Read Matthew 1 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Greek Testament has no Hebrew paragraph divisions, although Matthew, at least, was originally written in Hebrew. This is my outline of chapter one:
1:1-17, The genealogy of Messiah Yeshua
1:18-25, The birth of Messiah Yeshua
Each of these paragraphs make their own Chiastic Structure Teaching Tool, so that is my clue that I have outlined the chapter correctly.
Matthew 1:1-17 Chiastic Structure
Matthew 1:18-25 Chiastic Structure
Yeshua was delivered of a miraculous birth, for it was impossible for Mary, a virgin, to conceive a child. If we dust off our Teaching Tool of Common Theme, we find that there were other mothers in the history of Israel for whom it was impossible to conceive a child. And yet, they did, by the miraculous intervention of the Spirit. It is by this History that Prophesies that Torah declared the miraculous birth of Israel’s liberator, Messiah Yeshua.
Sarah
But Sarai was barren; she had no child. Gen 11:30
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, YHVH has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Gen 16:1-2
I believe it had ceased to be the way of women with Sarah, and may be the reason why she concluded, after all the years of faithful waiting, that YHVH had prevented her from bearing children.
Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.” Gen 17:15-19
And YHVH visited Sarah as He had said, and YHVH did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Gen 21:1-2
Rebekah
Now Isaac pleaded with YHVH for his wife, because she was barren; and YHVH granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Gen 25:21
Rachel
Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Gen 30:1-2
Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” Gen 30:22-23
Tamar
Isn’t it interesting that the Messiah figure in the final chapters of Genesis, who is Joseph, has no trouble obtaining children from his wife (Gen 41:50)? But Judah, on the other hand, married a Canaanite woman whose children were so wicked that YHVH slew them. Judah was childless again, but for his youngest son. Tamar, the wife of the two slain sons, was now a second-time childless widow. She was put away in her father’s house, and the opportunity to become a mother bypassed her. Through a deception, she became pregnant by Judah himself, but then was in danger of being burned at the stake when her pregnancy as a widow was discovered. By this we learn that Tamar, a righteous woman, was not legally able to have children (Gen 38). But her children by Judah became the ancestors of both David, and Messiah Yeshua.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
The Foremothers of Jesus – Christine Miller
The Virgin Birth – Answers in Genesis
Fulfilled Prophecies at the Birth of Christ – Answers in Genesis
Leave a Reply