Matthew 1:1-25
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11 And Josiasa begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceivedb in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:c for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
Matthew’s Good News
Matthew’s *Gospel
Hilda Bright
About Matthew
The author was a *Jewish Christian who wrote especially for *Jews. One early Christian writer said, ‘Matthew collected what Jesus taught in the *Hebrew language.’ This book contains much of what Jesus taught. So the early Christians gave Matthew’s name to the whole book. Matthew collected taxes, but he became one of Jesus’ 12 special friends (Matthew 9:9). Matthew did not write the first book about Jesus’ life. Mark wrote about Jesus first. And Matthew uses much of what Mark wrote. The Christian *church put Matthew’s book first because Matthew often refers to the *Old Testament.About Matthew’s Book
1. The author arranged what Jesus taught in five main sections:1. What Jesus taught on the mountain 5:1 - 7:29
2. King Jesus sends his friends out with his message 10:5-42
3. Stories about where God rules 13:1-52
4. Relationships in the Christian society 18:1-35
5. When Jesus returns to the earth 24:1-25:46.
Between these sections, the account emphasises what Jesus did.
2. The author arranges his material in groups of three and seven. This helps his readers to remember it. For example, there are three groups of three *miracles (Matthew 8:1-15; Matthew 8:23–9:8; 9:18-34). There are seven stories about where God rules in chapter 13. There are three stories about the time when Jesus returns to the earth in chapter 25.
3. Matthew shows that what God told his people in the *Old Testament came true in the life of Jesus. Therefore, Jesus was the *Messiah that they were waiting for. Matthew refers to words from the *Old Testament over 60 times. He often uses words from the book of Isaiah. He introduces important *Old Testament words in a special way 12 times. He says, ‘This shows that the *prophets’ words came true’. (See, for example, Matthew 1:22-23; Matthew 4:14-16.)
4. He emphasises that Jesus is the King.
1. Jesus comes from David’s family (1:1).
2. He was born in David’s city, which was called Bethlehem (2:5-6).
3. The blind men and the woman from Canaan called him ‘Son of David’ (9:27; 15:22).
4. Jesus is the king in the story about the sheep and the goats (25:24-46).
5. He has ‘all authority in heaven and on earth’ (28:18).
5. Matthew shows that Jesus is the *Messiah. He was the special person that the *Jews had been waiting for. But Matthew does not leave out the rest of the world. There were also other people who recognised that Jesus came from God (2:11). Matthew records that Jesus healed the *Roman officer’s servant (8:5-13). Jesus said: ‘Many people will come from the east and from the west.’ They will join those people where God rules (8:11). People will tell the good news about Jesus to the whole world (24:14). Jesus’ final command was to ‘make *disciples in all the nations’ (28:19).
6. Four men wrote the Good News about Jesus. But Matthew is the only one who uses the word ‘*church’. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus said that nothing would be able to destroy his *church (16:18). The local *church would settle arguments between Christians (18:15-17).
7. Matthew shows that he was interested in the end of the world. He writes a lot of what Jesus said about the end. Jesus will return to earth, and he will be the Judge (Chapter s 24 and 25).
Chapter 1
The *ancestors of Jesus 1:1-17
v1 This is the record of Jesus Christ’s family. His *ancestor long ago was David, and Abraham was an *ancestor before that. (Jesus is the son of Abraham.)
Verse 1 Jesus is the ‘Christ.’ ‘Christ’ is a *Greek word, and the same word in the *Hebrew language is ‘*Messiah’. Both words mean ‘the man that God chose’. Samuel poured a special oil on David’s head long ago. This showed that he was the king. It showed that God had chosen David to be king (1 Samuel 16:13). Jesus was the son of David. In other words, he was David’s *descendant who lived many hundreds of years after David. Therefore, Jesus was the king whom the *Jews were expecting. He would be a great king like David. But Jesus did not come to use military power to establish himself as king. He had to show by his life and death that he came to defeat the devil. He suffered as he defeated the devil. He did not come to rule a place or an area. When you accept Jesus as your king, then he rules your life. As king, Jesus invited people into the place where he rules.
