The King's Legal Papers: A Genealogy of Grace
Introduction: History is His Story
We live in an age that despises roots. Modern man wants to be an autonomous individual, a self-made man, a creature of pure will, unencumbered by the past. He wants to invent his own identity, his own morality, his own reality. And so, when he comes to the first chapter of the New Testament, he sees a long list of names, a tedious genealogy, and his eyes glaze over. He thinks this is just dusty, irrelevant data, the sort of thing you skip over to get to the "real story."
But this is the height of folly, because this genealogy is the real story. It is the story of everything. This is not a dry list of begats. This is the legal paperwork for the coronation of a king. This is God, in meticulous detail, laying out the historical, legal, and covenantal claim of Jesus Christ to the throne of David and, by extension, to the throne of the entire world. Matthew is not just giving us a family tree; he is giving us a title deed. He is declaring that history is not a random series of disconnected events. History has a plot, a purpose, and a protagonist, and His name is Jesus.
This genealogy is a frontal assault on our modern, individualistic sensibilities. It tells us that we are not our own. We are part of a story that began long before we were born and will continue long after we are gone. It anchors the gospel in the bedrock of historical fact. This is not a myth, not a legend, not a spiritual feeling. These were real people, with real lives, real sins, and real struggles, and through them, God was weaving His great tapestry of redemption. To skip this chapter is to try to understand the king while throwing away his credentials. It is to desire a savior who is not grounded in the gritty reality of our own world. But the God of the Bible is the God of history, and this is His story.
The Text
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. And Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron was the father of Ram. And Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon was the father of Salmon. And Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. And Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam was the father of Abijah, and Abijah was the father of Asa. And Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram, and Joram was the father of Uzziah. And Uzziah was the father of Jotham, and Jotham was the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh was the father of Amon, and Amon was the father of Josiah. And Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, and Abihud was the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim was the father of Azor. And Azor was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Achim, and Achim was the father of Eliud. And Eliud was the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar was the father of Matthan, and Matthan was the father of Jacob. And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.
(Matthew 1:1-17 LSB)
The Royal Summons (v. 1)
Matthew begins with a title that is a thunderclap.
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matthew 1:1)
The phrase "book of the genealogy" is, in the Greek, biblos geneseos. This is a direct echo of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1, "the book of the generations." Matthew is telling us from the very first line that he is writing a new Genesis. This is the story of the new creation, the beginning of the world as it was always meant to be. This is not just another chapter in human history; it is the chapter that redefines all the others.
His name is Jesus, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua, meaning "Yahweh saves." His title is Christ, the Greek for Messiah, meaning "the Anointed One." His name is His mission, and His title is His office. He is the saving King.
And Matthew immediately establishes His legal credentials by linking Him to the two great covenant heads of Israel: David and Abraham. Why this order? Because Matthew is writing primarily to a Jewish audience, and for them, the most immediate and burning question was the throne of David. Where is our king? Matthew answers: He is here. He is the Son of David, the fulfillment of the promise of an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7). But he is also the Son of Abraham, the fulfillment of the older and broader promise to bless all the nations of the earth (Genesis 12). This is a Jewish king, yes, but His kingdom will swallow the world.
A Scandalous Grace (vv. 2-6a)
As the list unfolds from Abraham to David, we see the establishment of the covenant line. But Matthew, guided by the Holy Spirit, does something highly unusual for a Jewish genealogy. He includes women. And not just any women. He includes four Old Testament women, and every single one of them is scandalous.
First, there is Tamar (v. 3). She was a Canaanite who posed as a prostitute to trick her father-in-law, Judah, into fulfilling his covenantal duty to her. This is not a neat and tidy story. It is a story of deception and moral ambiguity, yet God used her righteous cunning to preserve the line from which the Messiah would come.
Second, there is Rahab (v. 5). She was a Canaanite prostitute in Jericho, a gentile, an outcast. Yet by her faith, she was saved from destruction and grafted into the very lineage of the King. The blood of a pagan harlot flows in the veins of the Son of God.
