Your Family Tree

Passage: Matthew 1:1-17

Most of the Bible readers I know roll their eyes when they get to another genealogy. After all, the Old and New Testaments are full of lists of different kinds. What’s another list of names? It’s tempting to skip over passages like Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus in order to get to the interesting stuff.

But what if there was interesting stuff in the genealogy? It’s not for no reason that Matthew begins his account of the Son of God the way he does. And as a matter of fact Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus doesn’t just contain some interesting tidbits. In its 17 short verses Matthew summarizes God’s work in the Old Testament and sets the stage for the Gospel.
In the first of his two-volume commentary on Matthew, Frederick Dale Bruner draws the following insights from the genealogy of Jesus:

First, it consists of three sets of fourteen generations. The first captures the upward, hopeful trajectory of Israel's history from the time of Abraham to the reign of King David; the second details the downward spiral of God’s people from the reign of Solomon to the Babylonian exile; the third traces their hopeful climb from exile to the arrival of the Messiah.
Second, it includes three sets of surprises: the inclusion of four women in the first 14 generations; four name alterations in the second 14; and the addition of a fifth woman and fifth alteration in the third 14.

The four women in the first section are:

• Tamar (who bore a forebear of Jesus through an illegitimate union with her father-in-law. Who needs reality TV?);
• Rahab (former prostitute and pagan adopted into the nation of Israel after God destroyed her city);
• Ruth (descendant of Lot, Moabitess, outsider);
• Bathsheba (who isn’t even named directly because of the tawdry details of her part of the story).
  

The significance? Grace. God redeems rejects; sinners, and even events that seem only to be tragic mistakes. God takes them and grafts them into the crowning achievement of his grace.

The four alterations of the second section are:

• changing the name of the king, Asa, to that of the psalmist Asaph;
• omitting the kings Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (who should be included, historically speaking, after Joram);
• changing the name of the king, Amon, to that of the prophet, Amos;
• omitting Jehoiakim just before Jeconiah.

Bruner argues that these subtle changes and omissions are intentional on Matthew’s part (some commentators say they were errors; the NIV even “corrects” the spellings of Asa and Amon!). Matthew removes the names of kings from the list to signify God’s judgment on those kings (with the additional benefit of shaving his list down to a nice, round, 14 names). Their rebellion and corruption were so great the Gospel writer strikes them from the lineage of the Savior. God’s judgment culminates in the exile, which rounds out this section of 14 generations.

The final section includes an additional woman (Mary, mother of Jesus) and an additional omission (the name of a human father for Jesus). Here Matthew highlights again God’s grace in the selection of Mary to give birth to the Savior, while subtly establishing that Jesus was conceived not by a human couple but by the Spirit of God.

As adoptees into the family of God through Jesus Christ, we accept Matthew’s genealogy as our family tree. Like the four unexpected additions in the first section, we are flawed outsiders who nonetheless are given an important place. In the four omissions of the second section we are cautioned to live lives that reflect our privileged status as God’s adopted children. In the third section we are introduced to the means of adoption, our one and only Savior.
And you thought it was just a list of names…