Even Josephus was complaining of the failure in prophetic weight, and while thinking of prophets as strictly historians, he was pointing out that more recent prophetic material was not of the same caliber as the “former prophets.” (Apion, 1.41) There are suggestions, that at least immediately before the birth of Christ, prophecy has actually ceased, giving heed to an eager mind and ear of the Jewish people, readying them for the promised Messiah.

In Matthew 1, we read a fairly detailed account of the genealogy of Jesus, starting with Abraham. Unlike Luke, Matthew presents the genealogy of Christ from a completely different perspective, likely because of the audience of his gospel, the first-century Jews. Luke, for example, presents the genealogy of Jesus backwards, with only references to the fathers and males; this is all that a Gentile would be concerned with, topping off the beginning of Christ’s line with Adam, and ultimately God. Matthew on the other hand, has a diametrically opposed approach, reversing the order of the genealogy which climaxes with the arrival of Jesus. Because Jews were concerned with things other than simple genealogy, Matthew begins with the words “the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, son of Abraham.” The expression “son of David, son of Abraham” has a unique connotation to Jews. Being the son of Abraham implies that Jesus had a part in the promise made by God to Abraham, that “in your seed all the nations will be blessed.” Being the son of David, gave Jesus the unquestionable title of King of the Jews.

What is striking however, are a few points that Matthew is clearly trying to get across:

The Inclusion of brothers

Unlike Luke’s presentation, Matthew twice points out brothers as being part of the genealogy. While this is not necessary in presenting the descendants of Christ, it is however possible that Matthew has an interest in presenting God’s people as a band of brothers, or brotherhood of people that can later be translated to the Church.

Inclusion of Gentiles

There are several names that are relevant to our point. In Matthew 1:5, we read that Rahab was the mother of Boaz. Besides being a prostitute (an unimaginably wicked person under the Law), Rahab was also a Canaanite. Ruth, a Moabitess is also described as the mother of Obed, paralleled by Ruth 4:9-22, where we noticed Ruth’s association with Tamar. At last, but not least, Matthew lists Basheeba as the mother of Solomon (v. 5), but he makes sure to point out that unlike 1 Chr. 3:5, where “Bathshua” is described as “the daughter of Ammiel” she is described as being “the wife of Uriah.” By marriage to a Hittite, she has taken on the status of a Gentile, furthermore committing adultery with David. It seems as if Matthew is greatly emphasizing the importance of not only Gentiles in the genealogy of Jesus, but sinners as well.

Why this is relevant?

Today, the majority of believers put an extreme emphasis on the importance of national Israel. Many teachers actively promote the idea that Jesus came only to Jews, and He will again return at some future time to only deliver Jews from a war with the Antichrist. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 shows that Gentiles had a large part to play in the redemptive history of all mankind. Matthew’s unique presentation foreshadows the inclusion of Gentiles in the New Israel of God, and in the Church. Furthermore, the composition of Matthew 1:16 is very unique, in that Joseph is not presented as the father of Jesus. The arrival and birth of Jesus is clearly the beginning of a new generation of men, a new genealogical line, not of flesh and blood, but of spiritual origin. With God as the father, through Jesus, we can easily trace the spiritual life of each believer down to our own days!

What is even more surprising, is Matthew use of subtle numerology in 1:17. As Gundry rightly asks: “But why does Matthew divide the rest of the genealogy into two more sets of fourteen generations each, even at the cost of making several omissions? Apparently he wants to say that in Jesus the Davidic Messiah has come; for the numerical values of the Hebrew letters in the name David add up to fourteen (4+6+4). Readers limited to Greek may not have caught the point, but Matthew himself probably intended it and might well have expected Jewish addressees to understand. Otherwise the correspondence between the repetitious genealogical fourteen and David’s name seems too unlikely.” (Gundry, Commentary on Matthew) This presentation of the number of generations by Matthew puts a stake through the heart of Judaism which continues to deny the heavenly origin of Jesus, or even his existence!

Matthew’s genealogy of Christ denies the continuation of the flesh and blood genealogy so much treasured by Dispensationalists today, and it confirms the identity of Israel today: all the believers, Jews or Gentiles. This genealogy is in some sense a higher figure of speech for all mankind, to help us better understand the new makeup of God’s people.

In Acts 22, when Paul was preaching, his Jewish audience listened intently until he said “And He said to me, Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” After he said this, the crowd started screaming, and saying he should not be allowed to live. The rejection of believing Gentiles as God’s people cannot continue forever, and despite the narrow-minded approach of some of our futurist brothers, God’s word contradicts them in the least likely places.

What can be more obvious that Ephesians 2, where Paul wrote: “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”