Solomon was the father of Rehoboam who was the father of Abijah who was the father of Asaph who was the father of Jehoshaphat… What does this have to do with Christmas?
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 16, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Who Are All These People? Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Open your Bible to Matthew 1. When my great-grandmother turned 95, some family members organized a birthday party in her honor. Everyone who had known her or was even distantly related was invited. The party was so big that one of my great uncles rented a warehouse that was bigger than a football field. There were tables and tables of food, lawn chairs everywhere you looked, packs of kids just buzzing around. And so many people. Every time I turned around, I was introduced to uncle Jimbo or cousin Lizzie.
Where did all these uncles and aunts and cousins come from? I thought I knew them all! Eventually I pieced it together that these were more distant relations: second or third cousins. But you can probably imagine how bewildering it was to be introduced to so many relatives that I didn’t know I had!
I sometimes feel this way when I read Matthew, chapter 1. Matthew 1 contains one of many genealogies in the Bible, and when we come across these kinds of chapters, many of us start to ask, Who are all these people?
At first glance, this doesn’t look like the most exciting Scripture for Students. But there is more here than meets the eye. I’m going to read Matthew 1:1–17. I thought about just summarizing it for you but decided: no, I’m going to read it, for two reasons. First, it is the Word God, and all scripture is breathed out by God and second, if your name was one of the names listed in Scripture, you would want people to read it!
So follow along as I read Matthew 1:1–17,
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,
4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,
8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah,
9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,
14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,
15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
There are a lot of interesting things going on here. We could talk about why Matthew starts with Abraham and not with Adam, like Luke does. Or we could talk about why Matthew splits the list up into three groups of 14 generations each, even though he has to leave out some people to come up with exactly that number. We could talk about the women who are included in the list: Tamar, and Ruth, and Bathsheba the wife of Uriah, and Mary the mother of Jesus.
But I want to focus on what we learn in verse 17: So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
I’m sure you noticed that there are three headings here that Matthew uses to organize the genealogy: Abraham, David, and the exile to Babylon. I think the best explanation here is that Matthew presents this genealogy under these three headings to teach us a few things about Jesus.
First, Jesus is in the line of Abraham. To us, Abraham might seem like just another story in the Old Testament, the oldest guy in the sequence of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But to the Jewish people, Abraham is the beginning of the Jewish people. God made a covenant with Abraham and made promises to Abraham, and so Abraham is the beginning of this great people. But putting Abraham first, Matthew is saying that Jesus is going to be like Abraham: God is making a covenant through Jesus, too, and Jesus is going to be the founder of a great people, and many will belong to him.
The next set of 14 names is David, and it is not hard to see why Matthew would include David. David was the model king of Israel, and a man after God’s own heart. God made a covenant with David, too, and one of the most significant features of that covenant is that there would always be a descendent of David on David’s throne. So Matthew is saying that Jesus is coming like David: a great king and he will fulfill the promise to David by always reigning from his throne over his people.
The third set of 14 names in this genealogy focuses not so much on a person as it does on a tragic event: the deportation to Babylon. We sometimes refer to this as the exile, when God’s people were taken away from the land God had given them because of their sin and their idolatry. Matthew includes the exile here as a way of signaling that Jesus has come to deal with the problem that led to the exile: he came to deal with the problem of sin. Tomorrow, we’re going to look at a verse later in this chapter that makes this even clearer.
For now, it is good for us to see that this genealogy teaches us that Jesus has come to make a covenant with the new people of God, to be their perfect king, and to solve their biggest problem.
How can this help you appreciate Christmas? This genealogy teaches us, among other things, that Christmas is about so much more than making a wish list, wrapping presents, and going to parties. It is about how God has been preparing the way—for centuries and even millennia—to provide a Savior for his people so that he can forgive sin and bring people to himself.
Take a few minutes and reflect on this truth. Maybe write down a few words that you would use to describe what God the Father must be like to make and bring about such a perfect plan of salvation.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!