Jesus is the Triple Double Perfect Davidic King (Matt. 1.1-17)

Scripture: Matthew 1.1-17

Translation: ^1.1The book of the lineage of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: ²Abraham fathered Isaac. And Isaac fathered Jacob. And Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. ³And Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And Perez fathered Hezron. And Hezron fathered Aram. ⁴And Aram fathered Aminadab. And Aminadab fathered Naashon. And Naashon fathered Salmon. ⁵And Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab. And Boaz fathered Jobed by Ruth. And Jobed fathered Jesse. ⁶And Jesse fathered David the King.

And David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife. ⁷And Solomon fathered Rehoboam. And Rehoboam fathered Abijah. And Abijah fathered Asaph.⁸And Asaph fathered Josaphat. And Josaphat fathered Joram. And Joram fathered Uzziah. ⁹And Uzziah fathered Jotham. And Jotham fathered Ahaz. And Ahaz fathered Hezekiah. ¹⁰And Hezekiah fathered Manasseh. And Manasseh fathered Amos. And Amos fathered Josiah. ¹¹And Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers at the exile by Babylon.

¹²And after the exile by Babylon Jechoniah fathered Salathiel. And Salathiel fathered Zerubbabel. ¹³And Zerubbabel fathered Abiud. And Abiud fathered Eliakim. And Eliakim fathered Azor. ¹⁴And Azor fathered Zadok. And Zadok fathered Achim. And Achim fathered Eliud. ¹⁵And Eliud fathered Eleazar. And Eleazar fathered Matthan. And Matthan fathered Jacob. ¹⁶And Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus, the One called ‘Messiah’ was born. ¹⁷So, all the generations from Abraham until David were 14 generations, and from David until the exile by Babylon were 14 generations, and from the exile by Babylon until the Messiah were 14 generations.

Interpretation

1.      Structure

a.       Summary Heading (v.1)

b.      Group 1: Abraham to David: 14 Generations (vv.2-6a)

c.       Group 2: Solomon to Jechoniah: 14 Generations (vv.6b-11)

d.      Group 3: Salathiel to Jesus: 14 (13) Generations (vv.12-16)

e.       Summary Conclusion (v.17)

2.      Themes

a.       14 generations

                                                              i.      As it turns out, the final group of 14 only comes up to 14 if you count Jeconiah again at the beginning. So the importance of the number 14 is what is key, the author is bending the expectations and rules to fit what he is trying to say

                                                            ii.      The number 14 is significant because it double the number of completion: 14 = 2 x 7, which is a way of saying extra perfect. The perfection probably has something to do with two parts, perfection in time (i.e. God sent the Messiah at exactly the perfect time) and perfection in Davidic lineage (i.e. Jesus really is the Davidic King, He is the perfect Davidic King)

                                                          iii.      This relates to the other significance of the number 14, the letters of the Jewish alphabet that make up David’s name, דוד, add up to the number 14, because the Hebrew alphabet was also the Hebrew numbering system: (ד = 4) + (ו = 6) + (ד = 4) = (דוד = 14). The point then is that Jesus really is in David’s family, and moreover He is the true and perfect Davidic King

                                                          iv.      This is also related to the fact that the 14 generations occur 3 times, which is another number for wholeness or perfection, so Jesus is actually triply doubly Davidic and His Birth is triply doubly Perfectly Timed

b.      Fathering

                                                              i.      The word for fathered, which when passive means was born (so including the usage of Jesus being born from Mary), was used 40x

                                                            ii.      This implies an understanding of the promise to Abraham that God would bless him and give him a huge number of descendants and use Abraham and His promise to him to bless the world

                                                          iii.      It also implies an understanding that God made that promise to David that we learned about last week

c.       Kings

                                                              i.      David marks the divider because he was the first Davidic king, but that is only important because of what we learned last week, that Yahweh made a promise to David to have one of his descendents ruling on his throne for forever

                                                            ii.      Zerubbabel is actually also a king figure, even though he is not a king himself, because he led the people back to Jerusalem at the end of the exile

d.      Women

                                                              i.      Two women related to sexual misconduct

1.      Tamar

2.      Uriah’s wife

                                                            ii.      Two Gentile women who turned from idols to worship Yahweh

1.      Rahab

2.      Ruth

e.       Names

                                                              i.      God also promised to give Abraham a famous name, and indeed He has, and given him a host of descendents with famous names

                                                            ii.      It also indicates that each named person was important for one reason or another

f.       Messiah

                                                              i.      The title appears in the heading and in the conclusion. It is the main point. God has finally sent His perfect Davidic King at the exactly perfect time

                                                            ii.      Jesus is the Messiah. This is the main theme of the book, but He is a certain kind of Messiah, He is the God-sent, Davidic King

3.      Doctrines

a.       Jesus is the Messiah

b.      God keeps His promises perfectly in every way

c.       Jesus is the Davidic King, He’s the KING!

Applications

1.      Do we trust God to keep His promises perfectly?

2.      Do we obey Jesus as King?

3.      We can have hope that Jesus our King will come the second time just like He came the first time, as the Perfect King at the Perfect Time.

4.      Do we really put all our hopes and dreams in Jesus?

5.      Is Jesus our King in every aspect of our live? Does He rule our social life? Our romantic life? Our entertainment life? Our school life? Our home life? Our church life? Our work life? Our future life? Our plans? Our dreams? Our money? Our talents? Our time? Our minds? Our emotions? Our actions?