In this episode, we will look at a subtle theological message that Matthew intended for his Jewish audience. The message was about the conflict that existed between two sons of the patriarch Jacob: Joseph and Judah. The broken relationship that existed between these two brothers was healed when Joseph saved his brother Judah and the rest of his family in Egypt – Joseph the son of Jacob, a dreamer of dreams saved Judah and the future kings of Israel. Although a primary themes of the Hebrew Scriptures interact with the theme of the strained relationship of the descendants of Judah and the descendants of Joseph, we see in Matthew chapter two that Joseph is the protector of the promised seed of Judah (Gen. 49).

At the close of Matthew’s genealogy in chapter 1, we see that Joseph’s fathers name is Jacob. Jesus’ forefather was Judah. Joseph the father of Jesus was also a dreamer of dreams. His dreams saved the son of David (son of Judah), Jesus, from certain death at the hands of Herod by taking him to Egypt. This tight connection in names and actions, Jesus of the lineage of Judah and Joseph the son of Jacob, and the dreams that saved them both by way of Egyptian exile, would have brought Matthew’s Jewish hearers to attention.

Matthew’s theological point is that if Joseph and Judah can be reconciled in the child, Immanuel, then any estranged relationship can be healed.

In this episode, we will look at the royal genealogy of Jesus the Messiah. Abraham, David and Jesus Christ become the recurring words used throughout Matthew’s first chapter. We will discover that these names will recur throughout his gospel and will underscore the theme Matthew established in chapter one, that is, that all the promises made to Abraham and David were fulfilled in Jesus.

Surprisingly, we will read about four of his grandmothers of non-Israelite descent. All of which were later praised by jewish and christian theologians for realizing and acting on God’s will, while at the time bearing a communal stigma of sexual misconduct. Matthew reminds his readers of the background of these well-known women because of the faith Jesus’ mother had when she accepted the will of God for her life and because of the stigma she bore in relation to the nature of his birth. Matthew emphasizes the foreign influence into the line of Jesus so that he can later introduce the idea that foreigners would be fully embraced within the kingdom of God.