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Verse 1: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." In the beginning of this chapter, in the first verse, Jesus Christ is mentioned. This corresponds to the last verse of Revelation (Rev. 22:21). Furthermore, the phrase rendered "the book of the generation" is used only once, here, in the New Testament. It is also mentioned only once in the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, in Genesis 5:1, "the book of the generations of Adam." (The Septuagint Version was the version read by the Lord while He was on this earth.) One is the book of the generations of the first Adam, whereas the other is of the last Adam. The two are in contrast to each other.
"The son of David." In this book the Lord is called by this title a total of nine times: in 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9; 22:42, 45. From Adam to the Lord Jesus there were a total of seventy-five generations (see Luke 3:23-38, in which the name of Cainan is recorded twice).
Why does the chapter begin not by mentioning the son of Adam, of Isaac, or of Jacob, but, rather, by singling out two names, David and Abraham? This shows that this book has two lines. One is the line of the son of David, the line of prophets; the other is the line of the son of Abraham, the line of priests. By this we know that the Lord fulfilled these two functions. The son of David refers to Solomon. To say that the Lord was the son of David is to say that He would be Solomon. In his lifetime Solomon did two particular things. One was that he spoke the word of wisdom, and the other was that he built the temple. The Lord is greater than Solomon; as a prophet, He sent forth the Holy Spirit and built the spiritual temple. The Lord's being the son of Abraham means that He was to be Isaac. In his lifetime Isaac had two characteristics: he was offered on the altar, and he married Rebecca, a Gentile woman. The Lord was offered in His death and resurrection, and He also married the Gentiles and brought forth the church.
The genealogy of a man begins with the descendants and goes back to the ancestors, whereas the genealogy of a king begins with a king and comes down to the descendants. The genealogy recorded in Luke traces back to the ancestors, whereas the genealogy recorded in Matthew follows the generations in succession.
Verses 2-6: Here four women are mentioned. The purpose is to show that the Lord is related not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:6). Jesus did not come to call the righteous; He came to be the Savior of all. In the Old Testament the names of women and of Gentiles were never included in the genealogies. However, this time not only were four women mentioned, but they were all Gentile sinners.
Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law; she committed incest. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. Ruth was a Moabitess. In Deuteronomy 23:3 the Moabites were forbidden from entering the assembly of Jehovah, even to the tenth generation. Bathsheba was not mentioned by name but was referred to as "the wife of Uriah" (2 Sam. 11:3). This is to inform people as to what kind of person she was. From this it can be seen that, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, all have a share in Christ.
In the whole Bible man is used to signify the aspect of doctrine, the objective aspect, and woman is used to signify the aspect of experience, the subjective aspect. Examples are Solomon and the Shulamite virgin in the Song of Songs.
Although this chapter mentions fourteen kings, only David was definitely designated as "the king," for he was a man according to God's heart.
Verses 7-9: Compare this section with 1 Chronicles 3:11-12. The names of Ahaziah (2 Chron. 22:2-5, 9), Joash (2 Chron. 24:25), and Amaziah (2 Chron. 25:14-16, 27) were recorded in 1 Chronicles but omitted in Matthew 1. They were left out by Matthew because they (1) were born of Jezebel, (2) did evil, and (3) did not die a natural death. God punished such people until the third and fourth generation. They did not deserve to be kings; therefore, Matthew did not record their names.
Verses 10-12: Here the name of Jehoiakim (2 Chron. 36:4; 2 Kings 23:34-35) is missing, though it is found in 1 Chronicles 3:15-19. Jehoiakim was made king by Pharaoh king of Egypt, not by God. Moreover, he heavily taxed the people that he might please Pharaoh, and he also worshipped idols. Therefore, his name was struck from the King's genealogy. Uzziah in Matthew 1:8 is Azariah in 2 Kings 15:1-3, 13. Matthew 1:12 says, "Salathiel begot Zerubbabel." However, 1 Chronicles 3:17-19 says that Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah. This is because Salathiel died at an early age, and according to the custom at that time (Deut. 25:5-6), his brother Pedaiah might have married his wife and begot a son, Zerubbabel. Or, it might have been that Zerubbabel, the son of Pedaiah, was made the son of Salathiel.
Verse 12: "Jeconiah begot Salathiel." However, according to Jeremiah 22:24-30, none of Jeconiah's descendants would sit on the throne of David. Although Joseph was a descendant of Jeconiah, the Lord was not Joseph's son. This is God's marvelous doing.
Verses 13-16: In verse 16 the genealogy turns to read "Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ." Thus, the difficulty mentioned above is solved.
Verse 17: The genealogy of Christ has a total of forty-two generations. Forty-two is the number for the experiencing of sufferings. It is different from forty, which is the number for trials only and does not necessarily involve sufferings. After the number forty-two is concluded, the millennium will come, a time for rest. Revelation mentions forty-two months. Numbers 33 has a record of forty-two stations, and the forty-third station was Canaan. Once the number forty-two is passed, Christ comes, and there is eternal rest. Three times fourteen generations is forty-two generations. But when one counts the generations recorded in chapter one, there are only forty-one generations. This is because David was the last of the first fourteen generations and also the first of the second fourteen generations. Therefore, there were forty-one generations.
Verse 19: "Joseph...being righteous." A righteous person is both just and kind. Joseph was just; hence, he had to divorce such a woman. He was also kind; thus, he was not willing to disgrace her openly but intended to divorce her secretly. As a righteous person, Joseph was both just and kind.
Verse 20: "While he pondered these things." Joseph's pondering afforded God an opportunity to speak to him and to lead him.
Verse 21: Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua. It may be rendered "Jehovah the Savior" or "Jehovah saves." (Je is Jehovah, and sus means "salvation.")
Verse 23: Emmanuel means "God with us." It is not "God is present among us" [the rendering in the Chinese Union Version]. "God with us" is broader in meaning than "God is present among us." In Hebrew, whenever a name has "el" in it (for example, Daniel, Israel, and Eli), it always means something related to "God."
King David typifies the Lord Jesus as King: (1) the king established by God, (2) the warring king, and (3) the king despised and rejected by men.
