Matthew 1:18-25

The Birth of the Messiah. In Mt., Joseph has the principal rô le; in Lk., Mary. Six inspired dreams are narrated in Mt., three of them with the angel of Yahweh. Five are in chs. 1 and 2, the sixth in Matthew 27. Early writers like Justin Martyr claimed credence for the virgin birth of Jesus because records of pagan religion were full of similar marvels. Philo is witness for similar Jewish beliefs about the patriarchs. One curious early idea was that Mary conceived by a shaft of Divine light through the ear.

Matthew 1:18. Holy Ghost: in the OT sense, the power of God in active exercise.

Matthew 1:19. righteous: conscientious in observing the Law, and (yet) not willing, etc. Lk. mentions no scruples and no thought of repudiation.

Matthew 1:21. Jesus: Heb. Joshua, Yahweh is salvation. his people: the Jewish nation.

Matthew 1:22 f. Not part of the angel's address, but Mt.'s comment (cf. Isaiah 7:14 *). This introduces us to a marked feature of Mt., his use of OT., which has been referred to in Introd. See further the Comm. of Micklem (xxxi ff.); Burkitt, Gosp. Hist., pp. 124- 128; and especially R. Harris, Testimonies.

Matthew 1:25 is not a statement of the perpetual virginity of Mary, a doctrine bolstered up by one of two suppositions that the brothers of Jesus were (a) Joseph's children by a former marriage (Origen, Clem. Alex.), (b) cousins of Jesus, sons of Mary the wife of Alphæ us (Matthew 27:56 = Mark 15:40), brother merely implying kinship (Jerome, Augustine). See Brethren of the Lord, HSDB and HDB 1320.