The Gospel According to
MATTHEW
Abraham to Christ—1997 bc→5 bc
1
1 A genealogy* There is no definite article. of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
2 Abraham begot Isaac, then Isaac begot Jacob, then Jacob begot Judah and his brothers;
3 then Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, then Perez begot Hezron, then Hezron begot Ram;
4 then Ram begot Amminadab, then Amminadab begot Nahshon, then Nahshon begot Salmon;
5 then Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, then Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, then Obed begot Jesse,
6 then Jesse begot David the king. Then King David begot Solomon by her who was of Uriah,† Sins may be forgiven, but your curriculum remains—3,000 years later we still read about David's sin (Bathsheba is not named, she was Uriah's wife). The only women included in the genealogy (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth [Deuteronomy 23:13], Bathsheba) represent some violation—perhaps to emphasize the grace of God.
7 then Solomon begot Rehoboam, then Rehoboam begot Abijah, then Abijah begot Asa;
8 then Asa begot Jehoshaphat, then Jehoshaphat begot Joram, then Joram begot Uzziah;
9 then Uzziah begot Jotham, then Jotham begot Ahaz, then Ahaz begot Hezekiah;
10 then Hezekiah begot Manasseh, then Manasseh begot Amon, then Amon begot Josiah;
11 then Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time of the Babylonian captivity.
12 After the Babylonian captivity Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, then Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel;
13 then Zerubbabel begot Abiud, then Abiud begot Eliakim, then Eliakim begot Azor;
14 then Azor begot Zadok, then Zadok begot Achim, then Achim begot Eliud;
15 then Eliud begot Eleazar, then Eleazar begot Matthan, then Matthan begot Jacob;
16 then Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was begotten Jesus, who is called Christ.‡ Here the formula changes, because Jesus could not be the son of Joseph—see Jeremiah 22:30.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David until the Babylonian captivity are fourteen generations, and from the Babylonian captivity until the Christ are fourteen generations.§ This is really Joseph's genealogy. As foster father he confers the legal right to the throne of David on Jesus. Since the throne of David has to do with the covenant people, this genealogy only goes back to Abraham. In contrast, Mary's genealogy (Luke 3:23-38) goes back to Adam and God—Jesus was literally son of both Adam and God. It has been observed that from David to the captivity there were seventeen kings, but Ahaziah reigned only one year, Amon only two and Abijah only three, so they would not count as generations—Matthew is correct in saying there were fourteen ‘generations’. For further discussion of perceived difficulties in this genealogy, please see the Appendix: Some related anomalies in Matthew's genealogy of the Christ.
Conception of Jesus—5 bc
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they joined together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.* For more detail on this, see Luke 1:26-38. 19 Then Joseph her husband,† The betrothal was legally binding, so the man was then called ‘husband’, even before the physical union. being a just man and not wanting to humiliate her publicly, decided to repudiate her secretly. 20 But while he pondered these things, wow, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary as your wife, because that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will give birth to a Son and you will call His name Jesus, because He will save His people‡ To whom does “His people” refer? To actually receive the salvation one must believe into Jesus, so the reference would appear to be to those who have identified with Him as their Savior. from their sins.” 22 Now all this happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet should be fulfilled, namely: 23 “Behold, the virgin will become pregnant and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel”,§ The quote is from Isaiah 7:14. Matthew uses the Greek παρθενος, which unambiguously means ‘virgin’, to translate the Hebrew ‘alma’, which is ambiguous—it refers to a young woman who may be a virgin, but not necessarily. Isaiah did not use bethulah, which refers unambiguously to a virgin, because, I suppose, the context demands an immediate fulfillment, which was supplied by Isaiah's wife, as the next chapter makes clear. It follows that translations of Isaiah 7:14 that render ‘young woman’ are not doing violence to the Hebrew Text. which being translated is, ‘God with us’.* ‘God with us’ is stronger than ‘God is with us’; Jesus was literally God living among us. 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as that angel of the Lord commanded him and received his wife,† Apparently there was some urgency involved; it sounds like he did it that same night (Mary was at least three months pregnant)—at night there would not be any onlookers. 25 but did not know her until‡ The use of this conjunction implies that they had normal relations after Jesus' birth, and in fact they had at least six children together. In the Bible the verb ‘to know’ is used to refer to sexual intercourse. Matthew is said to have ‘published’ his Gospel in about 39 AD. By then Mary would be past the age when she could have children, even if she was still alive. So for Matthew to write ‘firstborn’ means there were others later; if Mary had had only one child Matthew would have written ‘only born’. she had given birth to her son, the firstborn.§ Only 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “her” and “the firstborn” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). That is eight manuscripts against 1,454 that have been collated, but there are probably over 300 others yet to be collated that will swell the number against the eight. Why do so-called ‘evangelical’ scholars insist on damaging the Text based on such ridiculously inferior and inadequate ‘evidence’? And he called His name JESUS.