Third, there is Ruth (v. 5). She was a Moabitess, a member of a nation that was under a divine curse, forbidden from entering the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). Yet through her covenant loyalty, she became the great-grandmother of King David himself.
Why does Matthew highlight these women? He is shouting grace from the rooftops. He is telling us from the outset that the kingdom of God is not for the righteous, the pure-blooded, or the morally pristine. It is for the outsider, the sinner, the gentile, the one with a messy backstory. The grace of God is not tidied up by our respectability; it crashes right into the middle of our sin and shame and redeems it. If God can bring His perfect Son through a line of such scandalous grace, then there is hope for every one of us.
A Stained Throne (v. 6b-11)
The first section of the genealogy culminates in its high point: "Jesse was the father of David the king." But no sooner has Matthew reached this peak than he immediately introduces the great stain on David's reign.
"And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah." (Matthew 1:6b)
He does not even name Bathsheba. He identifies her by her relationship to the man David murdered. This is a deliberate and brutal honesty. Matthew wants us to see that the golden age of Israel's kingdom was founded on adultery and bloodshed. The throne that Jesus inherits is a stained throne. The line of promise is a line of profound sinfulness.
From this point, the list of kings is largely a story of decline. There are a few good kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, but they are exceptions in a long, sad parade of idolaters and rebels. This section of the genealogy traces the downward spiral of Israel's unfaithfulness, which culminates in the ultimate covenant curse: the deportation to Babylon. The line of David is dethroned, the kingdom is shattered, and the people are exiled. The promise appears to have failed completely.
A Hidden Faithfulness (vv. 12-16)
The third section of the genealogy, after the deportation, is a list of names shrouded in obscurity. These are not kings. They are not famous men. They are the descendants of a deposed king, living under foreign occupation. The royal line has gone underground. To the world, the promise to David was dead and buried.
But God is faithful. In the quiet and the darkness, when no one was watching, God was preserving the line. He was working His plan through ordinary, unknown people. This is a profound encouragement. God's greatest works are often done in secret, far from the halls of power and the glare of public attention.
This section builds to the stunning climax in verse 16:
"And Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ." (Matthew 1:16)
Notice the careful, precise grammar. The entire list has been "A was the father of B." But here, the pattern breaks. Joseph is the husband of Mary, not the father of Jesus. The Greek for "by whom" is a feminine singular pronoun, referring only to Mary. Matthew is clearly and unequivocally testifying to the virgin birth. Jesus is the legal son of David through Joseph's line, inheriting the legal right to the throne. But He is the physical Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He enters the line of sinful humanity to redeem it, but He does so without inheriting its sin nature. He is the perfect graft onto a diseased tree, bringing life from the outside.
The Divine Architect (v. 17)
Matthew concludes his list with a summary that reveals the divine structure underneath the flow of history.
"Therefore all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations." (Matthew 1:17)
Why this structure of three sets of fourteen? Matthew is a masterful teacher. In Hebrew numerology, every letter has a numerical value. The name "David" (D-V-D) adds up to fourteen (4+6+4). Matthew is structuring all of history around the name of David, shouting to his Jewish readers: DAVID, DAVID, DAVID. This entire story is about the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. Jesus is the Son of David, the King.
But the three-part structure also tells a story. The first fourteen generations represent the rise of the kingdom. The second fourteen represent the fall and exile. The third fourteen represent the restoration and fulfillment in the Messiah. It is the gospel pattern in miniature: glory, ruin, and redemption. God establishes His good purpose, man in his sin brings it to ruin, and God in His grace restores it to something even more glorious than before.
This is not a chaotic jumble of events. This is the work of a sovereign architect. God is in control of every detail, every birth, every sin, every tragedy. He is weaving it all together for His ultimate purpose: the enthronement of His Son. This genealogy is the ultimate refutation of despair. It shows us that even in the darkest times, in the long years of exile and obscurity, God is always working, always faithful, always moving history toward its appointed end in Jesus Christ.