Men in Matthew’s Genealogy: Application

Bible Study series. Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17. This list of names at first glance appears irrelevant to our lives. But a closer look reveals it is relevant.

A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.

In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!

Matthew 1

The NIV is used here, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many other translations, please go here:

bibligateway.com.

Let’s begin with the whole genealogy.

Scripture: Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17)

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

²Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,

³Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,

Perez the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

⁴Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

⁵Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse,

⁶and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

⁷Solomon the father of Rehoboam,

Rehoboam the father of Abijah,

Abijah the father of Asa,

⁸Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,

Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,

Jehoram the father of Uzziah,

⁹Uzziah the father of Jotham,

Jotham the father of Ahaz,

Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,

¹⁰Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,

Manasseh the father of Amon,

Amon the father of Josiah,

¹¹and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

¹²After the exile to Babylon:

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,

Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,

¹³Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,

Abihud the father of Eliakim,

Eliakim the father of Azor,

¹⁴Azor the father of Zadok,

Zadok the father of Akim,

Akim the father of Elihud,

¹⁵Elihud the father of Eleazar,

Eleazar the father of Matthan,

Matthan the father of Jacob,

¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

¹⁷Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

The genealogy, first, situates Jesus in the flow of God’s salvation plan from Abraham to Jesus. Matthew’s original readers two thousand years ago would spot the significance immediately and be grateful that Matthew opened his Gospel with a genealogy. Next, Jesus is the new Israel. Where ancient Israel failed, he will succeed. Further, the genealogy also proves that he is Jewish, not Arab or Palestinian. But his ethnic background is not the point here.

Jesus Called It ‘Israel’

Rather, this post is about family history, and God working through it. And then we can apply their troubles and highlights and lowlights to our own lives.

We cannot cover all the men named here, but only the most prominent ones.

For more information on the counting of fourteen generations, please go here:

Matthew 1

This post is more streamlined:

Reconciling Matthew’s and Luke’s Genealogies: Mission: Impossible?

Jesus’s Ancestry: Men

All of them were sinners, and their bad behavior is laid out for us in Scripture. Some would say that they were moral “train wrecks.” But God still used and redeemed them.

God Is Your Redeemer

The following names and events in their lives are not exhaustive. You can find more trouble and their redemption, with more research.

Here is a table of Jesus’s ancestry in Genesis. His direct line is in red font:

Source: Families in Genesis + The Messiah’s Lineage

Abraham:

Positive: He believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6). He was called the “friend of God” (2 Chron. 20:7; Jas. 2:23).

Negative: He had a child by Sarai’s slave woman, Hagar (Gen. 15:1-6); he lied to the Pharaoh about Sarai not being his wife (Gen. 12:10-20). He lied to king Abimelech about the same thing (Gen. 20).

Isaac:

Positive: He humbled himself to permit his father (almost) to sacrifice him (Gen. 22); he found a good wife (Gen. 24); he received the same promise from God as his father did (Gen. 26:1-5);

Negative: he also lied to Abimelech about his wife Rebecca (Gen. 26:6-11). He allowed himself to be tricked by his son Jacob (Gen. 27)

Jacob:

Positive: Jacob sought God (Gen. 28:10-17); he wrestled with God (32:22-32); God renames him Israel, which means “wrestle with God” of “God strives” (35:9-14).

Negative: Jacob was a deceiver and trickster. He tricked his father Isaac (Gen. 27). But he was tricked by his father-in-law Laban (Gen. 29:15-30). But then he outsmarted his father-in-law in prospering his own livestock (30:25-43). He loved Rachel more than Leah (29:30).

Now let’s skip many generations.

David:

Positive: He wrote many Psalms. He was a giant killer (1 Sam. 17). He was the exemplary king, winning many battles and seeking God. Jesus was called the son of David (Matt. 9:27; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 15; 22:42). David’s last words were poetry of praise (2 Sam. 23).

Negative: he committed adultery with Bathsheba and orchestrated the murder of his husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12). Trouble never left his family (2 Sam. 12:10-11). His son Absalom revolted (2 Sam. 17-18); he wrongly counted his army without God’s permission and brought judgment on the nation (2 Sam. 24). His son Adonijah tries to become king prematurely (1 Kings 1:1-27)

This passage states the problem:

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, … One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, ³and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (2 Sam. 11:1, 2-4, NIV)

Next, David recalled Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband) and told him to go home and sleep with his wife. Uriah said no:

¹¹Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” (2 Sam. 11:11, NIV)

David gets panicky and plots Uriah’s death:

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” (2 Sam. 11:14-15, NIV)

Now Nathan the prophet told a parable about a rich man with lots of flocks and herds, who took a poor man’s lamb to slaughter it for dinner. Nathan asked David what should be done to the rich man. David reacted. The rich man should die and pay four times the amount. Nathan now rebukes the king:

⁷Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ (2 Sam. 12:7-10, NIV)

Yet God did not withdraw his love for David. God did not cancel out David’s covenant. It is now fulfilled in his descendant, King Jesus. In Christ, the Davidic covenant lives on forever, just as the Lord had promised David.

David repented. His repentance is seen in Psalm 51.

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

³For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

………..

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Ps. 51:1-6, 10-12, ESV)

What Is Biblical Forgiveness?

How to Forgive Adultery and Fornication

Solomon:

Positive: he was the wisest of all kings, after God gave him wisdom beyond measure (1 Kings 4:29-30; 2 Kings 10:14-29). His prayer of dedication of the temple and his closing benediction were inspired and inspiring (2 Kings 8:22-61). The Lord appeared to him and promised him wisdom and wealth (2 Kings 9:1-9).

Negative: summed up in these verses: “He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (2 Kings 11:3-4, ESV). It all went downhill from there. He even built a high altar to the bloodthirsty demonic being Molek who demanded child sacrifices (2 Kings 11:7).

Each of these men experienced God’s redemption. Maybe this post will clarify what redemption is:

God Is Your Redeemer

This is a Bible study:

What Is Redemption in the Bible?

Grow App

1.. God will use anyone who lives for him. How is your Christian life with God?

2.. Have you ever genuinely repented? Tell your story.

3.. After your repentance, how has God’s forgiveness impacted your life?

4. Describe how God has redeemed your life from degradation and failure to a brand new life.

5.. If you come from a dysfunctional family, how has God set you on a healthy path? Do you consider your local church to be your new family?

9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel

1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel