The book of the generation of Jesus Christ

Matthew Chapter 1:1-9

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

• The Son of David: Isaiah 9:6-7 ⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
• The Son of Abraham: Jesus is the promised savior that comes from the bloodline of Abraham. Matthew gives this linage as follows below. Way before Jesus was born of a virgin, God was creating his forefathers and documenting their lives. There weren’t 1000’s of family lines being documented in the word…there was only the one that led up to Jesus. So when God inspired Moses to write Genesis and tell the story of creation all the way up to Joseph rescuing his family in Egypt, he was telling us about his Son Jesus’s lineage among man and God continues to tell us about the lineage of Jesus throughout the Old Testament. So the documentation of the Bible, both the old and new testaments tell us and point us to the beloved Savior, the Son of God…our Lord Jesus.

² Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;

• Isaac: Isaac was the son of Sarah and Abraham. He was the second son of Abraham, but the one God calls “Thy only son” In Genesis 22:2 ² And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Isaac was the son God promised to Sarah and Abraham.
• Isaac married Rebekah and had a set of twin boys, Esau the firstborn and Jacob the second born. The Lord gave Rebekah this word regarding her twins Genesis 25:23 ²³ And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
• Jacob: In Genesis 25:29-34 Esau sells his birthright and Jacob becomes the one who receives the birthright and blessing. “²⁹ And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:³⁰ And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.³¹ And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.³² And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?³³ And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.” Jacob married Leah and Rachel and took both of their maids as wives (concubine) Bilhah and Zilpah. From these 4 wives Jacob had 12 sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

³ And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;

• Judah/Judas(Hebrew form of the name) Reuben was passed over because he had commited the sin of having sex with one of his fathers wives, his step mother. Simeon and Levi were also passed over because of their actions after the rape of their sister Dinah where they killed all the men of the city of Shechem. Levi became the Priesthood and was never given land. The blessing of the first born came to Judah, who was the chosen linage that Jesus came from… Genesis 49:8-11 ⁸ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.¹¹ Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:¹² His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. (Denoting the blessings of plenty…one would have to have an abundance to tie a goat who devours everything in sight to a grape vine.)
• Judah and Tamar: From Genesis Chapter 38- Tamar was married to Judah’s son Er. Er was wicked before the Lord and died. According to the customs of the people, Er’s brother was to take her to be his wife and conceive a baby with her that would be considered to be the child of Er, the dead brother. Judah sent on his second son Onan to raise up a child in honor of Er, but Onan was not having it. He refused to father a child that would be considered another man’s… so he “spilled his seed on the ground”. This displeased God and Onan met the same fate his brother Er did. Judah told Tamar to go back and live with her father and when his young son was old enough, he would send him to take her as a wife. Judah didn’t honor his promise as he should have, and Tamar took things into her own hands after the now grown younger brother failed to take her as a wife. Tamar set aside her mourning clothing, veiled her appearance, and waited for Judah to go by on his way to sheer sheep. Judah didn’t know who she was, he thought she was a prostitute, and he hired her for her service. She struck a deal with him for a lamb, but because he didn’t have it with him, so his signature ring, bracelet and staff were taken as collateral. When Judah returned to pay her and get his stuff back, she was gone. Three months go by and Judah hears that Tamar has been “playing the harlot” and is pregnant. Judah then says, “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.” So they went out and got Tamar and brought her before Judah to give an account of herself… and Tamar says, “By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.” Now Judah realized he had dealt with her wrongly so he said, “She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son.” And he knew her again no more. As it turned out, Tamar was having twins. During the birth one of the babies stuck out his arm and they tied a red thread around it so they would know which baby it was. The baby pulled his hand back in and the other baby was born first. This first baby was called Pharez meaning breach… then came Zarah with the scarlet thread.

⁴ And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;

• Aminadab: Not only is he a decendant of Jesus, he was Aarons father in law. Exodus 6:23 “ And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.”
• Naasson: He was a leader of the Israelite during their time of wandering after they left Egypt.
• Salmon: King David’s great-great grandfather.

⁵ And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

• Booz: Was a land owner who took Ruth to be his wife after her own husband died. Ruth’s story is a beautiful story. Her mother-in-law Naomi, her sister-in-law Orpah and Ruth herself were all widowed while living in Moab. Naomi told her daughter-in-laws to return to their mother’s house. They were both young enough to find a new husband, but Naomi wasn’t anymore, so she sent them away for their own good. Orpah loved Naomi, but she went back to her mother’s house, but the word says that Ruth “clave unto her”. So, they both returned to Naomi’s home town together. They were struggling for food and survived on the food that Ruth gleamed from the fields after the harvesters had gone through. As it turns out and as directed by Naomi, Ruth met with Boaz and engraciated herself to him and he took her as his wife. This is a very condensed version of an amazing story found in the aptly named book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth were the parents of Obed.
• Obed: King David’s grandfather.

⁶ And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

• Jesse: a notable chieftain of the tribe of Judah in the days of King Saul.
• David: Giant slayer ,King of Israel and a man after God’s own heart. 1 Samuel 13:14
• Solomon: The wise king who judged over Israel and built the temple. Note that so far wives and mothers Ruth and Rachab are named, but Bethsheba is referred to as “her that had been the wife of Urias;”

⁷ And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;

• Roboam: During his reign as king the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms with King Jeroboam reigning over over the other part.

⁸ And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;

• Asa: The third king of the Kingdom of Judah fifth king in the line of David.
• Josaphat: The fourth king who also developed a military to protect his people 2 Chronicles Chapter 20.
• Joram: son of Josaphat is not to be confused with Johoram son of Ahab. They reigned at the same time over the different kingdoms…and their names are used interchangably in scripture, even in the same verse. There was also a plan to unite the two kingdoms by having Joram son of Josaphat marry Athaliah daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
• Ozias: name meaning: strength from the Lord. King of Judah known for his military success and long reign.

⁹ And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;

• Joatham: A good king 2 Kings 15:23-38 ³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel began Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah to reign.³³ Five and twenty years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.³⁴ And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.³⁵ Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the Lord.³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah.³⁸ And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
  While he was reigning as King the Prophets of God he consulted with are Isaiah,Hosea, Amos, and Micah. He was a King that served God.
• Achaz: It is said of Achaz (Ahaz) that he was an evil King. 2 Chronicles 28– Achaz went into idolity. He created molten images for Baalim, and even sacrificing his own children. In 2 Chronicles 28:3  “Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire,“The end result from verse 5-” ⁵ Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.“
• Ezekias: (Hezekiah) During his reign as King he purged the idols from Judah. He was a righteous King who did good in the sight of God. God gave him victory over the king of Assyria. “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.”-2 Kings 18:5 2 Kings chapters 18 &19 When faced with the King of Assyria threatening him, Hezekiah sought out Isaiah the prophet…then he prayed and worshipped God for the answers to his prayers.

To be continued.