Matthew Chapter 1

Genealogy and Virgin Birth

Interestingly, the opening chapter of Matthew’s Gospel puts together two seemingly incompatible sections – the genealogy of Jesus and His virgin birth. What’s the point of a genealogy for Someone born of a virgin, not out of matrimonial union?

Matthew divides the genealogy into 3 segments with Abraham, David, and the Babylonian Captivity as markers (1:17), representing the beginning, peak and ebb of Israelite history; but when it culminates in “the Christ” the exile ends.

Jesus is the anointed King that brings about the reign of God, thus ending the exile of His people. And here lies the significance of the virgin birth.

The deliberate phrasing “and his brothers” used in conjunction with Judah and Jeconiah alludes to two significant events in Israelite history – the Egyptian bondage and the Babylonian Captivity. 

Jeconiah, otherwise known as Coniah or Jehoiachin, was brought into Babylon and is known as “the captive” in 1 Chron 3:17*. He was the second last king of the Davidic dynasty but God removed him and allowed the Babylonians to install in his stead, Zedekiah the last monarch of Judah (2 Kgs 24:15-17). 

In prophetic language, God’s rejection of Jeconiah is reported as the removal of the signet ring on His right hand. Added to that, none of his descendants shall sit on David’s throne (Jer 22:24-30).

Further down the genealogy is Zerubbabel, whom God surprisingly declared to be His chosen signet ring (Hag 2:23). This is not literally possible for Zerubbabel who was Jeconiah’s flesh and blood.

But Jesus, born into the family of Joseph and Mary, from the line of Jeconiah, yet “without father, without mother” (Heb 7:3), can rightfully sit on David’s throne and perpetuate it!

Matthew’s Gospel is a royal portrayal of Jesus – He is King of Israel, the long-awaited answer to the exile of God’s chosen people.

He is introduced foremost as the Son of David (1:1) in His genealogy which carries the repeated phrase “David the King” (1:6). 

The name “Jesus” was given for the reason that He was to save His people from “from their sins” (1:21); the sins of the chosen nation not only landed them in exile but spiritual bondage (Jn 8:34) and now God’s anointed King has come to convey them out of the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of heaven (4:12-17; cf. Col 1:13). 

The Gospel ends with the declaration that all authority belongs to Jesus not just on earth but also in heaven (28:18).

*see NKJV footnote for alternative rendering of “Assir”

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