*1:1 There is no definite article.

†1:6 Sins may be forgiven, but your curriculum remains—3,000 years later we still read about David's sin (Bathsheba is not named, she was Uriah's wife). The only women included in the genealogy (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth [Deuteronomy 23:13], Bathsheba) represent some violation—perhaps to emphasize the grace of God.

‡1:16 Here the formula changes, because Jesus could not be the son of Joseph—see Jeremiah 22:30.

§1:17 This is really Joseph's genealogy. As foster father he confers the legal right to the throne of David on Jesus. Since the throne of David has to do with the covenant people, this genealogy only goes back to Abraham. In contrast, Mary's genealogy (Luke 3:23-38) goes back to Adam and God—Jesus was literally son of both Adam and God. It has been observed that from David to the captivity there were seventeen kings, but Ahaziah reigned only one year, Amon only two and Abijah only three, so they would not count as generations—Matthew is correct in saying there were fourteen ‘generations’. For further discussion of perceived difficulties in this genealogy, please see the Appendix: Some related anomalies in Matthew's genealogy of the Christ.

*1:18 For more detail on this, see Luke 1:26-38.

†1:19 The betrothal was legally binding, so the man was then called ‘husband’, even before the physical union.

‡1:21 To whom does “His people” refer? To actually receive the salvation one must believe into Jesus, so the reference would appear to be to those who have identified with Him as their Savior.

§1:23 The quote is from Isaiah 7:14. Matthew uses the Greek παρθενος, which unambiguously means ‘virgin’, to translate the Hebrew ‘alma’, which is ambiguous—it refers to a young woman who may be a virgin, but not necessarily. Isaiah did not use bethulah, which refers unambiguously to a virgin, because, I suppose, the context demands an immediate fulfillment, which was supplied by Isaiah's wife, as the next chapter makes clear. It follows that translations of Isaiah 7:14 that render ‘young woman’ are not doing violence to the Hebrew Text.

*1:23 ‘God with us’ is stronger than ‘God is with us’; Jesus was literally God living among us.

†1:24 Apparently there was some urgency involved; it sounds like he did it that same night (Mary was at least three months pregnant)—at night there would not be any onlookers.

‡1:25 The use of this conjunction implies that they had normal relations after Jesus' birth, and in fact they had at least six children together. In the Bible the verb ‘to know’ is used to refer to sexual intercourse. Matthew is said to have ‘published’ his Gospel in about 39 AD. By then Mary would be past the age when she could have children, even if she was still alive. So for Matthew to write ‘firstborn’ means there were others later; if Mary had had only one child Matthew would have written ‘only born’.

§1:25 Only 0.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “her” and “the firstborn” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). That is eight manuscripts against 1,454 that have been collated, but there are probably over 300 others yet to be collated that will swell the number against the eight. Why do so-called ‘evangelical’ scholars insist on damaging the Text based on such ridiculously inferior and inadequate ‘evidence’?

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD