2022 Lenten Bible Study - Session 1 (Week 2)

The genealogy according to Matthew, couched in a Jewish understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures is a threefold set of fourteen generations. Matthew moves from Abraham to David (takes a breather), then moves from David to the Babylonian Exile (takes a breather) then from the exile to Jesus.

• He said give me my cane
  He said give me my hat
  The time has come
  To begin the begat
  
  The begat
  The begat
  
  So they begat Caine
  And they begat Abel
  Who begat the rabble
  At the Tower of Babel— 

                      Finian’s Rainbow

This gematria—a Jewish form of numerology—emphasizes the importance of scriptural history as a series of three subsets of fourteen (14 is a multiple of 7, a sacred number). This is used to emphasize that the time is right for a Messiah to appear.

An interesting aspect of this genealogy is that it includes the names of five women. The inclusion of women in Jesus’ family tree is very unexpected in a Jewish genealogy because lineage is through the father and not the mother. This fits well with Matthew’s intention that the reader is to expect the unexpected—a developing theme of tension between tradition and newness.

Let’s not try to compare this with Luke’s genealogy as he is not interested in the Jewish genealogical progressions that occur in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The simple point of Matthew’s genealogy is that Jesus is a descendant of David and of Messianic lineage. His readers would have understood his intent very readily—not so much 20th century Christians.

Moving on from the ‘begats’, Matthew begins to detail how the Messiah came to be: enter Mary and Joseph and in very Jewish terms.

In ancient times a marriage was more a civil contract than a religious ritual and definitely not a sacrament. It was frequently an arranged marriage by family patriarchs or at least between a patriarch and a young man. The betrothal—not to be confused with a modern day engagement between fiancées—was in part a financial agreement that once fulfilled, the property (in this case, Mary) was transferred to the young man and the couple were then married. 

If the property were to become damaged before the marriage, the contract could be declared null and void by the young man, Joseph. Although the law permitted for Mary to be put to death (under certain circumstances), it is unclear as to whether or not this penalty was often imposed in first century Palestine. 

• Oh Mary, wrapped up in glory
  What are you going to tell your groom
  How's he going to feel on the day of your wedding
  What will your friends assume 
• Oh, but Joseph and Mary were married
  The angels carried the news…
• [Wedding Song, Arlo Guthrie]

Nevertheless, an angel communicates to Joseph in a dream his role in God’s plan. With the angel and dream, Matthew would be reminding his readers of the ancient Jewish and biblical tradition of how God sent a message.

He also introduces the first ‘fulfillment quotation’ formula that Matthew employs throughout his gospel. It is usually a loose phrasing of a scriptural passage that Jewish readers would quickly remember. Again, Matthew is connecting dotted lines of Hebrew scripture to a messianic Jesus.

Then, in very Jewish tradition, Joseph—in fulfillment of the cited scripture—names Jesus. Matthew is continuing to underscore the Davidic lineage of Jesus.

 If chapter one primarily deals with answering the question of who is Jesus, then chapter two focuses on the “where” it all happened.

•  Did you know? Matthew and Luke are writing for different audiences and it is somewhat disingenuous to attempt to make the stories the same.

While reading this portion of Matthew, please try to set aside any understanding of the “Christmas Story” you might have tucked away in your memory. The “Christmas Story” the Church celebrates each December is primarily a harmonization of events recorded by Luke and Matthew. 

With this in mind, let’s look a little more closely at just Matthew’s Jewish version “where” it all happened.

For Matthew it is assumed that Joseph—and Mary—were residents of Bethlehem. This is important for him, again, because it was the City of David and further solidifies Jesus as a descendant of David and a rightful messiah. Unlike Luke who has to explain how Jesus of Nazareth gets to be born in Bethlehem, Matthew simply accepts that Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown and later explains how Jesus get to Nazareth.

Matthew does not mention an inn or stable, simply a “house” is where the Magi find him. This does not necessarily contradict Luke’s manger scene, but neither does it substantiate it. A crèche-scene would not advance Matthew’s purpose at this point: the Moses analogy.

 In getting Jesus ultimately to Nazareth from Bethlehem, Matthew describes events that present Jesus as a prototype of Moses—a Jesus-Moses figure. In this story, the Magi play two roles: a means of introducing Herod as a Pharaoh-type figure and a means for gentile inclusion.