Jesus is also the ‘son of Abraham’. That means that he was also Abraham’s *descendant. But he lived many hundreds of years later. God called Abraham to begin the *Jewish nation. And God promised Abraham that one of his grandsons in the future would bring good things to the whole world (Genesis 22:18). This promise came true when Jesus came to the world. Abraham was willing to obey God. He was even willing to kill his only son Isaac and offer him to God. He was willing, if God wanted him to do that. Jesus always obeyed God. He offered himself to God when he let people kill him. He died because the people of the world needed a *sacrifice for *sin. He died. And so, all people since then have the offer of life with God that will never end.
v2 Abraham was Isaac’s father. Isaac was Jacob’s father. Jacob had many sons and Judah was the first son. v3 Judah was Perez and Zera’s father, and Tamar was their mother. Perez was Hezron’s father, and Hezron was Ram’s father. v4 Ram was Amminadab’s father, and Amminadab was Nahshon’s father. Nahshon was Salmon’s father. v5 Salmon was Boaz’s father and Rahab was his mother. Boaz was Obed’s father and Ruth was his mother. Obed was Jesse’s father. v6 And Jesse was King David’s father. David was Solomon’s father, and his mother had been Uriah’s wife. v7 Solomon was Rehoboam’s father. Then Rehoboam was Abijah’s father, and Abijah was Asa’s father. v8 Asa was Jehoshaphat’s father, and Jehoshaphat was Jehoram’s father. Then Jehoram was Uzziah’s father. v9 Uzziah was Jotham’s father, and Jotham was Ahaz’s father. Then Ahaz was Hezekiah’s father. v10 Hezekiah was Mannaseh’s father, and Manasseh was Amon’s father. Then Amon was Josiah’s father. v11 Josiah had several sons and Jechoniah was the first son. At that time an enemy took the *Jewish people away to *Babylon.
v12 Then Jechoniah was Shealtiel’s father, and Shealtiel was Zerubbabel’s father. v13 Zerubbabel was Abiud’s father, and Abiud was Eliakim’s father. Then Eliakim was Azor’s father. v14 Azor was Zadok’s father, and Zadok was Akim’s father. Then Akim was Eliud’s father. v15 Eliud was Eleazar’s father, and Eleazar was Matthan’s father. Then Matthan was Jacob’s father. v16 And Jacob was Joseph’s father. Joseph was Mary’s husband. She gave birth to Jesus who is called the Christ.
v17 So there were 14 grandfathers from Abraham to David. Then there were 14 grandfathers from David until the time that the enemy took them to *Babylon. There were 14 more grandfathers from that time until Christ was born.
Verses 2-17 Matthew records Jesus’ *ancestors until Joseph. Jesus was Mary’s son, but he was not Joseph’s son. Matthew explains this in the next section. However, when Joseph married Mary, he became the legal father of Jesus.
Matthew divided the list of these *ancestors into three groups. This made it easy to remember. The first section reminds people of their history up to king David. He was Israel’s best king. The second section records later kings when the people did not obey God. Then they went as prisoners to *Babylon. The third section ends with Jesus Christ. He rescued people from the effect of all that they do wrong.
There are four women in the list: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Uriah’s wife. It was not usual to put the names of women in a family list. But Jesus showed that women are important to God also. Tamar (verse 3), Rahab (verse 5), Ruth (verse 5) and Uriah’s wife, whose name was Bathsheba, (verse 6) were not even *Jews. The good things that Jesus brought are for everyone. They are for *Jews and for everyone else as well. Three of these four women were guilty of bad behaviour. Tamar had sex with her father-in-law (Genesis 38). This was the only way that she could have a son. This son would continue his father’s family name. Judah had broken the law. He should have arranged for Tamar to marry one of his other sons. Judah says that Tamar is right (Genesis 38:26). Rahab sold herself for sex in the town called Jericho (Joshua 2:1-7). Bathsheba had sex with David before she became his wife (2 Samuel Chapter s 11 and 12). God can use people in his plans, even if they have done wrong things. Perhaps Matthew included these women to remind us about that. Jesus came to rescue people who have done bad things (Matthew 9:13).
