The New Testament introduces itself to the reader, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mat 1:1). With that said, the Book of Matthew, written by the tax collector, Matthew, is a book of genealogy, specifically of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David and the son of Abraham.
Not revealed in the Bible, but found in extraneous sacred writings — The Book of Jasher, is that Abraham was a king without his own country. He was king of the Jews (Hebrews) in absentia, so to speak. Abraham was from Ur and God gave to Him the country of Canaan that would someday be called, “Israel”. Therefore, Israel was a “promised land” that existed only in the mind of God, and in the mind of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (It is supposed that the “real estate” existed in most people’s minds, including the Ishmaelites.) Matthew has declared that Jesus was of the rightful heir to that invisible empire!
The promised land was more than what is thought of as “Israel” but the entire Kingdom of David from the Nile to the Euphrates River in the shape of a rainbow. For some of his posterity, it would be the fertile crescent that appears on the flag of Islam.
Why would that be? Because God promised to both Jacob’s (Israel) twelve sons and Ishmael’s twelve sons the same empire. To this day, the Muslims claim the fertile crescent as their own and believe that Jews only “squat” on their territory, and Jews feel the same way about the Ishmaelites.
Just who is rightful owner and heirs of the Holy Land? Matthew thought that a significant issue to bring up in the book that he wrote.
The entire Bible is about the “Last Will and Testament of God.” The Old Testament begins with its origin and improvement, its temporary division, and its partial restoration. Matthew, when there was no king in Israel as during the ministry of Jesus, the kingdom had been divided, and he declared Jesus to be the rightful “King of the Jews” through his mother, Mary, from kings Abraham and David. He would be the king and Savior that God promised to Abraham when He covenanted with Abraham.
The Abrahamic Covenant is a covenant of three parts: 1) to make of Abraham a great nation (Gen 12:1-3), 2) to give Abraham's descendants all the land from the Nile River to the Euphrates (Gen 15:18-21), and 3) for Abraham to be the father of many nations and of many descendants, and the land would belong to his descendants (Gen 17:2-9).
The genealogy of Jesus begins with Abraham because his is the Promise. Matthew realized that Jesus was the rightful proprietor of the Kingdom of David as the seed of both King Abraham and King David.
Jesus was born in 6 B.C., as many figure. Herod died in 4 B.C. Matthew recognized, and probably said so to many because of his profession, that Jesus was “rightful heir” to King Herod and not any of Herod’s sons, sister, or even his brother. If you were Herod, what would you do? What most kings do; seek to destroy the pretender to the throne! He tried that with all pretenders, including with whom he thought was the main contender — Jesus as the son of David. (Think out that saying would intimidate the old dying king!)
Jesus did not pretend to the throne of the Kingdom of David, but to a Kingdom in another realm. Pontius Pilate was trying to establish if Jesus was in fact “king of the Jews.” Why would he care? Pilate was ex officio “king” as prelate of the Roman Empire. Only Caesar could appoint kings. Was Jesus breaking Roman Law by disrespecting Caesar? Jesus clarified who He was, “My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36).
Pretenders to the throne always fought, but that would not be the Way of Jesus, albeit it would be the way of Muhammad — the “son of Ishmael.” (Note that Judas would be the “son of Ishmael” because he was from the Ishmaelite city of Kerioth. Also note that the one to plan the murder of a king would often be the king!)
Jesus settled ownership of the Kingdom of David when Judas hung himself as so many failed pretenders often did. Although the man who would be king, and was rightful heir by the competitive Abrahamic Covenant, Jesus, the son of Abraham and David would be King in the everlasting Kingdom in heaven!
How was Judas a contender for the
inheritance of Judea? Well, there was an appendage to the Abrahamic Covenant
that many fail to notice. God added a hidden condition to the Abrahamic Covenant:
19 And God said, “Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name ‘Isaac:’ and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. (Gen 17:19-21)
One thing God failed to reveal to Abraham was that those two “great nations” were on the same property. The Abrahamic Covenant was conditional after all; it would depend on something: God would explain the conditions further to Moses because at that time, the Israelites were without land or country. Where is what you promised Lord? To Moses, God explained, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Lev 26:12). That was the condition for the real inheritance!
They had not been His people although He had been their God. When will they obtain the “land”? When God would walk among them!
Matthew began the genealogy of Jesus — the time when God would walk among them, just as He told Moses. As it turned out, over the years, the Kingdom of David has been the land of the sons of David’s but thereafter, it has always been nobody’s and everybody’s land. Proprietorship has changed hands many times, and according to the British Mandate from WWI, Israel had become everybody’s land. When WWII ended, a small part of the Davidic Kingdom became the land of “Israel” in 1948.
However, as Jesus revealed to Pilate, “Syria” (then the estate of the Romans that included Judea) was not His claim, but a Kingdom in another realm. [1]
Therefore, Matthew as tax collector determined to whom the “taxes” would go! Maybe he was thinking of the revenue that went to the Romans and the sacrifices bought to pay for the sacrifices. He was the one contracted by Caesar to decide the amount and sources of revenues.
A tax collector was chosen for a reason; he would know to whom the taxes go. As it turned out the real King of the Jews validated Matthew: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's” (Mat 22:21). Gold and silver would be given to Caesar but self-sacrifice to God! Jesus effectively ruled that Caesar was king of kings of the land of Israel but Himself the “King Of King and Lord Of Lords” of Paradise in heaven. The land would belong to whomever squatted on it, but the invisible fertile empire would belong to Himself and His adoptive children. Thusly, Jesus “executed” the terms of the Abrahamic Covenant to the “Will of God,” and it would be probated when God suffered death.
Next, thoroughly examine the key verse in expository: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” That will follow in the next commentary.
[1] I have always claimed that the land may belong to the sons of Japheth but the invisible empire to those who are Christians outwardly but Jews inwardly (Rom 2:29). While the Jews and Arabs still fight over the land, the invisible empire is available to all. If God would promise you a destroyed Paradise on Earth or a glorious Paradise in heaven, which would you choose? Both parties of the Covenant to this day choose Paradise lost.
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