• Did you know? Nazareth was an insignificant agricultural village near the Via Maris, the main trade route linking Egypt and points North.

1) The near-death event at the birth of Moses, his fleeing the wrath of Pharaoh, as well as his return to Egypt as a means of salvation for the Jews in Egypt was well-known. Although the sequence of events for the Holy Family are slightly different—fleeing to Egypt then returning to Israel—Matthew’s audience would not have missed the intended connection.

Although the slaughter of the innocents is not verifiable with any historical evidence, it is clearly a means for Matthew to further unite the Hebrew scriptures and in particular Moses with the birth of the Messiah.

2) The Magi, however, are not merely an instrument of introducing a reason for Jesus to go to Egypt. The Magi also prefigure the gentiles who are a part of Matthew’s community—he’s writing to Jews living in a gentile location.

Once again, Joseph, as well as the Magi, are directed by dreams—again reminiscent of events in the Hebrew scriptures—coupled with two ‘fulfillment quotations’: “Out of Egypt, I called my son.” [2:15] and “A voice was heard in Ramah …” [2:17, 18].

Speaking of ‘fulfillment quotations' there is one more in this section—sort of. “And he went and dwelt in the city called Nazareth so that what was said through the prophets might be fulfilled: ‘He will be called a Nazorean (Nazarene?).[2:23].”

Although Matthew's ‘fulfillment quotations’ aren’t necessarily direct quotes from the Hebrew scriptures, I would point out that Nazareth is never mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures. Nevertheless, even though no prophet spoke these specific words, both Isaiah and Jeremiah speak of the “branch of Jesse.” Jesse was David’s father.

The word ‘Nazorean—Nazarene’ has three possible derivations: 1) simply from a placed named Nazareth; 2) from the Hebrew word nãzîr, meaning one devoted to God; and, 3) from the Hebrew word neser, meaning branch.

The role of John, the Baptist has very specific purposes for Matthew: 1) to link the scriptural past to current events, 2) as a means of introducing Jesus' eventual nemeses, the Sadducees and Pharisees, and 3) to establish a premise that Jesus will be an eschatological ‘judge’.

1) John is described in terms that would identify his character with Elijah, the herald of the in-breaking of the messianic age. This is done through one of Matthew’s ‘fulfillment quotations’: “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 3:3).”

2) As for the introduction of Jesus’ rivals—Sadducees and Pharisees—John is used to put them in their place: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (3:7-10).’”

Matthew is concerned with the ‘pharisaic movement’ that was developing after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Although the Pharisees had been around since the 2nd century B.C.E., with the disappearance of the Sadducees and their base of operation—the temple—in 70 C.E., the importance of the role of the Pharisees grew.

For Matthew, Jesus’ very being—life, ministry, and teachings—are to be seen as the paramount interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Despite Matthew’s continual condemnation of the Sadducees and Pharisees, we must not confuse them with all Jews. Matthew is not anti-Semitic, just anti-pharisaic.

3) John is indicating (“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 3:11-12) that Jesus is the introduction of an eschatological era—in Jewish terms, the Messianic Age—as Jesus will be the one who decides for God (With God? As God?) who is worthy of deliverance.

For Matthew, the significance of Jesus’ baptism isn’t related to purification rites or the such but rather the moment Jesus is made manifest as he rises from the water. “...Jesus emerged immediately from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit (pneuma) of God, descending dove-like, coming upon him. This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well please. (3:16-17)”. 

Matthew understands the “opening of the heavens” as a path to God being revealed.”

The closing phrase—This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased—is jam-packed with Hebraisms. 

My son was a familiar Davidic passage from Psalms (I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my son, today I have begotten you.” Ps. 2:7). The beloved is very reminiscent of a description of Isaac when God was speaking to Abraham (He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Genesis 22:2). With whom I am well pleased is evocative of a passage from Isaiah identifying a Servant of God ( Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. Is 42:1).

In the infancy narrative (Chapter 1) Matthew identifies Jesus as a descendant of Abraham and David. With the Bethlehem scenario (Chapter 2), Matthew identifies him with Moses. Then in the John, the Baptist scenario (Chapter 3), Jesus is revealed as Son of God (with Davidic overtones), an Isaac-figure, and God’s servant.

Don't forget - your questions will always be the start of the next session. Keep those comments and questions coming in!