Chapter One - Quick Notes and Facts

• The geneology in Matthew puts Jesus squarely in the Jewish tradition. It begins with Abraham, the patriarch and first believer in the one God. There are fourteen patriarchs, fourteen kings of Israel (putting Jesus in the line of King David) and fourteen “unknowns.”


• There are also four women mentioned other than Mary. All have something “wrong” with them. They include a deceiver in the name of justice (Tamar in Genesis 38), a prostitute (Rahab in Joshua 2), a foreigner (Ruth), and an adulteress, (Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah in 2 Samuel 11).


• Betrothed couples were allowed in Jewish culture to have sexual relations before the formal wedding. Joseph knew, however, that since he could not be the father of Mary’s child, to denounce her would make her liable to death by stoning, or at least, disgrace.


• Compare the story of Joseph in Genesis to this Joseph. There seems to be a deliberate attempt by the author to evoke the story of the first Joseph. His dreams lead to the story of the Exodus, and the deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The dream of the New Testament Joseph also points to salvation. (The baby's name is announced, and is significant, for one thing.)


• The name “Jesus” is really the Hebrew “Joshua.” (Jesus is the Latin equivalent.) It would have been pronounced Y’shua. It means "God saves".