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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Matt. 1
I have often wondered why Matthew said there were 14 generations from the exile to the Messiah when I only count 13 as listed. I think I found my answer this morning, which of course came with more questions. The key is in the last statement in the 14 generations from David to the exile. “…and Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.” (Matt. 1:11). When you stop to pay attention to the details, which I was prompted to do by the phrase, “and his brothers”, you realize that Jeconiah, also called Jehoiachin, was actually Josiah’s grandson, not his son. So there is the missing generation.
On realizing this, the new question becomes, “Why did Matthew write it this way?” As usual, I have no real answers, just thoughts, of which I have two. The first is that, at what would be considered the time of the exile, there were actually four different kings who sat, at least temporarily, on Judah’s throne. Two were Josiah’s sons and the other two his grandsons. Lumping these four in the phrase, “Jeconiah and his brothers” may have been Matthew’s way of dealing with the complexity of the situation in order to make his point. My other thought is that, of these four, Jeconiah was the one who received grace. He was the prisoner, freed to dine at the king’s table and elevated to a high throne. He was the one through whom God chose to continue David’s line.
Luke 2:1-38
I appreciate Luke. He recorded things in the order that they happened. Not only does it make for an easy to follow story, but it also reveals how things came together. There are so many “it just so happened” kind of circumstances in the story of Jesus’ birth; so many little things that came together just right. Every one of those things is important. They fulfill prophecies and confirm the truth of God’s promises. God’s hand, orchestrating the entire thing, is obvious to any who are open to see it.