Matthew 1

Introduction

Matthew opens his Gospel not with a narrative scene but with a genealogy — a bold literary choice that immediately signals his purpose: to demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah of Israel, the rightful heir to David's throne and the fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham. For a Jewish audience steeped in the Scriptures, a genealogy was not merely a list of names but a theological argument. By tracing Jesus' lineage through the royal line of David, Matthew establishes from the very first verse that this is no ordinary birth story — it is the culmination of centuries of divine promise.

The chapter divides naturally into two halves. The genealogy (vv. 1-17) traces three epochs of Israel's history — from Abraham to David, from David to the Babylonian exile, and from the exile to Christ — arranged in three sets of fourteen generations. The birth narrative (vv. 18-25) then tells how the final link in that chain came about: not through natural descent but through the Holy Spirit, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that a virgin would conceive and bear a son called Immanuel, "God with us." Joseph, a righteous man, becomes the legal father who names the child Jesus and thereby grafts Him into the Davidic line.

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ (vv. 1-17)

Notes

The opening phrase Βίβλος γενέσεως ("book of origin" or "record of genealogy") deliberately echoes the language of Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 5:1 in the Septuagint, where the same phrase introduces the account of creation and the genealogy of Adam. Matthew is signaling that Jesus' arrival marks a new creation, a new beginning for the human story. The word γένεσις can mean "origin," "birth," or "genealogy," and Matthew plays on all three senses — this chapter is about Jesus' lineage (vv. 1-17) and His birth (vv. 18-25).

The title Χριστός ("Christ") is not a surname but a title meaning "Anointed One," translating the Hebrew Mashiach (Messiah). In the Old Testament, kings and priests were anointed with oil as a sign of God's commissioning (see 1 Samuel 16:13, Exodus 29:7). By placing "Christ" in the very first verse alongside "son of David" and "son of Abraham," Matthew makes his thesis statement: Jesus is the anointed king promised to David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) and the offspring through whom all nations would be blessed, as promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:3, Genesis 22:18).

The verb ἐγέννησεν ("fathered" or "begat"), from the root γεννάω, appears over thirty-nine times in the genealogy, creating a rhythmic, almost liturgical repetition. It is an active verb — "X fathered Y" — emphasizing the continuity of the male line of descent. But this pattern is strikingly broken in verse 16: Matthew does not write "Joseph fathered Jesus" but rather "Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus." The verb shifts from active (ἐγέννησεν) to passive (ἐγεννήθη), "was born"), and the relative pronoun ἧς is feminine singular, referring to Mary alone. The grammatical shift is deliberate: it preserves Joseph's legal paternity (through whom Jesus inherits the Davidic line) while making clear that Jesus' biological origin is not from Joseph.

Matthew's genealogy includes four women before Mary — an unusual feature in ancient Jewish genealogies, which typically traced only the male line. The four women are Tamar (Genesis 38:6-30), who posed as a prostitute to secure offspring from Judah; Rahab (Joshua 2:1-21), a Canaanite prostitute in Jericho; Ruth (Ruth 1:4), a Moabite foreigner; and Bathsheba, identified not by name but as "the wife of Uriah" (2 Samuel 11:3), highlighting David's adultery. Each of these women was either a Gentile, involved in an irregular union, or both. Their inclusion foreshadows two themes central to Matthew's Gospel: that God's plan of salvation encompasses those outside the expected boundaries of Israel, and that God works through unexpected — even scandalous — circumstances. Mary's own situation, pregnant before marriage, fits this pattern perfectly.

The genealogy is structured into three groups of fourteen generations, which Matthew explicitly notes in verse 17. The number fourteen is likely significant because the Hebrew letters of David's name (דוד) have the numerical value of 4 + 6 + 4 = 14. This makes the genealogy itself a kind of argument: the entire history of Israel, from Abraham to the exile to the present, moves in Davidic cycles toward the ultimate Son of David. To achieve the neat pattern of three fourteens, Matthew omits certain kings known from the Old Testament records (Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah between Joram and Uzziah — compare 1 Chronicles 3:11-12). Such selective genealogies were common in Jewish practice; the goal was theological and literary, not exhaustive record-keeping.

