Jesus Genealogy

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As the Old Testament prophesized in 2 Samuel, Jesus descended from King David as both Matthew and Luke portray. The beginning of Matthew presents Jesus’ genealogy from Abraham to David to Jesus and calls Jesus the “son of David,” buttressing the claim (New Revised Standard Version, Matt. 1.1). When an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, the angels refers to Joseph as the “son of David” also (Matt. 1.18). Likewise, Luke provides multiple accounts of this claim. For example, when Mary and Joseph are introduced as the future parents of Jesus, Luke identifies Joseph as coming from “the house of David” (Luke 1.27). Additionally, Luke 2:4 states, “Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called …show more content…

The first section of Mathew traces the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to Joseph. However, when the author begins to describe Jesus’ connection, Matthew transitions form a father-son description to describing Joseph as the husband of Mary who gave birth to Jesus (Matt. 1.16). According to Ehrman, the purpose of this long genealogy, which ends in no direct blood relations, is to show Jesus’ Jewish background since Joseph represents Jesus’ father. The genealogy shows that Israel’s history followed “divine providence” (Ehrman 131). Jesus is immediately called the “son of David, son of Abraham” (Matt. 1.1) to establish his connection with all the people and prove Jesus’ credentials as Messiah (Johnson 170). Every fourteen generations something significant happens to the people of Israel. They receive their greatest king, the destruction of Israel by the Babylonians, and then their salvation, Jesus Christ. Jesus’s birth fourteen generations after the event with Babylon suggested that God was going to use Jesus for something extraordinary for the Israelites (Ehrman 131). Matthew appears to connect Jesus to the Israelite’s history. This connection helps show the significance of Jesus as the messiah who has come as the greatest hope and Savior for the Jewish people. Jesus follows the Jewish Law, yet the Jewish leaders reject him, causing most other …show more content…

God is intervening to save his people through the birth of Jesus who will transform the world. Jesus is “the dawn of salvation” (Johnson 200) as shown when Zechariah praises God for “raising up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1.68-69). Additionally, the angels announce Jesus’ birth by calling him “a savior who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2.11). The purpose of Luke is to show that Jesus is bringing salvation. Although Matthew and Mark utilize this concept also, Luke uses variations of the word “saving” abundantly. Luke uses these variations seventeen times and an additional thirteen more in Acts. Luke also talks about salvation three times throughout the birth narrative. In one of these uses, Simeon is claiming that the salvation Jesus brings will serve as “a light of revelation unto the Gentiles and for the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2.29-32). Again, Luke is noting that salvation is for all of the people (Johnson

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