The birth of Jesus 1:18-25
v18 This is how the birth of Jesus happened. His mother Mary had promised to marry Joseph. They had not yet had sex together. But it was clear that she was going to have a baby. She became *pregnant by the power of the *Holy Spirit. v19 Her husband Joseph was a good man. He did not want people to think bad things about her. So he decided to divorce her secretly. v20 But, as Joseph was thinking about this, the *Lord’s *messenger appeared to him in a dream. ‘Joseph, son of David’, the *Lord’s *messenger said, ‘do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. The baby inside her is from the *Holy Spirit. v21 She will have a son. You must give him the name “Jesus”. That is because he will save his people from their *sins.’
v22 All this happened because of what the *Lord had said to the *prophet long ago. It came true.
v23 ‘The *virgin is going to have a baby. She will give birth to a son’, God had said. ‘They will call him “Immanuel”.’ This name means “God is with us”.
v24 Joseph woke up. Then he did what the *Lord’s *messenger had ordered. He took Mary home as his wife. v25 But he did not have sex with her until after her son was born. And Joseph gave him the name ‘Jesus’.
Verses 18-19 Joseph and Mary had promised to marry each other. But Joseph thought that Mary had not been loyal to him. They were *Jews. And the only way for *Jews to break this promise was to divorce each other. But Joseph was kind. He planned to protect her from public gossip. He wanted to divorce her in private. He himself would risk public gossip.
Verses 20-21 Matthew and Luke agree that Mary had the child ‘by the power of the *Holy Spirit’ (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20). God showed the truth to Joseph in a dream. ‘Jesus’ is the same as the *Old Testament name ‘Joshua’. The name means ‘the *Lord saves’.
Verses 22-23 ‘Immanuel’ means ‘God is with us’. God’s servant Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus. He gave the name ‘Immanuel’ to the son of a young woman. Isaiah wanted to encourage the king and the people to trust God. God would protect them from their enemies (Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah’s words came true in an even more wonderful way when Jesus came into the world. The whole *gospel describes how Jesus was ‘God with us’. Everything that he said and did showed the power of God. And he showed how much God loves people.
Verses 24-25 Joseph believed the *Lord’s *messenger and he obeyed God’s message.
gospel ~ 1. good news; 2. one of the first four books in the New Testament.New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews wrote the Old Testament in.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
church ~ a group of Christians who meet together. A church is not just the building that they meet in. It can also mean all the Christians in the world.'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
miracle ~ a great thing that only God can do.
Messiah ~ the Jews' word for the king who would come and rescue them.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
prophet ~ a person who told people what God wanted.
Roman ~ Rome was the capital city of the rulers at that time. That which belonged to Rome was Roman.
disciples ~ those who follow another person to learn from him.
ancestors ~ people in the past from whom one's parents came.
Greek ~ the language in which the authors wrote the New Testament.
New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.
descendant ~ a child, grandchild, and so on; a person in your family who lives after you are dead.
sacrifice ~ a gift to God to ask him to forgive sins; or to thank him for something. A gift to God, often an animal or bird, by the Jews to ask God to forgive their sins. Jesus gave himself to die as a sacrifice for our sins.
Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; a person who believes the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
sin ~ when we do not obey God's commands.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; things that people believe about Jesus.
sin ~ when we do not obey God's commands.
Babylon ~ a country in the Old Testament. Today it is part of Iraq.
Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible, which the writers wrote before the life of Jesus.
pregnant ~ when a woman is carrying a child inside the body before birth.
holy ~ all good with no bad in it; separate from sin.
sin ~ when we do not obey God's commands.
Lord ~ master; a name that we call God or Jesus; we call God or Jesus Lord when we obey them.
messenger ~ a person who gives a message.
virgin ~ a woman who has never had sex with a man.
gospel ~ 1. good news; 2. one of the first four books in the New Testament.
New Testament ~ the last part of the Bible, which the writers wrote after the life of Jesus.