The word μετοικεσία ("deportation" or "exile") appears four times in verses 11-12 and 17, more than anywhere else in the New Testament. It literally means "a change of dwelling" and refers to the Babylonian exile of 586 BC, the defining catastrophe of Old Testament history. By structuring the genealogy around this event, Matthew presents Israel's history as a story of promise (Abraham to David), decline (David to exile), and hope (exile to Christ). The Messiah arrives at the lowest point of the arc — when Israel has no king, no independence, and no temple — which is precisely when God fulfills His promise.

The Birth of Jesus Christ (vv. 18-25)

Notes

The word γένεσις returns in verse 18, now clearly meaning "birth" rather than "genealogy" — the same word carrying both senses within a single chapter. Some manuscripts read γέννησις ("begetting") instead; the textual variant is ancient, but the better-attested reading is γένεσις, which maintains the literary connection to verse 1.

The term μνηστευθείσης ("having been pledged" or "betrothed"), from μνηστεύω, describes the first stage of a Jewish marriage. Betrothal was far more binding than a modern engagement — it was a legally recognized union that could only be dissolved by formal divorce, though the couple did not yet live together or consummate the marriage. This is why Joseph is already called Mary's "husband" (ἀνήρ) and why he considers "divorce" (ἀπολῦσαι) even though they have not yet come together. The phrase "before they came together" (πρὶν ἢ συνελθεῖν αὐτούς) is a euphemism for sexual union.

Joseph is described as δίκαιος — "righteous" or "just." This is one of the most important moral terms in the Greek Bible, used of those who live faithfully according to God's law. Joseph's righteousness is shown not in harsh enforcement of the law (which would have permitted public exposure and potentially stoning under Deuteronomy 22:23-24) but in his merciful application of it. He seeks to uphold the law's demand for justice while sparing Mary from disgrace. This combination of justice and mercy anticipates a major theme of Matthew's Gospel: true righteousness exceeds mere legal compliance (see Matthew 5:20).

The angel addresses Joseph as "son of David" — the only place in the New Testament where anyone other than Jesus receives this title. The address serves a crucial narrative purpose: it reminds Joseph (and the reader) that it is through Joseph's Davidic lineage that Jesus will inherit the legal right to the throne. By obeying the angel and taking Mary as his wife and naming the child, Joseph performs the legal act of adoption that places Jesus in the line of David.

The name Ἰησοῦς ("Jesus") is the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ), a shortened form of Yehoshua (Joshua), meaning "Yahweh saves" or "the LORD is salvation." The angel's explanation — "for he will save his people from their sins" — is an etymology of the name itself. This is the first indication in Matthew that Jesus' messianic mission is not primarily political (liberating Israel from Rome) but spiritual (liberating His people from sin). The phrase "his people" (τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ) is striking: it is language normally reserved for God's people, suggesting that Jesus stands in God's own position toward Israel.

Matthew's first fulfillment quotation (vv. 22-23) cites Isaiah 7:14, introducing the formula that will recur throughout the Gospel: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet." The Hebrew word in Isaiah is עַלְמָה, which means "young woman of marriageable age." The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament, widely used in the first century) translated this as παρθένος, which specifically means "virgin." Matthew follows the Septuagint's reading, and the narrative makes clear that Mary's conception was without a human father — "from the Holy Spirit" is stated twice (vv. 18, 20). The dual sense is important: Isaiah's original prophecy referred to a young woman in Ahaz's time, but Matthew sees in it a deeper, typological fulfillment in the virgin birth of the Messiah.

The name Ἐμμανουήλ ("Immanuel") means "God with us" — a theme that bookends the entire Gospel. Matthew opens with "God with us" and closes with Jesus' promise in Matthew 28:20: "I am with you always, to the end of the age." This inclusio (literary bracket) frames the entire Gospel as a demonstration that in Jesus, God is present with His people in a new and definitive way.

Verse 25 notes that Joseph "did not know her" (οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν αὐτήν) until she gave birth. The verb γινώσκω ("to know") is used here in the biblical sense of sexual intimacy, following the Hebrew idiom (see Genesis 4:1). The word "until" (ἕως) indicates that the period of abstinence had a boundary, though Matthew's concern here is solely to affirm that Jesus' conception was virginal — the question of what happened afterward is not his focus. The chapter closes with Joseph naming the child, completing the legal adoption and fulfilling the angel's command.