and Bethsheba. There were question marks about all of them. In this way our Lord identified Himself in a real way with humanity. Matthew is very careful never to call Joseph the father of Jesus. He only recognizes him as Jesus’ legal father because he was Mary’s legal husband. JeSus’ right to rule was based upon Joseph’s genealogy. This is why David is here established in the line of descendants. One interesting point is that if Joseph had been Jesus’ father in the flesh, Christ would have been dis qualified to be king because of one Jechonias given in the lineage. We see in Jeremiah 22:80 that a curse had been placed on this individual by God and he was disqualified, as well as his descendants, from sitting upon the throne of Israel. Here we can see the unfolding of the miracle of the virgin birth. Luke traces the background of Mary. Notice that Joseph’s father is listed as both Jacob (Matt. 1:16) and as Heli (Luke 3:23). This ap parent contradiction is resolved when we realize that Luke is using the word son in the sense of being son- in-law. This was a practice not un common among Jewish people. Mary was also a descendant of David and Abraham. In this way Jesus is doub ly qualified genealogically to hold David’s throne. The silence of other New Testa ment writers on the subject of the virgin birth indicates that it was taken for granted in the days of the early church. Joseph had learned about Mary’s condition after his en gagement to her, but before the mar riage took place, according to Mat thew 1:18. The engagement of a Jewish couple was a sacred and bind ing ceremony, although the couple didn’t immediately live together as man and wife. Such an engagement could only be broken by divorce. Any 16
violation of personal purity was also considered to be adultery. Joseph could have made his wife a public example, or he could have defamed her. The latter might result in her being stoned as an adulteress. Because he was a good and just man, he thought of putting her away pri vately. This was until the angel of the Lord revealed God’s blessed truth to him. Joseph learned how God was to work out His redemptive purposes through the Son that would be bom of his wife to be. God works things out with a de liberate purpose of fulfilling the pre dictions of His word. Consider Isaiah 7 :14 concerning the conception of the virgin. The prophet wasn’t talking simply about a young woman. What would be unusual about this? The Hebrew word translated here re quires the use of the word virgin. In the first chapter of Matthew, the Saviour is given three names: first, Jesus, which emphasizes His redemptive work; second, Christ which emphasizes His position and title as Messiah; third, Emmanuel which means “God with us” declar ing His full deity. What was the significance in Mat thew 2:1-12 of the wise men’s visit? Bethlehem was a mere hamlet about six miles south of Jerusalem. It was the birthplace of David, accounting for the fact that Jesus was bom there (Luke 2:3-6). Herod had been on the throne since 4 B.C. He was appointed by the Roman senate. As a very aggressive ruler, he was utter ly unprincipled. He had an insanely jealous disposition. The Jews cordial ly hated him. An old man at the time of Jesus’ birth, he died very soon afterward (Matt. 2:15), These men who came out of the distant East are said to have been kings. One popular conception is that there were three of them, based on the number of gifts given. Some feel
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