Matthew's Genealogy
By Liaf
Let's turn to Matthew chapter one. There's lots of names there, father-to-son starting with the patriarch Abraham and ending with Christ. Now everyone and his brother (pun intended!) knows this genealogy is meant to be father-to-son showing Jesus' lineage to King David, the tribe of Judah (Juda in the text) and Abraham. That's one neat thing about the Bible. Lots of begetting here. (You were told to stay away from naughty magazines as a kid, but we can all hold our heads up high walking out from a Christian bookstore with a new Bible--- only to read these passages). So these people were very busy. Needless to say, nobody denies the critical lineage here of our Lord. What is a mystery, however, are some of these other little things slipped in. Let's read:
v2: Abraham begat Isaac: and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.
Lets stop there for a moment. In Genesis 49:10, Jacob said: The sceptre shall NOT depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. So you see, the sceptre, or the right to rule went to Judah only. Why mension his brethren? For y'all that hear me teach, you already know that the birthright went to the sons of Joseph (I Chronicles 5:1) and not the Jew. And later in time these tribes never returned to their land from the exile. So this sets the stage for a special group of people (the Lost Tribes). They would turn up as other people and nations.
v3: And Judas begat Phares and Zara Whoa!!! Hold your horses! This genealogy is supposed to follow and general format of father-to-son, and then some great,great... great uncle of Jesus is mentioned? Why? There must be a significance to this, also. The Zarahites supposedly migrated out of Egypt before the rest of Israel in the Exodus, and started colonies elsewhere. This was the prince of the scarlet thread (Genesis 38:30). So we have here some separate Judahites, and the stage is set for exiled Israelites to be elsewhere. What other mystery is there?
Let's jump to v11: And Josias begat Jeconias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon. Jeconias, also called Coniah, had a curse placed on him in Jeremiah 22:30. In effect, this prevented any Kings from ruling in the land of Judah any longer after the Jews' return from captivity. Again, you are already familiar with the working of the prophet Jeremiah if you know what I teach. The "last" King Zedekiah was the uncle of Jeconias, however, and a son of King Josias. King Zedekiah's sons were slain, but not his daughters. And the right of inheritance went to the daughters in the event that male heirs were missing. Numbers 36 was not written to make women libbers happy, but to set the stage for the time when the Throne of David would be transferred by Jeremiah through King Zedekiah's daughters. Hence, this is the meaning of the term "and his brethren" in verse 11. Where else would these daughters go? To the Zarahites! They were the tribe of Judah, thus keeping the inheritance with the daughters marrying into their own tribes. After all, God promised to King David in II Samuel 7: Thy throne shall be established for ever. The Throne of David is an Earthly throne, one day to be given to Jesus when He returns. What about that curse? Does Jeconias' curse affect Jesus? No. We know that Matthew's genealogy is Joseph's and Jesus was not conceived by Joseph , but the Holy Spirit (those who deny the Virgin Birth unwittingly place this curse on Jesus). But this established Jesus' legal right to the throne. Jesus lineage according to Matthew would place him as the primary candidate for the King, but we have here a King who never abdicated nor is present now on this Earth. The (natural) next of kin was prevented by God from taking the throne in Judah due to the curse. That's why the Jews have no king. But Israel does (actually a queen right now) through the different lineage of Zedekiah that God approved. (see Ezekiel 17:22-24). I can go on and on about this fascinating subject, but I will stop here. But the Bible definitely showed ways here that God stayed faithful to his Word until Jesus comes again and claims that very real throne here and now.