the virgin birth of Jesus. In the Septuagint version of Isa 7:14, the Greek word parthenos is used to translate the Hebrew word almah. The other six occurrences of almah in the OT refer to young women of marriageable age with no direct indication of whether they are virgins or not( Ge 24:43; Ex 2:8; Ps 68:25; Pr 30:19; SS 1:3; 6:8); in contrast, parthenos normally indicates a virgin, though not exclusively( in the Septuagint version of Ge 34:3 parthenos is used to describe Dinah following intercourse). However, women of marriageable age in ancient patriarchal culture like Matthew’ s were expected to be virgins. While the Hebrew word used most often to indicate a virgin is bethulah( Lev 21:3; Jdg 21:12; Dt 22:23,28; Ex 22:16), almah is used as a synonym for bethulah( Ge 24:16,43; compare Ge 24:14). In addition, SS 6:8 lists queens, concubines and alamoth( the plural form of almah)— this last group, the alamoth, seems to be a group of women who do not have a sexual relationship with the king. This same distinction between the queen, concubines and virgins occurs in the book of Esther( Est 2:3,8,14), but in Esther, the virgins are described as na’ arah bethulah(“ young virgins”). This parallel suggests SS 6:8 is using the same language as the book of Esther but using alamoth in place of na’ arah bethulah— indicating that both terms can describe virgins. These connections explain Matthew’ s use of Isa 7:14 to reference the virgin birth( see Isa 7:14 and note). they will call him Immanuel Matthew presents Jesus as the fulfillment of Isa 7:14, which says that the child’ s name will be Immanuel( meaning“ God with us”; compare Mt 28:20). While in the original context of Isaiah, this is a prophecy about a child born during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah( ca. 735 – 715 BC; Isa 7:16; compare Isa 8:8,10), Matthew sees this prophecy as finding its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. The book of Isaiah as a whole connects Immanuel with the Messiah figure from David’ s line( Isa 11:10) and by extension the suffering servant( Isa 52:13— 53:12). Like the Messiah in Isaiah’ s portrayal over 500 years earlier, Jesus comes from David’ s line as God’ s anointed one and then suffers and dies on behalf of humanity— to save people from their sins. He is also prophesied as being resurrected( Isa 53:10). See note on Isa 7:14; note on Isa 11:10; note on Isa 53:2; and note on Isa 53:10. 1:25 he did not consummate their marriage Matthew does not record any command for Joseph to refrain from marital relations with Mary, although abstinence was the rule of the time during the betrothal period. Matthew is careful to indicate that no human father had any role in Jesus’ conception. gave birth to a son The date of Jesus’ birth is approximately 5 BC, based on aligning it with the reign of Herod the Great( compare note on 2:1).