THE MESSIAH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
This is an impressive pedigree. It demonstrates that Jesus is of the royal line of King David - and therefore qualifies to be the Messiah since he is the "son of David".
Matthew also points out a structure in the family tree: 14 generations between Abraham and David who became king around 1000 BCE, then 14 generations of Davidic kings until the Exile in Babylon in 597 BCE, then 14 more generations after the Exile bringing us up to the birth of Jesus.
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Matthew describes the birth of Jesus from his father Joseph's perspective rather than Mary's (which is described in Luke). Joseph intends to divorce Mary when he learns she is pregnant but he has a religious experience - an angel visits him in a dream - which convinces him to adopt the child as his own.
Once again, Matthew makes his point by addressing Joseph as "Joseph, son of David" - emphasizing the Joseph is of the line of David. He also connects the Virgin Birth back to a prophecy by Isaiah.
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Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel - Isaiah 7: 14
The child who is about to be born will be known as 'Emmanuel', in the sense that in later days men and women will say that, through him, God was with them - Morna Hooker
In tradition and Christmas carols, they are known as the 'Three Wise Men' or the 'Three Kings'. Tradition even gives them names: Caspar, Balthasar and Melchior. However, the Bible doesn't name them, doesn't number them to be three and they're not kings. They are 'magi', a word meaning a priest of the Persian religion specialising in astronomy and interpreting dreams. We get the moderns words 'magic' and 'magician' from the ancient magi. The magi had a reputation in the Roman Empire for weird and exotic beliefs, occult powers and ancient wisdom (a bit like the druids over at the other end of the Empire in Britain).
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The next Proof-Text links Jesus' birth in Bethlehem to the Prophet Micah's prediction that the Messiah would come from King David's home town of Bethlehem.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, |
Bethlehem in 1862
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Joseph has another prophetic dream, warning him to leave Bethlehem and take his family to Egypt - only a 40 mile trip to get outside the territory controlled by King Herod.
The family stay in Egypt until the death of King Herod - which we know was in 4 BCE because Herod was a famous person who is described in many other ancient sources.
Although the BC/AD dating system is supposed to be based on the year of Jesus' birth, Jesus cannot have been born in 1 CE because that would be AFTER the death of Herod. If any of Matthew's story is historically true, then Jesus must have been born around 7 or 6 BCE..
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When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son - Hosea 11: 1
To protect his rule against a rival king who might grow up to threaten him, King Herod orders his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and kill all the boys there under two years old.
Historically, there's no evidence for this massacre outside Matthew's Gospel. Josephus Flavius describes Herod's reign in his Antiquities of the Jews in 90 CE but never mentions this, although he describes how Herod murdered his own sons, wife and mother-in-law!
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the murder of a few infants in a small village [is] not on a scale to match the more spectacular assassinations recorded by Josephus - R.T. France
A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more - Jeremiah 31: 15
King Herod dies in 4 BCE and Joseph, Mary and Jesus return home. However, Herod's successor is his son (two or three of them survived their father's rages) and Herod Archelaus is just as bloodthirsty as his father. Joseph is advised in a dream not to return to Judea at all, but to go to Nazareth in Galilee.
Bibles usually call this final journey the "return" to Nazareth - but Matthew has never suggested that Joseph and Mary came from Nazareth in the first place. It's Luke's Gospel that describes Joseph and Mary coming from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a census, staying there long enough for Jesus to be born, then going directly home to Nazareth again. For Matthew, Joseph is a citizen of Bethlehem. So why does he go to live in Nazareth?
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A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit - Isaiah 11: 1
YES
Matthew shows that Jesus was born in Bethlehem to a family descended from King David, exactly what you'd expect from the Messiah. He only moved to Nazareth in Galilee later and all along the way the key events of his childhood match prophecies from the Old Testament.
The Proof-Texts establish Jesus' Messiah-ship, such as Isaiah's prophecy that he would be conceived by a virgin or Hosea's prophecy that he would be called out of Egypt.
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NO
Matthew's Genealogy is very flawed and may well be fictional. The Birth-Narrative contains details (like the visit of the magi) which are very improbable or (like Herod's massacre of the innocents) are not recorded in independent sources from the time.
The Old Testament prophecies have preterist interpretations that are much more obvious and plausible, such as Isaiah celebrating the birth of Prince Hezekiah to a young bride or Hosea warning about the attacking Assyrians.
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