Bible Study, Day One, Matthew, 1-4:
This is where it gets confusing! To whom was Jesus first linked (as in genetics
and the ancestral line?)..? The first name mentioned is David, son of Abraham, so, as far as I can understand it. The Line of Abraham carried on down through something like 42 Generations, until it came to Jacob, who begat Joseph, Jesus’ worldly (for want of a more accurate word!) father… I believe just one woman is mentioned in all this
time, though my memory could easily be inadequate to the task of remembering all these intricate family ties. That woman is Ruth. David is described, as much as I can interpret, as the last of his Generation, or the last Generation, to be born before the migration/exodus/forced re-location to Babylon. The genealogy is included and important because it demonstrates how long-awaited Jesus was… How He was so planned, and how life began and continued even without him, but how time does not, in a sense, reflect how important He was then, and is now… He is still, and was still, so relevant. Things going quiet does not mean that He is forgotten. All that time had passed quite comfortably before His arrival, and when He did come to Earth, a void was filled that we did not necessarily, as
human beings, know was there. We had not missed Him before then, and some may not miss Him now, but His arrival creates a whole different set of priorities, in the way of, He and all He brings with Him becomes so pivotal and vital… The inclusion of Abraham and David in Jesus’ family tree reinforces the importance and connection of even the most distant and vague figures of memory… Having just read the Comments section of this study, I note the inclusion of more than one woman in the genealogy that led to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. My failing is that I did not recognise some of the names listed as female!!!
DAY 2:
These kings teach us that we are all only human, that no one but God is perfect, and even he, if we are made in his reflection, can recognise that which is only human, through his son, Jesus, and so, knows how much we need him, that if we go to him, we will find our Salvation. They were shown by Matthew in his family tree to demonstrate that this is the way of human nature, and this is the way of the Lord, and shall be forever time… This was part of Matthew’s family tree to speak out as proof that (His) Salvation is possible, and will, and has, been part of all that is earthly, and so, can be part of us.
DAY THREE:
Matthew 1:12 is like a new chapter in itself, for it is the chapter of the lives of Jesus’ fore-fathers’ that brings them to Babylon. Zerubbabel was the son of the Governor of Judah, Shealtiel, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the High Priest… Now, to my minuscule mind, this causes confusion. Was Zerubbabel born to Joshua as well, Shealtiel being his wife, and a female governor of Judah (?!)… OR was Shealtiel not ONLY the Governor of Judah, but also someone serving as a High Priest for Joshua, who was the son of Josedech..??? The way I have worded it here makes it sound as though Joshua, son of Josedech, IS Zerubbabel’s father, but, in the Bible, it is worded as ‘’Zerubbabel was the son of Shealtiel, the Governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the High Priest’… Should I have looked a Matthew’s Family Tree more closely?!? The Family Tree of Matthew’s writing finishes with Jesus, because He is the one that all these Generations have been waiting for, though they may not have realised it. He is the one that gives them all purpose, and the one whom can give us all purpose still today…